about

I started this blog in 2011 with my "first post" here. At that time, I had experienced overcoming a huge area in my life (cooking for my family) and was going to embark on overcoming another huge area in my life (a messy house) and wanted to document this process as well.

The blog has four five six distinct seasons:
1-From Jul 2011 to Apr 2012: Learning how to tidy my house

2-From May 2012 to Jan 2013: House was being updated by the landlords, keep learning to tidy
These are the original category tags, where I started this journey.

3-From Feb 2013 to Jun 2013: Moving, packing, unpacking (these posts are marked in categories with an "x"

4-From July 2013 to present: Entering the final phase of freedom! (these posts are marked in categories which begin with "2013")

5-2015 and on (these posts are tagged 2015 and all topics begin with 2015)

6-In late 2015, we finally got to move into our new house. New house posts are tagged "1". I have a goal that 2016 will be the LAST year of blogging on Tidy House as I intend to get tidy once and for all this year!

I spent 18 months tidying (and re-tidying) my original house. In this process I learned so many things! This time period extended from July 2011 through December 2012.

In January 2013, we decided to move. By that time, I had made significant headway in my ability to maintain a tidy house. Since I was still burdened with too much stuff, it made moving forward challenging. I think the purging that occurred as a result of packing for the move ended up being a huge catalyst which propelled me into the next phase of unpacking. I'm finding new freedom in tidying my new house (Jul 2013) and look forward to writing my final testimony soon.

By April 2015, we are moving again. I look back on the past two years and I didn't accomplish a whole lot, but we did all experience better cleaning and tidying routines, which have now become solid habits. My son and I were looking back on the old photos (in horror!) and realize that though we still have too much stuff, we have made a measure of improvement! He gasped and said, "it's not like that anymore, Mom"! I agree, but I look forward to walking in more surrender and feel blessed to be given a fresh new start in our new home soon.

We finally closed on our new house in September 2015. By January 2016, I set a goal to finally tidy my house for good.