Last week I wrote my first post on Living a Simpler Life. Overwhelmed with CHAOS (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome) that was cluttering up so many spaces of my life, my thoughts were on decluttering, organization, peace of mind, and relaxation — and how I could get from an environment that added to my stress to an environment that promoted peace and relaxation. I’d been avoiding all the STUFF and just putting the excess in the pile in the garage instead of dealing with it. But that wasn’t solving any problems, or making me feel more relaxed. Every time I stepped in the garage to do laundry or let the dogs out or look for something I put out there (that was a journey in itself!), I got stressed all over again. And my daughter kept asking when I was going to go through it and sell it or get rid of it.
I began to think about how I felt when my mom passed away – it took my sister and I weeks to go through her stuff enough to pack a Uhaul and truck it from California up to my home in Oregon. Then it took months to go through it and trash, distribute, sell, or donate all of it. After that experience I SWORE I was not going to put my kids through that! But here I was, heading in the exact same direction. It was past time to take action.
I remembered I used to read the blog FlyLady.org and she made it seem so simple. Every day you had a ‘zone’ to clean, just 15 minutes a day, and some tasks. There are Five Zones:
Zone 1 – Entrance/Front Porch/Dining Room
Zone 2 – Kitchen
Zone 3 – Main Bathroom/Extra Room
Zone 4 – Master Bedroom/Bath/Closet
Zone 5 – Living Room/Den/TV Room
I didn’t keep up with it because the emails just became too overwhelming for me. The concept is simple enough and I think it could work. For me, it was just too much on top of working a full-time job outside the home.
I remembered reading about Marie Kondo and her book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. When I searched for more info, I found her Netflix series, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo – I fell in love with that show! Have you read the book or seen the show? With the ‘KonMari’ method, you tidy by category, not location – there are Five categories:
-Clothes
-Books
-Papers
-Komono (miscellaneous)
-Sentimental Items
The process is simple:
-Imagine your ideal lifestyle, how you want your home to look and feel
-Ask yourself if each item sparks joy for you
-Thank each item for it’s usefulness before discarding
The items you keep are displayed in a way that is neat and organized – kind of like the ‘a place for every thing and every thing in it’s place’ mentality our parents/grandparents used to say (at least my grandmother did).
My way is kind of a mix of the two. I clean by area, but break it down.
Last week I started in the bedroom, but not the whole bedroom. The closet. My goal was to go through my closet and discard the things I don’t wear for whatever reason. I did discard a few things (and yes, I thanked them). But I found at the end, I kept more than I thought I would. So when I was done, I took each item and turned the hangar backwards. When I wear it and wash it, I will hang it back up correctly. If at the end of, I’m saying 3 months, I haven’t worn it, it will be discarded. Most times experts will tell you 1 month, but I know there are things I will wear that I may not wear in the next month, so adjust that to what you feel is appropriate. I know that most items will be hung correctly within 1 month, but I also know there are a few items I DO wear, but I don’t wear as often.
But I consider it a success – I did it! Sorry, forgot the BEFORE picture (and that would have been a good before picture — I had SO much stuff on the floor of my closet!), but here is the AFTER picture.
On top of cleaning out my closet – I took on a small project. I moved my desk and desktop computer that was in Dakota’s room into my room and moved a desk from the garage into his room. The purpose of this was two-fold. One, I now have a work area in my room. Somewhere to sit and work on things when I need to. But most importantly, the drawers and shelves that have so much of MY stuff that has been stashed away for the past few years, is now in my room – my area that I am responsible for keeping clean.
The smaller desk still gives Dakota space to do his homework, but now he has less space for clutter, which means he’ll need to deal with it. No more shoving stuff in cubbies or drawers (although his desk does have a couple drawers), he’ll now be faced with having to keep his room tidier as well. Yep, I’m taking him on this decluttering, tidying journey with me – he just doesn’t know it yet.
So, that is my next project. Cleaning out the desk, sorting through the STUFF that has been stashed away, and finding homes for what I want to keep, thanking and discarding those things I no longer have a use or want for. Here is my starting point –
I’m also going to be cleaning off the top of my dresser
and the extra belongings I have (jewelry boxes and jewelry making supplies) that are, as of today, lined along the far side of my bed
So that’s my project over this next week. A little at a time I will sort through the desk drawers and decide if what lies within is something that sparks joy for me, something I feel is worth the time to keep, or I will distribute, donate, sell, or discard to my hearts content until I am happy with the results and have a home for each item.
The jewelry making supplies (and a few other items) I know will take just a little longer to ‘find a home for’ as I will need to purchase the right storage for them, but I already know there are some items I will no longer need and some items I can reorganize to make things fit a little better.
I have found a combination of zones and categories work best for me. And I will need to come up with a ‘plan of action’ for when each ‘zone’ is done. You know, the upkeep. Maintaining cleanliness is a daily thing, and the more you maintain, the less time you need to spend cleaning. And that’s the goal I am after.
So how about you? Did you complete the project you chose for yourself last week? Share your pics in the comments! If you didn’t complete it, that’s ok too. Just keep that your project for this week. You can pick another next week. We all move at our own pace. And some projects need to be broken up. Notice I didn’t choose “my bedroom” — I broke it up into sections.
Until next week,
