Getting your house in order – or even keeping in it order – is endless. I have just accepted it. Every day I spend time tidying, putting things away, throwing things out, wiping counters and a whole bunch of other things, because if I don’t, things get scruffy in a shockingly short time. I do it all the time, mostly without even thinking about it. I like it. Or at least I like the result.
It’s not about being obsessive. If you saw our house you would see that it is well lived in. It’s just that have found that things just don’t feel good when they are messy – and I like things at home to feel good. Anyone who thinks that messy feels okay to live in for any length of time is kidding themselves, or is shut down in some way. If you are aware of your surroundings and have a reasonable desire to be happy, you will notice that messy does not feel good. Period. Clean and tidy feels good.
When I work with clients getting houses ready to sell, which I still do in my husband’s real estate business, my secret hope, beyond helping people to get a great price for their house, is that people will notice enough of a difference in how things look and feel in their place when it’s all done that they will take some of that experience with them to their new home. Before and after pictures cannot possibly capture the difference in a home that is clean and tidy – everything just feels different.
The trick is to keep up every day so that organizing your home never feels like a big job. And I mean every single day. The funny thing is, if I were to set aside a few hours to clean and tidy, I wouldn’t last half an hour. I have no attention span for such things. But one, three, and occasionally ten minutes at a time, I am a dynamo. And 15-20 times a day that adds up! Try it out – you might even like it!
