tidying up

No grey sky over our heads the last two days, instead a wondrous shade of powder blue lifted our spirits. It was warm too - today we walked around the field with no jackets, just a regular t-shirt. Marvelous. Carm fixed some fencing and then we brought the slides out on the camper. In previous years I would have quickly got to work vacuuming and preparing it for us to have supper there, but this afternoon I was totally out of energy. Maybe tomorrow.

My friend Christina dropped off a book called THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP: THE JAPANESE ART OF DECLUTTERING AND ORGANIZING. The first few chapters got me thinking, and the next ones got me doing. The basic premise is to keep only the things that 'spark joy' and to get rid of the rest. You are to do things by category, starting with clothing. I broke my clothing down further as it was too overwhelming to do otherwise. I brought all my 'around the house' t-shirts onto the bed and started. Does this give me joy? No - if in good shape to thrift store otherwise garbage. Pile after pile was sorted through and the bags started to pile up. How could I have had so many clothes? I had things that were at least 20 years old.

Everything is supposed to be folded and stood on edge in drawers. It makes sense as things get lost in large piles of stuff. So I folded and arranged. Dragged up an old dresser in place of some shelves. Nice neat rows of t-shirts are easy to see.

I'm almost done (just remembered two drawers of socks and such). I thought I'd feel really good about it but instead I am feeling overwhelmed at the rest of the house. Where to start? How long will it take? Will I be able to keep up the motivation.

Oh drat - just remembered that I have a bunch of clothes in the room with the drying rack. I sure hope I left room in all these neatly arranged storage areas.

All said and done though, it is a good book that bears reading again.