Stress Center Peer Support

One of my big underlyibg stressors is clutter, lack of organization. And what I tell myself about it (I'm a failure, it's tooo overwhelming, I don't know where to start, i don't have time, If I can't do it right, whay even bother....) I homeschool 3 children and we have a lot of stuff in a small house, and my husband works from home. Everything I do to get more on routine helps, but it's not going to be overnight and I realize what i telll myself about it really affects how i feel. Can anyone relate??

Sometimes clutter drives me crazy. I try not to clean everyday become obessession with cleaning, little of clutter doesnt bother me but when there is a lot of clutters it start to bother me. It depends on how bad is the clutters... Also, sometimes cleaning helps my anxiety or depression by distract it away by cleaning it up... Also to get me moving around do things...

Are you familiar with Flylady.net? Check it out. Its been just as helpful to me as this program. When I am cluttered on the outside I feel very cluttered on the inside. Like Im scattered everywhere and I get paralyzed too.

Reena

yes, I have been getting the flylady posts and love the ideas, but have not put many into practice yet. I guess, like a lot of things, I want it all perfect now, I want the "magic pill" that makes my house clean, etc. Flylady's ides of babysteps is much more realistic and loving and i need to keep replacing my negative thoughts with true and encouraging ones. thanks!

so, Reena, you follow the flylady program, can you tell me more about how it has helped you? Do I remember right that you homeschool? I do too.

It's funny because when I went through the program I never realized how stressful all my junk was. In addition to the AA program I found the program at <A HREF="http://www.drivingfear.com" TARGET=_blank>Driving Fear</A> very helpful and ironically it speaks about getting organized and free of clutter as a general strategy for reducing anxiety and stress. It really helped me a lot, you don't even realize it till it's gone.

Clutter use to drive me nuts and I let it get to me. I would always expect my wife and kids to be just as neat and clean as me. I'm over that now. I do what's needed to keep up my things. Help with the house so it's clean, not neat freak clean, just clean. I'm not going to walk past a full garbage can and now it get's done when I have time.

lol,

It's not funny but I can realate.I start by throwing things out that I really don't need or give them away.Then work on one room at a time

I use to stare at the ceilings when I needed a break from clutter. Everyone could count on me to have and find what was needed/wanted. After awhile though I couldn't find a place in the right catagory for all the "what if" I needed accumulated items and chaos overcame me and I no longer could think straight. Watched all those "Get Organized" TV shows and began tackling each space with three boxes; one-to save, one-to give away, one-to the trash.

I'm just beginning to realize that clutter and disorganization contributes to anxiety. I work at home and am focused on getting a lot accomplished -- which means emails, writing, etc -- so taking time to file materials and create order seems to take away from my productivity. I never seem to take that extra half hour in the day to create order in my office. I'm working right now with 7 piles of stuff in my visual field. I'll make a promise to myself to deal with one pile today. Wish me well!

Missouri Gal