Plugging along

Nothing like getting started on a motivating and large-scale project and then promptly leaving town for a beach vacation, then a weekend at the lake, then starting school and dealing with loss.

Suffice it to say, the great Tidying has found itself a bit off the rails.

But I have not abandoned it!  Not by a long shot.  In the midst of dealing with All The Things, stopping to clear out a closet or a corner of the basement actually feels kind of ... good.  Fulfilling.  Lightening.  We've done quite a bit of removing over the last two weeks and while I'm not truly honoring the category method, I am still noticing a tangible change in our house. Drawers and shelves that have empty space... with nothing encroaching back into it.  Places in the basement where you can almost see the walls.  I feel almost like the house is standing taller, taking a deep breath.

We're not there yet.  But I feel like we have taken a real step on the journey.

Over the next few weeks I will be trying to get back to categories, with full documentation and before / after photos (because who doesn't love before/after photos??) But for today-- here is what is on my mind:

Why in god's name is it so difficult to find new homes for your discarded possessions??

I know, I know.  I am supposed to just throw it all away.  Truly discard all these things that do not bring me joy.  But!  How wasteful can you get??? The environmentalist in me just throws a fit when I try to put a perfectly re-useable item into the trash.  So its been piling up, all this good stuff that I just don't want.  In nicely organized piled boxes and bins throughout the house.

We can I know, take it all to the Salvation Army.  But it seems to me that we ought to be able to get all this stuff directly to the people who can use it, right?

So much work.

So much coordinating of drop offs and pickups.  Moving bags from porch to trunk and back to porch when you haven't been able to get to that drop-off all week and you need your trunk back. So much schlepping up and down the stairs, pulling in and out of closets.  So much dragging on and off of lawns for (very disappointing) yard sales.  Can't even give some of this stuff away on the tree lawn!

I have this little dream that someone will come over while I am work and remove all the things I don't need.  This magical person will somehow know the things I need to keep and those I can let go of, and when I return home, all the extra will just be ... gone!  Off to new lives, all those things, happily serving and feeling loved and useful for a change, zip zip! Can you imagine!

Sigh.  I will keep dreaming, and in the meantime I will keep schlepping, dragging, and plugging along.  It's a process, and it will be worth it, right?

Next up: Medicine cabinets

Back from vacation and back to work.... We know how to have fun around here!  Tonight:  Medicine Cabinets.  All three of em.  Because everyone needs three medicine cabinets, right?   

Two of which are pictured below.  (The third, a drawer of random travel sized toiletries and lightbulbs) was tackled rather spontaneously last night after tucking in the kids.)

Before:

The assembled clutter...  8 years worth of accumulation...

Mid-sort.  I find I create a circle as I work through each category.

Ivy has been my dedicated helper on this project.  She had a great time throwing out all of the expired medications, quickly internalizing the rule that any "loose pills" were an automatic pitch (you'd be surprised how many of those there were!  You'd also be surprised at the number of medications that were 8-10 years old.  That trash bag?  Full.

After:

Kitchen:  Only medicines are in middle bin-- vitamins and painkillers. The joy of empty space inside a cabinet should not be underrated...

Bathroom:  The rest of the medicines are here, upstairs storage has been freed up for bedding.  Extra space in this cabinet now houses toilet paper and cleaning products, which were previously shoved into the space around the toilet.  Getting better around here, one forgotten little corner at a time..

I'm a bit concerned about these bins in the medicine cabinet.  At the moment they are organized by type and size and frequency of use and it's all lovely.  But this storage method seems to violate the rule of accessible and visible, and I can see these bins overflowing with randomly tossed items before too long.  The likely solution is to discard more.  But it turns out that the criteria of "sparking joy" is a tough one to meet when working with allergy medication and Pepto-Bismol.

It's a good start, at any rate...

Now, what to work on tomorrow???

Categories

I'm posting here a list of categories I plan to tackle.  Dealing with this mess of a house in part-acts.

