Lent update: week 1

I meant to write and post this yesterday, but we had a very busy day and by the time the kids were in bed, I just wanted to crash as well.

This was the first week of Lent (well, technically not a full week, since Lent started on Wednesday, but I'm counting it as week 1).  For those of you who may have missed this post, I'm giving up clutter for Lent.  So far it's going pretty well.  I've gone through a few different drawers and cupboards and thrown away a bunch of stuff, and more importantly, put stuff back in its proper place.  I think that's probably the source of most of my clutter - I don't take the time to put things where they should go, so they just get shoved in a drawer or left on a counter.  I've also been doing well at keeping new clutter from accumulating - I've dealt with the mail each day, rather than letting it sit on the counter.  On Saturday I did 5 loads of laundry and, other than the stuff that I hung to dry, I folded, hung up and put away all of it right away, instead of letting it sit around for a few days (which is what usually happens).  Carey helped me with getting things organized by putting up this new shelf in the laundry room - doesn't it look great?

All the stuff up there used to be on top of the dryer and around the sink.  I love how much neater it looks now, and I don't need to worry about the kids reaching anything.  This past week I also made a list of all the areas in the house I'd like to tackle.  I'm not sure if it will all get done, but I like having a list to cross things off.  Here's my list:

• Recipe binder (it's a disaster!  I'd like to get it all organized and come up with a system for meal planning)
• Office
• Kids' craft stuff
• Drawers
• Filing cabinet
• Bookshelf
• Laundry room (this one is almost finished)
• Email inbox
• Annika's closet
• Emmett's closet
• Our closet
• Our bathroom
• Kids' bathroom
• Front closet
• Back closet
• Upstairs closet
• Kitchen cabinets/drawers
• Pantry
• Fridge
• PVR (need to delete some old shows)

It looks like a lot to do, but I'm not going to stress about getting it all done by Easter.  My goal in giving up clutter for Lent is that it would not just be a 40-day purge, but it would help me in forming habits (or getting rid of old habits) that would be long-lasting.  So even if I don't get through the whole list, as long as I do something each day (even if it's just dealing with the mail), I'll be happy.

My other success from the past week is that I finally did my 20 minutes of cleaning each day for the whole week.  It took some effort (some days it was more than 20 minutes, but probably never more than 30 minutes), but I was really glad I did it.  We decided at the last minute to invite some friends over for supper yesterday, and I wasn't stressed about cleaning up the house at the last minute (other than tidying up the toys), because I knew that I had kept on top of it all week.  That felt good.

Now to keep up the momentum for the next week, and the weeks to come...