Decluttering and Reorganising the House
Jan. 30th, 2012 07:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
emma_in_dreamPros:
1, I have thrown out, overall, I’d estimate 6 car boot loads to the charity bins plus half that much again at least to the actual bins plus three large items of furniture removed. All this has decluttered the house to some extent and there is an element of satisfaction in being in a cleaner, neater environment (though it is still quite cluttered because there is a radical disjunction between what I want to keep/own and the amount of space I have to keep it in).
2, I have found room to cram my double bed into the little room. I love having a double bed which I can stretch out in. My bed is flush against a row of bookcases which means the bottom part of them is inaccessible but it has actually worked out quite well in terms of fitting in. I have double shelved all the upper shelves.
3, I now have the room to myself and can engage in luxurious behaviour such as rolling over at night without thinking first about whether it will wake Ruby, ditto rearranging my blankets, and, best of all, I can now turn the light off when I sleep. When I write this it seems kind of pathetic and I realise that I have actually made a few sacrifices? Changes? Stuff I’ve given up? For the sake of having kids.
4, On the first day her clothes were moved onto shelves Pearl started choosing her own clothes and getting partly dressed herself. Apparently she was totally ready for this but had been unable to get the heavy drawers in the dresser open on her own.
5, There is much more available floor space in the kids room and they can play there.
6, There is much more available floor space downstairs and the kids can play there.
7, Buying the massive number of containers I have bought has been cost neutral because I have gotten rid of some stuff via Ebay. (‘Containerizing’ – to use the American noun as a verb of the decluttering books – was by far and away the most useful tip of this frustrating genre of books which all assume that every house has a breakfast nook and a basement which the moronic readers have just not noticed they could use for storage.
8, I find selling things on Ebay quite satisfying, though time consuming and, once again, the thrift books offer quite useless advice, the most common of which is to start bidding low so as to allow competition. I have to say that there is just not that much competition for most things so you are better off thinking of the minimum price at which you will not be resentful and think you would rather have donated an item to charity. For me this price is quite low, like $2-$5.
Cons
1, I am still not sure if having Ruby and Pearl share will work out as they have completely different habits for going to sleep and for comfort when they are distressed. Pearl likes me to be in the room while this revs Ruby up, which is a dilemma.
2, It was a ridiculously huge amount of effort, still ongoing. I am not finished yet.
3, Moving and decluttering everything I own is both emotionally draining (shall I keep this? Would a photo preserve the memories equally well?) and physically draining (why is it 40 degrees again?).
4, I will have to buy another chest of drawers as I have a pile of boxes still sitting in my room irritating me.
5, While I have been engaged in this heavy, emotionally arduous work I have let lots of other things slide so Pearl is watching a lot of DVDs and Ruby is not doing much physio.
6, Also, when I say watching DVDs this is because we now have no TV. I am kind of resentful that I have had to get rid of it because there was literally no space but glad that when the choice came down to sofa (for having guests) and TV I chose to lose the TV. Also, my plan to just watch DVDs myself has been thwarted by the fact that when I tried to watch the BBC Pride and Prejudice my computer would not play it even though it was regionally compatible. It will play other DVDs but not that one. A life without the 1995 Pride and Prejudice is not to be borne and I will have to think of some other way of accessing it.
7, There is still a massive TV cabinet in my front yard because Anglicare said they would take it, cancelled, said they would take it, cancelled, said they would take it, came and refused to take it. I then offered it on Freecycle and the woman who wants it has said she would come, cancelled, said she would come, cancelled, said she would come, and come with a tiny car actually smaller than the item (I had given her the dimensions). Based on my experiences, neither donations to charity nor Freecycle work very well – I am sure this is not usually the way it goes.
8, Selling things on Ebay is incredibly time consuming. I think it is because I am selling lots of individual things, most of which are not in categories so I can’t set up a default entry which is just edited. If I sell an iron, a rubber stamp and a book in a row, each one needs to be hand entered.
9, Ruby is lodging a one child protest against having had her cot moved and having to share a room. She is very cross about it and wants the world to know.
10, Pearl now has to have her naps in my room and has already had one accident in my bed. I have ordered a waterproof mattress protector online and I hope it doesn’t make the bed too nasty and sweaty. (Possibly this comes under the category of maternal sacrifice.)
11, I do feel resentful that I can’t afford a bigger place. I’d rather be with the kids than work more hours but I’m not even thinking a quarter acre block and the Australian dream. I’d just like something that’s not a two up, two down.
