Catzlover’s Cooking

Organizing Wednesday!

My daughter inherited a new set of furniture for her bedroom last summer. I finally got around to clearing away some of the piles of things that were shifted around to make room for the furniture.

In order to do this, I had to clean out a few shelves of books in her room. What a painful process!

I did a major purge of my own books two summers ago. Out went the textbooks from college and some books I just knew I would never read again and the classics I could find in the book store if I just had to read them – will I really ever go hunting for Moby Dick?

But clearing out my children’s books was harder than I thought.

Okay, there were duplicates that I could purge without too much pain. And there were some non-fiction books that were probably out of date. And some books that were just written to promote a television show or movie.

But, I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of Eric Carle and Dr. Suess and so many others.

I know I will have to continue peeling out these books. My younger daughter doesn’t read and my older daughter moved on to mature literature long ago. The process will just be slow and a little sad.

And I plan to give them away. No fussing around with selling and bartering. Take them and enjoy!

How was your week?

Sandra

Organizing Wednesday!

Slow progress this week, but progress nonetheless.

I tended to focus on kitchen drawer and bathroom cabinet clean up this week. The goal was not to do major upheaval, but to practice a little maintenance.

Some things just needed to be thrown out:

Expired dog shampoo
Empty medicine containers I keep to send medication to my daughter’s dad’s house – how many do I really need!
Half empty conditioner tubes
Two bottles of cologne that lost their smell
3 packages of fortune cookies
3 wine corks
rubber bands from veggies
twist ties

It’s fascinating the way these things creep into my tidy places! Why do we keep this stuff?

I also managed to take a tub of stuff to our local SPCA Rummage Store. Let’s face it, if you don’t actually get the stuff out of the house, it does not count as purging.

I once was the queen of tubs! Instead of actually getting rid of stuff, I would stick it in a tub. There! Out of sight and put away! Wrong!!!
My house soon overfloweth with tubs. Now when I send a load of stuff out the door, I send the tub along with it. You can’t rely on filling up tubs you don’t have.

My other project this week was to make a candle.

I love candles! The trouble with most candles that I buy is that they never completely burn to the bottom. I decided to try to salvage the remains by remelting them (in old clean cans over water). I had enough leftover wax to make a whole new candle – with three wicks so hopefully it will burn all the way. It felt good not to waste all that wax!

If you need any inspiration, go to Organizing Junkie and check out all the 28 Day Challenge entries.

How was your week?

Sandra

Organizing Wednesday!

I finally got 99% of my miniatures organized. Okay, I still need to do some fine tuning – especially with tiny accessories – but I feel good about getting things into LABELED tubs and containers. Instead of jumbled piles, I finally have like things with like things. Kits are with kits. Doors and windows are in one place. Pieces that need repair are together in one tub. The bottom line is that I can FIND things!

I was happy to be able to get two Amvet bags out of the house last week. My mother is always getting Amvet bags and she gives them to me to fill. I can fill them, but I never seem to get over to her house to drop them off in time for a pick-up. I finally had the opportunity to take them to her house in advance and found out there was a pick-up that Monday! Hooray!

Getting things out of the house has been a real issue with all the snow this month. My mission for March is to make at least one trip a week to unload some of the things I have designated to be donated. It is not really purging if the items sit in piles taking up space. Let’s hope the weather cooperates!

Something I have been noticing lately is that odd things are finding their way into organized drawers. Twist ties, spare rubber bands, etc. etc. My goal for this week is to throw out all these odds and ends that end up in tidy drawers. Getting organized is one thing. Maintenance is just as important, I think, to keep things from descending back to their former state of chaos. I need to work on maintenance!

How was your week?

Sandra

Organizing Wednesday!

Another week another drawer cleared out!

This week I sorted through a computer desk drawer filled with vintage software. I did keep some since my daughter is still using my Mac Performa circa 1996. But, there was a lot of stuff that I don’t need any more or is backed up on something more substantial than floppy disks (do you remember floppy disks?). What is really exciting is that I saw that there is a vintage computing section on eBay and I may be able to find someone who wants vintage software. (You know how I hate just throwing things away!)

I totally lost my momentum with miniatures sorting, but intend to get back to it this coming week.This weekend may be a great time to sort as we are expecting more snow (12 to 18 inches!!) this weekend.

I worked at a coffee shop for a while where the owner was an absolute labeling fanatic. It amused the employees a bit and someone even labeled a stool “stool” for a joke. However, labeling is a most useful tool.

Believe it or not, I used to put things in tubs and NOT label them. When I wanted the Halloween decorations or the Christmas ornaments, I would end up peeking in many tubs to find the right one. Now wasn’t that silly!!

Now, all my tubs are labeled and I go staight to the one I need.

I also use labels to help my sweet husband find tools or know where to put them back. We have a couple of utility closets that have clearly marked shelves. No more searching for paint supplies or the spare 18 volt battery.

Something else I learned is that it really is worth the money to invest in a good label maker. Scraps of paper and scotch tape don’t last as well as the real deal. And our labelmaker can be fun – I can label old kid’s toys with candy wrappers for example. Way cool!

How was your week?

Sandra