Solo Mother

Some quick tips to get organized

by christina on October 17th, 2007

Our lives are so busy, and our house is so entirely lacking in storage space, that I often feel that our ‘grab and go’ lifestyle is going to overwhelm us. I look at all the things we have accumulated over the year we’ve been back in the US and wonder where on earth it all came from. I know where, actually. The wonderful community who caught my son and I when we landed Stateside with little more than the clothes in our suitcases gave us everything we needed to start life again. It’s an amazing feeling, to think that perhaps now we’ve crept past the level of ‘enough’ and are edging our way towards ‘too much stuff’.

My in box today sent me a small burst of inspiration from the Care2 Green Living site. Decluttering my way to peace — dare I call it sanity? — sounds like something I dearly need right now. The article suggests I begin by categorizing the things I trip over in my day to day life:

• Stagnant: Things that you can no longer use
• Stuck: Things that you will probably not use
• Waiting: Things you use very occasionally or seasonally
• Active and Disorganized: Things that you use regularly, but not necessarily frequently
• Active: Things that you actively use

Tackle the Stagnant pile first, by recycling, Freecycling, or otherwise getting rid of the deadweight in such a way that is good for everyone else, too.

If you have a child in the house, toys are a constant battle. Go through toys every season and toss broken toys, donate gently used toys to shelters, classrooms, hospitals, doctors’ offices, where ever someone might get some more joy out of something your child no longer enjoys. Then look at ways to keep toys organized and mostly out of the way (until that Lego Attack grabs you and you suddenly have little colored bits of plastic everywhere!). While you’re at it, go through clothing on a seasonal basis, as well. Your kid outgrows everything… but what about your clothes? If you’ve been hanging on to that perfect pair of jeans for the past 10 years, hoping that someday they will fit again? Either throw them away or set a red letter day on your calendar a year from now; if you don’t fit into them on that day, give them away… and anything else that doesn’t fit.

Target a single room at a time to avoid feeling overwhelmed. Take a look at your bathroom: do you have old cosmetics, expired vitamins and medications, random half tubes of stuff cluttering up your bath? Deal with it — but talk to your pharmacist about the best way to dispose of old medicines and vitamins.

Be creative with your storage solutions. All my sheets and towels rock themselves to sleep in the antique cradle that I used when I was a baby, and then again when my son was born. a friend of mine has far more books than he does kitchen equipment, so his books are tucked away in the extra space in his kitchen cabinets.

I know I feel better when things are in their place, surfaces are clear, and I can find tomorrow’s outfit without having to burrow through layers of clothers on chairs. Yeah? Makes getting out the door so much easier in the mornings!

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