Principles 1 and 2

OK, so now I am beginning to follow the principles outlined.  I have embraced Principle 1 ~ Believe It Can Get Better ~ both internally and by starting this blog.

Principle 2 is where I need to begin in earnest ~ Be Courageous: Confront The Demons.  I have always been ashamed of my inability to create and keep a beautiful house.  So today I took courage and confronted this shame.  What I decided to do was to take photographs of all of the bad areas in my house as they are today.  This was so hard!  To see these areas through the camera lens made them look even worse to me!

But I am encouraging myself to keep going.....I have decided that I am going to post a photo of an area, work on it and then repost a photograph of the area as it is after the work.  As I do this, I am also going to post rules or habits that I need to follow in order to keep the area clean and clutter-free.

So here is the first area ~ The Fireplace Bench (I'm starting with something that is manageable for me):

Before

After I completed the cleanup and reorganization of The Fireplace Bench, I thought of these new habits and rules:

After

1.  Keep only enough magazines as can fit into the magazine holder.

2.  Paper and fire starters in the rectangular basket only.  Fire bucket next to it.

3.  Create and maintain a place for clothes to be ironed.

4.  The entire fireplace bench is to remain clear of items other than wood.

5.  Clean up every night to clear bench.