New Month - New Goals

 What a crazy ride this year has been already. I haven't even scratched the surface of everything that is going on. There are some hard emotional issues in the mix. On top of that, my mother is in Hospice care, and Trey's father is in Hospice care. We just made a whirlwind trip down to Texas, so we could all say goodbye to him. It's heartbreaking, and I find myself on the verge of tears almost always. Sometimes I start to fall into the self-pity trap. Well, you don't have to do this today. You have a lot on your plate. Blah, blah, blah. That might work for some people, but I can't stop. If I stop, I will just fall into old habits and continue to be miserable. Change is my self-care. I need self-care. It felt really good to walk into my clean and decluttered house last night after a very long and, at times, scary (thank you snow storm) road trip. Is my house fully decluttered and super clean? No. But it is clean, and I have done a lot of decluttering. It just made me want to continue on. 

Last month, I had the goal of clearing out the storage space. We were spending $223 a month on that stupid space. Friday I finished. Woo hoo. I had to pay $250 to have someone haul away the old piano, so we are saving no money in February, but we will starting in March. I'm glad to not have to worry about it anymore. 

Before our trip to Texas, I decided to tackle something that I had to think about first. I have a tea cup collection. I have really enjoyed it. It started to just feel like too much though. I have this awesome glass cabinet that my husband got me. We haven't been able to find the keys to it since we had to move out because of our flood. Last week, we found them! I had far too many tea cups for the cabinet though. I didn't want to just pile them back in the way they had been before. It was surprisingly easy to sit down and pick out my favorites and give the rest to the thrift store. Some of them were old and collectible that I gave away. Some of them that I kept are mass produced from the 70s. It doesn't really matter though. I kept the ones that meant something or that really gave me joy. I gave most of them away. When I put them in my cabinet, I had room for three things of my grandmother's that I have as well as a tea pot and a few other things. I love that cabinet now. I haven't gotten a chance to go back and clean the glass, but I took a picture anyway. Now, when I look at that cabinet I don't think, "Gosh - if the kids bump that, everything is going to break." Now, I think, "I love this!" That is a pretty cool feeling.

Last month, I had the goal of clearing out the storage space. I achieved that goal! This month, I have the goal of clearing out the garage. I was really upset today, and I just wanted to curl up in a corner. I walked into the garage and instantly felt completely overwhelmed. I wanted to sit on the floor and cry. Instead, I said to myself, "Five things. Five things. Five things." So, I found five things to toss easily. Then I walked back in. I decided that I wasn't going to do a thorough cleaning and decluttering. I would just start with a quick once over. I realized that with the emotional state that I was in, I could not make a lot of decisions. So, pretty much anything that I had to think about got put in a pile for later. It was a good decision because here's what I trashed:

I would say that is not bad for a "once over." I also found some things to give away. Most of the following picture came out of the garage. I have started keeping a bag by the front door for giveaway things. It's handy. I still feel like there is so much to do, but I keep reminding myself that it's baby steps. I'll get there or go crazy trying. Some days I am not sure which. 

Storage space progress

 We're almost out of the storage space! Woo hoo! Unfortunately, my childhood piano, while it looks lovely, is not fixable. I'm sad to say goodbye to it, but there is no reason to keep it if it cannot be fixed. We're going to have to pay the equivalent of a month's storage rent to dispose of it, but then we'll be done with that added expense every month. I have almost everything out of the storage space. While I now have a ton of boxes in my basement, I have gotten rid of a large amount of stuff. We've taken a lot to the thrift store, and we have trashed a lot. I know I will probably get rid of more, but I'm happy for now. 

Here is the next load of Goodwill stuff:

We also got some trash out of the storage space as well as an old DVD player that doesn't work (why do we still have that?!) and an old Direct TV box (again - why?!).

