The previous post about organization (in the classroom) is from September of 2016. You can access that post here.
I was recently inspired by the show Tidying Up on Netflix. I initially intended to watch something else, but that show just happened to turn on and start playing, so I tuned in. Was it a sign?? I finished watching the episode and reflected on my own life. Last night I decided to try out some of the strategies from the show. It started snowing earlier in the evening, and I had no intention of leaving the house anyway, so it was a perfect opportunity to begin reorganizing my clothing. I already had a big pile of laundry on the bed that I had been avoiding (plus with my husband out of town for the month, I just moved it all to his side of the bed for several days).
In the show, Marie Kondo is an organizing expert who visits people’s homes. She teaches them ways to organize/declutter various aspects of their homes, which carries over into their general wellbeing.
Prior to reorganizing my drawers, I took all of the clothes out and put them on the bed. It gave me the opportunity to see everything, and to reevaluate what to keep and what to get rid of. There were so many items that I had pretty much forgotten about because they were buried under other clothing. Additionally, my drawers had been difficult to close because clothes would get stuck at the top. The task of sorting and refolding was a little overwhelming at first, but I was motivated to get it all done.
I learned a simple strategy from the show for folding my clothing, and I’m so glad I’ve made this change. It was satisfying to open and close the drawers with ease, and to SEE everything at once!
Today I did some reorganizing in the kitchen. In a method similar to clothing, I refolded hand towels and organized them so they could all be seen at once. Again, the drawers opened more easily with this method.
My next task was to sort our plastic containers. I’ve been meaning to do this for a long time now… every time I look in the drawer, I can’t help but think about the miscellaneous lids and containers with no pair. I took all of the containers out of the drawer and began matching them up. In the end, I had over 15 lids with no matching container, and at least 3 containers with no lid. My guess is that one or the other cracked and was thrown away without its other part. Jasper thought I was clearing out the space for him. 🙂
Another satisfying result in reorganizing and cooperative drawers!
It feels good to reevaluate, reorganize, and declutter at the start of this new year.
How is your new year starting off?