Saturday: Getting Ready for #100DaysOf...

I have decided to participate (at least, to try to participate) in a #100DayChallenge. There are lots of ways to do this, but I've decided to pair two things together - a creativity exercise with some cleaning. Starting on Wednesday, I will be working towards five minutes of cleaning daily as well as a rolodex doodle thing. What does all this mean? Well, it means that I am going to try my best to focus on the things that I want for myself - a cleaner environment and a routine that includes making art every day.

Now, I tend to get pretty excited about these things and then peter out after a couple of weeks. This challenge will last from February 22nd through June 2nd. I have enough stuff to take with me to keep the art part going for the entire time. I can take my rolodex cards with me when I go traveling this season. I have lots of little colored pencils and markers and stickers and things that will travel easily. I will not be able to clean my home for five minutes when I am not around my home, so that will have some natural breaks. I am hoping that 100 days of working on these two things will keep me going after June 2nd.

I am not neat. (My mother has just been overtaken by uncontrollable giggles. She doesn't know why, but she knows that there has been an understatement made by one of her children. She's smiling in her sleep...) 

So, I am not neat. I did manage to clear off my desk last week - PROGRESS!! - but I am not neat. I am more likely to put things where I stand rather than placing them where they belong, especially if they don't have a place where they belong. I am better at putting things where they belong when they have one place where they go.  I am working on finding places for things in my craft area. At the moment, I am searching for some small bottles that I bought at some point last year to hold my glue. I know that they are down here somewhere, but I don't remember having a set place where I store these things. As a result, I am searching through everything! It is much easier when I have a place (and have written it on a map) to keep things. At the moment, I have a place for my paints, my bits and pieces of paper, for yarn and material, and for other things as well. It would make sense to my brain to keep the glue and the empty glue bottles together. Once I find them, I will place them in that part of my craft area - glue with the bottles. Makes sense to me.

The five minutes of dedicated cleaning time that I am going to do will make small changes around me in increments. I can do so much in five minutes that's it is ridiculous that I don't do these things more often. Five minutes of cleaning a toilet means a clean toilet. Five minutes of putting dishes in the dishwasher means clean dishes. Five minutes of folding clothing means floors clear of clean clothes. I can do quite a bit in 5 minutes.

Did you see that Marie Kondo, the maven of Sparking Joy and getting rid of things, no longer has the time or energy to keep up with her very own method? That made me laugh a bit.

Life happens, and there are times when your deeply held beliefs are no longer something that fits. I am hoping that my deeply held belief that I am not a neat person will be changed after 100 days, but I am not all that certain that it will. Happy Saturday!

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