I’ve heard that it takes 21 days to make a habit, I believe the Flylady says 27. I feel like for me it isn’t a matter of days, it takes as long as it takes.  Even if I do something for 21 days,  unless I keep doing it I didn’t actually make any habits, I just did something for 21 days then moved on.

I can’t actually say I’ve created any official habits that have stuck. I haven’t managed to go to bed without any dishes, or have all my laundry actually put away.  However I do feel like I have changed my mindset.  I haven’t given up.  I keep trying every day.

The other day it finally hit me,  The Flylady was right all along about the fact that you can’t organize clutter. I’ve always agreed with her to a certain degree, and I’ve made huge strides decluttering over the years.  I’ve learned memories aren’t in my things,   I’ve also gotten really good at not bringing new things into my home (except kids toys they keep sneaking in). I learned to clean my house with a few basic things instead of having the equivalent of the cleaning isle of a store under my sink.  However I have still been struggling to let go of some of the things in my home.  I am bad with two things in particular ,  anything of my kids,  and food . I struggle to let my kids items go , and I love a stocked pantry. Learning to keep an inventory will solve the pantry issue so I’m not too considered about that. The kids stuff is a whole different story.

My oldest has too many things .  I know we need to pair them down.  He is learning to do that and has been inspired to give his things to charity .  I decided that I needed to support this by helping him and following his lead. I had wanted to make a donation to a local shelter in honor of Valentine’s Day so even though it wasn’t  on Valentine’s Day it would still be good.

It was time to tackle the littles things.  I love kids,  love being a mom.  I’ve wanted a big family since I was young. After my daughter was born I started putting her things aside. I knew I might want more kids,  and even if we didn’t have more I just wasn’t ready to let them go.  When she was 16 months old I found out I was pregnant with our youngest. I was so happy to have all that stuff !! Except there was one problem . .. we were having a boy.  Did I bag up the stuff and donate it? Nope, I didn’t.  I told myself I would once I knew it was a boy.  Well here we are,  he’s 8 months old and I still have her clothes and his .  While in my heart I know I would welcome another,  that is very very unlikely .  I could bless someone else with the clothes instead of keeping them in boxes just incase.

The work is not done yet but I have gone through and have several large bags ray to go.  I’ve done my own clothing several times but I plan to go through it one more time before calling the shelter and arranging a good drop off time.

I am pleased with my progress so far.  My project is life long.  I want to permanently shift my mindset. I have gotten over a hurtle that I’ve been struggling with for some time.  I’ll still probably shed a few tears dropping off the bags,  but my heart is happy knowing that it will do so much good for others.  I decided to tackle that first because if I could do that the rest won’t seem so bad.

My home project continues .  It’s currently school vacation week for my oldest . So my goal this week is to give him a nice week ,  and to hopefully tackle a few little projects along the way.