January 2017 begins the slide into my 50th birthday. The start of the 12 month countdown to an age that I am rather excited about if you want to know the truth. I have felt 50 for a while now and for a short time last year I even thought I was almost there ( really how can a person be wrong about how old they are?) but this time it is for real. So really it seems as good a time as any to finally be getting my shit together. I could call it “stuff” ala the old George Carlin routine but the truth is that if I have not used it enough to even know what I have then my stuff is just shit, but the good part is that my shit might be stuff to someone else so donating it is an excellent way to take my quality excess and make it a joyful bounty for someone else.
This of course is where things get tricky and we start playing mind games with ourselves, or at least I do. I mean this is not my first rodeo but this one has been a few years coming. Having the store and having it be such an amazing success meant that I just about abandoned my home and the poor thing suffered in my wake I can tell you that. So here I am 3.5 years later digging out and learning a lot of lessons along the way. These lessons are preparing me to take on my sewing studio but before getting there, I needed to get a grip on what my goal was and oddly enough I learned it from my bedroom dressing table.
While people who follow the the FLY-Lady know that keeping a clean sink is the start of a cascading habit of getting your life together my “shiny-sink” was my bedroom dressing table. and while I don’t have a before photo this is the after and by after I mean I have been easily been able to keep it this way for 6 months and have no worry that anything about that will change.
Now, had you seen it before you would have noticed three zipper cases of makeup, 5 years of hair products ( oh for the right one!), multiple brushes, lotions, potions and lots of makeup dust.
The thing is, after a personal “come to Jesus” with myself the truth was there was very little of it all that I was using on a daily basis. But the idea of not having the option of 9 different lipsticks, 12 eyeshadows and heaven knows how many lotions made me a bit twitchy at first… after all I had paid good money for this stuff.
But the truth was that each day I wear the same thing, black/brown eyeliner, mascara, a bit of creme blush and on a rough day some under eye concealer…that is it. Every bit of it now fits in a small box that has belonged to my father but previously was living buried in a drawer never seen. That box now lives in that center drawer. In the left side drawer I keep the items I need for my hair and nothing more, in the right perfume and deodorant.
My goal was that everything had to fit in my dressing table with ease and to make the cut I must use it at least 1x a month. I have also taken to making sure what I buy is of the highest quality I can afford with the idea that whatever I am getting should last at least 10 years (not makeup of course!). A paradigm shift for sure but one I am totally enjoying so far!
I have come to understand that I like many have ~Goldfish Syndrome~ As a species we are growing and gathering items into our lives to fill the size of our own personal bowls (houses)… and when it starts getting tight in our bowl, we just buy a bigger bowl and we grow some more! Nowhere is this more evident than at my local hardware superstore. Their current big display is of any size storage container that you could ever want, when what we really need to do is be minimizing not organizing our chaos, or at least that is my plan.
I am working on the kitchen now and soon it will be time to tackle my sewing room { insert ominous music}. I will be taking you along for that adventure, the good, the bad and the ugly will be seen. Are you ready?
Do you have Goldfish Syndrome and if so what are you doing about it?
“Does this bring you joy?” It really is the perfect question for deciding to keeping or finding a new home for something.
I moved to a smaller home after occupying a wonderful house for 25 years. Going through boxes of things my husband had been moving around since before we were married was emotionally exhausting. I ended up PAYING alot of money to have people come and haul away 6 file cabinets of his “stuff” after I realized that most of the contents were 5-10 duplicates of magazines he had a photo ad in! I love my new smaller home, it has a stunning courtyard to enjoy and I don’t have to mow!
Good luck, it will get easier.
We moved from our three-bedroom ranch (with two car garage plus lots of storage) to Nashville. Where housing costs the earth, and since my husband was moving first, we rented a one-bedroom condo. A few realtors later and a couple of bad contracts we still owned our house but had to put everything in storage. You know, for one of those bad contracts that didn’t go bad until the end. Since I got sick right after we moved, living in a one-bedroom place was actually a godsend. Less cleaning. More efficiency. It definitely gave us time to consider a lot of things as we periodically went to that storage shed and questioned why we even still had some of it. I’m not saying I couldn’t lose a lot of things still, but we really cut our furniture back, and clothes. I was so glad to get rid of all those extra clothes, reminding me what I used to look like and who I used to be. I look forward to watching your process! 🙂
Maddie, I took your article as inspiration and this week de-cluttered and organized my dressers in my bedroom. It was a dust magnet full of jewelry boxes, medications, lotions, hair clips, etc. I ended up investing in one nice table top jewelry box that can store hundreds of pieces of jewelry. I filtered out the stuff that I never wear and it will go to charity along with the two smaller wooden jewelry boxes I no longer need. I was happy to find my mother’s and grandmother’s vintage jewelry which I can now wear to work! My husband was mightily impressed with my organization and I feel great looking at how clutter free my dresser is. It is the first step in a long journey of purging and organizing. Thank you for getting me on the right path!
