It is New Year’s Day and all over the world people are resolving to begin this year afresh; to finally lose those last few pounds, quit smoking, exercise more, get angry less, learn a foreign language. . . Well, here’s mine. I am resolving, this year, to GET ORGANIZED. The thing about resolutions is that they tend to get broken, usually around January 31st, or more often in my case, January 3rd. As a woman, I count it a privilege and take seriously my position as “home manager”. I set the tone, keep things running, keep us healthy, and in general, organize our lives. This blog is my way to ensure my resolution doesn’t lack execution. So, here’s the plan. There are 52 weeks in a year. Each week I will tackle one aspect of organizing my home, and my personal and family life. By nature, I am an easy-going person, yet I have my areas of OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder). My goal is to have fun getting organized taking it in manageable, weekly chunks, while not being so obsessed with keeping “everything in it’s place” that my family no longer feels at home.
In her book A Woman After God’s Own Heart Elizabeth George states:
“All God asks of you and me is to handle and manage today, only today. Jesus said, ‘Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble’ . . . Each day is important in and of itself:
- What you are today is what you are becoming.
- You are today what you have been becoming.
- Every day is a little life, and our whole life is but a day repeated.”
So my question is what are you becoming? What do you want to become? Does it line up? When I think of what, or rather who I want to become, I have a vision of a woman who has herself together: her closets organized, her home comfortable and clean, her children eating healthy home-made meals and developing character through regular house-hold chores, her budget maintained, her husband happy to come home to her, her body regularly exercised, and a growing spiritual life. Wew! Kind of makes you tired just reading all that, doesn’t it? Although I may never become this perfect woman, it is guaranteed I will not become her if I am not taking daily steps toward this goal. ”What you are today is what you are becoming.” If I think in those terms, what I am becoming falls far short of what I want to become. This blog will be my journey to BECOME. I hope some of you will join me and BECOME with me, or simply follow my journey and join in when it applies.
Here’s this week’s challenge: Begin operating using a “To-do List”. I have never operated this way. But every efficient and organized person I have met, does. My “to-do list” is in my head, and inevitably, something always gets forgotten. So this week, before I go to bed, I will be making a to-do list of what I want to accomplish tomorrow. In the morning, I will check it over and add or delete as necessary. Then, most importantly, start crossing things off (no cheating — we actually have to accomplish them before we cross them off)!
I’m adding a few 10-minute challenges for the week. You know those moments when you finish something, then look around and think “Huh? What do I do now?” Then spend 10 minutes trying to figure it out? (Maybe that’s just me) Here are a few 10-minute tasks I plan to have ready when I have one of these moments:
- Dust one room (I hate dusting, but it needs to be done, and maybe in small doses I can handle it)
- Go through spices and discard old or expired ones (add to grocery list to replace)
- Clean off my nightstand
- Go through and get rid of hair things I don’t use (are scrunchies back?)
- Play with my kids (if this takes longer than 10 minutes, it’s okay)
Good luck with yours! Stay tuned to see how things go with mine!