Parts of the house are really starting to feel good. Trey and Raymond got a new door up in our bedroom. We still need to put new trim up, paint it, and put on a new door knob, but it's a start. Today, following my five things rule, I went through the basket of socks. I have decided, in an effort to minimize and streamline, that I will have mostly all the same socks, so they are easy to match. I got rid of a bunch of my old socks which empties out my drawer a lot. I can't believe how many socks we have in this house! Well - HAD. I got rid of a lot of mismatched socks and socks with holes. I also went through the dogs' toys. Our dogs are spoiled. I got rid of many destroyed toys, and they still have an entire container full of toys. LOL. Oh well, they need their toys. :) 

Small progress is still progress. 

On track

 So far, things are going pretty well. The five things rule is one of the best things I could come up with! It has helped me tremendously. My bedroom is so comfortable. I still need to go through my desk, and there are a couple of things in my bedroom that need to be hung: a cabinet for the bathroom, shelving for my daughter's room. Those things are on the list, and we'll get to them. I'm sitting here in my room now and am just finished doing work for my job as a music director. It's a comfortable place to be. I enjoy being in here. It feels good. 

I also tackled my linen closet which was out of control. I should have taken a before picture. With seven people in the house, we have a lot of linens. We just had too many though. That closet is always a mess, and it drives me nuts. My littles never would put things in there neatly, but I realized that with it being so crowded that was contributing to the mess as well. I got rid of a bunch of pillowcases. I can probably get rid of more, and I probably will. I got rid of an old set of sheets, a heating blanket with no heating unit, cloth napkins that I say we're going to use but never do, and some ratty towels and rags. My linen closet is now neat and easy to keep that way!

The downstairs is still making me feel uncomfortable. I'm reminding myself not to get overwhelmed though. Baby steps. I go look at the utility area and smile because it is neat and tidy and decluttered. Then I look in the one drawer that I've done and feel good about it, too. My plan is to maintain and keep moving forward - little by little. Honestly, I sometimes really don't know what I am going to do with the kitchen especially, but I'll just keep chipping away at it. 

I've been talking mostly about the minimalism M of my year, but there are other things as well. I'm still struggling with the mindfulness part. I'm still practising self-love, but sometimes I forget. I'm forgetting less than before. I'm still in counseling to help me heal and grow. I'm doing things like hanging the photos in my home that I have been meaning to hang for over two years. It makes me feel more anchored. I have been listening to music more. I look at my vision board and my "home diagram" to help me feel centered and renew my commitments. I'm doing well at keeping the finances under control, and my husband seems to be pretty engaged in that this time as well - which is awesome and helps me to feel not so alone. I'm trying to figure out how to stay engaged and active politically without it drowning me in a black cloud of crazy. I've been taking walks with my daughters. We're planning on hiking again tomorrow with the whole family, so the movement M is going okay. Baby steps, baby steps, baby steps....

Lots of progress....

 I'm very glad that I came up with a "five things rule." It has been very helpful. Very often, when I start off with five things, it quickly moves on to more. It's just a way to get me up off my butt. Today, I spent a lot of time in my bedroom, and it looks and feels great! This post is more of a "what I've been up to over the past few days" because I'm starting to lose track of the days! I have gotten a ton done though, and it feels good.

I decided to clean out my closet even though I had already done that not too long ago. I have realized that sometimes things need multiple passes to get everything. Now my closet feels done. I even did my husband's side. I found out that he has 11 pajama bottoms. He promises me that he's going to go through them. Let's see how long it takes him without me reminding him. It's been two days already. We'll see. The below pictures are after cleaning. The last picture is of what went. The trash bag is trash and the other was give away.

I tackled my bedroom as well. My dresser was a mess quite frankly. The below picture is it now. The drawers are cleaned out as well. I decided to go through one of my husband's drawers - the one where he keeps his t-shirts. With his permission, I got rid of many of t-shirts. He now has 19. Yes - 19. He thinks that's not that many - LOL. Oh well. It's less than half of what he had. My son was going through his room and closet on the same day. We purged a lot! It felt so good. 

Another thing we are trying to do this year is to get our house in good shape. We had to move out nearly three years ago because our house was flooded. It was a very traumatic experience. Well, I can't speak for the whole family, but it was traumatic for me. I have not felt like our house is a home since we moved back in. I have been adament about fixing everything in the house that needs fixing. Our basement bedroom is odd. It has this room/closet that you have to walk through to get to the bathroom. It has just been a room, so we're turning it into an official closet. We hung these this weekend. We still have some shelves to hang, but now my daughter has a closet.