Good for you!… such an oasis of calm… may it spread! 🙂
Thanks to inspiration from my young adult son, I’ve downsized the space for my longarm studio/website store space from a two car garage to a family room. It’s more efficient by far(you can tell I leaned on his engineering degree brain) and I’m so happy to give the garage back to the farmers. Now the house is easier to clean! We’re still working on decluttering, and this year will be wonderful!
Congrats on the successful business! That is so great in today’s world of small business.
Super on the shiny vanity. Good inspiration. I keep my bathroom decluttered but have been slowly moving make-up to my bedroom. Maybe instead of selling the 2nd vanity in our (flew the coop) daughter’s room, I should claim it for me. And paint it a funky pink! 😀
Do you use spray hair products? I would have to work at keeping the area clean of overspray. Ha!
I love Fly Lady and often use her 15 Minute method to tackle tasks. My ‘shiny sink’ is my bedroom dresser. A neat dresser starts and ends my day on a much more positive note. As much as I’m better than average about not collecting unneccessary products, hair, skin, makeup, there is still room to purge.
My “word” of the year for 2017 is “declutter” so I will be following your adventures with great interest. I started in the kitchen and it feels awesome to see my counter tops!! If it’s not being used every day, it gets put away, thrown away or given away. Feels AMAZING to let go of “stuff”.
Congratulations, Maddie, on your upcoming 50th. There are some milestones that are demoralizing and some that are joyful. 50 is what you want it to be. Make it joyful; you’ll be glad you did.
Talking about decluttering: all of you are doing the right thing by getting this done now. As for me: I am 65 and retired 3 mo ago. I have spent the last 3 months recovering from working while on crutches for 8 of the last 12 months of work. My place is a mess and there are days when I look at it and think, “Thanks Dad. Your hoarding gene is alive and well–in me.” I started my house decluttering in the bathroom. It is only 5 by 8 feet but it feels so good to go into that room and know that only the essentials are there. It feels lighter and brighter. Now I am working on the kitchen and that is going so slowly. Like Anja and her Tupperware, I wonder how did I get all these things? Do I still need them? What happens if I clear them out? Well, now is the time to find out. I’ve got stuff I want to do, places to go, people to be with. Junk just hinders freedom.
I’ve always been extreme – a hoarder of some things, ruthlessly spare about others. I finally gave myself a huge kick in the butt by reading Marie Kondo (yep, that one) and have been ruthless about ALL of it ever since! I’m currently on my last room, THE STUDIO. eeeek :-O Honestly, though, it’s going very well! My biggest challenge is not stopping to finish all the unfinished projects, but I just started a plastic tote and am saving them to tackle after the rest is done.
The most satisfying part of the whole thing was measuring and folding all my fabric to fit the shelves, each with a little label pinned on the front fold with the width and length. Next time I want to sew something, I can just shop my own shelves and easily see if there’s enough yardage for the project! (I feel like an idiot for never having done this before.)
I just spent the entire afternoon going through my kitchen! A great place to donate towels that still have life, random pots and pans, etc. are organizations that work with refugees. I send a picture of everything I’ve decluttered and ask what they need, and then goodwill the rest!
Kudos. This is my goal for 2017. I’m hoping to start with the kitchen, but I need ALL the Tupperware bowls….but clearly I don’t as there are many that I have never used. But it’s hard letting go — what if I need it tomorrow????
There’s quite a few good blogs about minimalism. I can recommend some if you’d like. I’ve been slowly implementing various strategies from them for a couple years now. Recently started getting serious about decluttering my entire house this year after having to spend the last 15 months cleaning out the massive hoard of crap that my late father left behind. 3 bedroom house packed to the rafters and two garages, one a double sized one. Ugh. I am so NOT putting my kids through that. I’m going to deal with my stuff now while I still can. (I’m 54, if it matters.)
I also do not want to end up like a dear friend of mine (age 59).. She’s a sweet, smart person, has a great long term boyfriend that she lives with, both have good jobs, pays all her bills on time, has/had money in the bank, and life looks grand on the outside. She’s a hoarder. Bad one. Like oughta be on TV bad. Her 1200 sq foot house has been filled to the brim for at least 2 decades now, along with 2 garage sized 12×20 foot storage units down the street that are so full that stuff falls out whenever she opens the doors. About eight months ago, she and the BF co-bought a good sized commercial building with a storefront below and 3 two bedroom apartments above as an “investment.” Two of the apartments and the store had tenants but they’re all vacant now (leases expired) so now the whole building is empty. Can you guess where this is going? Yup. She’s buying -more- crap to fill the new place and is flat out refusing to interview more tenants for either the apartments or the storefront. It’s a good business location and they’ve had interest in renting the store. The boyfriend is at his wit’s end. They had agreed to keep 2 of the 3 apartments rented (and the store) to cover the mortgage on the new place. The plan was to use the 3rd apartment to replace the $$$ storage units and serve as a crafting/sewing/maker space. Now they have no income and that new mortgage is having to come out of their bank account on top of the mortgage on her current house (plus the storage units and etc.. those run over $200/month. One of those storage units she’s had for 12+ years.) He’s pissed because all of the stuff is hers. Entirely hers. Feels like he’s wasting his money on her junk. And most of it’s thrift store crap. Everything he owns, other than his computer, would fit in a footlocker with room to spare. He’s been a minimalist type all his life. So happy it’s not me because damn.
