Re-evaluating the Self via Decluttering the Bedroom.

The course leader, Joshua Becker likes to approach decluttering room by room. This week we're in the bedroom. The assignment (#4):

remove everything and anything that does not contribute to the two main purposes of the room: sleep and intimacy. 

Of course, it's also where I get dressed, so holding items necessary for that is important too--but we'll sort that later when our wardrobes get an entire week to themselves.

Like last week, my shelves gave me grief.

Those white boxes at the top are cassette tapes. Back in the day when I put 1,000 miles a month on my little Toyota, those tunes kept me company--and sane. I was able to get rid of about 1/2.

As I went through them, I got rid of anything I knew I wouldn't likely listen to again, (Sorry, New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band.) Anything easily replaceable, (Miles Davis' greatest hits) but I kept really precious ones (Nirvana), and personal ones (mixed tapes from long-ago friends).

I need to revisit these and decide what I am going to do with what's left. But I still have my cassette player, so I can choose to listen to them from time to time, too.

Then, my journals.

I opened one of them at random. It was from the months I'd just started Journalism school in London, Ontario. I wrote at great length about my plans and frustrations with trying to sew slipcovers for my couch cushions--and a chair. I was in love with something called "that flower fabric." There I am....starting a new school--a new career--and there's barely a word about my classes or what I'm learning. It's all about my decorating plan for my new apartment--and I knew I was only going to be there a year. Yet nothing was more important to me.

I picked up another. The one that covers the months surrounding my daughter's birth. I started reading. This one, I realised, this one is one I keep.

And so I am not ready to part with the Journals, just yet. A part of me just wants to burn them. Let that past go. Purify it with flame. Become someone who has left the past behind, utterly.

Yet that's rather dramatic for what's mostly a laundry list of things I did and planned to do. Heart pourings about people and my wooden headedness. I would like to revisit them at leisure and read through them, thank you very much. And then I'll know what to do with them.

For some, these shelves would not contribute to the two main purposes of the room: rest and intimacy. I thought about removing the shelves completely when, as I was going through two old binders that were on those shelves, binders holding many, many of my thoughts about my home and decorating plans and swatches and what not, I found a few pages talking about my bedroom. I wish I had the pages to quote right now, but I'd said something along the lines of "my books mean home to me. They comfort me. I need to put shelves up in my bedroom." So, there we are! Several years ago, I was quite deliberate about it--and the books there are the most meaningful to me.

Books still mean "home" to me--though, if I ever get the chance to move to my little dream cottage near the sea on Vancouver Island, all of it would be gone-- in a flash.

Joshua encourages us to touch every single item as we're decluttering. I did that as I dusted.

Decluttering makes room for us, as people, to change. It seems odd, but a lot of our self-identity is wrapped up in our possessions--the person we tell ourselves we are, is a person, often, who has this, but not that--who does this sort of thing over here--but not that. That's what this bookshelf in the basement held. The boxes are full of homeschooling books and scrapbooking things.

Two past selves.

And I want to move forward--and give myself room to breathe--to let go of my old self--and embrace whatever the future has in store. Not to become someone new, but renewed. Evolved.

I actually started to cry when I opened the boxes of homeschooling stuff. So many memories! So many dreams that weren't quite fulfilled. We were never quite that homeschooling family I'd hoped we be--and these books were both a reminder and a remonstrance. And I realised that it really was time to let them go. Emma starts Grade 12 next year. Ben will start University.

I also ran around the house and collected any audio recordings we still had on hand. Turned out Ben still had quite a few.

Joshua Becker encouraged me to donate these precious items--and so I've put out feelers to home school groups to see if there is a family who might benefit from these last four boxes. I hope we find someone who will take it all.

I've decided that I will make a donation run every Friday while the course is on.


This was the pile collected Thursday night:

And this was the pile the next morning:

I'd gone to bed thinking about all the things I hadn't touched. I collected it in about 1/2 an hour--before coffee!

Our next assignment is our closets (and drawers) and the bathrooms. I wonder if my husband will be willing to part with any of his clothes?

I'd like to paint the closet, too.

Day 26: Declutter Magazines/Books/Bookshelves

Read the previous entry in this series:  Day 25: Finish Up and Unfinished Project or start at the beginning with the Introduction: 5 Ways Clutter Costs.

Magazines are something I like to keep on top of--I have a bad habit of hanging on to them just a little too long.

Usually, I take a before and after shot for you, but the magazines were all over: some in the dining room, most in the bedroom--some on shelves and some in baskets. So, I took a shot of the ones I've decided can leave the house.

That was quick and easy.

As for the books and bookshelves: I can't even.

On top of this box are the books I decluttered from the white bookcase yesterday. Inside the box are books I decluttered from the library landing some time ago.

I want to try and sell my books before I donate them. It's a huge endeavour--and I've been putting it off for along time.


Read the next entry in this series Day 27: Declutter and Clean up the Laundry Room. (Oh dear).

