Address my Domestic Calamity

Life is an evolutionary succession; throngs of progress met with steady plateaus and flailing backward steps. The essence of this goal, whilst it may be measured and maintained in some tangible ways is one such progressive evolution which will prevail to some degree for the rest of my life. ‘A Domestic Calamity’ is a rather dramatic description for what constituted my life for a period last year when pandemonium and chaos prevailed… however my living environment since then has become somewhat more orderly and controlled.

The month of May presented me with the novelty of decorating and furnishing a recently vacated room which allowed me to put fresh energy into the house. I deviated from my signature style and colour scheme to give the room its own intrinsic feel and in so-doing, felt liberated by the change. Whilst numerous other facets of my life have inhibited me from dedicating any significant amount of time to the progressive vision of my home… there is an undeniable strain of ‘Laura’ flowing through its interior design.

This goal has been a creative journey, deviating somewhat from its initial design of simply ‘becoming organised’. Through its constant prodding, I have been energised to fashion my living environment to reflect who I am and the mood I wish to create and to never stale my energies into simply ‘settling’. Though my creative vision will never cease, I must concede that my domestic condition can no longer be categorized as an imposing ‘calamity’ and consequently must consider this goal as being complete.

Public holidays have, in the past, provided a day’s escape to some remote location or have been the instigators of a wild and memorable adventure, rarely have they been spent at home targeting domestic chores. Nevertheless, this weekend finds me at home trying to re-assemble the pieces of my life in some organised fashion. Sorting out my garage has in its own way been a wild adventure, though perhaps the memory of it will not be remembered with such fondness as other challenging pursuits. Ruthless abandonment was given free reign and the compulsive nature of my being took control in filling up garbage bags one after the next. Suffice to say, it is surprising that anything remains after I was finished with my obsessive stint.

I now estimate myself to be one step closer to domesticated bliss as the garage is back in its original pristine condition.

Motivational Speakers, Life Coaches and CEO’s alike all stress the importance of putting our plans in writing. I used to wrestle with this concept, feeling that a word under oath was equally as dogmatic and meaningful as a word writ on paper… until the day I put both theories to the test. Words spoken are easily negated and dismissed and their importance is easily consumed by other pressing priorities and commitments, however the very act of having an appointment or task penned to paper is almost like an unofficial contract that we cannot by moral obligations break.

So again this newfound theory was put to the test and I penciled in my diary Wednesday 28th February to be the night of indomitable house onslaught. Delays at work that evening impeded progress as did several unforeseen obstacles that prevented me from getting home any earlier than 8:00. In that fact alone I would have felt under normal circumstances justified in deferring my house conquest, however that reneging unspoken moral obligation convicted me to persevere, and so followed a full housecleaning siege which came to an end at 1:00 the following morning.

Furniture was moved, the laundry was upturned, the gardens were groomed and a new mop was christened on the tile flooring (after taking half an hour at Bunnings to decide on which type of mop to buy – that in itself was worthy of international debate). Despite the inherent tiredness of such physical exertion… the end result was truly fulfilling – I actually feel as though I now have some orderliness in my life!

The domestic calamity is now coming to a close. Great progress has been made over the past few months in setting in place methodologies and order to prevent future chaos from erupting unexpectedly. The only few things on my list yet to be ticked off are… taming the garage, mulching the front and back gardens, remedying my wardrobe and replanting my frangipani tree, at which point I will be able to decidedly say I have conquered my domestic calamity.

The burden of good health weighs heavily upon my mind as I ponder the immensity and unqualified negligence directed to this task. Poor health qualified as a justified excuse for many months in reasoning that this goal could not progress forward quite as rapidly as I should have hoped… however circumstances are no longer so uncongenial. Granted, I have no legitimate excuse for procrastination, no defense for inactivity and no justification for not ticking this goal off as complete by the end of March – I am bound by all morals and instinctive disciplines to ‘face the music.’

In the past week I have made some nominal measures to ensure forward progress. The long awaited sort and dispatch of old linen can now be deemed complete, St Vinnies have been the grateful recipients of many a garbage bag full of clothing as well as obliging friends and other beneficiaries who have profited from my ruthless wardrobe clean out. There are however many more tasks and items yet to be subjected to merciless exoneration and so my task this week and the week following continues to address and conquer my domestic calamity.

