Marcia Ramslad - Thomas Nelson (editor) - Simplify Your Life Collection Get Organized and Stay That Way

9781418569143 Simplify Your Life 2003 by Marcia Ramsland

9781418566296 Simplify Your Time 2006 by Marcia Ramsland

9781418574727 Simplify Your Space 2007 by Marcia Ramsland

9781418577728 Simplify Your Holidays 2008 by Marcia Ramsland

ISBN 978-1-400-20769-5 (eBook)

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Scripture quotations are from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Publishers Note: The names and identities of clients mentioned have been changed or concealed in composites to protect their privacy. For those who granted permission to print their names, details about their lives appear as they happened.

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This book is dedicated to...

all women (and those who live with them)
in search of a simpler, more satisfying life,

my clients and audiences who shaped
my thinking by their passionate quests to get organized,

and to you, my new friend,
as we walk side by side to simplify your life.

I absolutely love order. While not admitting to being a control freak, my preference in life is to run on time, stay fairly organized, accomplish my goals, and keep stuff tidy. When I do, Im free to enjoy life and the people I love.

The problem? Theres never enough time.

Thats why I loved Marcia Ramsland the first time I met her. She had such fun, simple, and practical ideas to help make life less complicated. Sitting through a seminar with her gave me a very hopeful feeling that help was on the way. She demonstrated that by making a few simple changes in daily routines, life could be more organized and a lot tidier.

Simplify Your Life is like your own personal management trainer. With heartfelt encouragement and warmth, Marcia helps us find easy, clever ways of staying organized. Best of all, she doesnt lose sight of Gods design and how Hes always working within us, nurturing growth and necessary change. Hes a God of order, the One who gave creative order to the universe, and He desires order in our lives. A Simple Prayer at the end of each chapter is our gentle reminder of His power and grace to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

Life may not be simple, but it can certainly be simplified.

Mary Graham
President
Women of Faith

F lash back to twenty years ago: Late one afternoon after another ordinary but frustrating day, I was cooking spaghetti and becoming increasingly annoyed with each stir of the tomato sauce. My preschool daughters, Christy and Lisa, were slowly emptying the dishes out of the dishwasher and cluttering up the counters while my six-month-old son, Mark, hovered around my ankles. I was trying hard to be productive and get things done, but it seemed that everything I had done latelyeven preparing a simple mealwas being sabotaged. I felt as if I had no accomplishments to show for the past three hours (or the past three days, for that matter).

Soon I realized that the spaghetti noodles werent the only things about to boil over in my crowded kitchen. The pressure inside of me had been mounting all day. As I furiously chopped the onions to make up for lost time, I suddenly exploded, My life is worth more than this!

Christy and Lisa stopped and looked up at me, unable to comprehend my outburst. Mark stopped crawling around. I gasped at the words that had erupted from my mouth as I pulled the boiling spaghetti noodles off the stove.

My life is worth more than this? I slowly pondered what I had just said. Did I mean my life was worth more than raising children? Surely not. Did I mean I was above cooking meals, washing dishes, making beds, cleaning up messes, going grocery shopping, and constantly being interrupted?

Well, not exactly, but being on call around the clock was getting old real fast.

Dont worry, I said as I calmed the little ones. Everythings going to be okay. Reassuring the children failed to reassure me, however. Thats when I realized that I was waking up every morning feeling exhausted, and frustration was becoming a regular part of my everyday life.

This was not a liferunning myself ragged from morning till night and feeling as if I had accomplished very little by days end. Every time I looked around and saw cluttered counters, mail piling up, bills to be paid, letters to be answered, laundry baskets full of clothes to be folded, I felt like screaming, Why cant I get anything done?!

On that memorable evening in my kitchen, I realized that more disarray would indeed be heading my way... unless someone in my family could get it together. And judging by the ages of everyone in the kitchen, I realized that it had to be me.

That was the moment I decided to change.

Organize My Life, Please

Over the next several weeks, I earnestly prayed for help to get organized. I read all I could find on the subject, only to find everything was written by logical, left-brained men for the workplace. The typical organizing advice consisted of these marching orders:

1. Make a list.

2. Start at the top.

3. Check things off until you are finished.

That wasnt the world I was living in. My answer to Mr. Organized and his spotless desk was similar to what most women feel when they are being told what to do: Even if I could find the list, I wouldnt feel like doing a list!

I had tried my hand at making lists, but they just werent working for me. Wasnt there a better way? I wasnt looking for a new method to organize my closets or tips to organize my spices. I was looking for something morea way to organize my life.

If necessity is the mother of invention, then I should have some answers fast. I began by scrutinizing my problem areas. These fell under four categories:

Time issues and related paper piles

Home itself

Special projects beyond the routine

General daily frustrations

After much research and many dead ends, I ended up creating systems that worked. In my excitement I started teaching organizing principles back in 1985. I also discovered I was part of an emerging group of entrepreneurs called professional organizerspeople who create practical solutions for complicated situations. We were discovering a rising need for answers in dealing with busy lifestyles.