1, I have thrown out, overall, I’d estimate 6 car boot loads to the charity bins plus half that much again at least to the actual bins plus three large items of furniture removed. All this has decluttered the house to some extent and there is an element of satisfaction in being in a cleaner, neater environment (though it is still quite cluttered because there is a radical disjunction between what I want to keep/own and the amount of space I have to keep it in).
2, I have found room to cram my double bed into the little room. I love having a double bed which I can stretch out in. My bed is flush against a row of bookcases which means the bottom part of them is inaccessible but it has actually worked out quite well in terms of fitting in. I have double shelved all the upper shelves.
3, I now have the room to myself and can engage in luxurious behaviour such as rolling over at night without thinking first about whether it will wake Ruby, ditto rearranging my blankets, and, best of all, I can now turn the light off when I sleep. When I write this it seems kind of pathetic and I realise that I have actually made a few sacrifices? Changes? Stuff I’ve given up? For the sake of having kids.
4, On the first day her clothes were moved onto shelves Pearl started choosing her own clothes and getting partly dressed herself. Apparently she was totally ready for this but had been unable to get the heavy drawers in the dresser open on her own.
5, There is much more available floor space in the kids room and they can play there.
6, There is much more available floor space downstairs and the kids can play there.
7, Buying the massive number of containers I have bought has been cost neutral because I have gotten rid of some stuff via Ebay. (‘Containerizing’ – to use the American noun as a verb of the decluttering books – was by far and away the most useful tip of this frustrating genre of books which all assume that every house has a breakfast nook and a basement which the moronic readers have just not noticed they could use for storage.
8, I find selling things on Ebay quite satisfying, though time consuming and, once again, the thrift books offer quite useless advice, the most common of which is to start bidding low so as to allow competition. I have to say that there is just not that much competition for most things so you are better off thinking of the minimum price at which you will not be resentful and think you would rather have donated an item to charity. For me this price is quite low, like $2-$5.
Cons
1, I am still not sure if having Ruby and Pearl share will work out as they have completely different habits for going to sleep and for comfort when they are distressed. Pearl likes me to be in the room while this revs Ruby up, which is a dilemma.
2, It was a ridiculously huge amount of effort, still ongoing. I am not finished yet.
3, Moving and decluttering everything I own is both emotionally draining (shall I keep this? Would a photo preserve the memories equally well?) and physically draining (why is it 40 degrees again?).
4, I will have to buy another chest of drawers as I have a pile of boxes still sitting in my room irritating me.
5, While I have been engaged in this heavy, emotionally arduous work I have let lots of other things slide so Pearl is watching a lot of DVDs and Ruby is not doing much physio.
6, Also, when I say watching DVDs this is because we now have no TV. I am kind of resentful that I have had to get rid of it because there was literally no space but glad that when the choice came down to sofa (for having guests) and TV I chose to lose the TV. Also, my plan to just watch DVDs myself has been thwarted by the fact that when I tried to watch the BBC Pride and Prejudice my computer would not play it even though it was regionally compatible. It will play other DVDs but not that one. A life without the 1995 Pride and Prejudice is not to be borne and I will have to think of some other way of accessing it.
7, There is still a massive TV cabinet in my front yard because Anglicare said they would take it, cancelled, said they would take it, cancelled, said they would take it, came and refused to take it. I then offered it on Freecycle and the woman who wants it has said she would come, cancelled, said she would come, cancelled, said she would come, and come with a tiny car actually smaller than the item (I had given her the dimensions). Based on my experiences, neither donations to charity nor Freecycle work very well – I am sure this is not usually the way it goes.
8, Selling things on Ebay is incredibly time consuming. I think it is because I am selling lots of individual things, most of which are not in categories so I can’t set up a default entry which is just edited. If I sell an iron, a rubber stamp and a book in a row, each one needs to be hand entered.
9, Ruby is lodging a one child protest against having had her cot moved and having to share a room. She is very cross about it and wants the world to know.
10, Pearl now has to have her naps in my room and has already had one accident in my bed. I have ordered a waterproof mattress protector online and I hope it doesn’t make the bed too nasty and sweaty. (Possibly this comes under the category of maternal sacrifice.)
11, I do feel resentful that I can’t afford a bigger place. I’d rather be with the kids than work more hours but I’m not even thinking a quarter acre block and the Australian dream. I’d just like something that’s not a two up, two down.
