If you fail to plan, you must plan to fail.

Everytime I think about decluttering the house, or attacking the clutter in the shed, or any other grand project, I devise a huge plan. I set out my goals, I write them all down. I make sticker charts. I envision the end. Let me tell ya somthing. IT NEVER WORKS. Never. That's why I am still sitting amongst my clutter.

What am I going to do different this time around? I'm not sure yet. Should I haul out the heavy artillery of well laid goals and schemes? I feel like a different approach is needed. Obviously, the my current situation isn't working.

I often enjoy a good self help book now and then. I love reading success stories and testimonials about diet plans and organizing. They are so energizing and inspiring. You can tell that something really clicked for that person. You can see in their short little blurb that a light has come on. They are a new person. They have been born again and made over. It's a beautiful thing to see! I am in envy. I have yet to write in my testimonial, and I am far from a success story. I'm waiting for my click.

What does it take for the click to happen? What must preface the click? How fed up did these people get before they decided to flip? When is it my turn? Am I fed up enough? Perhaps if I write about my clutter enough, I will become obsessed enough to actually do something about it.

Now there is the topic of the plan. Which is where we started off in the first place. Must I have a plan? Well I do in a way. My lack of a plan is the plan. Do I dare dive into this cleansing of my home without a plan? The thought is astounding. Will it work to not have everything carefully assessed and timed out and catagorized before I touch a single piece of clutter? Oh my. It goes against all I have been taught. All the great classes of success and management and organizational books.

On to my new approach. In my past quest to overcome post partum depression, I read a book called "Creating Optimism" by a woman named Alicia Fortinberry and her husband. I can never remember his name. The book had some great concepts in it about coping with modern life. There was much discussion about how we need to live more like our ancestors who were hunter/gatherers. One part of the book discussed the need to believe in an omnipotent power. They said that it doesn't matter who (or what) you believe in, as long as you believed in something greater than you. Why? Because this gives you hope. I can't explain it as well as they do. If you have a clutter problem, get the book. Clutter is often a symptom of something internal that needs addressing, and the book will help.

Pressing forward. I believe that I have a big mess. I need help to clean it up. If I continue believing that I can do it all by myself, it's not going to get done because I am flat out overwhelmed. So here's the kicker. I have to start praying for the clutter to go away. I"m not kidding. Although I wish I was. I am a religious person. I attend church weekly, we pray as a family daily, I have a testimony that Christ is my Saviour. It just seems odd to me that I should start praying about my clutter. To me, you pray about the big things. I thank my Heavenly Father on a regular basis for the wonderful things I have in my life. I am thankful for a home, a family, a car that works decent, a healthy body. But honestly, is clutter worth praying over? Now I am thinking this out in my head. Of course it is. The problem is bigger than I am. I have been battling the clutter for years now. The planning and the schemes have not worked. They have provided a temporary band-aid, but I have not been able to let go.

So my plan, is simply, to pray my clutter away. Gah. I hope this works.