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Toss ten things
27/08/2006 10:19 amIzzie is a pathological procrastinator. Lots of things to be done but always put on the long finger. And as usual, anything without some external deadline - like those infernal tax returns, has bugger all chance of getting done
Sometimes will get started with the best of intentions but before long, the telephone book suddenly starts looking like the most fascinating of reading materials or there'll be unexplained attacks of the snoozies. Before long, all those good intentions will be back at the bottom of the sock drawer (unsorted - of course) and then we get to feel guilty for being so unproductive.
But strange things have been happening lately. One of the clever little tricks we picked up from that Barbara Sher book was "Toss ten things" This has become a bit of a mantra along with "Constant Vigilance"
Basically, instead of going on grand binges of decluttering, now and again you just toss or tidy ten things in your immediate vicinity. Like waiting for the kettle to boil, peeking in the kitchen drawer and tossing those plastic spoons or the rusty tin opener that we no longer use. It does not matter if it's an old magazine lying on a chair or an empty wine bottle - just as long as it's ten things. Something so simple that you can do right now without ever getting a chance to think that it's too difficult or will take waaaay tooo much time.
So the rule is, where-ever the Izzie is in the Lair, before leaving a room we have to find ten things to toss or to tidy. What is so good, it's such a little easy to do thing that you can almost make it into a game
What is so funny, almost inadvertently, with no effort at all, the junk sitting on top of the fridge disapparated (ten things at a time) and now it is nice and empty. Same with the books and things sitting on the armchairs. When Petunia visits again after her European trip, she'll probably wonder if she's stumbled into the wrong place.
And strangely, slowly but surely, the Lair is slowly looking tidier and more inviting, so much to the point that we can actually do something with those two unused rooms upstairs. One is painted pink and the other is blue. For a while had been thinking of dedicating the pink one to Dolores - making it all cutesie and fluffy with cushions and things and find some nice plates with frolicking kittens on them to hang on the walls. Now we got it empty other than the Queen Anne style wardrobe and dresser table. Will need to give the lino floor a good scrub as it is rather dusty.
The blue room has a table and sewing machine from our bear making days as well as piles of books, an old wooden chest, a bookcase full of bears, an ancient wooden cradle (From Uncle Vernon's baby days) and two hifis.
Had the inspiration yesterday of making it into Sybil's Space since most of the books are of the witchy or artistic sort. Purple is probably more her style than blue but we ain't into painting. Will also be bringing the Serpent Shrine upstairs away from the prying eyes of Petunia. This is the one round table that we like to keep cluttered - full of leaves and feathers, pottery mushrooms, assorted creepie crawlies and even the odd dragon's egg. Oh and of course, several decks of Tarot cards.
But the really really big serious problem in our war on clutter is a severe lack of bookshelves. Still got boxes of the buggers because we got nothing to put them in. Found a shopping bag of them the other day that we'd forgotten about - Arthur C Clarke and Asimov stuff. Got at the wonderful "Save the Children Fund" book sales where you can get decent stuff for between 1-5 silver sickles. It's on this weekend and started Friday. The Izzie resisted - thinking - be realistic - you got more books than you can ever possibly read and seven library cards. No matter how cheap they are - if don't need them and never get around to reading them - they are NOT a bargain but a burden.
Now this sort of rational thinking - is just not the sort of thing the Izzie would ever do before. There's no such thing as too many books had always been our belief. So that's progress.
So, maybe will have all the computer, nerdie and sci fi stuff in the same room as the serpent basket which is in the biggest bedroom and also the only one that can be locked.
Maybe the downstairs room with the writer's desk and all the book shelves - our unofficial library would be the most suitable possibility for transformation into a Potions Master's Dungeon.
Sometimes will get started with the best of intentions but before long, the telephone book suddenly starts looking like the most fascinating of reading materials or there'll be unexplained attacks of the snoozies. Before long, all those good intentions will be back at the bottom of the sock drawer (unsorted - of course) and then we get to feel guilty for being so unproductive.
But strange things have been happening lately. One of the clever little tricks we picked up from that Barbara Sher book was "Toss ten things" This has become a bit of a mantra along with "Constant Vigilance"
Basically, instead of going on grand binges of decluttering, now and again you just toss or tidy ten things in your immediate vicinity. Like waiting for the kettle to boil, peeking in the kitchen drawer and tossing those plastic spoons or the rusty tin opener that we no longer use. It does not matter if it's an old magazine lying on a chair or an empty wine bottle - just as long as it's ten things. Something so simple that you can do right now without ever getting a chance to think that it's too difficult or will take waaaay tooo much time.
So the rule is, where-ever the Izzie is in the Lair, before leaving a room we have to find ten things to toss or to tidy. What is so good, it's such a little easy to do thing that you can almost make it into a game
What is so funny, almost inadvertently, with no effort at all, the junk sitting on top of the fridge disapparated (ten things at a time) and now it is nice and empty. Same with the books and things sitting on the armchairs. When Petunia visits again after her European trip, she'll probably wonder if she's stumbled into the wrong place.
And strangely, slowly but surely, the Lair is slowly looking tidier and more inviting, so much to the point that we can actually do something with those two unused rooms upstairs. One is painted pink and the other is blue. For a while had been thinking of dedicating the pink one to Dolores - making it all cutesie and fluffy with cushions and things and find some nice plates with frolicking kittens on them to hang on the walls. Now we got it empty other than the Queen Anne style wardrobe and dresser table. Will need to give the lino floor a good scrub as it is rather dusty.
The blue room has a table and sewing machine from our bear making days as well as piles of books, an old wooden chest, a bookcase full of bears, an ancient wooden cradle (From Uncle Vernon's baby days) and two hifis.
Had the inspiration yesterday of making it into Sybil's Space since most of the books are of the witchy or artistic sort. Purple is probably more her style than blue but we ain't into painting. Will also be bringing the Serpent Shrine upstairs away from the prying eyes of Petunia. This is the one round table that we like to keep cluttered - full of leaves and feathers, pottery mushrooms, assorted creepie crawlies and even the odd dragon's egg. Oh and of course, several decks of Tarot cards.
But the really really big serious problem in our war on clutter is a severe lack of bookshelves. Still got boxes of the buggers because we got nothing to put them in. Found a shopping bag of them the other day that we'd forgotten about - Arthur C Clarke and Asimov stuff. Got at the wonderful "Save the Children Fund" book sales where you can get decent stuff for between 1-5 silver sickles. It's on this weekend and started Friday. The Izzie resisted - thinking - be realistic - you got more books than you can ever possibly read and seven library cards. No matter how cheap they are - if don't need them and never get around to reading them - they are NOT a bargain but a burden.
Now this sort of rational thinking - is just not the sort of thing the Izzie would ever do before. There's no such thing as too many books had always been our belief. So that's progress.
So, maybe will have all the computer, nerdie and sci fi stuff in the same room as the serpent basket which is in the biggest bedroom and also the only one that can be locked.
Maybe the downstairs room with the writer's desk and all the book shelves - our unofficial library would be the most suitable possibility for transformation into a Potions Master's Dungeon.
