Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Now that the post-holiday dust has settled, the pine needles are vacuumed up, and the decorations safely stowed for another year, I find the restored space in our home leads to one thing – a critical eye. Without the distraction of glitzy ornaments and color coordinated wrapping, the smell of fresh garland and baked goods, and the hectic pace of holiday shopping and parties, I find I have the time to notice—for the first time in months—just how disorganized our home has become.
January is typically the time of year for organizing, and I find in our home we too seize the slower pace and frigid temperatures to tackle a few projects that have been on the backburner. Over the last few weeks, both Alex and I have both begun commenting to each other just how jam packed our closets feel, how disorganized our cabinets have become, and how generally we can’t find what we’re looking for. (Well, more so my other half on this one, but then again, he can’t find his way out of our disorganized basement.)
Take our kitchen cabinets, for example. It’s a lucky day if we open the cabinets without a shower of cupcake wrappers or canned goods taking a leap of faith.
We just cross our fingers it’s the former. Canned goods showering down on you as well as the countertops and floor is never a good time.
Today I decided I’ve had it, and I need to get started on a mission to organize. Room by room, beginning with the kitchen, I’m going to clean out the drawers, cabinets, and closets in our home, donating what someone else can use, throwing away broken or damaged items, and reorganizing what we have. I’ve also decided I’m going to do so without spending a single cent. This won’t be one of those max-out-your-credit-card-at-the-Container-Store efforts, nor will it be an impractical effort of making every drawer look beautiful with matching hand calligraphied labels, all carefully organized in salvaged baby food jars. I’m setting out to use what we have, get rid of what we don’t need, maximize the way we use the space in our 15’ wide home, and to restore the delicate balance that is my sanity.
In fact, I’m challenging myself to undertake and complete this effort in the next two weeks. So who’s with me? We can make it a Clean and Purge Challenge. I’ll report back on my progress with before and afters, and if you’d like to share your progress for inclusion in a future post, please send it to me at [email protected]. I’d love to know I’m not the only one knee deep in torn gift-wrap bags and stale Halloween marshmallows.
