Confessions of a Clutter Queen - pt. 3 Apartment Therapy
Once again, I wrote something, and neglicted to post it. I wrote this entry 6 weeks ago.
While on vacation in Chicago at the beginning of this month, I finished reading Apartment Therapy. I will probably not do the entire eight week remedy, but I will be picking-and-choosing some of the recommendations for my home. I was
surprised by how much jived with things I was already doing / wanted to be doing. Before I had read about the “outbox” I was already setting aside items to get rid of - and some of them were placed in a “maybe” pile; but it was nice to see what a professional has to say - that such a place helps free you from lingering attachment. And I know I have a lot of attachment to things that I don’t really use / necessarily want to keep.
Other things, like determining to make your bed every morning, and to have all dishes washed and away by the end of the day, or buying fresh flowers each week, are small changes that I implemented (or tried to) right away.
This weekend I decided to tackle my kitchen, and instead of a quick-fix, I am giving myself the week to sort through, and figure things out, based on suggestions from week 2 in the book. I have reorganized my pantry, and purged 2 shelves of out-of-date foods, and things I know I will never use. I still have 2 shelves and the basket storage on the floor to sort through, but I can’t tell you how much better I feel for getting rid of a full trash bag of unused/unusable food. And since I am baking a lot more frequently now (in preparation/ practice for my goal of opening a vegan bakery), I reorganized so that all my baking supplies are together on one shelf, instead of scattered in 4 or 5 spots on three shelves. And the top shelf, one where I recently gained some space by getting rid of the fondue set I have used exactly twice since I got it 12 years ago, I will be using to organize some of the cake decorating materials, and other baking related, non-food items.
The friend who lent me the book has offered to let me keep it for a while (she has another copy, and gave me her lending copy), and I think that having it on hand, and tackling different rooms in the house, even if I don’t go in order, or complete all the prescribed tasks, will be beneficial to the health of my home in the long run.
While on vacation in Chicago at the beginning of this month, I finished reading Apartment Therapy. I will probably not do the entire eight week remedy, but I will be picking-and-choosing some of the recommendations for my home. I was
surprised by how much jived with things I was already doing / wanted to be doing. Before I had read about the “outbox” I was already setting aside items to get rid of - and some of them were placed in a “maybe” pile; but it was nice to see what a professional has to say - that such a place helps free you from lingering attachment. And I know I have a lot of attachment to things that I don’t really use / necessarily want to keep.
Other things, like determining to make your bed every morning, and to have all dishes washed and away by the end of the day, or buying fresh flowers each week, are small changes that I implemented (or tried to) right away.
This weekend I decided to tackle my kitchen, and instead of a quick-fix, I am giving myself the week to sort through, and figure things out, based on suggestions from week 2 in the book. I have reorganized my pantry, and purged 2 shelves of out-of-date foods, and things I know I will never use. I still have 2 shelves and the basket storage on the floor to sort through, but I can’t tell you how much better I feel for getting rid of a full trash bag of unused/unusable food. And since I am baking a lot more frequently now (in preparation/ practice for my goal of opening a vegan bakery), I reorganized so that all my baking supplies are together on one shelf, instead of scattered in 4 or 5 spots on three shelves. And the top shelf, one where I recently gained some space by getting rid of the fondue set I have used exactly twice since I got it 12 years ago, I will be using to organize some of the cake decorating materials, and other baking related, non-food items.
The friend who lent me the book has offered to let me keep it for a while (she has another copy, and gave me her lending copy), and I think that having it on hand, and tackling different rooms in the house, even if I don’t go in order, or complete all the prescribed tasks, will be beneficial to the health of my home in the long run.