About a month ago I wrote about how nothing is as "...fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task." I have had quite a few of those.
Redoing the guest bathroom and the kitchen have made me bring in some new stuff and get rid of old stuff. In the meantime other things got neglected. One of the things we all know is that a stack of stuff that has to be dealt with or an area that needs cleaning or something is emotionally draining every time you look at it. That's been me and several areas of my house for the last few months. A weekend was never enough time to devote to any particular issue.
When my boss and I were discussing the vacation time we'd like to take before the end of the year, I realized I had over 96 hours of unused vacation time. I can only carry 40 hours over to next year, and it was pretty clear I wasn't going to be able to take a solid week off between now and then, so I got creative. I took a look at the company's fiscal calendar and identified three weekends where I could take Friday and Monday off. Those are now on the calendar and I've just completed the first four day weekend.
I decided to get going and clear out some of the stuff that has been weighing me down.
There are three bookcases in my bedroom and these are two of them. All kinds of stuff was stacked willy-nilly on both bookcases, making things hard to find and looking messy. What got me working on these was something that happened in the kitchen.
I had had a big folder of all kinds of recipes I had clipped over the years and it was messy going through them to find what I wanted. Julie suggested I put them in clear plastic sleeves and store them in a three ring binder. Easy for her to say. I had the folder, but I also had a box in the closet. Might as well go through that too. It took me the better part of a week, sorting through them, organizing them and then categorizing and storing them. I ended up needing SEVEN three ring binders. (There is one binder called "Thanksgiving.") Well that was nice, but they didn't fit in my kitchen, so I'd have to put them someplace else.
I had to rearrange the bookcase at the left to get them in there. Then I did the bookcase on the right, because there were some books I wanted to get rid of and some I wanted to group together.
See the comfy green chair at the right? It's where I dump my purse and sweater when I get home from work. It has also been the dumping ground for receipts from when I go shopping and anything else in my pockets. That chair is usually full of stuff so you can't sit on it. But now I can.
Before you tell me that a bedroom is a funny place to store cookbooks, let me show you this. This ENTIRE bookcase is filled with cookbooks. I kid you not. Every single book on this is a cookbook. And before you go all "Home Edit" on me, I've been sorting books and DVD's by color for years.
My two favorite things are sewing and cooking. You should not be surprised.
You probably noticed the coffee table I use as a bench at the end of my bed. It has a quilt pattern painted on it. Yes, that was me. Before I cleaned it off there was a big stack of four quilts resting on it. No longer.
In for a penny, in for a pound, right? So I also went through the big closet. It is where I store my quilts, as you can see. I still have a lot of stuff in there to sort through, but as I was going through my clothes closet I decided to take any clothes that were in the quilt closet and put them with the rest of my clothers. Makes much more sense, right? I wonder how many of us have stuff that is split into several locations.
Now I am going to jump ahead a bit, but check out the light fixture in that closet. Earlier this year I replaced the light fixtures in my "spa" bathroom and installed a small chandelier in the small toilet/shower room. It was so pretty, I decided to replace the boring round fixture in the quilt closet with the same small, fun chandelier.
So, BOTH bathrooms, CHECK!
Bookcases in the bedroom, CHECK!
I can't tell me how happy this makes me feel!
What's funny is that I hadn't planned to tackle these projects, but since I was able to get rid of the junk in the home office so easily, I had time to work in the bedroom.
I also purchased replacement light fixtures for the front hallway, the kitchen, and the side hallway. The existing fixtures were all old and fuddy-duddy. Then I scheduled an electrician to come in and install them. That happened on Monday, but I'll tell you about it later.
11 comments:
Your cookbooks, colour co-ordinated, very neat and tidy.Just as well you mentioned the light, I would have missed it.Looks very smart.
I had a purge of cookbooks and still have two full bookcases. Then there are all the other books I read. I love to cook and quilt. The last time I purged and lessened the weight on my shoulders I also re-arranged the area to eliminate places where things clutter. It has helped some. In some ways living in a small home forces my family to keep what we love and get rid of the rest. Not easy but so satisfying. :) Love your bath and have started work on mine. It dates to 1969 so a little out of date. lol
This is a bit random, but I notice that you have a tower fan. Do you like it better than traditional fans? Is it quieter?
Congratulations on getting some organizing and relocating done. I agree that this moves your energy around in a surprising and wonderful way!
Once you get started it is amazing what you can get done and you usually love the result. I like the way you organized the cookbooks .
It is nice to get organized ;)
Nancy
Having seen the bedroom bookshelves "before" earlier this year, I am duly impressed by the transformation. Decluttering and editing what we own makes a huge difference in our mental capacity for everything else. GOOD FOR YOU!
I don't think cookbooks in the bedroom are odd at all. Why not? Especially arranged as nicely as yours are. And it keeps them away from the grease and steam that floats throughout the kitchen.
When I was working, I think I got more done on 4-day weekends than when I had a full week off. With a full week off, somehow the thought of "you have a whole week, what's the hurry?" suddenly turned to "oh crap, I've only got 3 days left?!?!". I didn't have that problem with 3-4 day weekends. Now that I'm retired, I now find myself thinking "plenty of time later" and getting far less done on projects than I thought I would.
The results of your work are looking good. Once you're on a roll with a task, keeping the mojo going for it in another area is often easier than getting it restarted.
I love your neat & clean areas now. But today—I am watching Chip & Joanna Gaines’ “Fixer-Upper—We Bought a Castle.” Joanna is showing wallpaper she bought for the drawing room & it suddenly hits me: “That looks like Lynn’s wallpaper...” Yes, Joanna has chosen well! The olive green leaves/ pale pink big flower version. So cool!
It takes a lot of energy to sort through stuff. And it takes a plan to not get buried in all the choices. Looks like you had momentum to keep going after the kitchen and bathroom. Hope you can relax and enjoy it.
Your organization and purging are very inspiring to me! I also have a plethora of cookbooks, and now looking at yours, I am not so hard on myself! And I also have the large tote of recipes I have clipped from various places or printed off to have hard copies. Plus another stack that just keeps getting bigger. I'm interested in the binders you have used for that organization. I am TIRED of always looking for one and waste too much time looking for the ones I use a lot. So.......how did you make up these binders with the clear pages inside? Did you mount several recipes on one page to insert? The ones that are small would all fall down to the bottom of the page. Would love a bit more detail on that project. I keep saying I will take several days and get them out and spread out on a table and dive in but it just overwhelms me!
My sister organized her cookbook as Julie suggests and it is a delight. I put all my recipes online a few years ago and like having them wherever I go.
You have inspired me to get busy on the clutter around our place - mostly belonging to my husband, but like yourself I do have bookcases in my bedroom, only two but both overflowing. Thanks for the inspiration!
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