Marie advises working in order, from clothes, to books, to papers, to komono (Japanese for miscellany, which is a very large category around these parts), to sentimental items.

So far, it seems I am not being very true to the method, as I've jumped right in to komono..

I hope to get back in order soon but it turns out that the first three categories are SO vast and all encompassing that I have not been up to taking them on, in the limited time I have to devote to this project.  I have this feeling that Marie works mostly with single people living in single rooms or small homes, not people trying to organize the clothes, books and papers for an entire household...

I am hopeful that breaking things down will help me feel more empowered.

Please feel free to comment and add category ideas!

Clothing (per person):
Exercise clothes/ swimwear
loungewear/pajamas
Socks
Coats
sweaters
daily wear-- summer
daily wear-- winter
shoes
accessories -- bags, scarves, belts etc
jewelry- done!

Books-- subdivided by person:
reference
fiction
sentimenal (old textbooks, etc)

Papers:
household files
school-related
saved papers for each child
photo albums

Linens:
towels/washcloths
cleaning rags
sheets/blankets

Dishes:
Mugs- done!
glasses
plates/bowls
pots/pans/baking
tupperware/storage/travel mugs
misc cooking
serveware
display/special dishes -- what do I do about those??

food:
baking
pantry

Medicine cabinet supplies

Games
Art supplies- done!
Scrapbooking supplies
Office supplies
notebooks/paper

Toys:
Building toys
play kitchen
dress up
puzzles
pretending sets
miscellaneous

Tools
hardware
electrical cords/lightbulbs/batteries
small appliances

picture frames/art/framed photos

Sports gear (skiing etc)
camping supplies
laundry supplies

Basement  (on here as a reminder that I fully intend to get rid of 80% of what is down there, regardless of category, with the exception of my holiday decorations which are sacrosanct.  Kidding.  They're just stored already and I'll deal with them as each holiday rolls around...)

July 22

Carrying on.  I've nearly finished reading the book, and found the section on storage to be calming and reassuring.  Especially since I've already starting storing a bit, and so far seem to be doing it "right."  Key takeaway:  Store items of the same category together, in ONE location, in simple storage that is accessible and where all things can be seen.

Yesterday (a busy wonderful day that included time at the Art Museum, time working in my classroom and tutoring, a run at the beach, singing with WSC, and drinks with old friends) demanded a manageable category, so Ivy and I tackled my jewelry.  Marie advises that you do the work alone and I can see why.  My sweet girl wanted to take every single item back out of the discard pile.  She was placated with three pairs of earrings to save for when she gets her ears pierced. Not an approved method but it worked at the time.
Turns out I have a lot of broken beaded necklaces and single earrings. And it turns out I have a HARD time getting rid of jewelry.  In retrospect (and further reading) I ought to have saved this category for later as many of the items fell squarely into the "sentimental" subgroup, which Marie recommends saving for the very end.  Oh well.  This selection was purely pragmatic, as my old storage system consisted of one divided tray and then a large heap of tangled necklaces on my dresser top, thus rendering most of my jewelry unwearable.  Also, I discovered a shocking number of tiny boxes and other miscellany completely filling a dresser drawer, and a whole array of items carefully stored (and covered with dust) in the little shelving system I put in the back of my closet a few years ago.  Once again, too many spots.

Here's the accumulated pile:

 

After discarding: One large tupperware bin is off to be donated, and I parted out a bunch of necklaces into a bag of beads which are neatly stored in the craft cupboard. I do have to admit that 4 broken necklaces are still out on the coffee table with plans to fix them.  I am still learning.

And the improved situation.  You can't tell in the picture but there are only three pairs of earrings in each divider, which is a huge improvement.  And there is NOTHING in the drawer.  

Well, nothing except a whole batch of empty tiny boxes.  Because boxes are another category. And I hate throwing away perfectly good tiny boxes...!

I am still learning.

Tidying up

On Friday we said goodbye to our treasured cottage.

 I love the cottage all the time but never more than this moment, after we pack up all of our clutter and clean and shine it up and all 700 square feet glow, basking in the lake-light of this place.

