Bring it on

It's week two of tidying up! My emotions have swung up and down this week, from so happy I'm getting this all accomplished to completely overwhelmed and I'll never get it done.

One day as I was seeing progress in my (and my husband's) bedroom I took something into my studio/daughter's old bedroom. I almost burst into tears seeing how bad it was. I asked God to help me to ignore the 'evil one's' voice and give me hope. I turned on the TV to do a little hand sewing and Shirley Temple's The Little Princess was on. I then understood how she brought hope to a whole generation. I can see this process will have it's ups and downs, but "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" -- Philippians 4:13. 

Let me back up to one year. My blog post, In 2014, mentions my plan to reduce and organize, and I have been trying a little bit at a time. It took us nearly two months to get through the office and, though it's better, it it far from organized. With the KonMari method you don't do it a little bit at a time. You do it all at once and you do it massively.

She suggests a particular order starting with clothes and finishing with mementos. By starting with the least sentimental stuff and ending with the most the hope is to become an expert at discarding by the time you get to the hard stuff. I strayed from this order and I can tell there is a reason for it.

I came across tiger, one of my favorite childhood toys, dating all the way back to my first years. I thought I could let him go. He was even in the donation bag. Then I took him out, took a picture and thought again. Yes, he does still 'spark joy'. That is the criteria, if something sparks joy you keep it. I've decided to take tiger on my hikes this year, take some more photos of him, and then decide. But with the possibility of grandchildren someday, I think he'll stay. 

One of my goals while 'tidying' is to use items on hand for organizing rather than buying new stuff. The changes in the pantry are not that obvious at first glance, but it is much, much better. The only thing we bought for the pantry was the cat food container, because that swing lid trash can wasn't working. By the time we were through I was able to store a few things that used to sit on the counter and I put my tea bags in the rectangular basket instead of a canister where I always had to dig to find what I wanted. We did purchase drawer dividers from The Container Store and Daiso and some small plastic organizers form Daiso.

pantry before and after

Before I close for this week let me take you back even further. As I was looking through old papers I found a list of strengths, weaknesses, goals and specific actions I had hand written in the early 90's. It was interesting to say the least. My first weakness was, can you guess? Disorganized! I was not taught organizational skills at home or even in home ec which was my college major. Let's hope reducing will help!

Today I went through books. I've pulled out over 100 to donate and sell! I can't believe I had that many. I have to say it's liberating to get rid of them!

some of the books that will stay

I'll leave you with a few photos of the kitchen drawers  my daughter did Christmas Eve and I have been enjoying.

former junk drawer

utensils with Daiso dividers

utensils with Container store dividers
(I like these better)

May you have a joy filled, productive week!

Linda <><