I just wrote about my struggle to adjust my thinking about projects vs. progress.
There are still a few odds and ends in there, but they are things I want to keep.
Okay, second case of storage-space-denial. My coffee table is an old sea-chest. I love that thing and it’s been with me since college. It is huge and is great storage . . . except that I only open it once a year or so when I need it for a play or a monologue or something.
So a few weeks ago, I needed it. I looked inside and found all of the many things that have been stored there . . . for years. But if you had asked me where any of that stuff was, I would have had no idea.
So today I took it out. There were games to go in the above cabinet. Some things were total junk destined for my own garage sale. Some of it was stuff I’d like to have out and displayed. So I moved things to better places, and decided to use the chest for extra blankets, and only extra blankets, so that hopefully I’ll remember to look there when I need one. My linen closet is always in a shambles, even after my wonderful mom just organized it for me when she was here while we went on the cruise. So I decided it couldn’t hurt to remove the big and bulky blankets from the linen closet and give them a new home. Now the chest is almost completely full, and since it’s winter, most of our favorite blankets are on beds right now. When it’s time to store them, I’ll have to analyze whether or not the ones in the chest should be put in the garage sale. I get overwhelmed with those kinds of decisions, especially concerning the red and blue throw that my husband’s grandmother knitted, but which doesn’t match anything we have.
And last, but not least, is something I’ve been meaning to do for a very long time. I get completely overwhelmed by all of the piles of papers that “might” be important, so I hesitate to throw them away. Then when it turns out that one item really was important, I have to search through all of my piles to find it.
I have no idea what the best way to organize this box would be. So I just decided to create a file for bills to be paid, another one for paid bills, and then files labeled A-Z. I’m going to put tax stuff under T and hope that whatever logic my brain comes up with for filing something is the same logic it comes up with when I need to find it. It has to be better than random piles!
Oh, and I also took stock of my pantry and fridge-freezer. I haven’t braved the cold of the garage yet to check the deep freeze, so there will be a lot more in there. I came up with 10 complete meals just from what I have, and three or four more that only need one or two ingredients. So hopefully I can actually stick to the 50$ per week budget. The budget is just for things to round out what we already have, and for basics like milk, fresh fruit and veggies, eggs, etc.
I’m linking on Tackle it Tuesday at 5minutesformom.com
Awesome tackles and so funny I have a dream that I find more room in my house too.
I have that exact same reoccurring dream about finding an extra room in my house. I've been having it for about 20 years now. In my dream, it always gives me such a sense of relief to discover all that extra space. Maybe the dream has something to do with latent potential in ourselves?
Oh my goodness, I have that dream, too!!!! I’m a fellow slob, I’m sure it has something to do with the way our minds work. I’m always so disappointed when I wake up from the dream and my house is the same size it always has been (tiny) with no neat little mother-in-law suite that had somehow escaped my notice for 13 years. ~sigh. Thanks for sharing your journey. Just found you but you’re definately an inspiration!
I have that dream, too.
I’ve even had a dream that I went back to a house I used to live in, and someone else had uncover a door that led to a whole other half of the house. Then I wanted that tiny house back!
I read this post a couple of months ago and on revisiting it today realize that it must have inspired the dream I had in which I discovered an extra room in my friend’s house – and it was a second kitchen plus storage room! I was so jealous!
What did you end up doing with that red and blue blanket? Those types of things – that could be considered “heirlooms” but really have no real “place” in our homes – are the ones that I have the most trouble with.
I have it with my blankets. I do have the space, after purging, to keep it. So I do!
I’ve been reading your blog posts from the back to the front and am inspired by your tenacity. One problem I solved for myself was the paper clutter. I used to read everything I could looking for a solution and tried many of them, unsuccessfully for me until I read this solution. I labeled 12 files with the names of the months. Every piece of paper that came into the house during that month, be it the receipts of paid bills, bank statements, printouts from medical appointments, or papers included in a delivered pkg, went into that folder. That pretty much cleared my desk with the new paper, but the old needed attention. Right now I am using the January folder, of course. When Feb.1 comes around, my full Jan. folder goes back in the file box and I retrieve the Feb. folder. Now I can safely discard/destroy the year-old papers in the Feb file and start to fill it up again. My files are in a box like yours that is kept in a separate location. The file for the current month lives in my desk drawer. I do have a small 2 drawer filing cabinet that holds, what I call “permanent” files. Some titles for those are Auto-Buick, Auto-Jeep (auto files hold receipts for every maintenance encounter and are held until car is gone from my possession), Camera (owner’s manual), Dehumidifier (manual), Hoover Steam Vacuum (manual), Med. Ins. (which only holds the manual listing the changes for the new year), Phones (manuals), Warranties, etc. If I had school age children, I would put school notices in the monthly file, AFTER writing info of event on a calendar. If you need to look at it again, you know where it is. I need to add that I place bills to be paid in a slot on my desk, after writing the due date in red ink on them. On Bill-Paying day, I write checks or pay bills online and immediately place the receipt part in the monthly folder. Done! Bills all in one place; receipts all in one place. Since my paper calendar acts as a diary of sorts, at the end of the month I scan it into my computer then discard the original. I hope this gives you some ideas. And thank you for sharing yours in your posts. P.S. Medical files containing proof of vaccinations, etc. can be separate permanent files: Health-Father, Health-Mother, Health Child 1, Health Child 2, Health Child 3.
I started doing something on a smaller-scale, but very similar to this, a few years ago… reading your reply has inspired me to go bigger with this and include all papers from the month, like you’ve said… and as I come across each month from the previous year, I can decide then what needs to be kept and what needs to be discarded.