Ah, cleaning

One of my least favorite things to do in life.

My dislike of cleaning comes from a mother who was an absolute neat freak. She washed walls and ceilings at least twice a year, if not every change of season. If we had the family coming over for the holidays, the entire house was scrubbed from ceiling to floor, even if we'd just done it a couple weeks prior.

So, for me it wasn't that I didn't have a good example, it is pure rebellion. Only now as I've come to terms with my parents addictions to caffeine, nicotine and alcohol do I understand that cleaning was one of the few things my mom could control in her life. Everything else was so out of control, but she could do that.

Since I got into feng shui earlier this year, I've been getting the clutter... moving... I guess would be the best way to put it. The feng shui helped me understand in energetic terms what clutter was doing to my home, my health, my finances and more. After I got fired in August and started temping again, I realized I needed to change tactics.

Last year from July on I made five trips to ARC, a local thrift store that takes donations. I've cleaned out my closet of clothes I don't wear, thrown out broken luggage, cleaned my office (start herre for photos and recap of my month long cleaning binge).

In that month long cleaning binge, I cleaned out my office, mostly, along with bits and pieces of my living room/kitchen/dining room area. Five contractors bags of shredded stuff from high school on went. The office was rearranged so I face my best feng shui directions (if you want a consult, let me know, I'm game to help others) for my desk and meditation chair.

It's not done yet. My office still has stuff on the floor from the last time I got some energy to clean. My kitchen table is better than it was, it still collects stuff. Still haven't found a place to put my backpack that is my brief case that goes with me to work and damn near everywhere. (Some women carry a purse, I carry a backpack.)

Things are one day at a time. I do what I can when I can. My biggest issue is finishing what I start, as exampled by the current state of my house. I got 95% of it done, the rest is still waiting.

Accountability is a big key to getting things done. I've learned that with my coaching training. I've helped others be accountable for what they said they wanted to do, cheered them on as they accomplished what they thought they couldn't. I used my blog as an accountability tool because I knew at least two people were reading it on a regular basis, and they cared enough to post comments encouraging me to keep going.

Hang in there, keep taking the five minutes here and there to do what you can. Perhaps as we get to know each other better, we could arrange a weekend to go help one another. If we've admitted to each other we need help, then there's no shame in us coming together to get a dent made so you can see progress has been made.

I look forward to seeing what the rest of you think, what you do to help yourselves, how we can help each other.

And since I have a three day weekend, I'm going to start making something out of it.