They say that the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time; a metaphoric analogy of how best to approach the overwhelming and seemingly confronting tasks of life. Chaos can sometimes serve as more of a deterrent than a motivation for action as we feel so besieged by the enormity of the task that we sink into apathetic idleness.

Over the course of the weekend, seeking respite from typing up book reviews, I took a few minutes for every 500 or 1000 words typed to clean out and systemize my office. Being acutely aware of the limited space of time between each interval, my focus was more finely tuned and motivation heightened and within a few hours of this stop and go process, I found I had completely re-organised my office space… one bite at a time.

Sometimes we need creative approaches to add energy and interest to the mundane obligations of life; “out of the box thinking” is a commonly used term for inventing creative solutions for every-day problems. For if we approach the task the same way every time… we will soon lose interest and our jaded discontent will overflow into inaction.

Any forward progress in regards to my domestic calamity has been stunted somewhat by my ill health, however as my energy levels increase and my capacity broadens – so too does my determination to get on top of life organisation once and for all. I have spent the majority of the evening outside gardening, trying to rid my courtyard of the growing jungle of weeds that has overtaken my pavement. It never ceases to amaze me that it’s never the large weeds that are the more difficult to pull out, but rather the smaller low spread variety that look so insignificant but whose roots grow deep.

The pruning shears came out to trim the overhanging trees that line my fence and so with brutal force, limbs were severed and branches thrown in the accumulating pile of green waste. Piles of leaves were raked up and composted on the garden beds and bags of bark chips were bought for the purpose of mulching. I am determined that before Thursday my backyard will be clean and cleared of anything that does not serve some greater purpose than being ornamental.

The domestication is still in slow progression. Over the last week I have been making a pointed effort to clean out and organise my kitchen cupboards. In cleaning out the plastic cupboard alone I found odd lids or containers that did not have their matching counterparts and had been taking up idle space.

Old phonebooks, ugly platters, chipped plates and a miscellaneous assortment of unwanted objects all got thrown out with this week’s garbage collection and so the simplification of my life continues…

My commitment to this goal has not wavered in the past few weeks despite the availing circumstances which have sought to distract and disempower forward progress. I have kept diligently upon my campaign of organisation and over the last few weeks have invested in whatever has been necessary to guarantee realisation of this goal.

The tiles have been mopped and the carpets steam cleaned. I have spent countless hours organising my cd’s into a manageable filing system and sorted out my office completely throwing out all manner of unnecessary collectables. Clothes have been sorted and St Vinnies will be the recipients of several bags of unwanted items. Storage racks have been purchased to house my woolen jumpers, scarves and winter clothing above the hanging racks of my wardrobe. The same wire racks have also been installed in the linen cupboard where each shelf has been ruthlessly sorted through and organised in a highly efficient manner until all that now remains is what is of use in the immediate future, not ‘some day when…’

The dining bureau has been utilized with my collection of fine tableware and a new set of crockery has been purchased for every-day use and organised with a full set of tea cups and glasses in my crockery cupboard. A basket houses neatly my good cushions and a full-standing linen rack provides a creative touch to the laundry whilst making neat my clean linen and towels. As well as the laundry being organised to a productive state, the dishwasher has also been relieved of its temporary misuse as a crockery cupboard. The dishwasher has for the first time in history been emptied completely, leaving no dishes amassed on the sink or cutlery drawers empty.

A new fridge has been purchased to upgrade my small white fridge which has always looked so small and out of place in the large fridge-space. The fridge has been ‘on the blink’ as is the common Australian phrase for several months and after cleaning it out completely and becoming frustrated at its apparent problems, I made the rash and highly commendable decision to go out and buy a new fridge. It is a beautiful stainless steel cabinet which will fit perfectly into the cavity and create a lot more fridge and freezer space.

