Tidying Up

When James and I moved to Turkey Creek six years ago, there was no garden.  There was just a thirty-five year old, out dated house and one and a half acres.  I was trying to fulfill the idea put forth in this 1666 quote by Abraham Cowley, "I never had any other desire so strong, and so like to covetousness, as that one which I have had always, that I might be master at last of a small house and a large Garden."

Building the garden was easy (Thank you, James!!), and getting the house shaped up wasn't too hard. But no home has enough storage, and ours was no exception. At least that's what I thought until I read The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. 

Katherine loaned me her copy and it totally changed the way I had this house and all our junk organized!  

For instance, there are three luxurious, long shelves in a nice cabinet over the potty in our guest bathroom.  They offer tons of space, but they had been empty since we moved in six years ago!!  Well, not totally empty; I kept three or four rolls of toilet tissue in them.  But in this sweet little book, subtitled the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing, Marie explained that it is not what room the storage space is in that determines what is stored there (Chapter 4: Storing Your Things to Make Your Life Shine); it is only the category of materials that matter (Chapter 3: Tidying By Category works Like Magic).  

So I crawled under my bed and pulled out the ridiculously heavy storage bin that contained all of my art supplies, culled dried up brushes and paint (Chapter. 2: Finish Discarding First) and neatly stored it all above the potty.  The paint is now arranged by color, the brushes by size, and the pallet knives are all together for the first time. Woo-hoo!!!

In the cabinet beneath the guest towels, now resides my sewing machine with thread, scissors, and other sewing sundries neatly organized in bins. Again this space had been empty for six years because I didn't think sewing machines in the bathroom made sense, so I kept it in an overcrowed hall closet with candles, flower vases, photo albums, silk flowers, seasonal knick knacks, etc. - as if that big conglomeration made any more sense.  Now my hall closet isn't crowded and neither is my psyche!

No wonder this little gem of a book has been on the New York Times Best Seller List and has sold over 2 million copies. 

Thank you, Katherine!!

Love ya'll,

Shelli

Do other people, I wonder, find the same keen pleasure that I do

 in periodically undertaking a pilgrimage all over the house to wage a war of extermination upon its accumulations of rubbish?

 ~Chiffon

My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance. 

~Erma Bombeck