I’ve
mentioned before that we need to LOOK at our stuff at least once every year.
Yes, I mean all of it.
Yesterday,
I began with my clothes, which now fit into two closets and a metal clothes
rack. Yes, I know that is still a lot but there used to be more – many more –
clothes before I embarked on my downsizing journey.
Downsizing/decluttering
is a never-ending story. I put all the pants and blouses according to color in
one side of the closet with shoes at the bottom. On the other side, ahem – large closet ;-), I put my blazers
and dress pants with elegant shoes for work. And in the other closet are my
coats and sweaters. Since I regularly purge my clothes, I didn’t need to get
rid of anything. But, oh lordy, don’t let me buy one more thing!!
When
Düsseldorf has large trade fairs, many participants search for rooms that are
affordable, as the hotels jack up their prices. I offer two rooms at a good price which means I generally need to keep
them really neat and clean.
Seems like
the season has started again and I am awaiting several guests next week and the
week after. That means I must put
my office/studio in perfect order again.
Somehow, I’ve let things slip so anyone sleeping in there would get the
jitters! I shall get things in shape NOW!
Otherwise,
I would have pleasantly enjoyed the Mañana Syndrome – putting cleaning and organizing off until another day (month,
year, indefinite future…). Here’s how it works:
- It starts with a NEED. You need to do something now.
- But then you Decide to do it later.
- As a Result
of the delay, you end up not doing
it.
- Now, you tell yourself that you
will do it tomorrow.
- Tomorrow comes. The same Cycle happens.
- Insanity = Doing the same thing and
expecting different results!
I am going
through every shelf in that room and there are many. First of all, I got rid of the “layers”, meaning a second row
of stuff in front of the books and art supplies, like pictures, knick-knacks,
etc. While taking one container
into my hands, I was, er, unpleasantly surprised at the layer of dust on top of
it. So, I am not only neatening, I am picking it all up and cleaning
everything. Tedious, yet
necessary.
It is still
difficult to refrain from my urges to buy things. I would love to try oil painting but I still have so many
acrylic colors. Before, I would
have gotten all the new materials and tried to cram them into the already scant
space. Now, I just don’t buy it –
ahh – most of the time. Still, I
am the only one in art class who has everything and they all borrow from me - even the teacher!
I was going
to buy some fixative for my pastel drawings this morning but I found a can I’d
already bought behind some junk on a shelf. Along with cans of fixative for every medium. See what I mean?
I have to keep checking what I have, like stores do inventory. Otherwise, I forget what's already there.
Are you
keeping up with your stuff? When
was the last time you really looked at it all?
