Now that I’ve scaled my expectations of myself down, I’m feeling a little less overwhelmed. It’s quite revealing how I said just 15 minutes each day was okay but I really didn’t believe it was enough. Having unrealistic expectations of myself is a major theme in my life. Definitely something that needs more work but we’ll save that for another day.
Truth be told, I have still done
more than 15 minutes these past few days; however, I don’t expect to do several
hours or full evenings on weekdays. It’s
just unrealistic and adds to the panic.
This mess was not created overnight; it was at least 4 years in the
making, if not longer, and is not going to be solved overnight either. Hopefully, we have that issue settled so I
can move onto other issues!
I got home rather late tonight so
time was super short. I spent 20 minutes
cleaning in the kitchen. I am so
excited!!! I’m still going to have to
spend at least 2-3 more 15 minute sessions in there but then it is going to be
clean!!! A few things you need to know
about me:
- I HATE to clean. (I am highly suspicious of anyone who says they LIKE to clean because that is just completely unfathomable to me.)
- I am capable of ignoring dirt, mess and clutter to a very scary degree. (Think pig pen from The Peanuts comics.) That’s how things have gotten so bad. It’s embarrassing and shameful. It’s a truth I find so ugly that I can’t even bring myself to take pictures of the mess to share with you or just keep privately. In the end it’s a good thing there won’t be pictorial evidence because I would use the pictures to punish myself daily after all the mess is clean. Yep, that’s another very telling thing about me.
- I think it’s a waste of time to make the bed because you are just going to sleep in it again so what’s the point? That philosophy extends to pans I use every day in the kitchen. They live on top of the stove.
Given those three bullet points, you
will join me in my excitement when I say that I put the cookie sheets away
(after cleaning them, of course!). At
first, I didn’t even know what to do with them because they live on the stove
but then I opened a cupboard and discovered that they lived in there with the
muffin tins and such. That meant that
for the first time in YEARS (I am not kidding!) my stovetop was completely
clutter free. I cleaned that sucker and,
while it still needs a bit more elbow grease and I need to deal with the
disgusting burner pans, it looks awesome!!!
The counters are clear of items that do not belong and only contain what
lives on them full time. I still have
some more dirty dishes to contend with but they are contained within the
sink. The floor is the thing I have been
putting off the most. The main area is
fine but the perimeter is DISGUSTING. I
am swearing right now that it will be dealt with this weekend. My other pledge is that I will keep the
cleanliness up. I will not let the
kitchen get as bad as it was ever again.
Not only is it the right thing to do and I’ll be able to invite people
over and not need a month’s advance notice but I think it will help me make
healthy food choices. Coming home to
cook dinner won’t be such a chore if the dishes you need to use are already
clean. So yay to making myself clean for
15 minutes every day! It will only have
taken one full week to have gotten the kitchen completely under control. I will still need to go through every
cabinet, cupboard and drawer to decide what really needs to stay and what can
be released but now that the mess is out of the way, I can actually do
that. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!
I spent my decluttering time dealing
with a box of jumbled up jewelry. All
the earrings are paired together. The
bracelets and necklaces are untangled and hanging up now. My holiday accessories are back to being
separate from my every day pieces. I’ll
be honest; I did not get rid of anything.
I know I have more jewelry than any one person should but I don’t
care. They are pieces of wearable art to
me. Yes, I kept pieces I know I will
NEVER wear again. I kept pieces I only
wear once a year. I kept pieces I don’t
necessarily love but that someone I love gave or made for me and that makes the
piece beautiful to me. And the real
kicker, I am not done with jewelry yet.
I have at least three more containers to go through, one of which I
believe I will be able to release a lot from.
That’s not even bringing in all my jewelry making supplies. Will I need to define some limits? Yes.
Do I know what those are yet?
Clearly the answer is no. I have
complete confidence that the answer will come.
In the meantime, I do have a plan.
A few years ago on Pinterest, I
found some really cool jewelry displays using picture frames. I already have one picture frame with plastic
mesh that I use for earrings. I made it
about 10 years ago. It works but the new
ideas will work better, I even have all the supplies to make them, I just never
did it. Now that I have more energy,
determination and an accountability plan, I will get the jewelry displays
made. One wall in my bedroom will be
designated as a jewelry art wall. Some
will be functional, where you can actually take the jewelry on and off easily,
and some will simply be art pieces. For
instance, I have a piece that I am going to call “lost” and it will just
consist of earrings where I’ve lost the other one. There is probably a tiny bit of
self-punishment buried somewhere in this art piece but I am only keeping
earrings I truly love so it really is more about not being able to part with
things that still spark joy.
I think I am going to have more
trouble holding myself to a reasonable timeline for getting the displays and
art pieces done. They’ve been floating
around in my head and all the stuff to make them taking space in my apartment for
far too long. I need to set a deadline
and schedule time to sit down and make them.
While I want to say that these are things that need to be done before I
move in August, I’m not sure that is a reasonable expectation given all the
decluttering I need to do and other projects that really must be done before I
move. There are some things I simply
refuse to move into my new place so there are other projects that have priority
over my jewelry projects. That said, I think
it is completely reasonable to say that if I haven’t made the displays and art
pieces within one year of moving (August 2017), they are never going to get
made.
Three last items before I stop
rambling tonight:
- 4 of the donated items in today’s release numbers are never been used journals that were given new homes to some dear friends. I have collected entirely too many over the years. Some have been written in for a while then abandoned. Instead of picking up where I left off, I just bought new ones. I have now gone through them all twice and I am still having trouble parting with all of them. Oy vey!
- I only climbed 7.5 flights of stairs today. My body is feeling the extra strain so I’m giving it a break. I did do some walking. I didn’t quite hit my 8,500 step goal but my FitBit tells me I walked a collective 3 miles. Amazing how far I have come in the past year!!!
- Go see the movie SUFFRAGETTE. This has absolutely nothing to do with decluttering, organizing or downsizing. It is the reason I got home late tonight. I am telling you, every women needs to see this movie. It’s based on the true stories of how the British women fought to get the vote. It’s important because it shows how far women have come in 100 years and makes you really think about just how much farther we need to go before we truly are equal. It’s important because there are places in the world that still look just like England did in 1913. Seriously! Think about those countries where education for females is not a given. There are still places in the world where women are still seen as property and they do not have the same rights over their lives as men. Hell, here in the United States women do not have the same rights over their lives as men. I don’t see the government passing laws about what contraceptive practices men can and can’t use. I don’t see the government passing laws telling them they need to have invasive medical procedures before they can make a decision about their life. I don’t give a rat’s ass that most of these laws involve pregnancy and men don’t get pregnant. All the more reason MEN shouldn’t be allowed to pass and create laws that govern women’s bodies. I’ll stop now because I could rant on this topic for HOURS and I need to get some sleep. My point is simply that every woman should see this movie and it should be shown in every classroom around the world. I also highly recommend listening to this panel interview with the director, writer and twoactresses. It’s informative, entertaining and sobering. We’ve still got a lot of work to do, ladies and gentleman.
| TODAY | OVERALL | ||
| DONATED: | 5 | 158 | |
| TRASHED: | 0 | 51 | |
| TOTAL: | 5 | 209 |
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