Thursday, January 3, 2013

Resolutions 2013: Organizing/Downsizing

 1. My in-laws had to pack up and move from a house that they'd lived in for nearly 30 years. It was hard. I witnessed it. Many years ago, my parents had to do the same thing. Also hard. And I witnessed that one, too.

2. We know without any doubt that we are going to need to move from this house within the next few years as it will no longer meet the physical needs of our family. I don't want that move to be so very painful wading through STUFF as I know there will be plenty other things to worry about at the time. I don't ever want to feel trapped in a house because moving would just be too hard.

3. I have an entire school room (more) worth of books and school supplies that I have had to organize and make room for in a house that is already full of stuff.

With these things in mind I am doing a couple things over the next year. This is a challenge that I'm joining. One project per week for the year. It starts next week. I'm kind of excited.

I also am going to try giving away or selling one thing a day for the next 30 days at least. I read this article a little while ago, and really liked it. Don't get me wrong. I think these guys have taken things to an extreme that I am not comfortable with, especially in family life, but I like the overall concept of living with less. (I like the title of another one of their posts "Organizing is often well planned hoarding".)

In addition to just getting rid of things we aren't really using anyway, and being more thoughtful about those things we do keep in our house, I like the idea that maybe, just maybe, this will make me feel not so constantly overwhelmed by clutter when it comes to the dreaded cleaning of my house. I so loathe cleaning, but I think part of it is that I have to practically excavate before I can even get to the part that I'm supposed to clean.

Here's to a more visibly productive new year!


3 comments:

Valerie said...

"Organizing is often well planned hoarding"

I have often thought that without putting the words together. Great ideas!

Unknown said...

I love the idea of giving stuff away. I am just so cheap though and think, "someone will buy this". Boo! I should really just give the crap away. (But I only used the juicer a handful of times ;))

Emilia said...

Lara, my rule usually is that if I paid for it, I will try to sell it. If I can't sell it, then I'll donate it. If it was given to me, I will give it away. Especially something like a juicer! This time of year, there's bound to be someone looking for an appliance like that! List it somewhere for $10-$15. At that price people are much more willing to give something a try.