With the month coming to a close, I wonder if you’re beating
yourself up (I hope you’re not) because you didn’t stick with your
New Year’s resolutions; whether it was decluttering and getting
organized, getting healthier by exercising and eating better or
getting your finances back on track. 

Whatever your resolution was perhaps you didn’t follow through
with it because you didn’t remove the temptation. 

Let’s look at Judith, whom actually gave me the idea for this article
and has given me permission to discuss her situation. 

Judith is an innkeeper of a beautiful Bed ‘N Breakfast in White
Springs, FL – the place where I’m taking my sabbatical and helping
Judith declutter and get organized.

 Although many private areas of the BNB needed help we decided
to start in the kitchen for two reasons: 1) Judith’s office is located
in the kitchen and 2) Judith has to cook breakfast every morning
when she has guests (plus cooking for herself throughout the day). 

In the small kitchen with limited cabinet space Judith had her desk,
a hutch, two tables, stove, refrigerator and one wall of partial
counter tops. Her kitchen was so jumbled you could barely breathe,
let alone turn around and do work in it.

 After speaking with Judith I made my recommendations and the
first one was to sort everything out of the hutch. The hutch that
Judith has emptied out and organized many times and then went
back to old habits of throwing this or that into and on it. We didn’t
just need to empty and organize we needed to remove the
temptation to pile, stow, toss and hide. Judith agreed we needed to
remove the hutch. You see the hutches only function had become a
“catch-all”. 

With the temptation removed, the desk drawers cleaned out and a
new “paper system” put in place Judith has managed to keep her
space clear of clutter for almost three weeks now and she can
breathe again.

 As Judith continues on her journey of decluttering and organizing
she asked me the other day, “Do any of your clients tell you they
feel like they are drowning in clutter?”

 ”Yes, all the time,” I answered.

 ”And do any of them mention to you that after the process of
decluttering they feel like the weight of the world has been lifted
off their shoulders?” Judith asked. 

“Yes, all the time,” I answered with a giggle. 

What temptations do you need to remove from your life?