I am reading a book called Organizing Magic: 40 Days to a Well Ordered House and Life. The author's site is Messies Anonymous and it looks nice and, well, organized. The title of the book attracted me because I really LIKE 40 Day plans. Forty days is a nice time period, and of course I am already geared to it because of Jesus in the desert, and Lent, and because so many retreats are planned to last for 30 or 40 days.
The author suggests not gulping down the book in one draught, which is what I usually do (how did she know?). She divides it into days hoping that the reader will go a step at a time and actually get something out of the material. So I'm going to try it that way.....except that I might do two days at a time, since it's a library book and I only get to keep it for 3 weeks.
In the first days she suggests taking what works for you at the time, not getting overwhelmed by all the possibilities. She also mentions a ladder idea of improving by increments. The example she gives is what you do with the toilet paper after you buy it -- whether you leave it in the car, leave it right inside the front door, bring it to the bathroom but leave it in the package, take it out of the package in one bathroom, or distribute it to all the bathrooms, or, the highest level, put it where's it needed in pretty little containers (this is my mother in law's level). She says that you can find what level you're at presently and move up one level from there, which is somewhat less overwhelming than trying to shoot for perfection in everything right away.
