Down The Rabbit Hole & Tidying Up

It has been very busy around here lately. At the end of May, Daughter #1 returned home to get well. We added to the dumping ground in the living room when she first arrived. I am slowing getting my living room back as we sort, edit, and purge Sara's things.

Prior to Sara's return, I had to re-home many of my belongings that have oozed their way into the drawers and closet of her bedroom. In order to make space for her in her old room, I had to created space for my things elsewhere. Essentially, I had to make space out of thin air... no small feat! It was serendipitous that I discovered Marie Kondo. Her approach to tidying up has been instrumental in helping me to achieve order out chaos. Perhaps there is something to the notion that we must trust that the Universe gives you exactly what we need. Sometimes hardships from which to build character or skill; or as in this case, some answers and information to tackle an existing life situation.

I remember scrolling through my Facebook feed one morning and found a post about the folding technique of Marie Kondo. Since all things domestic and related to organization interest me, I just HAD to click the link. I was fascinated. I continued to search for YouTube videos and Googled all things Marie Kondo. Now, that I've been totally hooked on her tidying approach. I have to say, based only on what I've found from other bloggers and YouTubers, the technique called the Konmari Method has rocked my world and provided me with just enough information to comfortably squeeze Sara back into the household while providing me with a little order and tidiness!

For several years now, I have worked on paring down unwanted/unused items, upstairs and down. The old clothes that don't fit; the outgrown toys and kids clothes and the junky or broken items were the easiest to purge - sell, donate or throw out. My last tidy up was before Christmas which I shared with you. Now, although I was pleased with the results, I think there is a little more tweaking required since I have become acquainted with Marie Kondo! Of course this will have to wait because I needed to make space for Sara now so I focused my efforts on her bedroom, the master bedroom, bathroom vanity, and the hall closet. While creating space out of thin air, I found things my husband and I have been hanging on to but were not using or wearing. I bet you can think of several of those items lurking in your closet or drawers! 

"Does this <insert item name> bring me joy?" has helped me purge the last of many unused items that we were holding on to because I felt guilty about getting rid of them or because they were a gift.  You all know those kinds of items... everyone has them! After editing and purging our drawers, bedroom and linen closets, and bathroom vanity, I applied her folding and organisation techniques. This worked so well in my bedroom that I eliminated the "off season" clothing bins and found that I could store far more in the same amount of space AND still see everything we had! If we can see the items, then we would USE the items. A win/win I'd say. After tackling just two bedrooms, my hall closet and the bathroom vanity in the style of the Konmari Method, I had the ability to comfortably squeeze Sara back into her room while maintaining a base level of tidiness. A stellar outcome. This little exercise has shown me that I really want and need to do more.

Yes, I will have to learn all that I can about this path to minimalism, at least my version of it, AND the art of tidying up once and for all. In order to do this, I ordered the book "The Life Changing Magic Of Tidying Up" by Marie Kondo. Now that I think of it, I will also have to pick up her second book called "Spark Joy" so that I can become an expert on how to tidy and put my home in order for the very last time!

I am, by nature, a tidy person. Order in my home brings me peace and serenity; but I know there is room for improvement. I am ready to dive in with the Marie Kondo approach so I can create a calm and clutter-free retreat; I want to truly adopt the old adage "a place for everything and everything in its place". I am looking forward to going through the entire process exactly as she instructs. I can't wait to feel lighter, more focused and see what other positive life transformations present themselves! Yes, I am Alice, and I have gone down that rabbit hole!

"The space in which we live should be for the person we are becoming now, not for the person we were in the past." - Marie Kondo

Pre Christmas Clean Up Project

Welcome to 2016! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year celebration. Finally, things are quieter and I have a chance to blog. I have been away for a while and now that I am sitting at my keyboard, I must say, I have truly missed it. In today's post, I have decided to catch you up on a recent project that has absolutely nothing to do with food. It does, however, have a lot to do with making me feel better. I hate clutter and mess. It drags me down. On the flip side, I can be really good at creating clutter and mess, especially when I let our "stuff" get the better of us and accumulate. It had been at least 6 years since I've tackled a major purging of things we have outgrown or moved on from and the result has been a basement that was starting to look a little junky. It was time for a therapeutic sort, edit and purge AND to get our basement ready for Christmas.

In November I wanted to work on getting our rec room and TV rooms finished. We started this project 10 years ago and since I am between jobs right now, I decided it was high time to move this longstanding work in progress forward. Quality projects take time, but this was getting ridiculous! So, step 1 of my Christmas Clean Up was to find my long lost basement and rejuvenate it to be an inviting space again. I had a lofty goal of getting 90% of my project completed before Christmas. Sadly, the second week of December hit and I ran out of time for this project. Completion would have to be put off until the new year, but I would like to share what I've done so far!

There was much editing, organizing and super cleaning required first and foremost. Then, armed with my hole filler, sanding pad, paint and assortment of brushes and rollers, I set out to colour me beautiful, one wall at a time! The inspiration for my wall colour was from this beautiful cuddle quilt my mother-in-law made for me. 

 

Several years ago, my husband built a cabinet to house our electronics. He chose a gorgeous espresso coloured stain. Then he built a shelving unit above our TV and the cabinet. This shelving unit remained a natural wood colour for many years. Finally, this unit got painted! The espresso coloured paint closely matches the stain too. Our entertainment centre is finally looking polished. Now, I want two more cabinets to finish the project. For now, it's coming along now and I'm pleased with the results so far. 

 

Even though I have purged a whole lot of "stuff", I found that displaying a lot of unrelated things, no matter how neatly, still looked junky and felt cluttered. In order to make my shelves and cubbies look cleaner, I used a variety of bins, baskets and boxes in which to store my stuff. Then I grouped similar baskets, bins and baskets together to help give a more streamlined and uniform look. The only thing that would make this better would be to use only one kind of basket or bin, but I've been trying to do my basement cleanup on a tight budget and make use of what we already had.

 

This bookcase is another project my husband made. It is still a natural colour and I am thinking it will stay that way (it matches the natural wood kindling box he made too).  Again, I have tried to create some continuity with similar baskets and bins on the shelves to hide a variety of items including my beloved mason jars in a variety of sizes; office items like files, taxes, and paid bills; an assortment of Frisbees, sidewalk chalk and miscellaneous outside toys; a collection of housewares I'm keeping to hand down to our youngest when she leaves the nest; plus a whole lot more. Before I tackled this bookcase, the contents used to be arranged on the shelves, and even though I kept things neat, it looked so busy and cluttered. I am pleased with the results and I think it looks so much more "together" and orderly.
 

Since most of the things are neatly tucked away in bins, baskets, and boxes, I used my favourite organization tool... my Brother labeller!  This allows me to attach labels to the box , bin, or on the shelf. Now I have visual cues to help locate items, not to mention, now my husband and daughter can find their stuff! 

 

It's still a work in progress, just not as much work left. Only a little more painting and a little more carpentry required; things are feeling more ordered and I am feeling a little more at peace! 

 

Budget Tip: If you know that the contents of a bin or box is going to be temporary, use green painter's tape to label. The label tape is expensive, so I reserve it for permanent labelling.