Baby steps!

I’m back at work full time and this does not leave me much time to write or to organize, but I’m going to try and do ‘snip-its’ – little organizing tasks that I can get done in an hour.

I wrote before about getting distracted and off task pretty easily. In part because it’s hard to purge, clean and organize your life. I think by nature we all hoard stuff. “Stuff” makes us feel better, “stuff:” brings us peace, gratification and sanity. Albeit short term but it provides something somewhere deep inside us and it’s difficult to look inward and realize that the 17 mixing bowls may have been purchased because you like to bake but the other half of the equation is usually found in some deeply rooted need to get self gratification of one kind or another.

And I don’t mean that in a bad way really. I know in my past, I made myself feel better by buying – it is the nature of consumerism. Without consumerism, the world doesn’t spin (or so we are told) but really, 17 mixing bowls? Now that I ‘feel better’ I realize I’d feel even better if I hadn’t spent all that money on those bowls! In all reality, there are three that get used once every couple of weeks and one that may get used monthly. The others just sit in the cupboard with more stuff stacked on top that I don’t use.

I think I need to develop a small plan of snip-its – something I can get done in ½ an hour or less (especially on weeknights). Set some small, tiny goals that I know I can manage quickly to gain the confidence and sense of accomplishment.
When I look at my kitchen (I am determined to get this room completed – I have too, I started it three weeks ago and have made no progress), there are 12 upper cabinets and nine lower cabinets (I think) and seven drawers. Let’s start with the uppers (because they are really driving me nuts).

Snip-it #1:
Cabinets 1 and 2 are over the stove:

They difficult to reach and there is the big box in the middle for the vent of the hood fan. We’ve only ever put liquor bottles, a thermos and a big bottle of vinegar in those cupboards.

Solution: Purge any open containers of liquor. Wipe down any remaining objects, wipe down cabinet. Sort and replace all items.

That is my goal for tonight after work! I’ll let you know how I made out tomorrow!