Organizing stuff...I need to organize EVERYTHING, but I probably won't...
Didn't do much yesterday (Monday, April 6) other than sleep a lot. Heated up leftovers for dinner and had the kid do the dishes up, but that's about it. Oh, wait, I cleaned up a couple grocery bags worth of junk off my living room floor.
Today (Tuesday, April 7) though I managed to get more accomplished - organized my thread, sewing notions, patterns, and quilting fat squares. On top of venturing out for a few groceries due to misjudging how much milk and other staples we'd have gone through over the weekend.
The organization I did was way more work than most people would expect, I'm sure. I've had sewing stuff scattered from one end of the apartment to the other for years. Yes, years. And I was past due to get it all into one place, sort it out, and put it away properly and in such a way that I can easily get at it if I need to use any of it. I would have gotten into my fabric stash to organize that as well, but I ran out of steam and it was starting to get late. However, I hope to attack the fabric stash tomorrow and get everything neatly put into the big plastic bins I purchased last year for that purpose. Oh, I do have fabric in most of them, but it isn't very organized or anything. And one of the bins became a catch-all for junk that I haven't touched in close to a year.
It's a good thing that I can put garbage out tomorrow night because it is definitely needed so I can fully clear my kitchen floor and give it a good scrub. I will even move the appliances out so I can get in behind and under them for the first time since I painted the kitchen.
I've pretty much decided that anything I haven't touched in close to a year is going to just get tossed out. Unless it has great sentimental value it's not worth it to me to keep holding onto it if I'm never going to use it or display it. Well, other than a couple of prints I bought from a friend of mine - they need to be matted and framed when I can afford it. But other stuff? Yeah, getting tossed.
I'm also going to be going through the mass of clothing I have accumulated and cull a lot of the stuff out. If I don't like it, it doesn't fit and I can't take it in, or it's damaged and I can't fix it, then out it all goes. I'll remove buttons and stuff that I can easily reuse, but that's about it. Sometimes you just have to let things go and walk away. And that includes clothes you've been given or bought with the intention of trying to be something you're not. I'm not doing that anymore. If it doesn't fit my style, either casual, work, or dressy, then I'm not going to bring it into my home anymore. I have a feeling that I'll have at least two full garbage bags of old clothes by the time I'm done. I wanted to put together a capsule wardrobe before, so maybe it's time to do that finally. And to re-dye what I end up keeping if it needs it...I found four packs of black fabric dye in my cleaning sprees, and that is something all Goth-y type people can never have enough of!
In the next few days I plan on venturing out to the nearby dollar store to pick up a few things we need - I do buy some grocery items there that are cheaper than anywhere else. They are also where I've been buying the small bins that have been so useful in my organizing, and I know that I will need more when I start cleaning and organizing my bedroom. I may be able to get away with smaller bins for my jewelry and hair things, and I know I've got an empty under-bed bin where I can put my spare sheets and blankets for my bed.
At one point my goal was to turn my closet into my craft storage area, but I think that won't be happening at this point. Once I'm back to work and people can start venturing out of their homes again, the plan is to get back to looking for a place for me, my kid, and my best friend, and our three cats, and my bird. Why go through all the work of converting my closet into craft storage if we aren't going to be staying? I figure once I've got the place ready to be shown to prospective new tenants that I will contact my landlord to see if he's got any three bedroom places available for a decent price, and go from there. He's been really decent so I'd hate to lose him as a landlord, but there is no way that another person and a third cat would fit here, even if I were to cordon off a section of the living room to use as a bedroom. We could do it in a pinch, if necessary, but we'd be out searching for a bigger place in a hurry.
Our requirements aren't difficult, thankfully. Needs to have at least three bedrooms, allows pets, has a washer and dryer, parking for at least one vehicle, and low utility bills. A yard would be nice, and ditto for a balcony/deck. Storage would be freakin' amazing, especially with the amount of craft stuff I've got. On/near a bus stop is a must as well. And if I could remain within walking distance of my job, that would be ideal too because of the hours I could be working - not having to taxi or bus to work has been a nice perk with my job, and we've saved a fair bit of money as a result of me not calling a taxi at least once every day I work.
My best friend hates driving but if I'm working, I can't drive her to work, but she might be able to drive me to work on those days when I start a couple hours before her. So, that might work, but I'd still prefer to be able to walk to and from work as much as possible. But I suppose that depends on what we can find for a place. My fingers are crossed!
