Under our bedroom window, there is a short and squat wooden cabinet. On top of this cabinet is a pile of paper. A mountain of paper. There are paintings and school projects; receipts, magazines, catalogs; coupons, junk mail and brochures. This pile resulted from cleaning. For the past year, (or longer?) whenever we had company, I would move paper piles from the kitchen to that bedroom cabinet. My kitchen counters would be cleared, but that pile in the bedroom kept growing and growing. I can close the door on that pile, but every time I go into the bedroom, the pile is there, taunting me.
This week, I’m determined to get rid of that pile. Every day, I’ve been whittling away at it, filing and recycling and throwing out. It’s taking a long time…I have the handicap of two little girls who seem to constantly need attention these days.
Piles of stuff are my nemesis. I’ve got piles of laundry in the bathroom, piles of old teaching things in the basement, piles of toys in the living room, piles, piles, piles.
And then there’s the figurative piles, piling up in my brain. The shopping lists, financial worries, my volunteer work, my to-do lists, all piling up, along with stress, anxiety, and fear. I’m feeling cranky and tired. I’m wondering if I’m stretching myself too thin…but which responsibility should I give up? I enjoy teaching Sunday school, I love serving on my Mops steering committee, and while Vacation Bible School is a lot of hard work to lead, that week itself is always a joy.
If I can just keep chipping away at all these piles, and try to relax and have fun along the way, I’ll feel such a sense of accomplishment when all is said and done.
Then new piles will start growing, just like the junk mail on my kitchen counter.
Just call me Tortoise, 
(Slow and steady wins the race…)
I have the best memories of VBS! Maybe sit down and right out a priority list. Pick the top three and focus on that and maybe let the rest go? Just a thought.
Such a huge task…I have a basket full of things that need to be gone through…I just keep putting it off and it keeps growing! Amazing how it does that…Good luck. Have a great week!~Mary
Oh Ginny I can relate! Paper is my downfall. My piles normally start on the chairs in my dining room. That way my table top stays clear and I can temporarily hide my mess. 🙂 But it is inevitable huh? I had hired a professional organizer once and I remember her saying the reason my paperwork ended up in piles was because I didn't have a "home" for them. I don't know if that makes sense or not but when I do get around to managing my paperwork, it is managed fairly easy now that I have the file drawers set up in a manner to store the paper in the proper categories such as "needing immediate attention", "needed to be recalled later for things like taxes" and "long term storage". I don't know if that will help but wanted to share her idea just in case!
This sounds so familiar! We have a bakers rack in our dining room and I used it as a dumping ground for junk mail, bills, papers from school…you name it I dumped it on the bakers rack. It looked terrible and all the clutter just made my anxiety worse. So recently I purchased a plastic filing box at Wal-Mart for under $10. I put file folders in it and labeled them. I have a folder for each of the members in my family, one for bills, one for coupons, one for misc. etc. This is the best $10 I have ever spent! I am now filing away all the papers and there is zero clutter on our backer's rack.Thanks for stopping by the Healthy Moms!
Dear Tortoise, I feel for you. I know how hard it can be and at least I don't have two small children vying for my attention. My mum always tells me to file anything away immediately! As if…Good luck with it all,A fellow tortoise
I have the same problem. I shift and move the piles and even whittle some down, but they never completely disappear. I hate it and I envy people whose houses are pile-free. I wonder how they do it.
Good luck with the piles but I'm sorry to tell you that they WILL indeed grow back to the size of a mountain, probably before the weekend even gets here. I keep a huge tub in the garage to throw the kid's art work in (I jot down whose it is and the date before I do) and that helps with the clutter but still. And like you, my pile is in my bedroom from hiding stuff from company. Grrr.
And there might be a connection between the figurative pile and the pile on your table.
Oh man, I have a pile next to my desk right now that is truly frightening. I got two late notices yesterday, and realized that it was time I tackled the pile!
Are you my long lost sister? I am a piler of the worst kind! I felt like I was reading my diary here! lol
When your done you want to do mine? The problem I have is that I look at it and get overwhelmed doing nothing about it. A little each day you will get it done and feel so wonderful with the freedom of the stacks! You go girl, one day at a time.
Oh, the dread Pile!! Ugh. We call it "horizontal filing" around here. I have several small piles; the MPM has a patchwork of piles that, in conglomerate, might dwarf Everest itself. And I get screechy when his favorite pile spot — on the dining room buffet — lingers o'er long…
Oh my gosh, I hear you! I have two piles of random paperwork that never seems to go away. Each time I make a decent dent in them, I say that I'm going to go through it weekly to make sure it doesn't pile up again…but then it still does…;)