Better Books-The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

When someone asks me, "How do you keep your house clean?" I'm pretty sure we are both adding the same thing to the rest of that question-"How do you keep your house clean with four boys?!" It's no small feat keeping the Legos, Bakugans, Skylanders, Beyblades, Pokemon cards and basketballs off the carpet and in their homes! 

I used to think that keeping the house clean meant throwing all that "random, don't know what to do with this" stuff in the unfinished basement space. But I don't have a basement anymore now that I live in Texas! And, the "throw it all in the basement and close the door" mentality was a problem too. When I needed documents I had to sift through bags of it on the floor. When I went in that room to organize it I usually walked back out because I was overwhelmed by the task. No room in our homes should be overwhelmingly awful! Our spaces should contribute to us feeling happy. 

Once I moved to Texas and had to open every box and find a home for it's contents a major change occurred in my life. I found the book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and in it found tools for how to make good decisions about what stayed in my home and what didn't. I no longer looked at a gift and felt I had to keep it. The gift had served its purpose. It was a symbol of friendship and love. I still cherished the friend and the kindness shown me. But I didn't have to store the Christmas decoration year after year and never use it, or dust it or look at it. Too many things are just too many things! 

I looked at my books. I LOVE books. But in about an hour my husband and I went through all our boxes of books and kept about 1/3 of them. Those "I really should read this" books were given away. I had never read them and didn't have any idea when I would so I released them into the world to benefit someone else!

All my clothes were looked at with the thought "Does this bring me joy?" If the answer was yes I kept it. If the answer was no I gave it away or tossed it. And I still do this. When I notice I haven't worn a shirt in a while I ask myself why. I recently took 10 items out of my closet that I never wore. I have now made room for cute new things that I will wear. And, as a side note, this was a great thing to do at the end of summer. All the summer clothes were on clearance so I found good deals on the new items! 

Now all the boxes are gone. Everything has a place where it lives in our home. When I need to get something out for a craft project I know just where to find what I need. When we need to replace batteries or lights I know where they are. When I bring food home from the grocery store everything has a place to go. It's a life-changing, freeing, happy way to live! Having an organized home full of items that bring me joy (like the reading chair I purchased when I considered what type of life-style I wanted in my home) is a wonderful way to live.

And back to that question of how we keep it clean with all these boys-we have worked with them to have a home for each of their toys. The hot wheels have a bucket. The Legos have a bucket. When it's time to clean the playroom everything has a place to go. And if it's not put in its place we have another motivator-the Marmalade Monster! 

One day I found a tote bag I wasn't using anymore. I gave it to the boys, along with some permanent markers, and told them to decorate it and come up with a name for it. Thus, the Marmalade Monster was born! This monster comes out without warning. Usually it comes out after bedtime or after the boys have gone to school and left their toys all over. The toys eaten by the Marmalade Monster are not returned until the weekend. And sometimes we forget to bring it out for weeks since no one actually misses what has been eaten! But when the monster gives back what has been taken the boys have a set amount of time to put the toys away, throw them away or if they are left again I get to decide what to do with them!