Anyhow, it's time for me to crawl into bed and try to get some sleep. During the week I try to keep similar hours to what my kid has to for work. It helps to have some sort of schedule, even if it's only a very loose one while I'm waiting for the pandemic to blow over and we get cleared to go back to work.
Today (Tuesday, April 7) though I managed to get more accomplished - organized my thread, sewing notions, patterns, and quilting fat squares. On top of venturing out for a few groceries due to misjudging how much milk and other staples we'd have gone through over the weekend.
The organization I did was way more work than most people would expect, I'm sure. I've had sewing stuff scattered from one end of the apartment to the other for years. Yes, years. And I was past due to get it all into one place, sort it out, and put it away properly and in such a way that I can easily get at it if I need to use any of it. I would have gotten into my fabric stash to organize that as well, but I ran out of steam and it was starting to get late. However, I hope to attack the fabric stash tomorrow and get everything neatly put into the big plastic bins I purchased last year for that purpose. Oh, I do have fabric in most of them, but it isn't very organized or anything. And one of the bins became a catch-all for junk that I haven't touched in close to a year.
It's a good thing that I can put garbage out tomorrow night because it is definitely needed so I can fully clear my kitchen floor and give it a good scrub. I will even move the appliances out so I can get in behind and under them for the first time since I painted the kitchen.
I've pretty much decided that anything I haven't touched in close to a year is going to just get tossed out. Unless it has great sentimental value it's not worth it to me to keep holding onto it if I'm never going to use it or display it. Well, other than a couple of prints I bought from a friend of mine - they need to be matted and framed when I can afford it. But other stuff? Yeah, getting tossed.
I'm also going to be going through the mass of clothing I have accumulated and cull a lot of the stuff out. If I don't like it, it doesn't fit and I can't take it in, or it's damaged and I can't fix it, then out it all goes. I'll remove buttons and stuff that I can easily reuse, but that's about it. Sometimes you just have to let things go and walk away. And that includes clothes you've been given or bought with the intention of trying to be something you're not. I'm not doing that anymore. If it doesn't fit my style, either casual, work, or dressy, then I'm not going to bring it into my home anymore. I have a feeling that I'll have at least two full garbage bags of old clothes by the time I'm done. I wanted to put together a capsule wardrobe before, so maybe it's time to do that finally. And to re-dye what I end up keeping if it needs it...I found four packs of black fabric dye in my cleaning sprees, and that is something all Goth-y type people can never have enough of!
In the next few days I plan on venturing out to the nearby dollar store to pick up a few things we need - I do buy some grocery items there that are cheaper than anywhere else. They are also where I've been buying the small bins that have been so useful in my organizing, and I know that I will need more when I start cleaning and organizing my bedroom. I may be able to get away with smaller bins for my jewelry and hair things, and I know I've got an empty under-bed bin where I can put my spare sheets and blankets for my bed.
At one point my goal was to turn my closet into my craft storage area, but I think that won't be happening at this point. Once I'm back to work and people can start venturing out of their homes again, the plan is to get back to looking for a place for me, my kid, and my best friend, and our three cats, and my bird. Why go through all the work of converting my closet into craft storage if we aren't going to be staying? I figure once I've got the place ready to be shown to prospective new tenants that I will contact my landlord to see if he's got any three bedroom places available for a decent price, and go from there. He's been really decent so I'd hate to lose him as a landlord, but there is no way that another person and a third cat would fit here, even if I were to cordon off a section of the living room to use as a bedroom. We could do it in a pinch, if necessary, but we'd be out searching for a bigger place in a hurry.
Our requirements aren't difficult, thankfully. Needs to have at least three bedrooms, allows pets, has a washer and dryer, parking for at least one vehicle, and low utility bills. A yard would be nice, and ditto for a balcony/deck. Storage would be freakin' amazing, especially with the amount of craft stuff I've got. On/near a bus stop is a must as well. And if I could remain within walking distance of my job, that would be ideal too because of the hours I could be working - not having to taxi or bus to work has been a nice perk with my job, and we've saved a fair bit of money as a result of me not calling a taxi at least once every day I work.
My best friend hates driving but if I'm working, I can't drive her to work, but she might be able to drive me to work on those days when I start a couple hours before her. So, that might work, but I'd still prefer to be able to walk to and from work as much as possible. But I suppose that depends on what we can find for a place. My fingers are crossed!
Anyhow, it's time for me to crawl into bed and try to get some sleep. During the week I try to keep similar hours to what my kid has to for work. It helps to have some sort of schedule, even if it's only a very loose one while I'm waiting for the pandemic to blow over and we get cleared to go back to work.
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