Growing up I was the typical messy kid. I hated cleaning my room, doing the dishes, helping with laundry; I HATED HOUSEWORK! As I got older I had less and less toys and more “office equipment”. In my room I had a desk and it had a bookshelf on top of it. It was a metal office desk like the teachers had back in the day.

On my desk, I would have stacks and stacks of papers on it, and my room had clothes and stuff everywhere. No matter how messy my room was I knew exactly where everything was and I could go right to it when asked to get something. I didn’t like putting things away because I was afraid that I would forget about it or I would lose it, or even more out of sight out of mind. This is how I grew up and I am still this way now. The only difference between now and then, is that many years ago I had moved to a different state with just my suitcase. I had sent a few boxes to myself via UPS. In those boxes were things that I truly needed and wanted. I was basically a minimalist, and I was the happiest I had ever been. I didn’t have a lot of stuff.

When I moved back to my home state I came back to a storage unit full of stuff. I moved it in there so that I would have what I needed and wanted if I were to move back. I was glad that I did in a way. What I put in storage was a lot of stuff, an overwhelming amount of stuff. It was almost a five bedroom house worth of stuff. I had to make another move to a smaller place. That meant I had to choose what would go with me and what would be left behind. New people came to the five bedroom house and they had the great “joy” of dealing with my stuff, which was just tossed in a dumpster. Pictures of family members and friends, memories, and a part of my life. However, I was back to being a minimalist, having what I needed and what I wanted. I was much happier again because my place was not cluttered and was easy to clean in a very short amount of time.

About a year later, my mom and I moved into a two bedroom house with all of her stuff and my stuff. Our house was filled in every room, with just a path to go to different rooms and out of the house. I was not happy. I was stressed, anxious, and the stuff drove me crazy, but I couldn’t get rid of stuff because my mom wanted to keep it. That made me even more unhappy. We both moved to a different house, same thing, a path from room to room, front door to the back door. I would clean, and the mess returned, I could have sworn, 10 fold for every single item that was cleaned or gotten rid of. I was unhappy. We even had people come and help declutter and clean while my mom and I went on vacation. We came back and I wanted to cry because the house was clean and organized. My mom was very upset and not happy and complained a lot.

A couple of years later, I got married, and even my husband helped clean the house. Again, my mom was very unhappy and complained a lot. I was very happy and wanted to cry. My mom, husband and I bought a four bedroom house. We moved all of our stuff. My husband didn’t have very much stuff because he moved to my home state from his home state, but my mom and I had two households of stuff to move. Again, the house was filled with stuff. Yet again, we had friends come over and help clean and declutter our stuff. My mom was not happy and my husband and I were very grateful for their help and very happy.

A few years later my mom passed away, and my house was still a disaster. I had trouble seeing this as my house and kept thinking that my mom was going to be very mad at me if I got rid of stuff. It has taken me six years to finally realize this is my house and I can do what I want. We did rent almost the largest dumpster to start decluttering. We filled that a couple of times to the top with stuff. A year ago, I finally found help and someone that I could relate to. I still thought that I was a messy person, and I was never going to get my house in order. Yet, I didn’t want my child to grow up the way I did, in chaos, filled with stuff, home. 

Come to find out, I was not a messy person at all. I knew this in a way because when I had my own places, they were never a mess and filled with stuff and that was when I was the happiest. I found help via YouTube and eventually found someone that I understood and felt like they understood me. What they said and did seemed normal to me. They have ADHD, and I could relate to the way they thought and did things which in turn helped me to understand myself better and why I did the things that I did and said. 

The help that I found was Clutterbug. I found out that I am an organized person, but I have a different way or style of organizing. I took the quiz to find out my organizing style, then took the courses and wanted to help others who live in chaotic, messy, or unorganized homes to change it into a way they can be functional with their own organizing style. Some people might think that they are messy and unorganized, but in reality, they just organized differently. In a year’s time of being certified as a Certified Organizational Specialist^TM, I have worked on getting my house organized and I have made leaps and bounds of changes and it makes me happier and happier because I love to organize. 

I love learning new ways of doing things and I love to solve issues, and being a Certified Organizational Specialist^TM I get to do both. As of today, 7-29-2021, I am starting a habit challenge that Clutterbug started. Five weeks, learning to created new habits. Week one, I work on the habit, week two I add another habit to it. Habits are to be taken in baby steps. A good book to read, or listen to, about habits is the Atomic Habits by James Clear.

My first habit to learn is to do the dishes every day, the second habit is to do the laundry every day, the third habit is to walk or exercise for 15 minutes at least 3 times a week. Remember to take baby steps. The fourth habit is to take breaks during the day, and the fifth habit is to read a book before going to bed, even if it’s a page or two. Another habit I need to work on is staying focused on these habits. I most likely won’t post to my blog, but I will try to remember to post it on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, if you want to follow my journey. Also, leave me a comment if you would like to see it here in my blog.