Remember back at the beginning of the year when I was participating in the Catholic Minimalism Challenge, and making all kinds of progress, and posting impressive updates?
Well, along about week three, we got the flu. For the second time. As you might expect, that derailed basically everything except survival.
But a new challenge started last week, and I jumped at the chance to pick up where I left off.
Week One is supposed to be the Master Bedroom, which I did thoroughly in January. In addition, I have kept up with it in the months since, and have even gotten rid of more things. So I only needed to devote one day. I went through the closet and drawers, and got rid of two small bags of clothes and a stack of books. I did not go through all the jewelry and the sentimental things–I think once a year is enough for that.
I don’t have any pictures from the first day as there just isn’t that much change to show. For the rest of the week, I worked on the hallway outside my office I was SO EXCITED to tackle this area! Here’s before:
What a mess, right? Things were constantly getting knocked off the top and on to the floor, and every time I walked by all that mess it made me sad.
This was the perfect time to tackle this area, because most of this is homeschooling material, and my homeschooling days have ended. Lorelei will enter 8th grade at the local public school in August.
So I went through all of the homeschooling books, and got rid of some of them. I probably should get rid of a lot more, and I admit that putting them in boxes and moving them into the garage, which will be the VERY LAST THING that ever gets minimalized, is just punting the problem down the road. But let’s not let the perfect be the enemy of the good, right?
Lorelei is spending some time dog-sitting for my sister with Emily, so I did not have her much-needed assistance with this project. Therefore there is another box filled with things that she will need to go through. Not my box, not my problem!
I’ll show you what it looks like now, and then I will explain what I’ve put there.
This shelf and this area now mostly belong to me. I am feeling happy that as my children grow and sort of leave, I am able to claim more space in this house for myself.
I love that the top is currently bare. I hope it can stay that way. I might consider putting some pictures or decorative items there, but the space is crowded and things might get knocked off.
The top shelf is primarily books I have received in exchange for my honest review thereof, or have won via social media giveaways. I probably don’t need to keep them all; that’s something I will revisit next time I go through the challenge. At least I want to keep a list of them. I am also keeping whatever books I am currently reading on that shelf, and my extra journals. Most of these books were previously stacked in a dusty heap on the bottom shelf, and some were sitting in a cardboard box in my office, a space that has now been freed up!
Second shelf are Catholic project items. For example, I have a binder for the Catholic Minimalism Challenge, and it lives there. My prayer journal is there. My binder with various Advent and Lent and other liturgical year tools is there.
The bottom shelf is a work in progress. It currently contains homeschool materials that I borrowed from others and need to return, and extra folders, notebooks, and such that may be needed when school begins. I’m thinking that we will need space for extra paper and school supplies for use in doing homework and I am willing to use the bottom shelf for that if need be. I will have a better idea how I will use that space by the next Challenge.
Finally, in the corner you will see a couple of totes. Yes, I found a use for some of the many totes that were taking up space in my bedroom! One of them is holding a lot of prayer journaling supplies–scissors, glue stick, colored pens and pencils and markers, Catholic coloring book, prayers, prayer cards. The tote keeps them contained, and if I want to go elsewhere to journal everything is ready! The other tote is holding a special Christmas gift from my husband–a monthly subscription to a mystery to solve. It’s really fun but also takes time we don’t seem to have, so I am keeping it all organized here so that when we devote an evening to working on it, everything is ready to go.
So there you have it! Next week is bathrooms. Again I expect to spend one day on them, and then I am planning on working on the laundry room and the upstairs hallway for the rest of the week.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks