Snow White & the 7 Dwarfs:
Sleepy, Sneezy, Happy, Grumpy, Doc, Dopey & Bashful.

Just for fun, let's see how these guys may have approached being tidy.

We'll start with Sleepy:

It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom. - Aristotle

Are morning people born or made?
If morning people are born, then there's nothing to be done about it, but if a morning person can be made, then how and why?
It seems there are two main schools of thought about sleep patterns. One is that you should go to bed and get up at the same times every day. It’s like having an alarm clock on both ends — you try to sleep the same hours each night. This seems practical for living in modern society. We need predictability in our schedules. And we need to ensure adequate rest.
The second school says you should listen to your body’s needs and go to bed when you’re tired and get up when you naturally wake up. This approach is rooted in biology. Our bodies should know how much rest we need, so we should listen to them.

More about this later ...

Bee Happy and Whistle While You Work

Happiness is not something akin to a celestial body to pursue and catch. In fact, happiness often comes on us unawares while we are helping others.
An old Hindu proverb pointedly and beautifully expresses this philosophy on happiness: "Help thy brother's boat across, and lo! Thine own has reached the shore."
"Pursue Love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts." (1 Corinthians 14:1a)
One psychologist by the name of William James put it this way, "I don't sing because I'm happy, I'm happy because I sing."
Some of us tend to wait for happiness to somehow take up residence on our doorstep, not even realizing that if we act as if we are happy, we will make others happy.
William James put it this way: "Action seems to follow feeling, but really ... action and feeling go together and by regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is not."
This is powerful advice. Now, here is the final step to William James's philosophy: "Thus the sovereign voluntary path to cheerfulness, if our cheerfulness be lost, is to sit up cheerfully and to act and speak as if cheerfulness were already there!"

Tidy Zones

Today, I want to begin a talk about something I learned from two women called the "Slob Sisters." Back in the late 1970's, I read and reread a book by Pam Young and Peggy Jones, entitled "Sidetracked Home Executives." They later wrote another book, "Get Your Act Together," with a more streamlined approach to their same system of organization. This is where I was introduced to the concept of Zones and a Weekly Plan.
The Amish worked up the singsong limerick that kept them washing on Monday and ironing on Tuesday, etc. In other words, a weekly plan. They said, "Think of a weekly plan as a disposable guide to focusing your life for seven days at a time: In a typical week, you will need to devote a certain amount of time to do housework, play, be with your family, rest, run errands, and do paperwork."
So, our weekly plan should include the following: A Play Day, A Desk Day, A Full Cleaning Day, A half Cleaning Day, A Go-FER Day, A Family Work Day, and A Family Play Day. Traditionally, certain "women's chores" were assigned a day of the week. You might be stitching a set of dish towels (I have a set I'm working on right now) or making a "sampler" of a cute kitty doing the chores, and so on.

Here is a list of the "traditional" chores.
Monday - Washing
Tuesday - Ironing
Wednesday - Mending
Thursday - Marketing
Friday - Baking
Saturday - Cleaning
Sunday - Day of Worship

And here is another one from many years ago:
Washing on Monday
Ironing and Mending on Tuesday
Kitchen storeroom, dairy on Wednesdays
Bedrooms on Thursday
Living rooms on Friday
Kitchen only, cleaning silver, changing beds, Saturday
Sunday was traditionally a day of rest. No one would dream of doing anything but the barest necessities. The maids used to say that if you sewed on Sunday, you would have to unpick the stitches with your nose in Hell, after you died. No doubt, they believed it! (Yikes!)

"Eat it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." In days gone by, this was the motto of a good housewife. Seems like a good one for today, as well. Confusion as to what to do concerning house-cleaning and when, nearly always arises from lack of a system, and no preparations have been made for when the dreaded day arrives.

Stay tuned for more about Tidy Zones

Tidy Tip # 10

Tidy Tip # Ten

Ok ... did you get started on something? If not, you might start by emptying one shelf or one cupboard, and begin sorting. As you take things off of the shelf or out of the cupboard and you find things that belong in other places, put them there immediately! If there is no room in the place that the item belongs, then set it in the general area. Keep it up until the cupboard or shelf is Tidy!

I find this phrase helpful: "Where does this (item) live?" Ideally, every item should have a place where you know it belongs, and can take it there instantly. And guess what? You are then able to find "it" ... whatever it is ... instantly too! Yay!

