I Didn’t Sign Up For This – and I’m So Grateful It’s Happening

Well this was unexpected. All the feelings right now, with tears in my eyes. I’ve been on a roller-coaster lately. But the reason will truly shock you.

In every sense of these words – it was time.

A heavenly gift for my 40th birthday was to have a little time to reconnect with my oldest and dearest friends. There have been parties (and cake, yay!) and there have been visits, and I’m making an effort to celebrate with friends that are important to me. It’s not so easy these days, we’re all so busy. But it will happen!

After the summer, I made a date with a friend of mine that I’ve known since I was twelve years old. In many ways, she is my person (Grey’s Anatomy reference, remember?).

So Liz and I went out for dinner and talked and drank and caught up on everything and I found out she recently was certified as a trained professional organizer from POC (Professional Organizers of Canada). These were my next words to her:

“You can never come back to my house. Ever again.”

And we laughed and laughed.

But then the more we spoke, the more I realized, this was really going to happen. She was going to help me. If you know this blog, you know I’ve written before about clutter and organizing and I have a crush on Peter Walsh and I absolutely love Do It On a Dime videos. I’ve met organizers in person and have had back-and-forth e-mails, I’ve read, I’ve binned, I’ve stored, I’ve donated…but there is still the weight of too much clutter.

And if you are anything like me, you are knee deep in the school year with a pile of creative pieces and projects. I have a terribly hard time letting go of these things that my children made.

More importantly, my office had become the dumping ground for many things and (as I discovered) I’m a bit of a paper hoarder because I write. Not to mention that personal documents of me, my children and my parents that are all in my office.

It’s honestly a nightmare.

So, when Liz said we could “do the office” I was petrified.

But if there was ever a time to believe in serendipity, it was at that moment. Because like I wrote above, it was time. And I needed a friend more than a pro, and lucky for me, I got both! Liz has been with me through all my ups and downs. She knows my likes and dislikes, my sentimental clutter and why it is sentimental.

Although the process seemed daunting, because it was her, I was ready to give it go.

The Start of a Series: #ProjectOrganizewithLiz

So, my friends, I will take you on my clutter-removing journey and show you, piece by piece, how I got more organized in my home. People that have had this experience often say it is life-changing and I must admit, I always giggled under my breath about that. Not anymore. Freeing is the best word to describe it.

If you want to learn more about Liz and her business, visit her at ProjectOrganize.ca .

Let me just leave you with this initial tackle we did on her assessment of my home. We took a walk-through of each room in the home and in the basement, I have a guest pull-out bed with linens that were stacked above a closet. It was hideous to look at and truthfully uninviting to guests. I managed to place a piece of furniture downstairs for the sheets, but the pillows and large blankets didn’t have a home.

In one fell swoop, Liz found space in the storage area behind that room, created a bin and placed all the items that were eyesores in that bin. I was flabbergasted! It was there all along, I just hadn’t seen it. And you will find that this was what happened in many cases with my decluttering journey. A HUGE tip that Liz shared off that bat was looking at your home as a guest. We tend to live in the space and simply not see our piles or corners of things that have been there for a long time.

I challenge you to look at one room in your home with difference eyes. You will suddenly see what she means. And once you see it…you can’t un-see it!!

I hope this very real and raw project helps you in some way to see how removing and organize things can really help you get laser-focused in your life. It is truly making a big difference for me and I am happy to share that with you!

Next: In part two of this series, we tackle my office. Liz breaks it all down into bite-size, and very possible tasks.

Part 2 of my decluttering journey with Liz: Drowning in Paperwork.

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2 comments

Lindsey Paris January 25, 2018 at 9:10 am

I’m so excited for your journey!!!

Reply
Julia a.k.a Mama MOE January 25, 2018 at 12:03 pm

Thank you! Have you tried to declutter your life?

Reply

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