I was just thinking about how my tiny sewing desk has grown in the corner of my bedroom. excellent of abut keeping things in check!
I have been working my way down to less and the best stuff for almost a year. I am an emotional hoarder; the more anxious I am, the more I crave the acquisition of stuff to comfort and soothe me. Fortunately, I sew all things; so I was mostly drowning in fabric… enough for a shop of my own. But, I also refurbish vintage sewing machines… and my collection ballooned to aboit 50 machines. I have sold off and donated a lot of fabric… and am finally sewing again… and sticking to my still huge stash. But for the new year, I need to sell about half the vintage machines to make room… Progress is slow, but worth it.
Guilty. Not as guilty as those in my husband’s family who won’t let go of anything but…. I’m also still at a stage where kids moving in and out make it possible for them to use some of our duplicates. But we’ve lived in our home for 23 years and it’s time to go through the nooks and crannies and give away, throw away or donate. I think I’m going to try to dedicate one half hour twice a week, maybe Wednesday and Thursday mornings after I drop off my youngest who is a high school senior. It only works if you are specific about when and what your goal is! Clear out the cobwebs and unused, unloved “stuff”.
That was good! I can relate. I am on a mission to clear out the crap physically and mentally. As for your turning 50 this year; Welcome to the 50’s. As my dad was always fond of pointing out especially on those special birthdays; when you celebrate your birthday, i.e. your 50th, you are really celebrating having made it through your 50th year and beginning your 51st. We all start at “zero” (not including the 9 months in utero). So, when we celebrate our first birthday we are already 12 months old, beginning our next year. So, you see, you are 50 already.
Mattie, I have been that person moving junk from one bowl to another. In 2000 my Dad past away and I had the luxury of cleaning out my Dad’s house of 40 years of crap. Things I needed years ago were found. The greatest mystery was a Steak from 1985. We attempt to suround ourselves with what comforts us. During this arduous undertaking I got a book by “Sandra Fenton (who is a hoot) on organization…..I started de cluttering my house at that moment and have kept up the pace of making sure my stuff does not consume me. Good luck on your journey and have fun!
I am rebooting on this effort too. I did do my makeup dressing table several years ago and it slide back again. I did a half hearted closet purge but that was only a half hearted . And then…well I will have to address the sewing room too.
Ahh yes, I am much in the same mood these days, which is absolutely horrifying for my boyfriend who is a pack rat. I feel that this needs to be the year of less stuff, and have started decluttering and simplifying. My biggest step so far is to tell my friends and family that from now on, instead of buying me gifts for birthdays or christmas I would prefer they make a donation to my favorite charity; I just don’t need any more *stuff*!
I always forget my age too (and it’s older than you)! I have been purging for several years and finally see the light at the end of the tunnel (I think). Twenty five years in one house and four kids can result in quite a buildup of stuff. The last thing is always my sewing space. Why is that? Anyway, thanks for the motivation. I love your dressing table. Now that you mention it my bureau is a disaster area. I’ll get on that too. Happy New Year and Happy Birthday. I love my 50s. I feel like I can finally tell people to go take a flying leap if I want. 🙂
I have been fortunate as an adult. I have moved enough that I didn’t have the luxury of accumulating stuff. However, I bought a house in the past 5 years, and I feel the pressure of build up. You can just throw something in a box and forgef about it. But for me, piles of stuff just kind of hang out like a black cloud and make me feel uncomfortable. It is getting to be time to hit the den.
Massive goldfish syndrome in my sewing room. I have been trying to declutter for 2 years now. Some rooms are better. Others are still a work in progress. My sewing room is so cluttered right now that it stifles my creativity. I can barely stand to open the closet door in here. This weekend I am tackling the closet. I have to get rid of the piles of fabric all over the ironing board and cutting table. How can you create when your creating spaces are blocked???
Congrats to you, Maddie! I’m slowly working around each room in my house, decluttering, sorting, passing on, cleaning and organizing. It is so freeing and uplifting! Less is definitely more, at least for me. Here’s to a wonderful 50 for you!