the organizing itch

Tonight my Mom returns from her longer trip, hopefully in a very good mental & emotional space after two weeks of meditation at Plum Village, a Buddhist retreat center in SW France.

My first week back I stayed in her home since our wonderful house-and-chickensitters were still here. I took a few too many liberties with cleaning--it slipped into organizing mode, which is very dangerous in someone else's house, and I hope that she will forgive me. Cleaning up spilled cat litter led to cleaning out a closet. Doing laundry led to organizing the laundry room. Looking for something for a headache led to a 2 gallon bag full of expired medications. Looking for bathroom cleanser led to organizing the cleaning product cupboard. You can see where this is going...

I have the organizing itch. Not to say that my own home is done--far from it--but I didn't have access to it, and besides my mother's home has so, so, so many things in it...piles of them...I had to restrain myself from doing more. (Which I did; Hi Mom!) It always strikes me how very much easier it is to clean when there is less to clean around. And since I don't particularly like to clean, this just makes sense.

Now I am home, back in my own rather spare space (though much less so since my three Beloveds came home) and it feels good. I was asked rather anxiously by one of the p'tit minous if I had done much minimizing while they were gone, and could answer truthfully (to his relief) that I had not--too busy with work and academics. (I also didn't do any gardening, which is sadly apparent).

However, the organizing itch just must be scratched. Last night I sat on the couch with Minou and p'tit minou deux while they watched an action-hero type movie, and I happily organized my computer files and server storage, deleting the multiple nested duplicate files that I have somehow managed to accumulate over the years (I'm better now, but in my early days of thumb drive use it was all a little bit confusing--I must have had at least five or six copies of all my past teaching files).

And I can't wait to see if my Mom will let me at her closets and not-closing dresser drawers...(with her of course).
I love to spread one of the joys of minimizing: being able to find clean, flattering, well-fitting, not-worn-out clothing without digging through a bunch of not-that.
Do you think I should give her time to recover from jetlag before bringing up the question?!