Organization: The Living Room

The first thing I must realize as a hoarder is that THINGS do not make me happy. They don't. I hoard them, don't use them, and then they end up piling up in my house. I avoid living in my own home because THINGS are there: unfinished projects, clutter of toys, shoes, books, and trash. THINGS make life unpleasant in our home. The second thing I must realize is I may not get any help from Chris. He hasn't reached my point of intolerance yet. And when he wishes to eliminate things, he wants to throw it away rather than sort it. The idea of throwing THINGS away that could be useful is horrendous to me.


When I decided to quit hoarding, I had initially gone room by room and started to clean. I was counting bags. I had the goal of creating at least 5 bags a week. When I finished the goal, I quit for the day and moved on. It was actually not so hard to do. Eventually, it became a habit instead of a challenge. I did so well with it, until it Chris quit. He wanted to focus on finishing projects. The only problem he has is he doesn't finish things. For example, he worked on the closet. We went and bought everything we needed to finish the closet. HOWEVER, he stopped short because of the blizzard. We fought for several days, and then the subject was dropped. This is our pattern.


I need to break our pattern.


Our living room is complete. Finished. It's the room I go into, shut the french doors and relax. I am obsessed with keeping it clean. This is how I did it:


1. I determined my style. This is incredibly important. Part of my problem in organizing the room was not knowing what style I liked. I had gone through several styles. In my "pretend life" I hired two interior decorators. Ultimately, I liked aspects of their design but it didn't work for my living area, budget or just when I put it together it didn't feel like me.


2. Everything in my living room has a function in the living room. I have books that fill the shelves--on lower shelves are the children's books and on the higher shelves are our things. We have four shelves of DVDs and only kept what fit on these shelves. We got rid of movies we could get from Netflix or Hulu. We kept a ton of the children's videos because we could take them on the car rides. We travel a lot. I am not into knickknacks. Never have been. So I basically have none.


3. I use tons of baskets. Baskets that match my furniture makes the room look organized and clean. I have all the games--video--in a basket to the side of the bookshelf. I have another basket full of blocks on the opposite side of the room. Under a table, I have a basket full of board books. Next to an armchair is a basket full of baby toys. These are what is allowed in the living room. The children are allowed to bring toys to complement the block play but that's it.


4. Set limits, be consistent and follow through. I sat the children down and spelled out the rules. I put one child in charge of the living room. It is her chore to keep it clean. She knows if a toy is in the living room improperly, then when I clean it at night it will go to the for sale or donation pile. I do give warnings and reminders and they know it. After awhile, I found I didn't need the reminder. The children made it into their habit. They know I am serious because they have lost toys before.

Before

After 

It's not a perfect world, especially since I can control what 4 little children do but not what a husband does. Often times, it's his things, computers and messes we are now picking up after. Unlike the children who grow upset and move on, he grows angry and retaliates like I am somehow INTERRUPTING his life and plans. These days are the rough ones. But, in the end, I always have my "safe place". Read the books, watch the shows, but know that ultimately you have to know what works for you. This is not a "one shoe fits all".