Balance in 2016

<![CDATA[January 6

Blog.Jan.resolve-to-Purge-header

Every few years I do a “reset” on my house and get into a major purging mindset. I typically know it is time to do this when my kitchen table hasn’t been seen in about a month or my extra bedroom is filled to the brim or my closets are full. So, time to purge.

Purging at the end of the year feels more overwhelming–like a whole life endeavor. But at the beginning of the year, purging is a little more cathartic to have extra space in my house and my head. My word for 2016 is Balance and in that mode, I’ve decided to refocus the function of my extra room into that of a craft room to restore creativity I give out on a daily basis.

I need to have a space where I’m able to be creative for me and only me; a place to refill my cup so I have more to give to others. Fortunately, I don’t need a home office since I have an off-site office where I can work for my clients. This craft room will be a space where I can design bouquets, make cards or jewelry, draw or do whatever inspires me at the time. This room has excellent natural light. The ideas are brewing, I can feel it.

I’d love to show you before and after photos but not yet. It is only the 6th of January after all. If it was that easy to get done, I would have done it long ago–right? So, I only have a before picture. You get glimpses but you can see it entirely in the newsletter coming out next Wednesday. Here’s what you will see: boxes on the floor, chairs and tables. This is good. There may be a lot of boxes but they are organized by categories and not just randomly thrown together.

Here is what I did:

1.  I created 6 empty boxes – Throw Away, Recycle, Arts & Crafts, Home Filing, RCD Filing, ? & Give Away.

I’m now on my second Give Away box and can hardly wait for recycling pick-up on Friday because my bin is full and I still have more. (I might turn into that weird neighbor who fills up the other bins along the street late Thursday night.)

2.  I placed those above mentioned boxes in a row in another room and then I started at the door; working my way around the room clearing the floor first.  I didn’t think too hard about what I had in my hands. My initial thought was, “Which box does this go in?” That was it. I’d already created my categories so I didn’t need to think anymore. I know myself well. Crucial to making this work is that I couldn’t stop to think what I would do with each item or where it came from. That end result would hang me up and I’d become paralyzed. Instead, “Which box does this go in?” was the only question I could ask. There will be time for more questions later.

3.  Once I found the floor I moved to the shelves closest to the door, then the desk and then the shelves farthest from the door. Still in the same direction as I started on the floor but moving up in the room.

That’s as far as I’ve gotten for right now. Remembering that BALANCE is my word for this year I mixed in time with friends and family last week rather than being trapped in my house because of the room.

I still have one more bookcase to purge before I start to put it all back but I did actually use the room on Sunday. I had my goddaughter over to make jewelry and we sat in there. It has the best afternoon sunlight and I can hardly wait to get everything put away so I can start using it on a regular basis.

PS – Stuff I discovered in the room:
-30 empty bags (cloth reusable grocery, old briefcases, large cloth bags for -traveling or hauling client materials)
-10 empty boxes of various sizes and construction
Apparently I like the idea of containing my life but haven’t figured out exactly how to do it.

Do you have a room where things go to die? Are your closets bursting at the seams? If so, I hope you’ll be inspired to take action. I’d love to hear about your dreaded space and how you’ve tackled it.]]>

2 Comments

  1. Monika on January 7, 2016 at 12:04 am

    Great article on starting out the new year with a little less baggage. Looking forward to the after-photos.

    • Roxann Lloyd on March 16, 2016 at 2:56 am

      I got busy again after the holidays so there aren’t any after photos as of yet. Hopefully in the coming weeks…
      Thanks for reading, Monika!

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