Tidy Tip Number Nine - One room at a time

Okay, if you're like me ... life just gets in the way sometimes and you find yourself overwhelmed once again. I recently broke my foot, and couldn't really do much in the way of cleaning for about six weeks! So, now what do I do?
Start with one room, and don't invision the entire house: Make a master list of that room - meaning every single thing that needs to be done in that room! If you have plants in that room, write down water the plants. Clean light fixtures, dust baseboards, windex windows, wash curtains, and so on.
After you've written out this room's master list, decide how often each thing needs to be done, and write a little note next to it - daily, every other day, weekly, every other week, monthly, every other month, and seasonally.
Now, today ... do the daily, and every other day things. We are working hard to get rid of clutter!
Let's say we are working on clearing out the dining room, so that we can use that area for eating only. What a concept, huh?
Ok ... now, I want you to set a timer for 3o minutes and spend the time decluttering this area. Clutter is things you don't ever use, don't love, or don't belong in this room.
After those 30 minutes are up, set the timer again and clean this same room for 30 minutes ... using your master list - 3o minutes; no more.
Ok ... you're done for today. Don't try to do too much at once.

Tidy Tip Number Nine

Tidy Tip Number Nine: SET GOALS (on paper)
Make a list of all the things you want to organize; whether it's your tool-shed or your garage, your office, your recipes, your time, your desk, your car, everything! When you're done with your list, choose just ONE item on it. This is going to be your 'BIG' goal.
Now, take your 'BIG' goal, and break it down into smaller, manageable pieces. These will be your tiny-goals. One by one, you're now going to achieve each of your tiny-goals, until each one is completed. Once the final one is completed, you will have accomplished your 'BIG' goal. Here's a littl example:
BIG GOAL: Organize and clean the bathroom.
Tiny-Goal 1: Organize and clean the medicine cabinet.
Tiny-Goal 2: Organize and clean out the cabinet under the bathroom sink.
Tiny-Goal 3: Clean out and organize bathroom drawers.
Tiny-Goal4: Weed out magazines in the bathroom.
Tiny-Goal 5: Set up separate toiletry storage areas for each member of the family.

Give yourself deadlines for your BIG GOAL, and date your Tiny-Goals accordingly. So, say you want to finish your bathroom in one week, and today is the 23rd of March. Today you should clean the reorganize your medicine cabinet; tomorrow do Tiny-Goal 2; Saturday, clean out and organize bathroom drawers; Sunday should be a Chore-Free day; Monday, weed out magazines; and then on Tuesday do Tiny-Goal 5! Voila... you did it!

Reward yourself as you finish each Tiny-Goal. Write down the Tiny reward before you get started. For Example: After finishing Tiny-Goal #1, read a chapter in a book, or take a 20 minute nap (whatever floats your boat and feels like a little reward) Desigate little reward after each Tiny-Goal. But, do something bigger and better after you finish the BIG goal.

Eventually you'll do this with each room in the house. While organizing and cleaning on a daily basis may sound daunting, it only truly requires about 20 minutes of your time each day. When the last person gets out of the shower, for example, spray down the walls with some shower cleaner. Quickly disinfect the toilet bowl each night. Turn the dishwasher on. Toss a load of clothes in the washing machine. Dust a few pieces of furniture. Vacuum a room. File a few sheets of paper. You get the picture, right? Each of the items mentioned above just takes a few minutes--some even take a few seconds. 20 minutes per day, comes out to just over 2 hours per week--which is a very reasonable amount of organizing and cleaning time for the average household.
However, leave cleaning tasks for a week or two and very often the situation will get out of control. The tub will need to be scrubbed. The laundry will be piled to the ceiling. Your "To Be Filed" pile will be overflowing. Let it go too long and deep-cleaning and heavy organizing time is required, which is much more time-consuming than simply organizing and cleaning a little bit each day. What would have taken you just 2 hours in a week, now you'll have to spend an entire Saturday deep- cleaning and catching up.

Tidy Tip Number Eight

Tidy Tip #8: Read Tips 1-7 and do the ones you haven't don yet!!!

Tidy Tip Number Seven

Tidy Tip #7: Throughout your house, throw away pens that don't work! How many times have you picked up a pen (usually in a hurry) to jot down a message or a thought, only to find that it's out of ink or clogged? Don't let these useless pens inconvience you ever again - throw them away TODAY!!

Tidy Tip Number Six

Tidy Tip #6: Socks that have been seperated from their mates for more than a couple of weeks are probably destined to remain solo. So either reunite them with their mates or remove them from your drawers and turn them into dust cloths ... or just toss them.

