Still my favourite Star Trek Captain (even when played by Chris Pine).
A long overdue tidy-up D101 HQ (aka the Office) started yesterday. “My god, what happened! Thought that room was destined to be box heaven for the cats” my mate Ginger Matt exclaimed when I told him 🙂 The problem was there wasn’t enough room to swing said cats—especially our new Kitten, Florence (aka Flo or Flossy).
I’ve tried and failed previously to get on top of all the piles of books, bits of electronics (inc my desktop, which was a much-loved gaming machine in its time that is as old as our Henry, 14), graphic novels, and even Evies old single bed. That was disassembled and stored in the office when she got one of those two-story beds older kids like and then quickly grow out of. Which itself was replaced by a double bed, now she’s a teenager going on young adult (YIKESS!). The irony of this illustrates how I’ve neglected to deal with this for the last five years or so, to the point that I was worried I had become a clinically depressed border.
The good news is that I’m not. I’ve just been a bit distracted by everything that’s been going on in my family’s life over the last five years. But that’s easing off. Now that the builders are about to move in and sort out my deceased mother’ in-laws bungalow (and about time, she says since she’s been dead a year and a week now), I’ve really got nowhere to hide, and I’m cracking on with a long overdue refresh of the whole house. Taking it a step at a time so I don’t get overwhelmed, which has been my problem in the past.
So yesterday, I took fifteen minutes, which turned into a couple of hours, to clear out the obvious crap and move some bits into the attic. This itself will get a sort out in November because I’m well aware this conceptionally infinite space actually has limits and already has two sets of Christmas decorations, big trees and all (ours and Elianes up there), as well as other “collections” of stuff (including my children’s baby clothes). I have a list to keep track of it 😉 November is my date for this because that’s when I want to solve the problem of Two Christmas’ by having a good throwout 🙂 But getting back to my office tidy up, I’m not finished, but already I’m 25% up with floor space, which I need a damn good hover! Now all I have to do is sort out my stuff, and I’ll have a clean space to work in. Already felt the “feng-shui” benefits of having the extra space and woke up feeling that I had more space to breathe, less oppressed by the amount of stuff I have and that it’s alright to have some of my big collections of stuff (RuneQuest/Glorantha looking at you), while some collections can go to new homes very soon 😀
Next job…sort out the shoes stashed in the office cupboard!
Further information
Fly lady. This cheerful methodology takes you from chaos ridden clutterbug to a habitually tidy person in small, supported steps. She has a big thing, which works, that fifteen minutes of tidying is better than nothing.
Family Wall – A website with an app version for mobiles and tablets, which we as a family have been using for a good nine months now to share calendars, shopping lists, to-do lists etc The list of stuff in the attic that I mention above lives here. Recommended.
The Shoe Event Horizon from the radio version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy