My Journey of Hope: Day 28 of 28 - Reflections

Well, here we are at the end of the 28 day journey, and while, admittedly, my surgery really derailed things at the end, I am still very pleased with the progress that has been made in my home, and how clean and de-cluttered the areas I've worked on are staying. This house is FAR from done, but I feel that my efforts were worth it, and it's worth it to keep at it, a little bit at a time.

I also think it's worth the time to address what worked, what didn't work, and what I'd like to try with my next phase of this.

What Worked:

1. Looking around and finding something that bugged me enough to change it was the single most motivating factor on this whole thing.

2. Getting buy-in from family members ahead of time. The big, shameful mess in front of our living room bookshelves had a lot of things that didn't belong to me, so I knew that I had to have Hubby on board with addressing his share of it beforehand, and he agreed to deal with his things. Now, his stuff still isn't put away into their proper places, but that's mostly because we just don't have those places yet. Yes, they now reside in the previously cleared part of the office, but they were not shoved back in behind the chairs, and that is progress. I am calling this a win.

3. Pre-writing portions of blog posts. Life gets very hectic very easily, and I found that the best way to stay on top of the blogging was to pre-select topics to write on, put a blurb in, and save them as drafts. The point-form notes reminded me of what I wanted to say, and I was better able to more faithfully blog about the process that way. I allowed life to carry me away, and I was not nearly as good about blogging my progress, so there are things that got done that will not be blogged about, but the important thing is, I can see that they got done, and my home looks better for it.

4. Awareness and mindfulness of our stuff, where it is, and where we leave it has increased dramatically. Both Hubby and I are being more intentional about our belongings and where they live.

What Didn't Work:

1. Getting anything done in Tertius and Quarta's room. I knew that was my biggest obstacle going into this, but I still had hope that they would come on board. And Tertius was pretty enthusiastic at the start. But when he realized that some actual work had to get done, his enthusiasm fizzled out very quickly. They would be asked to pick up in their room, but within minutes, they could be found either re-creating the mess they had just cleaned, or making an even bigger one. I think that this room is a week-long task unto itself, and one that I will have to undertake while they're at school.

2. Pre-selecting areas to work on. It's lovely to make a neat, tidy little list of places that need de-cluttering, but it's another thing entirely to actually work that list.

What I'd Do Differently:

1. More buy-in from family members. I think in order to not be fighting upstream, I need my family to not only buy into me de-cluttering, but I need them to opt in as well.

2. Work for a set time, and make that in the mornings. I'm finding that I am more effective if I just jump right into a task after dropping everyone off at school.

For those of you who jumped onto this crazy train with me, what are your reflections?