I have shared with you my favorite place in the house, our master bedroom, many times.
It's my little sanctuary, the one place I try my darndest to keep tidy and retreat worthy.
What you haven't seen is what is right outside the bedroom door. It is reminiscent of that scene in the movie Labyrinth where Sarah opens a door from her bedroom only to realise she is still in the Labyrinth as all the memorabilia and JUNK of her life comes tumbling through the door. Metaphor anyone?
This is what lurks outside of my retreat.
I have LOADS of excuses as for why this little area of the house is such a mess. For example, I'm a mother, my time is limited. I have small children so I toss things over the baby gate and in to this area to keep them out of reach of the kids. Most of these things need to go down to the basement for storage. My basement is a larger version of this little area of the house, so sometimes getting things down there can be difficult. An item needs to be disposed of. An item needs to be returned to its owner. An item needs to be fixed. An item is in stand-by waiting to be sold on kijiji. An item doesn't have a home.
Yes, I am full of excuses!
Now here is what I think. I know that if I was to do this the 'right' way, I would touch every item once, make a firm decision about it and it would be dealt with once and for all. But, I'd rather deal with this little area in the quickest way possible because I want results and I want them now. So I am going to cheat and leave the hard stuff for later by putting everything out of sight (and somewhat out of mind) in the scary basement!!! This will have an immediate positive effect on both the look and feel of my house, and thus my contentment level in it. In this case I think that the 'just do it' principle applies. I'll worry about the big decisions later.
Remind me of this when I complain about the difficulty of sorting through everything in the basement.
Now that I've taken 'Just Do It' to heart, check out the results!
My work is done. Everything that can be moved has been moved down to the basement. I vacuumed the floor thoroughly and febreezed the carpet. What remains is Matt's domain - the toolbox.
I'd like to see it closed up and tidy with no excess tools sitting on top for the kids to get in to. My previous attempt to do that was met with Matt's annoyance that I had put things in the wrong drawers, so I won't be attempting that again! That accompanied with something else that I did in one of my decluttering episodes has made me more cautious. If it's not yours, don't throw it away. However, feel free to complain about it until the other person does deal with it!
It only took me about 30 minutes (including snapping all the pictures), and the result is that there is no longer a labyrinth of stuff falling in to my bedroom when I open the door, there's nothing there for me to trip over and fall on. I won't have tantrums of sheer frustration over not being able to open the washing machine door all the way, and hey, the carpet is clean. That's always a plus!
These little things add up to making a big difference. I have also decided to share with you my adventures in to the abyss - the basement. I will try tackle it for fifteen minutes at a time and with the strict rules in mind that I disregarded today. Or I'll make it up as I go, whatever works! Hopefully you will be inspired to tackle your personal labyrinth or abyss.
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