Home "Reboot" Challenge #4 ~ My Clutter Prison (i.e. bedroom)

Image from www.youoffendmeyouoffendmyfamily.com

A reader, Amy, posed this question on my Facebook fan page today, "I wonder if there is something symbolic about the room she (Sarah Mae) chose to clean first on this journey?"  Here are my thoughts on this question, as I had been pondering this myself.


My (our) bedroom is an absolute pigsty. I mean it is beyond embarrassing. I will not, I repeat *will not* be posting ANY "before" pictures from my bedroom. It is by far the worst room in my house. I have posted a lot of "before" pictures of my journey in home organization (some have been pretty scary), but none have been from my own room. I can only be so transparent before humiliation sets in! The question is WHY has the room that belongs to my husband and me become such a disaster zone?


When I have to clean for company, I tend to procrastinate and then "panic clean". That means I start stashing stuff. The first place it goes is my second floor bedroom or my closet (which is in our upstairs hallway). If company comes over, all of the doors except the bathroom door get closed upstairs. Since most people consider the master bedroom private space, it is rarely seen by anyone but us. 


I admit, honestly, that I rarely ever clean my own room. Sure, I occasionally change the sheets on the bed but that is about the extent of the attention that gets paid to our room. Dusting? No. Vacuuming? What's that? I try to spend as little awake time in there as possible. It is not even close to being a "sanctuary". "Clutter prison" would be far more accurate! I hate the paint color that I once loved and in 80% of the room you cannot even see the hardwood flooring. But by the time I climb in bed at night, exhausted--I just don't care what it looks like.


In January, I started Project Organization 2012. I started in my kitchen and dining room and then worked on our bathroom and the living room. The master bedroom was pretty far down on the list. The enormity of cleaning and organizing it was daunting. I put it off...indefinitely. Fast forward to this past Monday. I started this 31 Days to Clean project along with author Sarah Mae. In an effort to revamp her e-book for paperback publication, Sarah Mae began a home organization "reboot" on her blog. I fully expected her to begin with the fridge, as she did in 31 Days to Clean. Wrong! She chose to start with my closet. Seriously???


Back to Amy's question at the top...Do I think there was a symbolic reason Sarah Mae started this journey with the master bedroom? Yes! For one, if anyone else is anything like me--the last room they clean is their own. Why would I waste a bunch of time and energy cleaning a room that no one else sees but us? If I have to clean (which I detest anyway), I'm certainly going to clean the areas that guests see when they come to my house; therefore, my room gets continuously overlooked. Why not start with the biggest eyesore and go from there?


Secondly, there is a sacredness about the master bedroom. It's intimate and private. It's personal space that belongs solely to us, unlike a living room or dining room for example. If the state of our home reflects the state of our heart, it makes complete sense that we would begin the overhaul of our home with our own private quarters. I was truly dreading working on my bedroom, but have felt such a peaceful and calmness in having order in my closet and dresser. It gives me the momentum to continue on with the rest of the room and will hopefully trickle out to other rooms, effortlessly.


The third reason I believe Sarah Mae might have chosen to start in our room is because we must "remove the plank in our own eye, before pointing out the speck in another's eye." It's hard for us to tell our kids or husbands to clean up their stuff, when our own spaces (offices, desks, closets, bedrooms, etc.) are completely chaotic. Perhaps she intended us to start with our own room in order to set a tone for the rest of the family. If we manage our own spaces well, we can be less hypocritical in our efforts to get the rest of the family on the path to cleanliness. We can model for our children how to keep paperwork organized, closets neat and even how to properly make a bed (what's a "made bed"? ha ha!). 


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If you would like to read Sarah Mae's blog post today on "Laziness", click HERE. 


Today's Challenges (from Sarah Mae)

Mary Challenge: Get your Bible out and look up as many references to the word “lazy” as you can find. Write down some key consequences of choosing a lifestyle of laziness. If you have time, also look up references to being diligent and write down the blessings of choosing a lifestyle of diligence.

Martha Challenge: Keep working on your bedroom! If you haven’t yet, clean out underneath your bed. If you’ve done that, move on to your night stand.

Is your bedroom a sanctuary or a clutter prison? Do you feel overwhelmed by the thought of organizing your own spaces? 

Follow along with the 31 Days to Clean "Reboot" at www.sarahmae.com and don't forget to watch her video on Monday's  blog post where she shares that this is more of a journey of the heart than getting a pristine home. I *love* that Sarah admits to not being a "cleaning person" and I appreciate her book 31 Days to Clean: Having a Martha House the Mary Way. You can get the e-book from her blog for $2.50 with the 50% off code "Reboot".