The ‘leftovers’ which are so carefully wrapped up in glad wrap or housed in a plastic container are rarely touched after this initial stage of preparation until they are picked up once more after a few days or weeks to throw out. Under the guise of good intentions, we always store leftover food for fear of ‘wasting it’. However little do we learn that as the days go by and life takes its toll, these food remnants become forgotten and there its presence is not noticed until a strange odor evaporates through the seal beneath the fridge door. I have now cleaned out those leftovers and vowed for my own sake never to fall into that same repetitive method of insanity again. In the same manner I have also cleaned out the pantry and thrown out every grocery item that has exceeded the use by date by six months, a year or three years. Again… good intentions gone to waste.

The washing machine has been in overload mode for the past few weeks, washing those things that have been left in the ‘too hard’ basket for far too long. Dry cleaning has been done and shoes have been repaired, ironed clothes have been put away, buttons have been sewn and dress pants mended. My bedroom has also achieved a high level of organisation with drawers being overhauled and a new order of things being reintroduced. It’s amazing that without ridding yourself of a single thing, with a little bit of creativity – more space can be created than you could have ever imagined. It just requires a little thought, a little plan and a little determination.

This whole ordeal has made me realise just how great an effect the simple measures of our lives can have. The little steps we take to organisation can save us many hours or even days of trying to ‘reassemble’ our lives. Having a place for everything and a rulebook to live by can ensure that our lives flow quite efficiently without too much effort or thought.

Some things we collect for good reason, others we collect simply to avoid throwing them out and shun from the feeling of waste that ensues. I bought a beautiful wooden display cabinet for my dining room last week. It stands but a foot below the ceiling and its wide glass shelves give one the distinct impression of a showcase beckoning for something of value and worth to be put on its display. Anxious to fill the void of space even if just temporarily when the cabinet arrived, I rummaged through my study wardrobe to locate some photo frames that had been left over from a wall project I had undertaken several months before. I had a random assortment of frames and was able to locate some beautiful photos to display in them; I was surprised in fact at how perfectly the wooden, aluminum and assortment of frames worked together and quite by coincidence – the display looks so fantastic that I wouldn’t even think of changing any of it.

Those frames have been sitting in my cupboard for months, and several times I have mused over the possibility of giving them away or finding another use for them as they were taking up too much space. Thankfully I didn’t and followed my better instincts. It just shows, sometimes hoarding for like of a better word can actually be a rewarding thing.

I am inspired at this point of the story of the Hare and the Tortoise, one makes speedy progress and fails to conjure enough energy to cross the finish line, the other is slow, steady and though his pace is seemingly inconsequential – he finishes the race. Today I am the tortoise attempting slow and steady progress amidst the hustle of my fast moving world. My progress thus far may appear to be inadequate in view of the largeness of the task; however I am slowly meeting my challenge. My life is slowly becoming organised, my mindsets are becoming more focused and unwavering and the expectations I place on myself are rising every day to achieve a higher standard of excellence.

I bought a beautiful mahogany DVD cabinet to house my DVD collection. With tall glass doors, and an ornate bronze tassel hanging from its antique key – the piece suits my lounge room perfectly. My DVD’s are now restored to pre-chaos alphabetical order and filed in perfect suit in the wooden cabinet. Any box sets or irregularly shaped media fit perfectly beneath the cabinet shelves in four pull-out drawers guaranteeing ample room for any additions to the collection.

The other task I have challenged myself with is addressing a storage solution for Cd’s. Up to this point, my Cd’s have been filed alphabetically in a series of cd cases and their jewel cases have been randomly stored in a large plastic box in my study wardrobe. With the accessibility of media files on my computer and the information available on the Internet, the need to have a physical Cd case is no longer necessary so the first task was throwing out all of the plastic jewel cases. I am now sorting each cd into a loose plastic cd sleeve and filing them in a set of five corresponding drawers in alphabetical order. Already the physical space of each cd is reduced by at least 70% and accessibility is made all the more easier. The task at hand has already taken me many hours and has promises of taking many more to organise completely however in the long run, it will largely contribute to time and space savings as well as a more organised and structured life.

Slowly but surely one step at a time – my life is becoming more complete. I am determined to continue to simplify and organise my life so that it will eventually get to the point that it runs itself without me having to put much energy into managing it.