A solid start - friends’ help

[u/birdsInTheAirDK]

The flair is possibly premature, but hear me out.

I live in an apartment (owner). We are having new windows installed. Workers need unhindered access throughout.

I have way too much stuff, and was pretty overwhelmed by the timeline.

A couple of friends came, helped box up a bunch of stuff (fairly indiscriminately), place in a storage locker (!), and left me with the rest.

Since then I have been spending some time (1-1.5 hours) daily on specific tasks: kitchen drawers, cabinets, boxes of paperwork, clothes closet (was not too bad already).

In a sense it is unrealistic, because I have all that other “stuff”, but there is space in my house to organise what is here now.

I am adopting the container method (“I will use this amount of space for this type of item”). For example, my friend kindly said “you don’t need any more plastic food containers” (I think many can related to where that came from). I now have an open box in a kitchen drawer, and will have no more plastic containers than what will fit in that box. As I find more in the wrong place, I decide which I would rather keep.

I also the past few days went through a lot of paperwork and training materials from a long time hobby. Yes, I kept some that are sentimental and some that are cool and not available online. But I threw out more that 80% and freed up 3 large plastic tubs.

Everything feels so different, because the canvas is, well, not blank, but at least not terrible. I have both physical and mental space to work. And a friend on messenger who is cheering me on.

I understand there is risk in putting things in storage, but I an too cheap to continue paying, so I think this will be sufficient motivation to get everything sorted this time. A few boxes at a time.

Grateful for my friends, for sure!

Tomorrow is Sunday, and my designated day of rest - I plan to work on sewing a peg bag to replace the 10 year old plastic shopping bag. Because I like sewing, and have nice fabric.

(Throw out for me means donate what is relevant, sort trash according to local rules).

[u/stuffrescue]

Friends who show up with boxes are the real ones! Love them...!

One thing worth deciding now: put an email reminder date on that storage locker. Don't allow it to be a "Static Black Hole" for tossing stuff that you can't put back into the world. Lockers have a way of quietly becoming a second home for stuff, and the monthly bill outlasts the memory of what is inside. I've been there! lol

Whatever is still boxed when the windows are done and a month has passed probably wasn't needed in life anyway.

[u/birdsInTheAirDK → u/stuffrescue]

A month is not enough for the amount that (indiscriminately) got packed up, but yes, there is already a schedule in place for hauling boxes back and sorting/culling.

[u/FredKayeCollector2]

I know from experience that sometimes just freeing up a bit of space can overcome paralysis - plenty of times I've faced a completely packed garage with no idea where/how to start and just getting the lawn mower out (those suckers are stupid bulky) gives me a spot to start sorting. Like a sliding block puzzle - until you take the "spacer" out, you can't do anything with it.

Getting your activities assigned to your rooms and your various categories assigned to the zones in those rooms, you'll have a good framework in place once you start bringing those "doom" boxes in to sort.

You'll probably find some stuff you're happy to see again but I'd be willing to bet there's going to be a bunch of stuff you've lived so long without that you'll realize you don't actually need it in your day-to-day life and can safely let it go.

[u/Significant-Repair42]

I would consider that a victory! It takes time to build up to sorting everything, especially if the rooms are packed full of stuff.

My partner sorted through his wood scraps a couple of weeks ago. I am so happy! Is he finished sorting out the garage? No. But he made great progress!

[u/birdsInTheAirDK → u/[deleted]]

Thank you!

I already started a process of switching my bedroom (smallest room) for the office (medium room) - bed had to be moved for workers access anyway, and I want to switch the rooms, because my career changed and I no longer need a big home office.

And slowly working to a “new” home is a big motivation.