Organization
I absolutely love the feeling of being in a clean and organized space, but unfortunately, for most of my adult life, my house has been a cluttered mess.
I always eventually end up cleaning, but I don't ever know how things get to that level of disaster in the first place.
Part of me thinks it's because I've been living in cramped spaces for so many years, and cramped spaces only really work for minimalists — I'm more of a maximalist. I have a lot of hobbies and I like to build and fix things and cook, and preserve food, and make my own lotions and potions, and I love to read, so I have books everywhere!!! I basically have a lot of stuff that I regularly use and not enough space to store it in.
I've had this fantasy, for many years, that I live in a home that's the perfect size to house all my things. This home has a place for everything and I know exactly where it all is.
I thought for sure that when I moved out here, I was going to find that home right away. I took all the belongings I had stored underneath my condo in California and combined them with all the belongings I had in my storage unit in Colorado, and then I moved it all to NC, where the perfect home was sure to magically appear, so I could unpack everything, integrate it all together, and give all of my belongings their perfect home.
If you've been following me for a while, you know that the home hasn't yet appeared, but you may not know that I've been living half out of a storage unit for over two years now.
Anyone who's had that experience knows how much fun that is. Hahahaha
So things have been all over the place. Items that I know I have somewhere, have been completely out of my reach. And I've spent way too many hours searching for them in storage. I successfully find what I need about 97% of the time, though.
I found myself just waiting and waiting for the house to arrive, so I could finally unpack and organize and use all of my things again. Seriously one of my number one fantasies right now.
But a couple of months ago, something snapped. It's as if a mini Dolores Umbridge suddenly moved in to my brain, screaming "Enough! I will have order!"
And all of a sudden, I became OBSESSED with organizing every single thing I own.
I first started with my closet and then I decided to go through 20 years worth of digital photos, get them printed, and organize those into albums.
After that, I organized a very messy kitchen cabinet.
Then I decided I wanted all of my nostalgia items in one location, so I went to my storage unit, dug through all of my boxes until I found most of those items (probably about 97% hahaha). Now they're all under my bed, so I can look at them whenever I want, or show them to you, to illustrate one of my stories.
After that, I organized my random jars full of nails, screws, bolts and other bits and bobs, but first I did some rust removal! Ahh, so satisfying! And then I bought these badass little organizers and went to town. I LOVE opening my organized drawers! I now know exactly where all my nails are, so when I have projects, like a broken bird feeder, I don't have to use a flimsy little weenie nail. I can use a regular one, that was created to be hammered into wood.
After the bits and bobs, I moved onto my tool box, and then from there, the sewing box I inherited from my grandma.
It's been non stop and it feels soooooo good.
My plan is to eventually move on to organize and catalogue everything in my storage unit, because I really have no idea how long it's going to take to buy a home, and I'm really tired of living my life on pause. I want to know exactly where everything is, so I can actually use it again, rather than just thinking about using it some mysterious day in the future.
Wish me luck.
Hi, I’m Kristen!
I envision a world where you and I rediscover what it is to be human, through connection with ourselves, each other and the natural world around us.