The last week of March is something we call "Spring Break." I think this is pretty common throughout North America (though the actual week may vary). A leftover from our agrarian days, kids get a week off of school in the Spring (It was probably so they could help plant crops).
My husband is taking the week off as well--and we have plans--big plans!
We are going to insulate the walls in the basement! Can I hear a cheer?
Last year, when my husband and son stopped, it was because they ran into this area under the stairs.
(Yes, the laundry room area of my basement is a catastrophe, again. I have to figure out a storage solution for that hose.)
It is chocker block full of random items:
2 or 3 interior doors.
A drafting board. (I should sell it.)
Leftover mitts and gloves.
Old denim jeans (for patches. I'd love to make a quilt from them, too. I just need to figure out how.)
and all our Christmas decorations.
Of course, all of this needs to be moved somewhere.
Yep. The place where the bike used to be.
Of course, it's full of memorabilia boxes. So, I need to go through those and let go of stuff.
And there are these shelves.
These need to come down to make space for the second chair in my son's new "game room." I desperately need to make room for all the stuff on those shelves. I want to have the equivalent of this entire section gone by the beginning of April.
But that's not all. No. Here is where it all needs to go. (That's not a 1/2 empty shelf. That's the place where the photo boxes currently on the dining room table call home.)
In order to fully complete the insulation project, we need to dismantle these to put up the wall behind them. And, thus, we need to find a temporary "home" for their contents while we work on the wall. (We don't plan to get to the wall until July, though, so I have some time!)
Gah. I have to purge. and shuffle.
1. Move papers in filing boxes on the shelves into the filing cabinet.
a) purge the out-of-date paperwork in the filing boxes
b) ditto for the filing cabinet.
c) Make up new files andput into the filing cabinet.
2. Set up Memorabilia boxes to receive the "keepsies."
a) Go through current unorganized boxes and sort into what to keep and what to toss.
b) Then, I need to organize what I'm keeping by year.
3. Sort Photos.
One entire shelf cubby usually holds all of the photo boxes currently on my dining room table. As part of the Photo Freedom class, I've been going through these and sorting through them. I have a lot of duplicates, fortunately--but it's still going to take some effort to get through these by the end of the month!
4. Go through the homeschooling binders.
Fortunately, I've already cleared out one. In the Photo Freedom course, our instructor Stacy Julian suggests we set up a plastic tote with hanging files labeled with every year our child was (and will be) in school. Into these folders I'll slip a couple of pages from each subject we covered. Other things go in here, too, like school pictures and things like certificates and so on. I am so glad I now have a system to deal with all that stuff!
5. Toss everything I know I will never look at again. (Certain weight-loss materials come to mind as well as a few other things).
Annnnnnnnnnnnnnd, today, just as I was getting ready to post this, my husband announced he would like to move a huge hulking monstrosity out of his workshop into this space: right where I have my corner shelves and the black plastic shelves I just moved in here last weekend. The cabinet is three feet wide. It would mean he could actually cut 8 foot boards inside his workshop instead of depending on the weather to haulthem outside. (The workshop is right behind this wall). That would be useful!
So, more to purge and shuffle!
Other goals:
I am also puging and shuffling books. I want to make room for baskets on the shelves in the dining room/home office/scraproom so that I can keep all my scrapbooking supplies in one space (rather than running down to the basement for something.) That's my hope. Probably unrealistic. Worth a try. So:
1) Make at least four trips to a second hand book shop this month.
2) Figure out where to list homeschooing curriculum books for sale and price and list them.
3) Make at least one trip to Value Village and drop off donations. (I used to go to the Library book sales and pick up books by the bagsful. I don't re-sell those, but donate them.)
4) This is sort of vague, but set up the dining room so that it is easy to scrapbook. This is what the the Organizing Your Creative Space course is all about -- and I need to re-visit the last few lessons with this new goal in mind.
I'm sorry, this is probably all as dull as ditchwater. But it helps me keep track and be accountable.
(Though I have to confess, I did let the paperwork goals from February die rather quietly. But who wants to look at stacks of paper? Not I. Unfortunately, I still am! Oh well.)
2 comments :
Ok, wow, you do have lot to do. Maybe concentrate first on the so called low hanging fruit... then you'll have less to sort. In a way I sort of would enjoy this type of huge project, think of the possibilities and the result once it's done. I hope you keep posting about the process so we can keep motivating you.
Thank you so much, Leena! It is daunting, for sure. I need all the encouragement you want to give!
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