Monday, September 08, 2008

It's All Too Much

So my father introduced me to this book: It's All Too Much by Peter Walsh (who does the Clean Sweep show on TLC).

He gave it too me way back in February when he moved in for the Spring. But I didn't actually finish reading it until my recent trip to Boise.

I got home from Boise renewed, re-energized and ready to tackle the STUFF in my life. The big theme is: You only have the space you have - you can only have STUFF that fits in that space.

On Thursday of that week I got a call from Aron's school telling me that Aron had thrown up and needed to be taken home. Eric was teaching and I, frankly, wasn't doing much of anything. So I picked him up (he was sleeping when I got there, but perked right up when I woke him up.) We went to the grocery store to get some Sprite for his little tummy. (He was, seriously FINE, the whole rest of the day.)

He wanted oatmeal, so I made him some and then he wanted to watch "a program" (read: SpongeBob SquarePants) and sit on the couch. While he did that I started pulling everything out of my closet.

The book warns that you should only keep clothes that make you feel good about yourself and are complimented on. (I'm paraphrasing).

My in-laws were coming into town that day, sometime in the early evening, so I had a target of when I needed to finish.

Once I got Aron to go down for a nap I really got things humming. By the time Tom and Judi showed up I had finished not only my closet but my drawers AND the cabinets in the bathroom as well. I had 4 bags to give away and 3 bags of trash. Man was it liberating.

I took it one step further. The book suggests hanging up all your clothes with the hanger backwards (so the hook faces out). And when you wear a piece of clothing, put it back right (with the hook facing in). That way, at the end of 6 months you'll have an accurate record of what you actually wore in that time frame.

Also it suggests putting like pieces/colors together so you can see what you have (I have an obscene number of off-white/cream tops - won't need any new ones of those for a while!)

Also - I'm losing weight, so I'm noticing pants are starting to feel looser.

When I did the birthday shoping trip with my mother-in-law, I actually looked for pieces that would go with what was already in my wardrobe. I didn't get anything I already had, and I only bought stuff I knew I'd wear to work.

I put all my shoes in two plastic tubs that fit under my bed (I subsequently purchased a third to store all my handbags). And I have a place in my dresser to store my work out clothes that I wear 2 or 3 times before washing.

Every morning after Eric gets up I make the bed and every evening when I get home I put my clothes away (laundry or hang up or dry-cleaning bag).

It's been 2 weeks and I've kept it up and it feels fantastic.

When the cleaning ladies come tomorrow I won't be rushing around with my room picking things up.

On Tuesday (after Labor Day) I had the day off (for my birthday) so I went through all of Aron's clothes and kept only what fit in his drawers. There is a family who recently lost their home and all their belongings in a fire. They have a 4-year-old son, so I'm taking all those clothes to them.

And Friday night at dinner Eric (very sweetly) asked what he and the kids could do over the weekend that I'd really appreciate. I thought about it and said, "Be able to park both cars in the garage."

St. Vincent DePaul's picked up a load of stuff today so I think we'll be able to park tonight!

While he worked on the garage (with intermittent help from our 5-year-olds), I tackled my second room... the Kitchen.

I started by taking everything out of the fridge (and I mean EVERYTHING). After I removed everything from a shelf, I took the shelf out and washed it.

I only put things back that weren't past the expiration date (did you know that mustard has an expiration date on it?) My fridge seriously looks empty. I found a shelf low to the bottom to hold yogurt so the kids can reach it. It seriously looks like a brand-new fridge.

I moved on to the freezer (veal does not keep for a year).

And then I moved on to the pantry (those packets of "sides" expired in 2006).

And I did the tea cabinet (I'm never going to drink all that herbal tea).

And finally the spice/backing cabinet. (Seriously, who needs 4 jars of cream of tarter?)

The trash can (which doesn't get emptied until Thursday) is completely full, but man it feels GREAT in my kitchen.

Next stop - small appliances. (how often do we actually core, peel and slice an apple?)

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