A Change of Plans

Hey everyone!  Sorry I have been MIA lately!  I have an excuse for last week, since I was on (a much-needed) vacation, where I spent a week at a mountain lake with my immediate family.  I got caught up on sleep, and I feel much more relaxed and refreshed than I did before the trip.  My spirit feels renewed, and I've gained back some motivation that I seemed to have lost prior to the trip!

Part of that lost motivation was related to my Master Plan, which you may have noticed has gone unmentioned for a while.  I was doing really well through the end of April, when I completed my filing cabinet project.  I was out of town for a friend's wedding the first weekend of May, and that was the last sighting of my motivation.

I was just reading a post from Unclutterer on how one small thing can seem to stop all your best organizing efforts.  Her post was more about the daily clutter getting out of control, but I think it's just as applicable to many other scenarios.  Was that weekend away from home (and the subsequent heavier workload the following weekend playing catch-up) just the last straw in pushing me off-track?

I'm sure that was part of it, but I think there was another factor: the next project I had lined up for May was the kitchen.  There are several problem spots in the kitchen, and I confess that I wasn't particularly looking forward to working on it.  It was much easier to tell myself I had to get caught up with laundry than to tackle that big task!

Fast forward a few weeks, and we're well into June and I haven't managed to make any progress!  Beating myself up about it won't get my anywhere, so, prompted by I'm an Organizing Junkie's recent post, it's time to re-evaluate!

Here was my original Master Plan for May forward:

• May: The Kitchen
• June: The Bathrooms
• July: The Hall Closet
• August: The Living/Dining Area
• September: The Master Bedroom Closet
• October: The "Back House"
• November: The Master Bedroom

Obviously the kitchen needs to be pushed back since I haven't even started on that one!  I feel like I can get the bathrooms done by the end of June, so I'll leave that as is.  It should be one of the easier projects, and I think that will help to get a quick success under my belt to build up enough momentum for the kitchen, which I have moved to July.  (Can't allow myself to procrastinate too much!)

Since the living/dining areas probably need the least amount of attention, I moved that to December (which was previously project-less) and moved the hall closet (formerly in July's slot) to the empty August slot.  That still gives me an easier project between the kitchen and the master closet (another daunting task).

Here is the new and improved Master Plan:

• June: The Bathrooms
• July: The Kitchen
• August: The Hall Closet
• September: The Master Bedroom Closet
• October: The "Back House"
• November: The Master Bedroom
• December: The Living/Dining Area

I can't make any guarantees that this won't change again, but I think the important part is flexibility.  If you get knocked down, just pick yourself right back up!  I'll leave you with one of my all-time favorite quotes which reminds me to look forward instead of back when I hit a setback:

Finish each day and be done with it.  You have done what you could.  Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can.  Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your own nonsense.
      ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson