Breaking eggs to make omelets

Today is mostly about working in the playroom, and also putting the green sideboard in the living room to smarter use. I was going through the shelves above the desk in the playroom and had to laugh at myself at all the wonderful storage devices put to next to no good use. for example, a beautiful green wicker picinic basket, taking up very valuable space on the shelf, held only three things inside it! and each of those three things have their duplicates (and triplicates) stored in a much more logical place.

Now that I've been cleaning out and weighing things in my personal inventory on a scale of usesablity vs. storage footprint when not in use, I am finally making some headway. Awhile ago I realized that it is one thing to be the kind of person whose decorative style is to have things out where you can see them, it is another thing entirely to have your things out because your drawers and shelves are cram packed with stuff you've forgotten you owned. Which was me. I'm making my way through each drawer and shelf and closet in my house and now actually storing things I use in them! What a pleasure to open my linen closet and have every single thing in it something I have cleaned and considered and stocked carefully in there. Rather than old stuff I crammed in there because someone was coming over or something.

My latest organization trick is to use over the door shoe organizers wherever I can. I had one in the pantry, then swapped it out for one of a different design, and put the old one in a utility closet. they just hold all that smaller stuff that clutters. And this is all to say nothing of the shoe organizer I have in my closet. It actually holds shoes! It is such a pleasure to walk into my closet (of which I can see the floor!) and lay my hands on the exact pair of shoes I want, to have a place to put shoes when cleaning up, etc. I guess what I'm saying is the cleaning and deep organizing I've been doing is still working. you really do need to have a specific place for everything if you want to be able to tidy up and be done with it. stacking and creating fresh piles is just smoke and mirrors.

The other thing I like is that in all this organizing, I'm able to enjoy the house a lot more. If your closets aren't bloated with stuff you don't use, then that space is available for the stuff you DO use! (duh.) Which means it's easier to clean up, easier to put away, easier to delegate or provide direction to others seeking stuff, etc etc etc!

p.s. today's post compared to yesterdays sounds much more productive, doesn't it? what's my secret? Low carb! isn't that interesting? I think so. it's the high protein breakfast, that's the key. I wish I could whip up my eggs and cheese with the same amount of ease that a bowl of cereal takes. Oh well. I need to just relax into the ritual of my mornings and just make the eggs and cheese and be done with it. Inevitably if I fiddle with my routine, I'm off my feed in one way or another thru-out the day.