Discussion: What are you working on?
Posted: October 22nd, 2010 | Author: Dariane | Filed under: Discussion | 24 Comments »
Art by Banksy, Photo by DanBrady, via CC 2.0
Many of you have said that you are working on your own project. Be it cleaning out your office or your garage or even just doing a quick clean up, many of you have been inspired to work on your own project or perform small tasks regularly.
The question I have for you this week is:
What is your ‘Stuff Project’?
What’s a big (or small) endeavor that you’re currently working on? If you’re not working towards something now, what is a project that you can work on in the near future? If you have a blog or website, now is your time to share it! I want to learn about what you all are up to!
My ‘stuff project’ is going to be cleaning my bedroom and bathroom. I’ve been working a lot and generally letting it go to the dogs for the last couple months. I think I’m going to use some techniques I’ve seen you use, like starting with a small area, and having keep / toss / donate buckets.
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Dariane Reply:
October 23rd, 2010 at 1:05 am
Yay I’m glad that I’ve offered you some useful techniques!
I gotta say though, when I saw that you left a comment I was expecting you to say something about your music. :]
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James Reply:
October 24th, 2010 at 9:59 am
Haha! You’re right Dariane, music is my BIG “Stuff Project” right now. I’m actually getting my songs mixed and mastered this week. It’s Getting close to finished! I’ve learned so much through this process. Reading your blog has been an encouragement for me for my music.
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My big project is my craft room. I have so many papers and projects floating around that I don’t even like going up there. I have a rolling cart of drawers that I am determined to fit all the papers in there. Just that one cart, and organize the boxes of Christmas/Halloween decorations. I want it to be a place to come for fun, not something that distresses me.
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Dariane Reply:
October 23rd, 2010 at 1:10 am
Dang, Jess!
I can just imagine how daunting it would be to organize a cluttered craft room! Handle it! :]
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I just finished my laundry room (off my kitchen at our back entrance). Now I am working my way around the kitchen. I have finished my microwave cabinet inside and out, and the open part of my china cabinet. Next up is the area around my refrigerator and the bottom inside of my china cabinet.
I have been taking before and after pictures on some of it and it really does help motivate me!
Ruth
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Dariane Reply:
October 23rd, 2010 at 1:12 am
This is so great, Ruth! I’m glad the pictures are helping!
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In a few months, I’m moving in with my fiancee. Its the first time I’ll be living with a partner, as opposed to room mates/family, though its not the first time for him. I’m working on paring down my stuff and packing away what I don’t immediately need (since we’ll be spending a few months in his teeny current place that has *just* enough room for the two of us and some of our stuff. He’s still got some things in storage.) and going through his stuff to get rid of what we don’t need.
I’m finding the hardest part if organization, after we par down stuff. I’m fairly organized and I am diagnosed OCD, so I can get a little insane about my stuff. My partner is much more lax – the first time I cleaned out a drawer in his apartment, I found a dozen unused toner cartriges that he thought he didn’t have. He’d just dropped a bundle on new ones. When I organize for him, he’s appreciative, but can’t maintain it. Yet, either way, he doesn’t know where things are (either his way, or my way). Lol, even when not in residence, I know where his stuff is and what he has.
However, we’ve always known that when we get a bigger place, it will be at least a two bedroom, so I can have ‘my’ room (the main bedroom, but organized to please me) and ‘his’ room (the guest room, but where he can have his office and stuff. Plus, we can display our models and his board games in there) so I’m not too worried. The main issue is his office stuff – he always knows where his clothes and books and models are. Its the important papers and passports and what not that are the issue, so my office/file cabinet (depending on what size place we get – I’m a massage therapist and would like to work out of my home, but will have a locked cabinet for client files either way) will also have a drawer for our important stuff, so we know where it is.
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Dariane Reply:
October 23rd, 2010 at 1:27 am
First of all, congratulations on your engagement Wendy! :]
Secondly, wow, moving in with a partner at any stage in a relationship is a huge decision and undertaking. And moving to a completely new place after that is even bigger.
I’ve found that moving-time is the best time for many people to purge and organize stuff. I think that what you both envision for your future place will guide your organizing now–you seem to be well on your way. :]
I’m not sure if it’s because I grew up in a hoarder house, but I’m exactly the same when it comes to remembering where everything is. Between me and my boyfriend, I’m the one who knows where his stuff is at any given moment.
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Wendy Blackheart Reply:
October 24th, 2010 at 7:14 pm
Why thank you! Its an interesting time. I’m still in school, yet everyone, including facebook seems to think I should be planning it. Weirdos.
I’m anticipating that our second move, to the new place, hopefully a different friend’s place that they may be moving out (a 3 bedroom for 900! I could have a massage room!) will be the time to do the organizational overhaul. We’ll also be able to have saved up some money to get some better furniture and organizing things. I’m going to put out a call for all my friends and family’s cigar boxes so we can store his unpainted Warhammer models there.
That would get one thing done. I saw that on Craft Magazine’s blog.
Plus, having a bit more space makes thing easier – at the moment, we’re having trouble finding space and places for stuff, hence, the getting rid of non-important things. But still, two people need a fair bit of room.
I tend to have a good memory for things, especially when I place them. Once, he called me up saying he was going to buy a new fitted sheet for the airmattress when we were having guests. “But you have two fitted sheets! The orange ones are in the closet!” He thinks I’m magic, lol.
Due to my OCD and Anxiety, I tend to fear I could go the direction of hoarding myself – its the other end of the spectrum for my issues. So, I tend to be very wary about my space and what I have and need. I’ve come to the conclusion that if I haven’t seen it, thought about it, used it, or wondered where it was in 6 months or so, I don’t need it. With the exception of clothing, which is seasonal, and books, which are my weakness.
