Remember this post?

Well, I started a separate blog space just for this project and forgot about posting here.

Oh well! The new plan will be to post the outcome of my month by the end of each month on this space (for accountability 🙂 ).

So, my January theme was “Order”.

In general, having “Order” in my life has been a “thing” for me for the longest time.

Like really…a “thing” type of thing. Like a semi-obsession.

Even when I was younger, before doing my homework at the kitchen table, I had no choice but to CLEAN the entire area around me so that nothing unsightly or cluttered was within my view. Otherwise, I couldn’t concentrate. Kind of weird but totally true.

I’m not sure what kind of quirk it is but one thing is for sure – putting “order” to the things around me by organizing and decluttering reduces my anxiety, something I realized about myself later in life.

Order makes me feel oh-so-calm and lets me mentally disconnect, only think about the task at hand and make the end result look “pretty”. That same type of zen feeling I get when I (used to) putter around the garden, weeding, deadheading flowers and planting veggies.

So starting with “Order” for January was a no-brainer.

During the month, my only issues were with:

1. pacing myself between work and other responsibilities; and
2. not getting stuck on fixing just one physical environment.

To make myself feel like a success and since it was a shiny new year, I started very small with the bathroom by thoroughly cleaning and then finally hanging my beach-motif shower curtain.

With no upcoming travel plans, I emptied my vanity drawers and repurposed my travel shoe organizer for all-things-toiletries. Now everything is in sight AND I gained extra space.

By that point, I was feeling like a winner and decided that “order” should include tossing a few items that no longer served me (or actually function), like my stereo from the early 1990s . It was way past its last leg and only around due to sentimentality. 🙂

For the last 15 years or so, I’m much more in the “don’t leave it for someone else to toss out” mindframe but truth be told, I’ve been into the “Swedish Death Cleaning” thing long before Marie Kondo became popular.

I forgot to take “before” pictures but the most time-consuming “Order” involved changes that I am loving…

I sold the diningroom table (the days of large gatherings are over) and moved one of my work desks into the area. The sometimes claustrophic feeling during a work day is now GONE and the lighting is much better on these old eyes of mine.

The office / guest / treadmill room is mainly an exercise room now so no excuses on not walking and stretching!

And I started a “family filing system”.

By purchasing some filing containers, file folders and hanging file folders, each family member now has an assigned box. EVERYTHING has been going in there – medical, tax, important receipts, bills – you name it, there is a file for it now.

I take care of a lot of things for a lot of loved ones and since my father passed, my brain can no longer do the gymnastics it used to.

So, call me ol’ school but there is nothing like a “physical” filing system that anyone can access if something where to happen to me.

This project alone will make things so much easier when it comes time to prepare tax returns.

So what didn’t I put “order” to in January?

Things like tossing pots and pans and purging my wardrobe will take me WAY beyond January but I may sneak it into the February theme.

All in all, now that the physical space around me feels SUPER LIGHT, February’s theme doesn’t seem as daunting.

What did you accomplish during January?

M xoxo