Resolutions Revisited
July 5, 2008 by Tracee Sioux
Filed under Parenting
I was checking my statistics for Blog Fabulous when I noticed my story Anal Retentive Compulsions in 2008 was still being read. How’s that for accountability?
That was my story where I declared my New Year’s Resolution to get be so organized I could be classified as anal retentive compulsive, you know like Kate Gosselin and my mother. 
It’s July. I looked around my office and the exact same pile of clutter was shoved in my drawer. The same exact pile of “get to this later” was in the same basket it’s been in for literally YEARS. Still no filing system.
In fact, the top of my desk had become – things I haven’t yet hung up in here and things I wanted to write about but hadn’t had time.
Is it any wonder my daughter’s room periodically needs to be excavated? < 
Here’s one thing I know for sure – if you continually feel bad about something one thing you can do to stop feeling bad is to “just do it.”
Examples: Feel bad every time you smoke – Quit. Feel guilty when you don’t work out – Work Out.
Feel like working somewhere else when all I wanted was an office space of your own? Organize It.
I did. It took me 8 hours. No joke. It’s got files. It’s not cluttered. The stuff is hung on the walls. There’s a system. The “stuff to do later” got done – even if it cost money.
Here’s what I noticed about my messes:
The reason I didn’t do it before amounts to $8. I had attempted to buy an $8 file hanger thing for my desk drawer numerous times, but it always put me over my budget. It’s been in the cart 5 times, I put it back. Stupid isn’t it? For 7 months I couldn’t make spending that $8 important enough.
Then when I discovered the file hanger wouldn’t fit that drawer anyway and had to use the other filing cabinet.
How minor are the things I allow to distract me.
The other thing I’ve noticed is a genetic/generational tendency to believe I have to keep things or I’m wasting them and I might never get anything to replace it. I think this is about my grandparent’s depression-era anxiety and my “always be prepared” Mormon upbringing. I come by it honestly. During my grandfather’s eulogy they said, Viola you’ve inherited the biggest scrap yard in all of East Texas. And their children, my parents and aunts and uncles, are overflowing with stored crap from the 70s, 80s and 90s.
Remember Suze Orman says you can not have room for new things in your life if there is so much cluttering it up.
I have everything I need. I have enough. I can get more things, even if I no longer have a use for this. I told myself as I threw stuff, basically garbage, away I’d been keeping “just in case.”
(Okay, don’t tell anyone – this is my dirty little secret – I didn’t actually throw most of it away – I stuck it in bags where it will stay for several months, just in case my need for it returns, or until I find it a good home with a needy family – baby steps. That’s in line with reduce, reuse, recycle though – right?)
It’s July. It was a New YEARs Resolution. That means I accomplished my goal a full 5 months ahead of my deadline. (Still to go a more efficient electronic organization system for emails, passwords, receipts, etc. I don’t delete most of my email either, “just in case”. )
Do you remember what YOUR New Year’s Resolution was?
Don’t feel bad – there’s still plenty of time.
Source of Images: Empowering Girls: So Sioux Me
You’re so funny – I love the Hillary sign hangin sideways and the unread parents magazine in the laundry basket for “later”.. I’m the same way with many, many things. My grandmother had a very active part in my upbringing and I too feel bad throwing anything out. But the thing about that is – she has a specific, clean, tidy spot for everything. And there’s no one there to move it, hide it, or knock it over. It’s just her. That kind of organization does not function in a house with children. Just this year I’ve stopped holding myself to her standards. It was silly.
My secret hoarding thing? Food. (her fault also) I refuse to throw away leftovers even if I KNOW we aren’t going to eat it. It has to be growing for me to chunk it. Oh, and 4 garbage bags in my trunk full of old baby boy clothes that are waiting on a sign from God to donate to the right people. LOL. I wonder how much gas I’m burning hauling around that extra 50 lbs?
I know all too well about getting to things later or having a use for something later. We grew up kind of poor. I mean, we had enough to eat, but we didn’t have nice clothes and things. I think that’s why I hang onto things longer than I should. I have been getting better; much better, but it takes time.
There is nothing like a big move to help you declutter really quickly. The last time we moved, we got rid of a ton of stuff, but not nearly enough because we did not have time to sort through it all.
Now I’m moving in 4 weeks to a place about 1/4 the size of what I’m living in now. It stinks, but I’m going to make it work. We’ll still have to rent a storage building for some things, but we’re trying to declutter as much as possible.
I just finished cleaning out my son’s closet. I’m taking a break and getting ready to start on my daughter’s closet. I got rid of about 30 pieces or clothing (possibly more) from his closet. Oh sure, they all still fit him. I just don’t have room for them all at the new place. I am so blessed that my children have too much to wear and I hardly paid anything for it. Most of it was given to me or I bought it off the 75% rack at Target. Speaking of which, I found some .98 clothes today!
Congratulations on the organization. I’m sure you’ll feel better and work better too!
P.S. I think I’d totall flip out about A’s dresser! I have a thing about broken drawers. Oh well, we all have the things that bother us. I see Z is over in the corner. He looks like he’s a contributor to all the mess. lol
Thanks for being so exposed. It helps the rest of us. Hopefully this week I’ll post some pretty embarrassing pictures of how huge my moving sale is. I’m going to be an embarrassed women with thick pockets come sale day.
I’m back.
BTW, I have a file that I keep in my file cabinet for stuff to write about. I don’t get into the file very often, but it helps to know there’s stuff there in case I get writer’s block.
1/4 bigger? That sucks.
We just moved 6 months ago and this is the new clutter/unresolved leftover clutter.
I find I have a deep conflict between “waste not/ want not” and “don’t keep what you don’t need.”
If I had a crystal ball I could determine which category stuff fits into easier.
I made one of those files:) It was just out on my desk.