I’ve been reading a book called “Sheparding a Child’s Heart”, by Tedd Tripp.  It’s all about getting to the heart issues behind your children’s actions, words, behavior, etc.  The book has really helped me examine the heart issues in different areas of my own life as well.  I don’t know if you realize this, but there are heart issues behind the clutter and disorder in our lives (I know, you didn’t really want to know that!).  The first thing I address when helping someone get organized is how they got to the point of disorganization in the first place.  More times than not, they got to the point of no return gradually.  Carelessness, distractions, busyness, fear.  You can make your own list of reasons.  The point is, we need to address the heart issues that got us to the point of being disorganized.  Maybe you’ve been messy or disorganized your entire life.  If that is the case, you may want to contact me! :)  But most likely, you’ve got some things already running through your mind that helped you along your jouney to chaos within your home and your life.  For me, some of my reasons were busyness.  I stayed so busy over the last few years that there were seasons in which I had no spare time whatsoever to spend on “me” or my own house.  I had to rearrange my priorities many, many times.  Another reason for me was fear.  At one point I had 19 storage bins in my garage.  Most of them had clothes in them.  There were a few for paint supplies, Christmas decorations, crafts, sewing, and toys, but most of them were clothing.  I had an entire wardrobe in three different sizes for summer AND winter!  I was so afraid to get rid of those size 6 bins because “what if I finally get down to that size again!? I won’t have anything to wear if I give them away!”  Do you know that the last time I wore that size was five years ago.  By golly, if I get back in a size six again, I’ll deserve a NEW size six wardrobe.  I was holding onto those clothes out of fear and I was holding onto ‘the old me’.  I’m a completely different person now than when I wore those ittly bitty clothes five years ago.  I have three kids now, I’ve moved four times, my husband went back to school, graduated, has a great job now, and we bought a new house.  Needless to say, I gave the clothes to a skinny friend who could use them.  :)  When I finally rearranged my priorities, made time for myself and my own household, I was able to get organized a little bit at a time and that had the biggest payoff of all.  Sure, you could hire me to come to your house and do ALL the hard work for you, but the best and most important part of the process is putting your own sweat and tears into getting your life the way you want it.  Sorting through years of memories and deciding what is worth keeping and what is worth letting go of.  We make new memories everyday, but holding onto things that you should really be letting go of can completely hinder where you’re going in life and how you get there.  I encourage you to examine the issues in your life that may have led or enabled you to get to your personal point of disorder or chaos.  It’s not as hard as you think to start letting go.

~audrey