I even purge my craft supplies one a year.
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I am trying to do something with all the photos and other paper memorabilia. They are neatly stored but completely organised.
Right now I’m slowly scanning the kids artwork. I keep a few key pieces and get a photo book made of the images. I had done it for my daughter’s kinder year (2007) so am a little bit behind LOL But nearly finished the catch up, and not much left to go.
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Dariane Reply:
October 23rd, 2010 at 1:32 am
That’s a great project Leah! I would like to do something like that with the old schoolwork and photos I’ve come across so far, but I probably won’t get started until after the major clean-up is finished. I might just have to ask you for some advice on that sometime soon!
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I’m applying for graduate schools and fellowships. Taking it one small piece at a time has made it at least bearable, if not easy. Easy would be a dream.
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Dariane Reply:
October 23rd, 2010 at 1:57 am
That sounds tedious and exciting at the same time. Best of luck to you Savannah!
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Right now I’m working on getting enough gumption to clean off the card table. It’s been in the corner of the living room covered with stuff for months up on months. If I can get it cleared off, I’ll rearrange the living room furniture to give it a different look. I tend to get tired of the way it looks after a year or so and rearrange the furniture. When I do I tend to keep it picked up a little better, and with my upcoming surgery, I’d love to have the added inspiration.
I’m not sure exactly what we’ll be working on this weekend when the Hubster will be home. We really need to get the trim finished in the basement, so we can start finishing things up and getting the pod unloaded and sorted. I’m dying to go through all my craft stuff and fabric I have stored in the pod, get it sorted, so I know what I’ll be keeping and get craft area set up. But I’m also dying to get 101 other things done. I’m feeling under the gun to get as much accomplished before I have surgery, because I know I’ll be slowed down so much by the recovery, and I want to take advantage of every good day I have up until then. :O)
I’m also hoping to get before and after pictures up on my blog. The before pictures are embarrassing, but I need to do the after pictures to remind myself that I’m making progress.
What is your current project?
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Dariane Reply:
October 23rd, 2010 at 1:02 am
I said it before and I’ll say it again: I love the pictures.
But wow, I didn’t think anyone would turn the question back on me!
The big picture is the obvious one: my freakin’ house. Breaking it down though, I’m hoping to finish the guest room this week, donate (and clear out) all the stuff in the storage unit to make room for donation items from the rest of the house, then tackle the kitchen or living room.
I’m ALSO working on some other personal goals including getting out of debt, losing 5-10 pounds and getting fit, eating healthier, and reading more.
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Judy Reply:
October 27th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Ha. You didn’t think anyone would ask what you’re up to? :O)
You sound like you’ve got some wonderful goals, and I celebrate each of your accomplishments with you. You’re doing great!!
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We’re remodeling our kitchen, ourselves, in stages that leave it usable – and the house is old, so we are also rewiring, replumbing, etc. as we go. Right now my partner’s downstairs reinstalling the kitchen sink because he took out the old countertops today.
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Dariane Reply:
October 23rd, 2010 at 2:01 am
I read your comment Rosa and totally imagined you typing on a laptop sitting on a lounge chair under an umbrella with a cold lemonade next to you as your partner toils away nearby, all dusty and dirtied up from the remodeling.
Haha, I’m sure that’s not what it was really like though. :]
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Rosa Reply:
October 23rd, 2010 at 12:39 pm
it’s close! Me & the kid went to the gym and then picked up takeout food, then daddy took a break from the kitchen to eat with us, then I put kiddo to bed & dinked around on the internet for a while.
Though our home office (we both work from home, sharing a 6×6′ room) is a little embarrassing. The shade umbrella sounds better
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Okay, well, I’m cleaning up after my mechanic hoarder father. So I (and my sister) are cleaning out a garage, a shop, a shed, a downstairs garage, a garage attic, a downstairs breezeway, a cellar, and the entire yard which still has a good twenty-two junk cars in it, plus engine parts, piles of anty wood, &c. &c. &c.
Beyond that, for myself (whoa, watch out there) I want to get my studio room completed and moved in to. Also I want to paint the stairs and little hallway going to the attic rooms (my bedroom and studio room) to something pretty that will match both of those. Oh and paint the giant chimney which is in the hallway (it’s an old colonial), just white.
And my blog is the illustrious Tetanus Burger, where we’re documenting all the hoard clean-up. But you knew that.
http://tetanusburger.blogspot.com/
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Dariane Reply:
October 23rd, 2010 at 2:16 am
Oh Thalia, if you must know and if it isn’t already obvious enough, I am a HUGE fan of Tetanus Burger.
If it wasn’t for you and the other hoarding blogs, I don’t think I would have had the courage to start The Stuff Project. When you and Judy (of Confessions of a Closet Hoarder) first commented here, I totally squee’d. You guys inspire me.
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I’m working on the book project. Every day, I take ten books that are lying around the house and either (1) put them on my bookshelf to keep, (2) put them on my shelf of books I haven’t read yet, or (3) put them in a bag to go to the used bookstore.
I’m on day four of the project, and it’s nice to feel like I’m able to accomplish a little something each day.
There is much to do after the book project, but that’s where I’m focusing for now. I have a lot of books, so it will take me another few weeks (probably more) at least.
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Still working on the library room. I was out of two for two weeks, but as of Monday, I’m back at it. I say Monday because I’m still sorting out stuff that piled up while I was out of town, that hopefully will be sorted by Monday!
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