Saturday, October 4, 2008

The Good [Home] Stuff: Kind of extreme makeover

Here's the before:

[I think the blurry nature of this photo really adds to the abysmal state of my poor pantry.]

And here is the after:


ha ha, just kidding. Here is the real after:
Well, this may not be the most dramatic makeover, but I talked myself into cleaning out all of my closets this past week as a goal to report here on the ol' blog.  This blog is about betterment, and I feel much better.  I learned a few things as I purged and tidied up:  
  1. No matter how much I love the idea of lotion, I just don't really love it. I don't think I really smell good when I smell like peach-flavored lotion.  It kind of makes me feel sick.  I had maybe 50 various tubes and bottles hanging out in a bag on the shelf, calling for me to set them free.  Goodbye, goodbye, my lotion!  
  2. Maybe I don't really need Costco in the end.  For most stuff.  Don't get me wrong, I'm all about food storage, but how much mustard, for reals, can we eat?  I'm trying to really pinpoint what is worth buying at Costco, instead of bringing home the whole store and feeling guilty that I couldn't quite get to all of that Romaine lettuce before it started rotting in the back of my fridge. [right now, the list is milk, gas, butter, pineapples, and those irreplaceable rotisserie chickens.  I could never live without them]  By the way, has anyone seen The King of California?  I thought it was sweet and it had some awesome scenes in Costco.
  3. If the cage ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.  We apartment dwellers do not have much storage, but we are allotted a cage, which is a space in the freaky unfinished basement, partitioned off with chicken fence and a door with a lock on it.  It's not the most relaxing place to be, because I constantly imagine a mix of spiders crawling all over me and mysterious toxic drops falling from the pipes as I clean out and organize.  But, lesson be learned, it is our largest storage space, and needs order, so the rest of our more pleasant living space is less overwhelmed with stuff.
  4. Good containers are everywhere.  I like these baskets and they were FREE!  My favorite price!  I picked up some of these baskets at the produce market before they made their way to the dumpster.  

  5. The best lesson learned, yet again, was the good stuff is not really stuff. Duh! Yes, I know. But sometimes clearing out the clutter sure gets sentimental, and it is hard to say goodbye. After a few days of sitting with my organized closets, I don't remember a thing thrown away and feel excited to welcome the real good stuff that I've made room for. Let the good times roll!


When I was cleaning out the bathroom cabinets, I found this, and laughed my head off. Oh man, I love being a mom.

3 comments:

Eva said...

a tip i learned this year: if I am having trouble tossing something (those cute worn-out-holy-soley parisian red shoes with flowers!) I write about it in my journal. Then it is immortalized and I will read and savor those shoes in my imagination. (And then I let Goodwill throw them out.)

Jill said...

Some great posts! I also, loved that conference talk! I made Paul read it the second it came online. Now he can appreciate my craftiness for the divine nature that it is. :) And I'm with you on the smelly lotion thing. Never been into it. It is never very moisterizing anyway. I stick with the vaseline brand, no smell. Works great. And yes, editing costco purchases is difficult, but necessary. We also really like their organic eggs, yogurt and salmon. We buy the salmon fresh, eat a meal and then freeze the rest. And you can't beat the $8 carter's jammies. I don't think I could make them for that cheap. Thank you China.

Marlo said...

That snake scared me. Even just in the picture. I guess it is a good thing I am having another girl...although Noelle does love snakes.