Jeri Reneau @ SmartlySorted, Lincoln

"It's the little things that count." Oh, the wise words of grandmothers past. We can apply this sage wisdom to so many facets of our lives. Because, in life, there are huge, daunting, and exhausting obstacles that we face day in and day out. Hurdles that can only be conquered when that first step is taken. A messy, cluttered house is one of those hurdles for many, many people.

"It's the little things that count." Think about this. What is clutter essentially? It's an accumulation of all of these little things, small possessions swimming around, sitting stagnant, or drowning in the confined pool that is your home. Those mountains and mole hills of clutter were spawned little by little until they eventually took over your home. And just as they took shape little by little, you can chip away at them little by little until they are tamed.

I'm a coffee drinker. But I'm also very easily distracted. It almost never fails that I make myself a fresh, hot, creamy cup of coffee, take 2 sips of it and then something else demands my attention. After all the hoopla has calmed down or I stumble upon the spot where my wonderful coffee was abandoned, I take a sip of a cold, disappointing beverage. So, off to the microwave I go. In this day and age, time can seem to go by so fast. A minute seems like such a tiny thing; a block of time so small, that it seems disposable. But, if we were to sit down with a stop watch, set it to 60 seconds, and watched the seconds tick by, it would feel like an eternity!

As I pop that coffee mug in the microwave, hit the 1:00 button and look around me, I see little things here and there that I can tackle in that 60 seconds that it takes to revive my cup of joe. Throw that junk mail in the recycling... Clean out those receipts in my purse... Chuck those toys in the toy basket... Toss the expired sour cream or the soggy veggies or the leftovers from two weeks ago... Sit the trash by the door to take with me on my way out. Before I know it, I'm on the other side of the house when I hear the beep, beep, beeeeeep of my microwave, where my hot cup of coffee is beckoning me to my reward. "Ahhh" I sit down, pull the mug to my face and feel the warm steam fill me with calm as I look around at the room that I have left better than it was a mere 60 seconds ago. - Repeat tomorrow, and remember "It's the little things that count"

The Little Things