*Note: A lone sock can come in handy. Put socks on your hands to dust miniblinds or to get in those tough places, like around chair handles and legs, bedroom headboards, baseboards and the like.
One company that I know of even creates socks (and lots of other things) that are mismatched:
You've Met Your Mismatch
MISMATCHED SOCKS-These cozy, colorful socks are a perfect mismatch: Sharing the same hues and the same pattern, each sock exchanges colors for a chromatically congruous take on the classic case of mismatched socks. The color arrangements will vary for each sock. Really...life's too short for matching socks. Knit and hand finished in Vermont.$18.00
http://www.uncommongoods.com/

Tidy Tip Number Five

Well, today's tip brings us to our Desks! Yikes! It's okay though ... don't be scared. The 1o or 15 square feet of space on your desktop must be deemed precious. Make your workspace more accessible and inviting with an organized desk.
First of all, take everything off the desk surface. That's right, off! There, doesn't that look better already? Keep a trashcan and recycling bin closeby as you do this. Clean off the surface of your desk with your favorite surface cleaner. Then, put back only the things that you use on a day-to-day basis. Go through paperwork that has accumulated on your desk and do something with it! File it or toss it! If you're like me, a messy and disorganized desk can make you feel weighed down and overwhelmed. A clean desk invites you to jump in and start new projects, or, if nothing else, to just sit in the desk chair and enjoy the view. Remember: Control your paper, and don't let it control you!

Happy Cleaning!

Tidy Tip Number Four

Tidy Tip #4: Empty every wastebasket in your home, all the trash in your purses, and every piece of paper and trash in you car! Trash equals the past and the old, outdated, useless, and uneeded things in our lives. OUT with the old, and IN with the new. Take the time to put plastic bags in each trash container, and set aside a regular day each week to empty wastebaskets, purses, and your car of unwanted, useless waste!
Whew! Now, don't you feel better?

Tidy Tip Number Three:
Gather up newspapers and magazines and other reading materials scattered about; they can really make your home look messy! Recycle or toss those you have finished reading and put the rest of them away and out of view. If you don't have the time to sort through all of them immediately, at least gather them up and put them all in a basket or box until you can organize them properly.
Living on or near a military base gives us the perfect place to take our magazines. The Navy Hospital on base here in Yokosuka, Japan, has numerous waiting areas where patients read magazines, and many of their magazines are outdated. I take my magazines to the hospital on somewhat of a regular basis, and it feels good to know they are being put to good use and not just going into the trash.

Tidy Tip Number Two:
Wash windows, clean all the mirrors in you home, and throughly clean your kitchen sink area - including the sink itself, of course. That's it for today. You may find yourself motivated to do a little more after that, which is ok; actually, that's kind of the point!

Ten Tidy Tips

"You Can't Have Everything - Where Would You Put It?" -Steven Wright

In the military, we move a lot! Usually every two or three years or so. If you don't already know about the web site: http://www.emilitary.org/rel2.html, then you should check it out. There are lists for everything related to moving.

Did you know ... that "according to a study conducted by a Boston marketing firm, the average American burns up 55 minutes a day - roughly twelve weeks per year - looking for things they know they own but can't find."
Wow! The next time you express your unhappiness about not having enough time to do the things you want to do, think about how much time you've wasted in this area.
The culprit? Procrastination, plain and simple!
Let's get started! Ask yourself these three questions as we embark on the decluttering process: First, will I use this? Second, does this item bring enjoyment to my life? Lastly, where does this item live in my house? These can be worthwhile questions when trying to decide what stays and what goes.

Over the next ten days I will give you Ten Tidy Tips to help you get started toward decluttering and organizing your home: Remember ... our homes didn't get messy in a day, and they are NOT going to get clean overnight.

Tidy Tip Number One: Try this - go through a room of your choice, or maybe even your closet, and get rid of ten things you haven't used or worn lately. Simple right? Well, come back tomorrow for tidy tip #2, and let's see how you did?

Spend 20 minutes cleaning one area of your home today ... just one area.

*It's easy to forget what belongs where, or to whom. Put a return address label on anything that you loan out so that it can be identified as belonging to you!

Tidy

ti·dy [ tidee ]
adjective (comparative ti·di·er, superlative ti·di·est)
Definitions:

1. neat in appearance: having a neat orderly appearance
2. methodical: tending to perform tasks in a systematic way

Make something or somebody tidy: to make somebody or something neat and orderly - We need to tidy up the place before they arrive.
Bees are tidy little creatures; Nothing looks busier than a beehive; but following individual bees, scientists have found that 2/3 of the time the bee is doing nothing productive.