change everything

There’s only a few left. One today had surprisingly little in it. Mainly, some letters and photos.

I know that I will need to go through my letters again soon to clear them out. I’m also trying to decide how to store them. I currently have them in a few nice boxes, but I have an antique suitcase from a friend. I’m completely unwilling to get rid of it, but I don’t have anything in it. Should I maybe store the letters in there so justify its existance? It’s this kind of thing I’m never quite sure about.

we’ll see if it stays that way for any appreciable amount of time.

Where have you been all my life?

I got inspired watching a youtube video about organizing your closet. Then I went to the container store, which was great. I got some stuff (not too much) that solved some really weird org. problems, and I’m happy with the $150 I spent.

We got new carpet, and that required us moving everything out of the house, basically. The new carpet is beautiful, and it’s new inspiration to keep the house orderly. The old carpet was so so cheap and old that no matter how much you cleaned, it still looked rather, eh. Now, you actually CAN make the house look nice…

So today I was putting most of the stuff back. I was working to make sure I had a place for things, and then I was diligent about putting it in its place. No more shoeboxes of random stuff. For real. I’m done with those.

We went through things we had too many of (towels!), which opened up more space to easily store our laundry detergent (instead of just shoving it in there). Purged a few more books, clothes, etc. Am bringing stuff in a little at a time so that I can really work on putting stuff back correctly. Two large boxes for goodwill, too.

Am starting to notice some things that are actually helping. I love my iPhone, especially a list app that I bought for $1. I can make separate lists for grocery store, target, bring to work, etc. It’s not even a fancy grocery app, just a simple list one. When I’m in the kitchen and I see we’re out of something, I tap it into my iPhone. At the grocery store the next day, my list is automaticallyw ith me, and whatever I don’t get remains on my list. This has helped me a lot. I’m also becoming more cognizant of what I have coming up and what I can do to make that easier for myself.

Part of what I realized today about getting this stuff is just doing hte things I mean to do. I realized I had never washed my afghans, and so today I finally put the last two in the washer. I wasn’t doing any other laundry, but it took me 10 minutes to go start them, and now they are done and smell wonderful. It’s just doing it! I’m opening my eyes and saying “what is out of place? where should it go?” It almost never bothers me individually, but collectively the things out of place really bother me. It’s so lame, but there really needs to be a place for everything, and then it’s easy to put things away. It’s only when there isn’t a place for something that cleaning up is a drag.

I’m hoping the new carpet is the final push I need to get me over this hump and make me actually organized. The thing is, I AM organized. At work, with my duties and calendar, I am. It’s only with my STUFF that I am not. So I know I can be organized, it’s just getting to the right place so it’s possible. And I’ve never felt this close before.

:)