End of Day One

Whew! I got quite a bit done today in two good sessions of de-cluttering. I have:

• moved cleaners and vacuum accessories into broom closet (vacuum hose and mops/brooms were already there)
  
• cleared canning jars and canning into new storage cupboard
• wiped down bottoms of all canning jars while moving
• sorted through jam jars and kept some in a low Rubbermaid container in new cupboard
• moved large kitchen stuff into storage cupboard
• moved yearly files I'm keeping up to top shelf meant just for them!
• moved wine bottles and wine-making supplies into bottom of new storage cupboard

I still have a bit of room on the top shelf, but my brain is exploding so I'll keep that for something that "comes up" for the future (i.e., when I go through the rest of the storage shelving! LOL).

By the way - these shelves are on full-extension sliders and they roll out of the closet. Isn't that brilliant? That's my hubby - always thinking and coming up with brilliant ideas for me!

So - One day closer to a new office. :)

Here's the update pics:

Day One - Sort of

Yes, this is "sort of" Day One on this journey. I've already started de-cluttering, but today I thought "Why not take pictures and post them so I can see progress?"

So this is to be a bit of a cathartic exercise, I suppose. That, and I like to share, even if no one reads it. LOL

How this started

Well, summer holidays for the kids came. And something changed in me. Something that said, TODAY is the day!

Oh, I've had those days before, believe me. I think this time God changed me, because me changing me has never worked so well or for so long. ;-)

The purpose is to get a real office. We have a storeroom right off of our kitchen/dining that has been a storeroom for 11 years now. It was designed to be a storeroom. It has an outside entrance, our chest freezer, and two walls of lovely large shelves for storing stuff.

Stuff. Yup.

Now granted, some of this stuff I really do need. Like my large turkey roaster, my canner, my dehydrator, my soup stock pot. We installed a small fridge in there to extend our fridge storage space a couple of years ago (with four kids, sometimes you need more space! They eat a lot!). And I've used that room to make wine in, when it's clean enough to do so.

Therein lies the problem. I can't get to my stuff for all the other stuff that gets plopped in the way. Let me show you what I mean:


In my defense, all those piles and boxes on the floor currently are already sorted. They had to wait while the closet reno was being done. But I must say that this has been a bit of a normal look for this poor room. ;-)

Progress already

My wonderful hubby (a master carpenter) has already finished the afore-mentioned renovation to our closet area. It now holds roll-out storage shelves, an upright freezer, and a real broom closet (something I've not had for a very long time!). Here's what it looks like, as well as an interior shot of my new storage shelving:

Today I get to load some of the stuff from my current shelving into the new storage closet! Here's what the current room looks like, as proof of the "before" state:

All that stuff has to be sorted to go into my new storage, some longer-term storage just outside the door off the side porch, or it has to GO! How much ya wanna bet a lot of it will GO?? LOL All that shelving must come out, including the canning shelves. The little fridge will be built into our kitchen (ah, the blessings of being married to a carpenter!) and the chest freezer will be sold. My honey is even going to put a window in that back wall for me so I don't have to work in a room without natural light!

The Living Room (or is it?)

Now, my current living room state is also amazingly bad at the moment. Here is my "office" space:

Boxes and bins I've previously "sorted" into, but then left in a dried-up heap of burn-out. And no, the stuff was not burnt out. *giggle*

And here is the rest of the living room:

We've had the living room looking much better than this, it has deteriorated in the last 24 hours, even! LOL

So these are the major areas that I'll be working on in the next few weeks. I normally would not take on such a large project, but as I said, I have changed on the inside and I am feeling highly motivated in a way I never felt before. My hubby has actually seen a change in my disciplined habits - so much so that he has promised me a lovely desk unit (below) from Costco when the living room has been conquered!


Now if that doesn't motivate a person, I don't know what will... LOL

Actually, I was motivated beforehand, so it's not riding on a desk. But the desk will be a lovely finishing prize, don't you think? And it's a fun thing to daydream about when I'm slogging through all those give-throw-put decisions. ;-)

As things improve, I'll post further pictures. I think this will be a benefit to me, because sometimes when you live in the middle of stuff, you don't "see" as well as you could. And it will be nice to see the improvements and actual progress if I ever get feeling overwhelmed, although that has not happened this time yet, thank the Lord. :)

Now - I've spent enough time on getting this blog together today! I must get off my fanny and do my 15 minutes of loving movement and then hit a pile somewhere, timer in hand!