So I have to start by saying two things. One, I've known that I had a few unattended to-do items around the house that I've been wanting to get to since we moved in. Two, I seriously think that I try to be mindful about not having too much stuff around and I try to either not bring too much in or I continuously weed out stuff.
BUT let me tell all y'all, we have SO much stuff! I seriously don't even know how we've accumulated so much. I recognize the furniture came in bits and pieces til we had a full house....but I don't know how we've filled SO many nooks and crannies in the process also.
All this realization came into being today as hub and I have been tackling rearranging and reorganizing the house. Why are we doing this you might be wondering? Well because starting this coming week and then by the beginning of March, our two "extra" rooms will be used by other people. Our first housemate is to arrive sometime this coming week and then our friend will move in by March 1st.
Over the holidays hub and I had moved our couches around, so we started out today by moving back to the old lay-out which is more space conscience. Then hub and I decided to move our bedroom to the one that has a bathroom adjacent to it. This way once we're all in the house, there will be two people per bathroom rather than 3 using one and 1 using the other. Our spare bedrooms were being used as a guest room/my closet central and as hub's man cave/office/closet. So with the new lay-out, hub lost his man cave and the desk moved out to the living room, and the guest room is becoming less personalized with our things and will be used as a furnished room for my new coworker.
This has also meant that we've had to consolidate closets....and move into our own bedroom....and honestly that might be the hardest part for us. I know we've been spoiled with the extra space and honestly even in Louisiana we had separate rooms/closets at times. Since we've been in Oregon, we've created a unified master but we've really grown to enjoy being able to get dressed in other separate rooms. We're able to have more space for our stuff and also don't disturb whoever is still trying to sleep. Somehow we were able to cram all our stuff into the one closet in our new bedroom space, but there's no longer space for any of the other things we'd have in our closets now either. So the hall closets are also getting re-organized and we're going to have to tap into some new storage options (ie using one of the two closets in the room that our buddy will have and moving some stuff into the garage).
But honestly, what all this reorganization is showing me is just how much stuff we have accumulated. Honestly when it comes to the clothes and shoes, hub and I actually wear almost all of what we have throughout the year (we're both big on layering) so I don't feel like much of it is unjustified in those areas. Where I am noticing extras is with books, paper, electronics, hiking boots....and all those little things that add up and take up space overall. I'm also realizing that I really need to suck it up and find myself a two drawer file cabinet, so I can have my teaching stuff, etc all organized and easily accessible.
This evening I collected one garbage bag to take to Goodwill and a bag of paper recycling. I also have another smaller bag of cell phone cords/parts, used CDs, etc to take to the recycling center. There is still so much stuff to get rid of and I seriously just keep looking around in our closets and in cupboards asking myself over and over "Do we actually use this stuff?!"
Hub was amazing today and did a ton while I was gone for a work/volunteer session and meeting. Even the chickies have a new housing lay-out out in the shed that hub researched and created for them today. By the end of this evening, all the furniture has been moved inside. So tomorrow will be my job to keep organizing and getting the final touches in place. The catch is getting rid of enough....but ensuring I don't pass on or recycle any of the items that hub is wanting me to hold on to---always a tough one!
Woo---here's to a day of organization and cleaning tomorrow! But hopefully it'll end with a lot less STUFF and a bit more piece of mind, while creating space for two others in our home. :)
BUT let me tell all y'all, we have SO much stuff! I seriously don't even know how we've accumulated so much. I recognize the furniture came in bits and pieces til we had a full house....but I don't know how we've filled SO many nooks and crannies in the process also.
All this realization came into being today as hub and I have been tackling rearranging and reorganizing the house. Why are we doing this you might be wondering? Well because starting this coming week and then by the beginning of March, our two "extra" rooms will be used by other people. Our first housemate is to arrive sometime this coming week and then our friend will move in by March 1st.
Over the holidays hub and I had moved our couches around, so we started out today by moving back to the old lay-out which is more space conscience. Then hub and I decided to move our bedroom to the one that has a bathroom adjacent to it. This way once we're all in the house, there will be two people per bathroom rather than 3 using one and 1 using the other. Our spare bedrooms were being used as a guest room/my closet central and as hub's man cave/office/closet. So with the new lay-out, hub lost his man cave and the desk moved out to the living room, and the guest room is becoming less personalized with our things and will be used as a furnished room for my new coworker.
This has also meant that we've had to consolidate closets....and move into our own bedroom....and honestly that might be the hardest part for us. I know we've been spoiled with the extra space and honestly even in Louisiana we had separate rooms/closets at times. Since we've been in Oregon, we've created a unified master but we've really grown to enjoy being able to get dressed in other separate rooms. We're able to have more space for our stuff and also don't disturb whoever is still trying to sleep. Somehow we were able to cram all our stuff into the one closet in our new bedroom space, but there's no longer space for any of the other things we'd have in our closets now either. So the hall closets are also getting re-organized and we're going to have to tap into some new storage options (ie using one of the two closets in the room that our buddy will have and moving some stuff into the garage).
But honestly, what all this reorganization is showing me is just how much stuff we have accumulated. Honestly when it comes to the clothes and shoes, hub and I actually wear almost all of what we have throughout the year (we're both big on layering) so I don't feel like much of it is unjustified in those areas. Where I am noticing extras is with books, paper, electronics, hiking boots....and all those little things that add up and take up space overall. I'm also realizing that I really need to suck it up and find myself a two drawer file cabinet, so I can have my teaching stuff, etc all organized and easily accessible.
This evening I collected one garbage bag to take to Goodwill and a bag of paper recycling. I also have another smaller bag of cell phone cords/parts, used CDs, etc to take to the recycling center. There is still so much stuff to get rid of and I seriously just keep looking around in our closets and in cupboards asking myself over and over "Do we actually use this stuff?!"
Hub was amazing today and did a ton while I was gone for a work/volunteer session and meeting. Even the chickies have a new housing lay-out out in the shed that hub researched and created for them today. By the end of this evening, all the furniture has been moved inside. So tomorrow will be my job to keep organizing and getting the final touches in place. The catch is getting rid of enough....but ensuring I don't pass on or recycle any of the items that hub is wanting me to hold on to---always a tough one!
Woo---here's to a day of organization and cleaning tomorrow! But hopefully it'll end with a lot less STUFF and a bit more piece of mind, while creating space for two others in our home. :)
2 comments:
Yay for organization! It is amazing to me how much we have. And living in a house built in the 1800's, well, let's just say they didn't have a lot of closets back then...so all of our stuff is *out*. We don't have a closet in our bedroom at all, instead we are using the small entryway to the upstairs as our closet. At least it has a door :-) It fits our dressers and I bought one of those metal hanging things. But, not having closets is motivation to not have too much...although we still seem to have way more than we need. I am still going through Organized Simplicity, and the next half of the book is all about purging. Very excited! I like her approach to remove EVERYTHING from the room, and set it out in the open so you really see what you have. Maybe by the end of the year I will have my house organized ;-)
Ha gal I have to give it to you for putting things in perspective---I totally forgot you two don't have closets! Wowzas :) But I agree, it seems like the less space we have, the more we're able to streamline and "less is more" fills oh.so.right. I like the suggestion from the book---but it almost makes me afraid to try it! I'd maybe hate to see everything we have. Hub's shaking his head---because I love baskets. Baskets make me feel organized---just put it in a basket...so I'm sure you can imagine I've been finding more baskets to put stuff in! :)
Post a Comment