She went through all her clothes when she was hanging them and purged quite a bit. She also went through some of her other things. Between her, my son, and I, we filled the back of Dora the Explorer. The thrift store loves me. Ha ha. The trash guys probably want to throw things at my house. Maybe I should make them cookies!

Another of my Ms for 2021 is movement. It is too easy for me to get sedentary when I get depressed or overwhelmed. The whole family (including the three doggos) went on a cool hike up near Golden. You can see the city on the way down. We didn't get to do the whole hike because we ran out of daylight, but we plan to go back. The whole hike is five miles, so we'll need to leave earlier in the day 

The picture below is of my Kamala's Own oil. I have had this oil for a long time. I have been burning it this week in honor of our very first woman vice president who will be sworn in tomorrow!!!!!!!

Quick update

 I don't want to skip blogging for too long. I had to run to Ohio because my son decided to come home from college. My "five things rule" is really working. I usually end up doing quite a bit more if I just do five things. 

I did get all of my folks' things out of the storage shed and into my basement yesterday. I accidentally brought home one of my boxes. The box was stuffed, and I decided to go through it. I got two small boxes of trash, some giveaway stuff, and kept a few things. Here's the after picture. What I kept is still in the box. 

Today, I tackled the laundry area. I should have gotten a before picture, but I only have the after. Trust me - it is so much better!

The Five Things Rule

 It is very easy to become overwhelmed. So many things are going on and so many changes are happening that it is just a short step to feeling like nothing will really ever change. I know this is a self-defeating attitude, but it is a powerful one. Yesterday, I was busy and sad because it was my son's last full day at home before he went back to college in Ohio. I won't see him for probably four months. That is so hard for a parent. I didn't want to spend time cleaning and decluttering, so I instituted a "Five Things Rule." On those days I don't have to do a major decluttering or even a whole drawer I can do five things. It was easy to find five things that could go. It was a step forward, and I'll take it. 

Today, when we got back from the airport, I was extremely sad. I knew that doing some decluttering would make me feel better, but getting started is hard when all you want to do is lay in bed and have a good cry. So, I remembered my "Five Things Rule." I went to the "junk drawer." I dug through there and found three things to give away and two things to throw away. Then I went outside and cleared out some things that have been sitting out of the way by our porch. Some things were just stuff that didn't get put away - a snow shovel, a snow sled, and a rake. We also had some things that could be thrown away, and there were two things that could be given away. So - bam. One more area that is cleaner, clearer, and more organized. I didn't take pictures. But I did get the picture below. Someone took some of the stuff we had put out for free and left us this lovely note. That felt good.

One of the Ms that I am focusing on this year is "movement." I am a big walker, but when I get depressed and overwhelmed, exercise is something that I have trouble doing. Getting up and getting moving is hard when all you feel like doing is laying down and ignoring the world. Luckily, I have kiddos and fur babies to help me achieve this goal. I really enjoy going to the gym, but I don't feel comfortable doing that right now during the pandemic. Our numbers are going down. If they keep going down, maybe we'll get to the point where I will feel safe enough to go to the gym. Until then, I always have these little guys to get me going. 

Baby steps

 Two of my kiddos went back to the storage shed with me yesterday. Mostly, I worked to separate the things into piles. I wanted to get my folks' and daughter's things separate. I got a lot of that done. We also got an old TV out of there. Thank goodness my older son was with me because that thing is heavy. Right now it is sitting on the side of the road with a free sign on it. We'll see if it disappears. If not, I suppose we'll have to pay to have it recycled, but that's okay. We also got some broken glass out. The movers who brought our stuff to the shed initially were horrible. They damaged my table, broke several pieces of smaller furniture, and broke a glass end table top. I also found one book to add to the give away pile. It was a small improvement, but we're still moving forward.

I'm still trying that self-love thing, and it is still weird. Today instead of following, "I love you," with anything derrogatory, I just said, "Practising, practising, practising." 

Baby steps.