Sunday, March 29, 2009

Consistently Inconsistent

I aspire to do great things, have a clean home, well-behaved young-uns, craft to my hearts content, read a gazillion books, oh and run a marathon.

Aspire.

Trouble is – to aspire to anything you have to have something called consistency.  Sadly the only thing I’m consistent at is inconsistency.

I’m really good with new chore charts, exercise or eating programs for about 1-2 weeks and then inconsistency rears it’s ugly head.  I fall off the bandwagon.  (where did that term even come from?)

But hey – I aspire to defeat inconsistency.  So I tackled another Clutter-monster war zone.  The dining room, or the room in which no one eats because it’s always covered with mom’s stuff room. 

I know you won’t believe it until you see it.

I dare you to find room to fit a plate of food for one, let alone eight, in this room.

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And the china hutch and surrounding space?

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So it took me the better part of the afternoon but finally I uncovered all the brown glory of the hutch.  Man, I sure do need to find some color.

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Notice the lower left corner of the picture.  So the only negative with de-cluttering is it brings to sudden sight the imperfections of the home.  For example:  body-banging damage, of teenage boys, to corners and Picasso art of 2 year olds to walls.

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But Hey, we can have dinner at the table now, and not on the floor like a bunch of farm animals.

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And see I even pulled out some Easter Eggs Cause everything is screaming for colors other than brown.

Oh and the clutter you see in the background is Thrift Store Give-Away pile and school stuff.

So now the Dining room is added to my list of rooms that can be tidied in 5 minutes or less, along with the Master Bedroom, Front Room, Front Hallway and T.V.Room.  Wahoo.

Now to let you in on a little secret to my whole spring cleaning tactics.  In fact I’ll even let the skeletons out of the closet, or back room to be precise.  Sure I’ve purged the before mentioned rooms of all the extra clutter but it’s still around.  If I can’t find a home for something I’ve put it in the room of Probation DOOM!  The Last Chance Hole of all things clutter.  Once I hit every room in my home I intend to visit this room for a final time and deal out Judgment in the form of permanent home or banishment.  I expect I’ll shed some tears, say a few choice words like freaking, and crap. But I will deal with it.  I will be consistent this once!!!

Why?

Because I want my Craft Fantasy Studio and the only way to get there is to deal with the Pain of separation of stuff.

Behold my growing Mountain of Clutter.

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And so your eye’s weren’t playing tricks on you.  Here’s a slightly different angle.

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Notice it is so bad there isn’t even a path to the door.  You have to risk climbing over it’s treacherous peaks.

AHHHHHHHHH!  Don’t tell the fire marshal or I’ll be fined for blocking an access.

But hey, the rest of my home is beginning to look decent, and that should count for something. 

12 comments:

Sara said...

My dear Fawn, have you NEVER read Flylady? The thought of attacking that last room fills me with despair! Wouldn't it be easier to deal with it one room at a time? And are we developing new habits that keep the clutter from building up again in the clean rooms?

You really do have a lovely home and I love your decorating skills.

Shannon said...

Fawn,

Good for you!!!! This is so exciting! You know, just yesterday my husband compared clutter to the Taliban. No kidding. Turn your back just once, and they've infiltrated..again.
Two years ago (when we lived in RI) I was so depressed and I asked my husband to unload every closet and drawer and cupboard and to dump it into the playroom. So there I sat for 8 weeks (really) and waded through that stuff and got rid of 38 bags of stuff. I broke down about 5 times - like full-on break downs, crying, feeling sorry for myself, etc. But now I can say that those 8 weeks changed our lives.
Don't give up, friend. Dive on in there like a Marine into a pit of insurgents. Wage war on that clutter. Get mad. You can do it!! You've come so far...don't give up till you've won!
Shannon

Your dining room looks fabulous! I'm going to make a centerpiece just like that. Thanks for the idea!

fawndear said...

Sara, Yes I have heard of the Flylady. I'm using her to keep my de-cluttered rooms from becoming overwhelmed! New habits ??? I'm working on them. Like clearing the clutter prone zones daily. I'm saving my best fight for the back room.

Shannon,
I love how you compare clutter to war. It can be deadly emotionally if not eliminated once and for all. I expect the back room will take me a good 8 weeks as well.

Thanks for the comments.

Trena Doll said...

I get discouraged sometimes at how quickly the effects of a big clean-up can disappear. I have a hard time sticking to routines, too. So booooring.

But the alternative is a little messy.

Treasure Ann said...

I think your doing a great job. I desire to have a craft room myself. BTW my mom is going to teach me how to sew. Isn't it wonderful. Your house looks great, way better than mine. Toodles.
Have a good night.

Mrs. Darling said...

You are incrdibly brave girl! I happen to be blessed with housecleaning skills but even that room where all the stuff is going is enough to make me quail. You need someone to come in and just load that entire room into a truck and take it to the dump and you should be nowhere around so you wont try to go thorugh it all. LOL

Faith said...

Isn't it amazing how QUICKLY things pile up?

Anonymous said...

oh man, reading this post is so inspiring to me! my house needs to be decluttered so bad

hey mrs Darling,
I went on a trip a few years ago and came home to my hubby being all proud of himself for taking a bunch of boxes from our garage to the dump. what he didn't realize was that he'd taken a brand new celine fan to the dump (he thought it was the old one... he didn't even look at it, just saw the box was open) and what was in those other boxes? I don't know, and it's been driving me crazy for almost 3 years! the problem is that when we have people coming over for a party etc., we grab everything that could be considered clutter, throw it in boxes, and throw it into our garage. I never had a chance to organize those boxes and take out the stuff that really mattered!

my point is that sometimes it's better to go through the hard part of organizing before taking stuff to the dump.
;) Missy

Nancy said...

Hey, I say keep up the great work on the back room and very soon you will qualify for "Clean Sweep" on TLC!

Debs said...

Fawn,
I'm constantly fighting these battles myself, and not being a naturally neat, clean, and organized person, it's so easy to feel like a failure when your house is a mess. But it's good to see I'm not the only one whose house looks like this sometimes (o.k. in my case often) If you can do it, maybe I can too. Thanks for sharing

The Trio said...

I love you! You give me hope! You are amazing...can you sneak away and show me how it is done...you could bring the vexing vixen and her sisters...hee hee.

An Ordinary Mom said...

I adore the title of this post ... and what progress you have made!