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Day 22: Saying Good-bye to a Piece of Childhood

Read the previous entry in this series:  Day 21: Collect All the Digital Pictures or start at the beginning with the Introduction: 5 Ways Clutter Costs.


Sorry this is late. I've stretched myself a bit thin doing both this project and working on my Mother's dressing room for the One Room Challenge at the same time. Today is the day we're to declutter cds, dvds, and other media.  I think I interpreted "other media" a bit too broadly given we have "magazines/books/bookshelves" scheduled for Day 26.

The long and short of it is: I took all my Nancy Drews--from Book 1 to Book 50, all but one or two published in the 70's, to a donation centre this evening.

Here's the story.

I believe I bought them all with my own money I earned babysitting in the mid-70s. (I charged $0.75/hour, and after a year, I upped my rates to $1.00/hour.) At 11 and 12, I was absurdly young to be in charge of other people's kids. But I was reliable and available. I kept records. I remember I earned $300.00 in one year.

Anyway. I never intended to keep the Nancy Drews. They travelled from Yellowknife to Edmonton because my Mom packed them up and brought them. Later, when I left home, they went to an outbuilding at my stepfather's farm. When I moved back to the city where my Mother lives--and where I am now--she offered up these slim yellow volumes like they were bars of bullion. I took them and stored them in the basement until I gave them to my dughter when she was ten.

They stayed on the shelves in her room for several years until she asked me to remove them about a year ago. She hadn't read them but she still thought she might. So we moved them to the shelves on the library landing.

Yes, those two shelves of yellow. Those books in the boxes are a few I decluttered. 

But she didn't read them.

A couple of months ago, I boxed them up as part of my project to repaint the stairwell and landing. But rather than put them back, I offered them to my daughter's friend who had expressed interest in reading them. I separated them from the others, boxed them up and put them in the hallway for her.

But, she said, no, she didn't have room for 50 slim gold volumes about the girl with titian hair and a girl friend named George. To clear the decks for Thanksgiving, I had my son take them to the basement.

Are you beginning to get the feeling these are the books that will never leave?

I was.

So, tonight, I had my husband help me carry them out to the car.

And off they went.

They really are gone.

I'm fine with it. Though I really did like that graphic band of yellow (with navy!)  they made there on the shelves.


Read the next entry in this series Day 23: Your Choice. My Choice? The Top of my Desk.

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Christmas Decorations Tidied.

I got rid of that red, gold and green chain garland. It just seemed loud and obnoxious to me.

I read Marie Kondo's book, The Magic of Tidying last week.

Ignoring all the odd bits (like objects have feelings and desires), her process for decluttering is helpful.

I decided to keep the Christmas cds with the tree as putting up the tree is the first time we want them.

Pick the object up, ask yourself, "Does this bring me joy?" Then, pay attention. How do you feel? Put it down in the keep pile or the toss pile, depending on your reaction.

The first page in this, my Christmas planner, tells me to buy Christmas cards and wrapping paper.

That is it in a nutshell. There's a procedure for going through your home (Kondo recommends starting with your clothes and then moving on to books and then other things. For obvious reasons, Christmas decorations are not a category.) She also advises you to dump everything you are considering out on the floor in order to force yourself pick up each and every item.

I didn't do that.

The newly emptied outbox is getting filled back up again.

But, I did go through each and every box.

I asked the question.

I got rid of two boxes worth of stuff.

And when I got everything back to its home under the basement stairs, I wondered how they had ever fit in the first place!

Weekly Declutter: Books and Papers. Minimalist March Day 13 - 19

My goodness. Minimalist March is making me actively look for things I can live without--and I'm finding them! I turned a corner this week. I surprised myself with how much I can get rid of--and how willing I am to do it.

Last year, I purged my bookshelves. I eventually made over $250 just from the sale of my homeschooling books alone. I really had not thought there was much to still let go of.

I was wrong.

My daughter asked me to clear some shelf space on the library landing for my collection of Nancy Drew's. They had been in her room for a few years, waiting patiently for her to read them. I doubt she will.

I had to clear 46" of space (yes, I measured) from here:

I was having a really difficult time until I shifted my thinking from "What do I want to let go of?" to "What must I keep?" (Note, I didn't ask myself what do I want to keep?)

Here is another really good reason to let go of books you have no intention of reading ever again:

That cannot be healthy!

And so, here we are.

and after, after, with the Nancy Drew books (and Harry Potter, too).

I decluttered about 70 books. It took me about an hour.

Getting rid of those books energized me to work on my paper clutter. I gathered them from various spots:

While I went through them and transferred my files from the old cardboard box, I weeded them out. Seventeen were thinned or eliminated entirely.

Hence, Day 17.

Days 18 and 19 belong to my daughter. She followed trough on a promise to go through her bookshelves.

She put aside this:

and this:

As for Days 20 thru 31? I don't know, but the linen closet and the shelves in the basement are getting the evil eye.

I am in the decluttering groove.

