How many times have you gone to the store and bought something only to discover when you got back home that you already have one (or more) of the same thing? Not that you can’t use it later, but why keep buying things that you really don’t need? In recent weeks, I have been working on a total cleaning and organizing of my entire house. I started small with my large bathroom closet. I had several pairs of shoes on the floor in the bottom of this closet that were just sitting there collecting dust. And I mean a lot of dust! I pulled each and every one of those shoes out of there, cleaned them up, then put several pairs (that I haven’t worn, much less even looked at or even knew I had!) for sale on eBay. I sold two pairs of them and made $25. That was a good thing. I also took the two-shelf stand I had in there holding shoes and put it in my bedroom atop of an old sewing machine cabinet, which added to the shelf space I now can use in my bedroom. I keep a lot of books and notebooks in there next to my bed to be used for journaling, reading, reference, taking notes, etc. It has made all those items within easy reach for me whenever I need them and has helped me keep it all organized. I wish I had thought of that sooner!
I have also been working on cleaning and sorting all the boxes of items in my basement. Here’s the deal – we live in a BIG house and have LOTS of stuff! When we came to look at this house 17 years ago as a possible house to buy, the first thing I noticed was that there were 13 closets!! Wow!! The house we were living in at that time had maybe five (if even that), closets. It was an old, three-story house that was built in the early 1900s. Back then, the builders evidently didn’t see a need for many closets in a house, and therefore, a couple of the bedrooms didn’t even have closets! One of them didn’t even have any outlets!! At any rate, the number of closets here was very appealing to me. Unfortunately, I have all of them filled to the brink and it has only aided in allowing me to buy more stuff (that I don’t need). For instance, it is nice to have a large pantry type closet in the hall near my kitchen for extra canned goods and such. But it also allows for me to have way too much stuff that most of the time sits there unused.
Last week, I cleaned out and cleared out enough stuff to take eight boxes and two large garbage bags full of stuff to the Goodwill! That was a huge relief as we dropped them off. I have also cleaned out several more boxes this week and plan on keeping on doing this until all the “stuff” we have in the basement is either donated, stored, or thrown out.
The only thing I keep thinking about this project is, “What am I going to do with all my time when I finish going through all the stuff I have?” I know, I will start working diligently on my new business and have many, many more hours in the day!
My overall point of this post is this – know what you have. Keep things in order and that way, you will always know what you have and won’t buy things you don’t need. Check to see what you have before you go to the store. Use up what you have. Keep a current list of items in each closet (posted on the inside of the door) so you don’t have to sort through it all the time. Check things off as you use them. Keep a running list of items that you really do need and it will save you both time and money.
So far today, I have cleaned off my entire deck for the winter. All the planter boxes are now empty of flowers and stored in the shed for winter. The rugs are rolled and put in the basement for winter storage. Nothing is left to sit and gather snow over the winter. That is a big accomplishment and a good feeling that now I am ready for the snow to fly. Now, if I can just keep up this momentum…
Until next time,
Life is good. Live it well.
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