Tidy Cats

Hi Sister!

I know how you like Patron Saint matching, so here's one for you:

I'm getting ready to move to a new apartment at the beginning of July. I am not a tidy person by nature, and my current apartment got into a very sorry state that took a very long time to try and set right. I don't want this to happen in my new place! To what patron saint(s) could I pray for intercession to help me stay motivated and better organized in my new home? I'm even thinking about getting a medal or icon to keep somewhere where I'd see it all the time to help me remember to keep at it.

Thanks for your help! :)


Oh dear! You're not one of those poor souls that have a whole television show about them, are you?  Those people who don't ever throw anything away, even old food, until the garbage literally erodes the house and ruins the plumbing and the neighbors call the city and a psychiatrist has to come and talk you out of the tree in the yard because you've had to move into it because you can't move a foot in the mess you've made?


No, you're not.  Those people are mentally ill. Poor things.


You need three saints!  The patron saints of staying tidy: St. Throw Away, St. Give Away and St. Put Away.

St. Throw Away: St. Lawrence.  Learn what is important to hang on to, and toss the rest. St. Lawrence was asked to bring the new local poobah all the treasures of the Church. He gave St. Lawrence three days.  St. Lawrence gave away all the money and gold he could lay his hands on to the poor and returned three days later with all the sick and poor and lepers and losers he could find.  "These are the treasures of the Church, " he quipped.


What is valuable?  Not that much, here on earth.  Certainly not a bunch of stuff.


St. Give Away: St. Theresa the Little Flower.  St. Theresa wanted to be a missionary, but she was too sickly to travel anywhere. (She only lived to age 24.)  So she did everything she could as though she were doing it for Jesus, Himself. She washed the dishes as though He was going to eat off of them. She washed the floor as though He was going to walk on it.  You get the picture.  


Give your work away and it won't be work anymore. It will be a gift.

If that thought doesn't work for you, clearly, you really hate cleaning. You could also offer up your suffering to the Poor Souls in Purgatory. St. Theresa is your girl in Heaven for that, too!  Get yourself some St. Theresa sacrifice beads!  Every time you suffer through cleaning something you move one of these movable beads.


St. Put Away: St. Charles Borromeo. You will have to keep some things and keep them tidy, put things away after you use them, clean up after yourself, etc.  St. Charles Borromeo came to his monastery when things were very messy, very messy indeed. He cleaned house so thoroughly that the brothers who had to rise to the occasion tried to poison him hired a hit man to rub him out.  He missed.


Now that's some discipline.

I have a thought. You could hire a cleaning person to come in once a month. I realize it sounds like a lazy extravagance, but it isn't that at all to the person who comes in once a month and would like to add clients to earn money. It's not a lazy extravagance. It's someone's job. You'll have to clean anyhow, because you will be embarrassed by the horrible mess you've made in a month and you'll find yourself "cleaning for the cleaning lady".  


Meanwhile here's a couple of cleaning tips:


1. Have less stuff. Much easier to clean that way.


2. Clean the bathroom sink area each time you use it, right then.  Wipe everything off and rise it.  Wipe off whatever counter space you have. It will only take 2 minutes that way.


3. If you have a washer and dryer in the house, put your clothes right in there and then wash them when the load is full.  If you don't, make sure all your dirty clothes are in a hamper. You really can't lean over and put that sock in the hamper? Leaving it there is a lazy extravagance.


4. Get out of the house.  Go out and perform some corporal works of mercy. That way you won't be there to make a mess.