ejchase
4-2-13, 10:46pm
Hi All,
I set an intention about six weeks ago to start rating the spaces in my home on a scale of 1 to 10 monthly as a way of both noting progress and setbacks and just giving myself a general monthly "reality check." My overarching objective is to one day live in a home of spaces that are maintained in such a way that they all generally fall in the 7-10 range.
My April ratings show little progress mostly because March was a very full month with my dad visiting, my toddler's birthday party, and a busy time of year in my work. April is a little lighter work-wise, so I've set a goal of ten hours of decluttering this month (using flylady's timer method, I break up the time into one or two hour increments over the whole month).
While I think the upstairs hallway briefly got upgraded from a 4 to a 5 or 6 right before my dad's visit, I'm afraid it has fallen back to a solid 4.
One area of (so-far) lasting progress: the downstairs closet is now a 9! All that was needed was to ask my SO to do it with me. I told him it would only take us 30 minutes. It actually took around an hour when all was said and done, but it made SUCH a difference, and it's such a thrill now when I go to grab something we keep in there, that I can actually find what I need quickly and can see everything so beautifully organized.
My experience with the downstairs closet has made me re-consider my priorities. I've been thinking I should tackle mine and my SO's bedroom and the kitchen, which are important rooms that need a ton of decluttering, reorganizing, and decorating, first, but I got such a charge out of doing the smaller project of the downstairs closet that it has occurred to me maybe I should tackle the smaller, easier spaces first. They don't take much time, and dealing with them would probably feel like giving myself little gifts - the closet sure feels like a little gift to myself. And maybe experiencing the decluttering of these little spaces as gifts to myself would help me see the big projects that way. When all is said and done, I will probably rotate between the big and little decluttering projects, but the advantages of each kind of project are interesting for me to think about. In school, I always found it worked better for me to do the easier, more enjoyable homework first, then tackle the harder, less pleasant homework later after I had some momentum going. Decluttering the smaller spaces first seems analagous to that.
Anyway, here are the current ratings:
Mine and SO’s Bedroom 5
Middle Kid's Bedroom 5
Oldest Kid's Bedroom 4
The Upstairs Hallway 4
The Upstairs Bathroom 6
The Living Room 5
The Dining Room 5
The Downstairs Bathroom 6
The Kitchen 4
The Laundry Room 6
The Downstairs Closet was a 2 – now a 9
The Backyard - 6
The Front Yard and Front Steps -6
Purse 4
Car 4
Storage Space 4
Anybody else want to rate their spaces this month?
I set an intention about six weeks ago to start rating the spaces in my home on a scale of 1 to 10 monthly as a way of both noting progress and setbacks and just giving myself a general monthly "reality check." My overarching objective is to one day live in a home of spaces that are maintained in such a way that they all generally fall in the 7-10 range.
My April ratings show little progress mostly because March was a very full month with my dad visiting, my toddler's birthday party, and a busy time of year in my work. April is a little lighter work-wise, so I've set a goal of ten hours of decluttering this month (using flylady's timer method, I break up the time into one or two hour increments over the whole month).
While I think the upstairs hallway briefly got upgraded from a 4 to a 5 or 6 right before my dad's visit, I'm afraid it has fallen back to a solid 4.
One area of (so-far) lasting progress: the downstairs closet is now a 9! All that was needed was to ask my SO to do it with me. I told him it would only take us 30 minutes. It actually took around an hour when all was said and done, but it made SUCH a difference, and it's such a thrill now when I go to grab something we keep in there, that I can actually find what I need quickly and can see everything so beautifully organized.
My experience with the downstairs closet has made me re-consider my priorities. I've been thinking I should tackle mine and my SO's bedroom and the kitchen, which are important rooms that need a ton of decluttering, reorganizing, and decorating, first, but I got such a charge out of doing the smaller project of the downstairs closet that it has occurred to me maybe I should tackle the smaller, easier spaces first. They don't take much time, and dealing with them would probably feel like giving myself little gifts - the closet sure feels like a little gift to myself. And maybe experiencing the decluttering of these little spaces as gifts to myself would help me see the big projects that way. When all is said and done, I will probably rotate between the big and little decluttering projects, but the advantages of each kind of project are interesting for me to think about. In school, I always found it worked better for me to do the easier, more enjoyable homework first, then tackle the harder, less pleasant homework later after I had some momentum going. Decluttering the smaller spaces first seems analagous to that.
Anyway, here are the current ratings:
Mine and SO’s Bedroom 5
Middle Kid's Bedroom 5
Oldest Kid's Bedroom 4
The Upstairs Hallway 4
The Upstairs Bathroom 6
The Living Room 5
The Dining Room 5
The Downstairs Bathroom 6
The Kitchen 4
The Laundry Room 6
The Downstairs Closet was a 2 – now a 9
The Backyard - 6
The Front Yard and Front Steps -6
Purse 4
Car 4
Storage Space 4
Anybody else want to rate their spaces this month?