At the end of every school year, I typically bring home an assortment of books, papers and files to read and sort through over the summer. Often, this collection sits in a corner (or two) somewhere in my house, in an assortment of tote bags, bins and boxes, which collect dust for two-and-a-half months, only to be relocated - often untouched - at the end of the summer.
This year, however, I needed to pack up my office, so all of my personal belongings needed to come home - to stay. Since our house already has more than its fair share of "stuff," the typical summer sort must have a different end result.
And so I have dug in. Determined, however, not to cram and jam, I am slowly finding homes for everything that has come to my house to live. One day last week, I spent about four hours engaged in what I have come to call domino tasks: moving one thing, which led to moving another, which led to sorting a space, which got re-purposed as a home for what it was holding as well as a home for something else....You probably know the drill, unless, of course, you are a Type A organizer, in which case you stopped reading two paragraphs ago when the heart palpitations began.
I am slowly making progress. I would like to say "slowly but surely," but I'm only sure of the slowly part. I've made small dents in the piles in our mudroom, items have found new homes....but other rooms in my house now look worse than they did when I began. In the process of finding new homes for my office goodies, I unearthed more things that needed to be sorted and stored. Many of these things were, indeed, crammed and jammed, which only served to delay the inevitable.
It's really not as bad as it sounds...most days, anyway. I enjoy the organizing process, particularly when I don't have time constraints, like company coming or school starting again in a week. The temptation to get a great big plastic bin with a lid is enormous, but I keep telling myself that eventually, everything will find a home and I will be grateful that I figured out where everything belonged and put it there.
But some days, I wonder if it all belongs in a bigger house.
It will all feel so good when you get through it! :) I cleaned out my storage area this year and organized it all. So many years of teaching materials finally made it into the trash or into organized and well-labeled boxes. Now I just go into the storage room and stand and admire. :)
ReplyDeleteYou know, maybe I need a storage area. In some ways, that would feel like admitting defeat, but sometimes I feel that no matter how much I get rid of, the clutter still wins the war...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the vote of confidence! I do feel good when I make progress...until I turn around and see how much remains to be done. Kinda like writing a book! ;-)