Accountability Saturday Sept. 15

Some days you're forced to just do it.

My week started off with no mojo and ended with me coming down with the crud. I'm sitting here typing this on Saturday morning when I wanted to have it finished Friday night. Instead I spent about two hours on Friday night uninstalling crap nasty programs off our old desktop computer. My daughter unintentionally installed them while I was at work, not realizing they came bundled with something else. I'm finishing up this post with a headache, scratchy throat and the desire to crawl back into bed. How's that for dedication? Hopefully the Motrin washed down with a hot cup of coffee will kick in soon.

These are the things I worked on this week.

Sleep
I'm definitely moving in the right direction on this one. I've managed to get into a routine of hitting the sack between 10 and 11:00 pm on most nights. I feel so much better now.

Organization
I slacked off on housework while the kids were home this summer. My house didn't turn into a pig sty but I didn't do as much as I do when they're in school. Last Sunday as I had creative thoughts in my head that weren't actually materializing into anything, my husband decided to head up into the attic to fix the bathroom vent. To get into the attic one must empty the hall closet. Emptying the hall closet is a project in itself. So when I saw the step ladder in the hallway after I got out of my shower, I let out a big sigh and said to him "really?" We proceeded to clear three shelves of stuff so he could start his project. Oliver the cat loved this because he got to explore the piles of stuff that we put on my bed. After my husband finished his project, I took on the chore of putting everything back (don't mess with my perfectionism - I want it done my way!). But you know what? It wasn't a bad thing. I ended up sorting things to toss and donate, then did some reorganizing. That project led to creating a donation bag, which led to me digging out other random items I had stashed away to donate. That led to starting another bag of stuff to bring to Plato's Closet (a used clothing store for juniors) in the hopes that I can get a little cash to feed my daughter's clothing addiction.

Do you see where this is going? Once I got started on one organization project, it snowballed into others. My bedroom still has bags and boxes that need a home. I decided that my organization projects will be tackled room by room. My bedroom is not a priority right now because I don't spend a lot of time in there. The day after organizing the hall closet, I tackled the living room - not to organize but to clean. We'll just say that although I Swiffer and vacuum on a regular basis, dusting is not my favorite thing to do. After I dropped the kids off at school on Monday, I moved knick knacks, dusted and polished the furniture, then put everything back. It was time consuming and didn't look much different when it was done (other than being less dusty) but it was clean. That project made me want to continue on to the rest of the house, and that's the part that's important. As much as I hate using my days off to tackle cleaning/organization projects, it needs to be done. The last time I did this was in 2010.

A few days later I tackled kitchen counter clutter. I bought two packs of brightly colored file folders at Walmart several months ago. They sat for months, unused and still in their plastic packaging. I intended to use them to store medical receipts, tax stuff, etc. Up until a few days ago, my filing system consisted of a couple of 9x12 envelopes that took up too much space. I also had a random stack of papers that included everything from school papers and photos, receipts, store flyers and coupons, etc. This kitchen counter organization project took all of an hour, maybe less. I procrastinated for months on a project that took less than an hour! All my papers, including the dreaded school papers, are now neatly organized in cute folders in a small file rack on my kitchen counter. I even included a folder for store flyers and coupons (like Joann's, Bath & Body Works, etc.). Now before I head out for some retail therapy, all I have to do is grab the folder and see if there's a coupon I can use.

Even though my accountability project is more for personal changes, I think creating an organized living area counts towards that. When I look at my small kitchen counter when it's a disorganized mess of papers, it stresses me out. When I organized the space, I removed the stress. Go me.

I'll end this now so you can enjoy the rest of your Saturday. Here's a great printable I found this week at  Funky Polkadot Giraffe. Print it out, frame it and hang it in your home! Don't forget to stop by Funky Polkadot Giraffe's blog and say hi.