Hi. My name is Jill, and I’m a Clutter-aholic.
If you know me, or have read through the earlier postings on this blog, you are aware that over the past year my family and I have downsized from a very large and spacious home to a small/average sized home that also contains a functioning business within it. Our living and storage space is probably a quarter of what it was a year ago. It has been challenging, to say the least. I’m not sure anything could have adequately prepared me for this…my head is still spinning from all of the moving, rearranging, throwing away, selling, purging, and burning that we have already done….and my anxiety peaks every time I look at the mountains of boxes, bags, laundry baskets, etc. that still need sorted through and organized. It’s honestly more overwhelming than I can explain…
If I were an organized, Martha Stewart type neat freak, I’m sure I’d feel like I had the courage and skills to tackle it…but then again, if I were that type of personality, I wouldn’t be quite in the predicament I am right now, would I? I wouldn’t have collected all of the junk and crap. I would have thrown away items of no use, donated clothing we no longer needed or used, shredded old documents and papers. Prior to the move I would’ve had things organized, boxed, and labeled properly. That’s the person I WANT to be. That I aspire to become.
But I’m pretty much as far from that as one can possibly get on the “neat freak spectrum”. I’m not going to say I’m a “hoarder”, because, that is just too scary for me to even think about. I’m not like the hoarders that television shows are made of, at least not yet (you will not find any dead animal carcasses anywhere and you do not need a shovel to be able to find my floor…so that makes me feel like “hoarder” is definitely too strong of a word for me…).
I like to think of it as simply having a gift for acquiring crap and keeping it. Forever. I can’t even explain it. Let me show you…
The last time I cleaned out my bag (or very large purse), I dumped it on the table and this is a portion of the contents that spilled out: 
See what I mean? Crazy, huh? It’s all perfectly good stuff…but in my bag that I carry around daily? I mean how often does one need a remote control or canning jar lid when you’re out and about? How many times did you ever wish you had thought to throw an outlet cover, baggie of googly eyes or container of garlic powder into your bag before leaving for the mall? And I had been carrying it around for a couple of months, probably.
Now if you take a look at that, and then consider that I have an entire basement full of “stuff” that needs sorted through, you can imagine my apprehension. And my subsequent avoidance of it. I’m the Queen of “out of sight, out of mind”. I’m not proud to hold that title, trust me. I have fantasies about having the most organized home and life on the planet. I want to be able to go to a drawer, cupboard, closet, or box and know exactly what I will find in there.
I know. I NEED HELP.
Today, I walked to the basement. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I looked at the catastrophic heap of clutter and literally said out loud “Oh My God, I have no idea what to do with this mess.” And I turned around and walked up the stairs, closing the door on it like I had done 100 times.
This is where I believe Divine intervention came into play.
I walked directly to the computer, sat down, and on my Facebook newsfeed was a posting from a Facebook page called White House Black Shutters, with a link to their website at http://www.whitehouseblackshutters.com, but what caught my eye was THIS picture:
I’m pretty sure I heard angels singing. I mean, I HAD just told God that I had no idea what to do with the mess in the basement. If this wasn’t a sign, I’m not sure what it was. And I’m much too God-fearing to ignore it. So guess what? Tomorrow, Wednesday February 18, is Day 1 of my “40 Bags In 40 Days” challenge. Please click on their link and check out, in detail, how exactly this awesome decluttering challenge works. Anna Marie, the genius behind it all, has been doing this for several years now, and gives tons of great tips for the most successful decluttering outcome. She also gives ideas for organization, offers support, and provides links to other great resources within her website and facebook page.
In a nutshell, this is what I will be doing: I will go through a portion of the basement, or a box, drawer, or closet upstairs….and declutter — DECRAPIFY — that one spot or space that I assigned myself for the day. If it’s a very busy day, I will still go through even one small box, bag, cupboard or drawer…to get rid of what I can’t or won’t use, and organize the remaining items. Even a small amount of daily decluttering is positive progress and better than nothing. And I am committing to do this throughout Lent, through April 4th. Sundays are a “free” day, in which you can take a break from it.
Do any of YOU have decluttering and decrapifying that needs done? Let’s declutter and decrapify together…I’m not too proud to admit that I could really use a support system. Do you wish you had more order and organization in your life or home? Do you feel overwhelmed or have anxiety about crap that you’ve accumulated and need to get rid of? 
If so, PLEASE PLEASE join me. I would love to have some company on this journey. I will keep you updated occasionally by posting some before and after pics with updates, and it would be beyond awesome to see some of YOUR progress and feedback as well. Let’s decrapify together!!
—make sure you “Follow” me on my blog (Click the blue “follow” button” here on the blog site) and “Like” This Wicked, Wonderful World by Jill Palilla Facebook page to see my updated posts.
I’m well aware that actually getting rid of the stuff and organizing is the first step, and as big of a task as it is, the bigger and harder part of the journey for me will be the maintenance that is required to stay on the straight and narrow. I’m bound and determined to live a life of calmness, organization and simplicity.
Cheers to a “Less is More” state of mind (and never again finding garlic powder and a remote control in my purse),
Jill ❤
This Wicked, Wonderful World 