It is hard to leave a space like this.  It calls me back in and says, stay. Be at peace.  Breathe. Life is good and all things are possible.

There is a lot to love about life at the lake, to be sure. and  I know that a big part of the magic is the simple fact of being on vacation.  Open tracts of time and no responsibilities to fill it.  Then of course there is the proximity to the glorious Cayuga waters.  But as the years go by I am increasingly aware that another component is the size and organization of the cottage itself.

It is such a tiny little space.  It doesn't feel that way, somehow, with its vaulted ceiling and open floor plan, but there's not much to it.  And while there's ever plenty of antique furniture in every room, there's not much else.  All of the basics for day to day living, but only the basics.  Just enough.

I can deep-clean the cottage in an hour.  Fifteen minutes a day keeps it spiffy.  The biggest mess is our clothing and with just a little attention it's possible to keep things in order and reap the rewards of a glowing, happy living space.

A clean house with room to breathe AND plenty of free time NOT spent cleaning?  It really is paradise.

Then, we come home.

Ok,  the above picture is an exaggeration.  Our house didn't really look quite like that upon our arrival. But it felt that way to me.  I've spent the last few days feeling intensely overwhelmed by ALL THIS STUFF.  It's everywhere, our stuff.  We have the basics.. . and then some... and then some more.  And all my time!  If I'm not picking something up, I'm wandering around trying to find something else...And this house is NOT small when you are walking around it 3 times trying to find some goddam scotch tape, I'll tell you that,

Enter this book.

I actually ordered this while we were at Farley's, because I knew it was coming, this malaise and discontent with my home.  Happens every year after we leave the cottage.  This year, though?  It's the year of action so I am DOING something. 

I am TIDYING.  

And I am going to use this blog to chronicle the journey.  Come along if you like.  Apparently it will be life changing.

We will see about that.  From my first foray I can tell you that at the very least it will take a LOOOONG time.

Marie Kondo's method for changing your life through tidying appears to be based on three main tenets:  1.  throw a shit ton of stuff away.  Like, 2/3 of what you own.  2.  tidy by category and do ALL of each category in one go.  3.  only keep things that "spark joy" and store them where they can be seen and used.

Number three seems to sum up life at Farley's, utterly.  And so I am totally buying into this.  I am DOING it, gosh darn it.  Every year I try and try and try to bring "lake life" home.  Maybe this is the trick.  And even if it's not, this house could stand some tidying.

The above picture is the "before" of category number 1, Art and Craft Supplies.  

These supplies were gathered into a heap from five disparate locations.  I am not sure why we felt the need to keep craft supplies in five different locations.  Must be ready to craft at any moment, in any room!!  Or something.  

And why in god's name did we need SO MUCH crafting crap?  We could run a small preschool with that pile.  A very disorganized preschool...

One of the principles from Marie's book-- you need to get all of the things in each category in ONE place, to really know just how much you have, how far into TOO MUCH you have gone.  Then, handle each object and only keep it if it sparks joy.  Otherwise, thank it for its service and let it go...

A few hours and 6 trash bags later, our Art and Craft Supplies are all here:

 
I was so completely overwhelmed by that pile of craft stuff.  Perhaps even more so by the knowledge that this is just one tiny little category in this huge house of mess.  But I focused, and handled each object, and tried my best.  I am not sure I was entirely true to the system.  I mean, really, does a jug of washable tempera paint really spark joy?  No.  But is sure is darn useful when you need to entertain a batch of kids.   And entertained kids DO spark joy.  So there.

Category 2 (a small one today as we had to spend a good deal of the day out on Lake Erie in Becca and Joe's boat, poor us...)

Mugs.

These are the mugs we are either letting go of, or storing neatly in a box for Fake Christmas Morning.

And these are the ones that made the cut, accessible and visible and ready to be enjoyed on this shelf above the coffee maker.    I didn't manage to get a picture of our overcrowded mug shelf before but trust me when I say that this is MUCH more joyful.