Tag Archives: organization

Operation Declutter: Victory

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Well after a week of cleaning, sorting, reorganizing and tossing out a lot of stuff, things have finally come together in the basement.  Jordon was a big help.  He can be ruthless in getting rid of stuff and while his library wasn’t really an issue, he tossed out hundreds and hundreds of books and gave away many more.  The end result is that we emptied out two large bookshelves and are able to get rid of three more.  We will put one bookshelf into Mark’s room and take one upstairs to hold some of Oliver’s stuff.  It’s all good.

Today Lee came down and picked up some of his stuff that we are storing.  Some of it needs to go to Value Village next weekend.  Lee is coming back to grab some antiques and donate them next Saturday as they won’t fit in the cars and Community Living doesn’t pick up anything bigger than 18 inches.  The stories I heard from staff of the Salvation Army about the Thrift Stores is true as I can’t even get anyone to answer their pickup number.

Everyone asks me what I plan to use the space for but for right now, I just plan to keep it open and enjoy it.   Jordon has his desk and home server in the corner of the basement and I want to make sure I respect that space and not intrude on it.  Now that the depression is under control, I am looking forward to doing some painting, just chilling out to some music or maybe just enjoying the open space. 

SoulSpace: Creating a Home That Reflects and Inspires YouThe book SoulSpace made me rethink the following things about our home.

Where do you live? Where do you feel alive? Where do you feel safe, peaceful, hopeful, and supported? Where can you explore your hobbies, think, learn, and love? If your home is just a temporary holding pen where you leave your things during the day instead of a beautiful space that makes you feel safe and calm every time you walk in the door, something is wrong. Your home is more than a place where your possessions are — it is a place where your body can recharge, where your passions can be fulfilled, where you can safely explore yourself and your desires, and where your soul can rest, be inspired, and soar. Home is about satisfying our basic animal needs: eating, sleeping, seeking shelter. But it is also about achieving transcendence on earth through our other needs, the ones that are the basis of our humanity: beauty, love, and creativity.

It’s moving from a holding pen to a place where I can explore hobbies, think, learn, and love.  Of course I need space for that and that is happening now.  It’s been a lot of work but it feels really good.

Operation Declutter + 1

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As I mentioned before, I am a packrat.  I come by it honestly.  I am not sure why I am like that, some of it is learned but the other part of it is this fear that if I don’t have it, I won’t be useful down the road.

With my depression, making decisions has become harder and if I can put off a decision, I will and the perfect place to delay my decisions over stuff is to put stuff in the basement and the master bedroom.  My friend Gloria says it is also because of my personality (I am an INTP).  Since this spring it has become overrun with junk and finally over Christmas Jordon had enough.  For weeks and months I had been promising to clean it but it just got worse.  The basement is the easiest place to put stuff because of the nerve damage that Jordon has in is feet.  Normally Jordon doesn’t go down without shoes but stupidly I bought him two pairs of slippers (including a pair that look like the heads of bears) for Christmas.   Today as I was at work, Jordon decided to upload several hundred photos to Flickr and he started to toss things out downstairs while he waited to upload.  It wasn’t all my stuff, Jordon got rid of hundreds and hundreds of books and theological texts that he no longer wanted or needed.  He had Mark clean out his room as well.  They made a big dent in the mess and made me feel a bit better about the stuff I needed to clean out.  Jordon said that there was probably 100 boxes of stuff that needed to be tossed and while I cringed when he said it, he is right.  We tossed out about 15 boxes tonight and there is a lot to go.  It wasn’t just stuff that needed to be tossed out, it was stuff that needed to go to the shed but all need to be outside of the house.

Of course I never had any plan for what needed to be done but the plan is to get rid of two massive bookshelves (and burn them), move some of the stuff out that we are still storing or Lee (they will be gone this weekend) and then get rid of some furniture that we have down there.  Jordon’s mom gave me her sewing machine and I had been almost crying over the idea of getting rid of it but when everything else is gone, there will be a space for the sewing machine.  It made me happy.

I realized tonight that I don’t really have any thing of sentimental value from my family and I doubt I ever will, maybe that is why I hold on to Marion’s sewing machine.  Someone thought enough of me to pass it on.  I am also thankful to Jordon for finding me a way and a place to keep it.

15 boxes, four chairs, and a coffee table down.  A lot more to go.  Tomorrow the first load goes to Value Village.  The first run of many.  It feels pretty good.  When you suffer from depression, you tend to pile up more defeats than victories.  Today felt like a victory.