Sandra Felton - Organizing for Life: Declutter Your Mind to Declutter Your World

organizing for life

organizing for life

declutter your mind to declutter your world

sandra felton

1989, 2002, 2007 by Sandra Felton

Published by Fleming H. Revell
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.revellbooks.com

New paperback edition published 2007

Previously published under the title Messie No More

Printed in the United States of America

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Felton, Sandra.
Organizing for life : declutter your mind to declutter your world / Sandra Felton.
p. cm.
ISBN 10: 0-8007-3185-9 (pbk.)
ISBN 978-0-8007-3185-4 (pbk.)
1. House cleaning. I. Title.
TX324.F4433 2007
648 .5dc22

2006025454

Unless otherwise marked, Scripture is taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Scripture marked NKJV is taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture marked TLB is taken from The Living Bible, copyright 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Because we are made in Gods image we desperately want to look at our own creation and say that it is good. Are the following lies keeping you from creating a beautiful and orderly home?

Lie: Being messy is a superior way of life.

Truth: When the house is messy and our lives are disorganized, we lose touch with what is peaceful and noble in ourselves, and our self-image suffers.

Lie: Messies need more willpower and discipline.

Truth: Messies need focus, not fogginess.

Lie: Working harder will keep your house clean.

Truth: You already work hard enough! You have to uncover the underlying causes.

Lie: Im a hopeless Messie.

Truth: Getting a house under control requires nothing that we do not have or cannot get. You have an orderly person within you.

Let these and countless other truths transform you into a Messie no more!

By Sandra Felton

Living Organized

The Messies Manual

Organizing Magic

Organizing Your Home & Family

Smart Organizing

When You Live with a Messie

contents

I would be remiss if I did not mention the help I received from the teachers and librarians at Hialeah High School. These learned women lay me in the shade in many ways. Any references I have needed and leads I have asked for they have given me. Through their conversations in the faculty lounge and the library, they have unknowingly been my advisors.

I value the inspiration and information I receive from people attending my seminars and workshops and from others I meet. Many offer perceptive comments and exhibit courage that is invaluable to me in sharpening my understanding of the importance of organization in womens lives. From them I have gained a better understanding of the need to live with dignity and effectiveness and to use our qualities to the fullest extent.

Special thanks to Bob Schwartz who wrote Diets Dont Work. His understanding of the search for normalcy in the area of weight control has been a great help to me in understanding my search for normalcy in the area of order in the home. He and I met once as guests on a television show, and if I had known then what I know now about his book, I would have thanked him in personmany times.

Nothing is more frustrating than being required to do something beyond our ability. Those of us who call ourselves Messies live daily with the reality of this problem. We want to keep the house in order and beautiful, but many of us find it next to impossible to do so.

There are many examples of this kind of problem, but perhaps none illustrates the situation better than the story of Rumpelstiltskin.

The miller in the story had a clever daughter, and he boasted to the king that she could spin straw into gold. The king loved gold, so he locked the girl into a room filled with straw and ordered her to perform her miracle.

Rumpelstiltskin learned that the beautiful millers daughter had been asked to do the impossible, and he took advantage of the situation. Appearing miraculously through the locked door, he promised to spin the straw into gold if the girl would give him her ring. She agreed, knowing it was the only way she could save her life.

But the king was not satisfied with one roomful of gold. He brought in another load of straw for the millers daughter to transform. Again Rumpelstiltskin appeared, this time demanding the girls necklace as payment.

Still not satisfied, the king commanded the young girl to work her magic for a third time. Rumpelstiltskin appeared again, but this time he demanded the girls firstborn son.

Messies can sympathize with the millers poor daughter. Many Messies are bright and creative. Because of this, people expect them to be able to perform simple housekeeping chores without any problem. We expect it of ourselves. But it seems as impossible for us as it was for the millers daughter to spin straw into gold. Neither threats nor promises move us toward success. We wish for a little elf to come in and do the job for us, but he never arrives.

This book is the next best thing. It wont clean your house for you, and it doesnt come with coupons for maid service, but it will help you develop the mind-set that makes messiness a thing of the past.

Many who read this book are desperate to change and dont know how. Many have tried various methods and slipped back into old habits. Some keep things picked up but at the price of great physical and emotional effort. They have improved but find it hard to keep it up. Many of these strugglers feel very much alone. Quietly, doggedly, daily, they fight the clutter, which, like the tide, is constantly coming in. Their husbands may be urging them to do better. Their children may be embarrassed. They may feel like failures because they cant get things moving in the right direction. Whether their house is terribly messy or just consistently more cluttered than they want it to be, they feel it is out of control no matter how hard they work to control it.

Most of us already know how to do more than we are doing, so this is not another how to book. It does, however, contain many practical ideas geared for Messies. It has some information your mother never told you (or she told you when you werent listening). All of it will help you move toward the goal of order and beauty in your life. But it only works when you are mentally and emotionally ready to work at it.

This book is a why book. It clarifies for many of us what is at the root of our messiness. A friend showed me weeds from her yard. She was so amazed at how long the roots were that she taped them to a paper and recorded the measurement of the top of the weed in relation to the root. The result was startling. One weed had a tiny little top, maybe a half inch tall. But the root! That root went on for three and a half inches! To keep the weeds out of her life permanently, she had to dig deep and remove it all.