The House That Cleans Itself

How often do you get confirmation that you have been on the right track all along?

How often do you get the feeling that not only are you one the right track --but that you're probably 80% of the way to your destination?

I had a happy, happy epiphany this weekend reading Mindy Starns Clark's book The House that Cleans Itself.

This is an amazing book.

Clark says, "Rather than change your behaviour o fit your house, change your house to fit your behaviour."

What does that mean? Well, if you put your coat down on a chair by the front door over and over and over again, the solution is not to "train" yourself to hang up your coat. No, the solution is to put a coat rack where the chair is. That's the idea.

Since way back in the days of following Flylady, I have not only been learning how to keep house, but I have been trying to make it as effortless as possible. I am forever grateful to Aby Garvey and the courses I've taken at Simplify 101 that have helped enormously. Garvey's courses, albeit on organizing (and not cleaning per se) are all about how to set up your house and the things in your house to make it easier for you to get things done. Aby and Mindy are definitely kindred spirits.

Last night, I started searching around on the web for people who have followed Clark's approach. There were many, of course, who found the book, got excited about it and blogged about their intentions to follow it. Whether they did or not, they didn't blog about it. But I did find two people who followed through on the majority of the book: Plant City Lady and Proverbs 31. The book has its own blog, here.

I want to join them. But, as I thought about her approach and what I could do, I realised I am about 80 to 90 per cent of the way to a house that cleans itself already. I'm not sure that a series of posts about my using Clark's method in my home wouldn't just turn into a bunch of self-congratulatory nonsense. So, I called my Mom and asked her if we could work on her house using this approach--and if I could blog about it here. She said we could!

I think I'll do both. Mine --because I think it might be interesting to see what I might be able to tweak and improve and because I'd like to share some of the solutions I've discovered. And, I need to "get" that I already know what I need to know. Mom's --obvious. She is de-cluttering with gusto. This project will not only encourage her to keep going, but also give us a comprehensive approach to figuring out what to do and what to do next.

It'll be fun.

William Morris: The Bedroom Bookshelves

Dust catchers, no question.

It has been a long time since I actively decluttered these shelves. They hold my journals, magazines, books on child rearing, on being a Mom, and being a Christian. They also hold my decor and design books, fitness and diet. In short, stuff that's personal. (Though all books, really, are personal.)

I haven't referenced nearly any of them in a long, long time. Still, I was shocked at how much dross these shelves held. Fortunately, it was much, much easier to sift it out than I'd thought it would be.

rejects: the chair is piled with magazines and the laundry hamper is full of books.

I started clearing out and cleaning up these shelves ten days ago. Actually, it only took me about three long, concentrated sessions to deal with them: but it took ten days for those sessions to avail themselves. You know how that goes.

These are my journals. I looked up the first and last date and wrote them down on labels. They all overlap. I would lose it, start another, lose it, find the original, then use whatever was nearest to hand. I'm sure you know how that goes, too.

I haven't kept a journal for several months now. They seemed to devolve into To Do lists. I think I'll start up again for May and see if they will be valuable to me again. I've kept one fairly continuously since High School.

I went through an old red velvet box holding jewellry from my childhood and gave most of the necklaces to my daughter. I dusted the fan. I transferred my summer tops and pj's into my drawers and will put away the winter stuff as it emerges from the laundry.

Would anyone be interested in buying back issues of Martha Stewart Kids magazine, or of Elle Decor, do you think? I'm not sure what to do with those.
I have plans to iron and rehang my curtains, (I want to rehang the rod, too) and declutter my dresser, but for the most part, I'm finished with Spring Cleaning the bedroom.

So, here are the bookshelves in the bedroom.

before:

and after:

It may have been Maxell Gillingham-Ryan of Apartment Therapy or maybe it was someone else, but when giving advice about how many books to declutter, someone once said you should clear out as many books as you are willing the future to bring.

I think I'm ready for the future.



Linking to our Hostess, Jules for the William Morris Thursday morning coffee klatch at Pancakes and French Fries.

Playing

The windows in this room face North which means I never, ever see direct sunlight in this room.This remarkable effect was created by the sunlight reflecting off the window of a car parked in front of the house. It was so cool, I took a photo.

Browsing the 'net I came across Songbird's tips on how to dress a bookcase, as she puts it. I was reminded I wanted to deal with these shelves over the computer desk in the dining room/office.

I also wanted to put up a couple of new NON lights I got at IKEA.


So, I played. I dusted, too, but it really was mostly playing.


I decided to weed out a few books and dvds while I was at it.



I arranged the books at the top by colour.



I took the shells my son had collected for me on the beach in Newfoundland this summer and put them in an old clear glass candle holder.




I fussed and arranged and read over her tips. I rooted around for screws to fasten the lights.

The great thing about a board and bracket system for shelves, of course, is that the shelves are removable.

All in all, it was most satisfying.



The shelves and desk at dusk:


Light truly is a most amazing decorating toy, don't you think?