Convicting. Ouch.

I love Memories of a Catholic Wife and Mother. She pointed me to an article from In the Heart of My Home that I find so very convicting, especially lately.

I'm feeling the nesting urge. It seems like clutter is EVERYWHERE and no matter what I do it just keeps building up! Our house is small for 6 people and there is no storage space. Yes, we have 2 outside sheds, but Hubbers keeps the large one full of his "stuff" and I'm afraid to use any of that space. The small one houses my lawn and gardening stuff, an old crib (we co-sleep but may use it when he's older) and the boxes of Christmas stuff/tree.

As Elizabeth points out in her article, I need to look at the private areas of my life and make them as clean as the public parts. Granted, my public house areas aren't as clean as I'd like, but the space behind my closed bedroom door is just icky.

Clutter makes me restless and saps my energy at the same time. There's a Don Aslett cleaning center here and I've access to some of his books about clutter but just can't get myself motivated! Perhaps as the nesting urge grows stronger I'll be able to conquer some of my mess. And banish the excuses (as soon as the school year ends, all the stuff that belongs there can go live there) that always pop up.

Pack rat-ery breeds in both our families. I see it emerging in my children already! Getting them to clean their rooms is nigh on impossible. The best thing is to threaten them with the large black garbage bag of thrift store [death] donation. That provokes just enough cleaning to keep the middle and some edges of the floor clean.

I know it's way past the new year, but here's my resolution before the arrival of sweetie pie #5: de-junk, de-clutter, feel better about my house! I don't mind having people over, I just need to worry about what Hubbers sees when he comes home from work. 'Cause, you know, I love him best.