Monday, January 7, 2013

207/365: Getting Our House in Order

Today I made:

space...

People, watch out! I am in the mood to clean...
and organize and declutter and purge and minimize! I don't fall into this state often (last time was over three years ago when we made our move to San Diego), so I need to take advantage of the spurt of motivation. My husband and I currently live (with our small dog child and his big attitude) in a 450 square foot space (not including the garage/man cave/ woodshop and a decent-sized yard). Our landlord calls it the doll house, and it is very much beginning to feel that way as we acquire more stuff. Our handmade projects are ever increasing, so that doesn't help.

We have both been feeling like it's time to get our house in order. Not just our actual house, but the state of our lives as well. This is the year we will figure out our finances, make plans for our future home and the growth of our little family. This year we will do a little bit of growing up. Just a little. (We like to pretend that we have some control over this.) It all begins with the physical environment for me.

I started in the garage (scary!) and went through all of my old teaching materials, which are so hard to part with even though I don't have my own classroom right now. I decided to hold on to most of it for now to use for tutoring, but I'm proud to say that my files and books are in a much happier state. Next I tackled my bedroom closet, drawers and art storage. It's amazing how many things I hang on to that I really don't need. Learning to minimize is not easy. I tend to go at it in stages and I'm slowly starting to talk myself into the idea of living with less stuff.

It feels good to create space. It's as if organizing my environment helps clear out room for new ideas and invites new energy. In the coming weeks I will continue the work of soul searching, goal setting, dream mapping and getting clarity on my path. Today was a warm up for getting my inner house in order.

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