Getting back to the Basics
A good reminder that you don't have wait until you can take care of everything all at once.
Hi Everyone! It’s been a few weeks since I last posted anything, sorry about my inconsistency. I also just realized I completely missed celebrating the one year anniversary of my very first Clearing out the Clutter newsletter, so I wanted to at least just take a second to acknowledge it now. So, Happy One Year Anniversary and thanks to everyone who has been with me since the start (and anyone who has just recently become a reader)! I truly appreciate all of your encouragement along the way.
As I said, I’ve been a bit inconsistent with my writing lately, and I have also been inconsistent with my work to declutter and keep the house organized (and by association inconsistent with pretty much every aspect of my life and thinking lately). I had a nice reminder about getting back to the basics this weekend though and so wanted to share it.
The weather has been pretty not great here, but yesterday was at least sunny and not raining, though still a bit windy and cold. It was nice enough though to at least get outside and spend some time in the backyard, which was great. Our backyard is in desperate need of some TLC though. There are holes everywhere that Willis has dug up that we pointlessly fill back in with soil every summer (because he inevitably digs them back up again…if anyone has some genius solution for getting a hound dog to stop digging please share!!), the garden is looking so sad with dried plants from last year still sticking out everywhere and weeds already beginning to grow, and the usual winding vines and weeds all over the deck and our fence.
As I was out there and looking around my mind immediately started telling me “Wow, we have our work cut out for us in a few weeks when the weather gets better”. Then, thankfully, I thought “Wait, why do we have to wait a few weeks and try to do everything all at once?”. Just because I only had 20-30 minutes today, why not at least get a start? My daughter was happily playing in the huge sand pile on the side of the house (that’s a story for a whole other day…we got rid of our old deck and didn’t really think through what ugliness we’d be left with afterwards…but at least provides great entertainment for her for the time being), so why not do a tiny bit of work??
I decided to tackle the vines and weeds all over the side fence. I grabbed the big garden clippers and just started cutting away. There is only about a five foot area of the fence that has these weeds growing all over it, not the entire thing, and it literally took me probably about 15 minutes in total but I swear just by removing all of the growth on the fence it made our yard look SO much bigger and more open. I wish I had taken before and after pictures because the difference was seriously incredible.
We still have a lot of work ahead of us for the season and the yard is still looking in pretty desperate need of a lot of help, but just in doing that tiny bit of improvement I felt such a huge sense of accomplishment, it was great. It also made me really want to do more (I didn’t have time to that day unfortunately but the feeling has stuck with me and I’m looking forward to tackling something else this weekend).
In doing this I remembered one of the Clutterbug podcasts that had stuck with me a while back where Cas was discussing how decluttering and cleaning can be so satisfying and motivating because you can see the results immediately. With other goals such as weight loss or more long term goals, it’s harder to feel the motivation some days because you don’t lose 20 pounds or drop 2 pant sizes in just one day, but if you clean one area you see those results immediately. So good!!
Anyway, like I said, I needed a reminder to get back to the basics (like Five Minutes Matters!!), so I wanted to pass along this reminder to anyone else who might be overwhelmed by a major cleaning they’ve got ahead of them or any other task that might be looming over you. Take it a little bit at a time and enjoy your small wins!
PS. Our yard isn’t quite as dire as the photo below, but the drowning in the weeds feeling is real.
Yes!!! Five minutes matter—one of the best pieces I of advice you have ever given me! I love this whole post so much. I totally relate to it and found myself agreeing with everything as I read it!