One of the things that frequently gives me anxiety is the cleanliness of my home. Maybe it sounds silly, but I just want people to feel comfortable in my home. This doesn't mean it has to be perfectly clean all the time, or sterile like a hospital (because heaven knows my home is far from being perfectly clean) I just want it to be tidy. That's a good word for it. Tidy. That is my goal.
Jordan is totally awesome around the house. He is a HUGE help with cleaning and straightening up. Of course though, our house gets messy pretty easily. This is something I struggle with. I don't want to be so worried about my house being tidy that I miss quality time doing other things (Insert the Bible story of Mary and Martha). But, I also don't want to not focus on cleaning because it can be difficult to enjoy your home when it is a huge mess.
I have been reading a lot of inspiration things lately that encourage you to DO something about things you don't like. Don't just sit and complain, DO something. (Pretty good advice!) So, I decided to tackle one job that has been driving me crazy, our spare bedroom closet. Our spare bedroom closet is the home of many toys. We love having our nieces and nephews over, and it is even better when we have toys for them to play with, thus, they know that closet is for them. As you can imagine, the closet had gotten pretty messy. In fact, it was difficult to open and close the doors because there were so many toys laying around everywhere. It kind of looked like Toys R Us had exploded in the room (Okay, maybe not that bad). It made that bedroom a place I avoided. I didn't like going in there because it would cause me anxiety and stress. I would also imagine that it wasn't as fun for our nieces and nephews, because they couldn't find things very easily.
It was driving me crazy and causing me stress, so I decided to do something about it. I went to Target and purchased some clear plastic bins (with snap on lids...that is a must). Then, on my day off, I brought all the toys from the closet into my family room. As I watched TV, I sorted through the goods. Farm toys here, Nerf guns there, and stuffed animals in the bucket. I was also able to pick out toys that were broken and throw them away. I had the perfect number of bins for the toys, and put them back into the closet. I can't even tell you what a relief this is. Now, instead of avoiding that room, I have actually stopped in there a few times, just to look in the newly cleaned closet. I also tried to set it up in a way that facilitates easy clean up for the kiddos that come over.
This is a very simple lesson, and maybe you learned it long before I did...if you aren't happy with something, change it. Not every anxiety can be taken away, but doing something about this has definitely been so helpful.
PS-this project started a bit of an obsession. Yesterday, I went to Wal-Mart and bought a few more plastic bins. Our medicine cabinet now looks phenomenal (it used to be a bit scary, you could've been hit by a Tylenol bottle when opening the door) and I have a place for all of my chargers. It is almost like a fun game...what can I organize next??
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