Christmas and The Storage Room

Why sort the Storage Room?

I’m not a big Christmas person so the time around Christmas is often disjointed for me. I move between the deer-in-the-headlights Christmas shopping people at the mall and the quiet, welcome solitude of my home.  Because I don’t celebrate but I like presents, too, I try to do something for me. Something which I’ve been putting off, something which I hope will add value to my life. Last year I learned to make a particular garment which I’d wanted to make for a long time, but which I just never had the time to do. Year before I built a website I’d wanted to get up and running for some time. This year the task was re-purposing and re-organizing my storage room in such a way that I knew it would last. 

Ho Hum,, I know it’s not gripping stuff, but let me explain. I live in a three bedroom townhouse. The very large master bedroom is my drapery sewing room. One of the small spare rooms is my bedroom and the third bedroom is my storage room. In it I have the storage for my business, Design Sewlutions. The storage for the Tiny Pastry Shop, personal stuff and now my chain maille bits, too. I have all 100 drapery books, a whack of cushion forms, my sample books for the blinds and shades business, extra flat folds of fabric, fabric on rolls, extra curtain rods, —  stuff like that.

I started making chain maille again a month or so ago, so I had all that in there, too. That’s a fair bit of stuff and includes a tumbler and barrels, lots of containers of tools and rings and wire. And it’s also the storage place for the stuff for the crew I head at a summer festival. And a closet full of clothes I haven’t worn for a year or so.

I also have all the baking stuff I’ve been collecting for years. Including a freezer and two small fridges.  Specialty baking pans, tart pans, silicone forms for chocolate goodies, LOTS of muffin tins, bundt pans, — you name it, I had it. Get that? HAD it. It’s mostly gone now.

And remember when we actually took pictures with a camera? And we’d often take five or six shots close together so we could choose one? But then we got the film developed and printed and got those five or six shots anyway? I went through my photo boxes and got rid of all but one of each of those ‘bursts.’

Took me three full days but I finished it and I now really do have room to swing a cat. Which I won’t do, but it is amazing how much room I reclaimed.  I actually have one empty shelf. Holy Moly. I’d love to have a storage room with matching boxes, all neat and labeled, but this is the reality of most storage rooms, we just get it done.

 

I don’t expect the room to get out of hand again. The amount of stuff I got rid of actually gives the room space to breathe, and if I do bring something new in, it won’t get crammed onto an already full shelf. But this clear-out was a bit different. I made very conscious decisions about what was realistic to keep, and I made some life-style decisions based on that.

For example, I am not going to be baking 24 dozen muffins at a crack anymore — well probably not anyway — seeing as how I haven’t done that in the last two years. I don’t need that lovely shopping trolley my friend gave me. I’ve had it for five years and never used it once. 

I even built a light box and have it set up so I can take pictures of the jewelry I’m making without having to drag everything out every time.

I have been wanting to get into that room and get it sorted for, oh, probably six months or so. Every time I went in, I’d think, “You’ve GOT to get this sorted out.” And I’d put it on my mental list. I was convinced that if I could just do a bit every Saturday morning it would eventually get done. I know better than that. But every day I’d say it, knowing full well I’d fail. 

 

I’m OK With Feeling Full of Myself

It takes a lot of energy to reprimand yourself two or three times a day, it’s hard on the self-esteem and  it’s hard on the time management plan (which isn’t a big success area of my life anyway). I’ve decided  it’s a whole lot better to congratulate myself two or three times a day and I’m feeling rather full of myself right now.

But, it will be short-lived.

Tomorrow I start on the sewing room. Send me good thoughts, please. I hope the coffee pals phone and give me an excuse to stop for awhile.