Time to call in the Professionals!

Well, folks, I've gone and done it! I couldn't be happier with my decision. I contacted a couple of professional organizers in my vicinity on Friday, and I'm waiting to hear back from them!! I have blogged over and over about the cluttered state of my house. I posted pics of shame and horror on a website I don't even remember the name of now in the hopes of embarrassing myself into action. I have made pacts with friends to commit to cleaning one area at a time and be accountable to one another until the transformation was complete. (That only lasted about a day-LOL!) I have repeatedly turned down offers of help from family members who enter my house and shake their heads in sympathy. I have endured even the youngest of extended family members berating my (lack of) housekeeping abilities ("E, your house is a mess. You need to clean this table off!). I have listened to my own mother threaten to report me to every cable television show that deals with conquering clutter in a very big and public way...e.g., Clean Sweep, Extreme Makeover, etc. I have survived the sting of sarcasm as the clutter has careened further and further out of control (the truth hurts!): "So, I see you've made a lot of progress since I was last over..." I'm tired of living in what Fly Lady calls CHAOS (can't have anyone over syndrome). I am finally saying enough is enough!
If I am to return to school (which really isn't an if since it's mandatory if I want to keep my current job), I need ORGANIZATION! I cannot possibly work full time and be involved with the kids' school and band activities and go back to school even part time with my house in the state that it currently is in. Why have I waited so long, you may ask? It's what it always boils down to: Money, money, money. Once upon a time ago I had money and my house wasn't cluttered. The hubs and I were "DINKs": dual income, no kids. Then along came child #1 and two years later child #2. The air conditioner went out, the fence needed replacing, the house needed painting, etc. Then were single income, dual kids. Then 9/11 happened and our one income changed drastically as the Hubs works for American Airlines. Our debt ran amuck. I went back to school for nursing in the hopes of taking some of the pressure off of the hubs. Can YOU imagine working 40 to 60 hours per week and still coming home to a spouse clutching bills in both hands with in arms crossed and foot tapping saying, "We need MORE money, Honey, like yesterday!!" So now, we are DITTs: dual income, two teenagers. I'm afraid our lifestyle of "managing amidst the mess" will carryover into their lives once they leave the nest. I secretly hope it turns them into complete neat freaks. I don't have many regrets in life, but I do regret that we were not the "kool-aid house" on our block. Before I had kids I dreamt of being the mom who had all of the neighborhood kids over for slippety slides across the lawn, cookies and milk after school, friends over for dinner and sleepovers and movie night or game night. I dreamt of hosting family get togethers during the holidays and throwing dinner parties with friends just for the heck of it. Alas, I honestly cannot remember the last get together I hosted in my home although I believe it was Aaron's First Communion around 2004. Sad but true, folks.
Now, from some of the fees I've seen online, I know I'm looking at several hundred dollars to "makeover" my house. I understand the "concepts" of keeping a tidy abode. My ultimate goal in life is to have a place for everything and have everything in its place (that ranks just after getting to Heaven and hearing the voice of God tell me, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Now, come on in!). In order to have a place for everything I must get rid of stuff. One must have systems and routines in place to maintain the organization. We have systems in place now; they're just counterproductive--like bringing in the mail and piling it all over the kitchen table or collecting recycle-able paper in bags and boxes by the laundry door but never remembering to load it in the car and drop it off at the school or library until it is overflowing and blocking the doorway. Another system: dirty up every dish in the kitchen and let them stack all over the countertops and both side of the sink until the task is just too daunting to tackle and then run and grab fast food instead of cooking a meal. Yeah, we have systems all right!
The way I see it, I spend hundreds of dollars per month on groceries that may or may not get eaten because I throw out food every week that folks around here are just too lazy to prepare or warm up. And I spend hundreds of dollars on clothes that wind up on a certain teenager's bedroom floor. If I can redirect those funds and curtail the shopping (which only adds to the "accumulation of goods" I call clutter 'cause new stuff doesn't have a place of its own) then maybe, just maybe I can "afford" my professional organizer. I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it! I'm about to lose control (in a positive way), and I think I like it!! Until next time, my friends...
The following are only for the strong of heart...one rule applies: "Don't judge my junk!"

This is that "recycle station" I mentioned before

The "former" formal dining table. It's actually much worse now : (

 Ashamed to say this is my bedroom! I think I did finally relinquish rights to the 1980's linen blazer with shoulder pads LOL!

 This is my side of the bathroom counter. The hubs has about 1/4 the space but it's no neater, SMH...

Alas, the kitchen. These pics were taken over a year ago but on any given day...sometimes it's better, sometimes, it's worse