I've had another good week of giving up clutter. It feels so good to be getting rid of the "unimportant" (aka clutter and garbage) from our home, and getting things put into their proper places. It's slow, but I'm working steadily, so I feel like I'm making good progress, even though most of it is visible to only me. Improvement in this one area has also encouraged me to make improvements in other areas of my life - I'm doing general cleaning more regularly, I've baked 3 times this past week (I try to aim for once a week, and usually fail), and I've been feeling good mentally and spiritually. I've been setting aside time each day for Bible/devotional reading and prayer, something that has gotten sorely neglected in the past, I'm sad to say. However, now I've been using some of my "quiet" time in the afternoons (after I've finished my decluttering time but before checking email/Facebook) to be with God. I'll be honest, it's not an automatic habit yet. My first inclination is still to just veg out in front of the TV or computer. However, that's part of my Lenten journey - to break old habits and create new ones. It just takes time.
I've also been feeling pretty good physically, as I try to wear my "new-to-me" shape-up sneakers (I got them at a clothing exchange) while I do my cleaning and decluttering. They're like the Sketchers shoes with the unbalanced bottom, but they're not actually Sketchers brand. They make my legs work a little harder when otherwise they wouldn't be doing much (dusting doesn't tax your legs much!), and I'll admit, I had sore muscles after the first few times I wore them. I also ran on the treadmill the other day, which I haven't done for some time.
So here's how I'm doing on my decluttering list:
- Recipe binder (it's a disaster! I'd like to get it all organized and come
up with a system for meal planning)
- Office
- Kids' craft stuff
- Drawers
- Filing cabinet
Bookshelf
Laundry room - Email inbox
- Annika's closet
- Emmett's closet
- Our closet
- Our bathroom
- Kids' bathroom
- Front closet
- Back closet
- Upstairs closet
- Kitchen cabinets/drawers
- Pantry
- Fridge
PVR (need to delete some old shows)
And here's a few more to add to the list:
- Kids' toys (this is a BIG one - how could I forget it on the first list??)
- Guitar music binder
- Sewing stuff
- Freezer
- Main floor bathroom
My main project from the past week was the bookshelf in the office (which also doubles as a craft/play room for the kids - Annika calls it
her office). I should've taken a "before" picture - it was a disaster. It's not completely finished yet (still a few things to sort and put away), but it's a hundred times better than before, and I can live with what's left. If you're wondering why there are so many empty shelves, it's because I really can't put anything small or light on the bottom 2 rows of shelves, thanks to curious little hands (and I just discovered that Emmett can pull things off the next row up as well, so we'll see how long before all the books are on the floor). So that's another reason why I'm not too concerned about it being perfect - I know it won't stay that way for long. :P I need to finish Emmett's "first year" picture frame (I'm still missing the last 3 months) and then I want to hang both of the kids' frames upstairs by their rooms. Also, the large basket is filled with stuff that Carey will need to sort through at some point.
If you're thinking "wow, she only got one bookshelf sorted in a whole week - how slow is she?", you should know that I'm very disorganized when it comes to organizing. I do a little here, a little there, I go to a different room to put something away and get side-tracked by a project in there. So, I am making progress, but it's slow and it's a little all over the place. Not everything is ready to be photographed and shared yet. But it's happening.
Oh, and my
organized laundry room from last week? It's still organized! Yay!!
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