Joyful Storage Spaces

This week I read ‘Spark Joy’ by Marie Kondo. It’s actually the companion to her first book, 'The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up', but I’ve seen the Netflix series so obviously I know everything already and anyway I couldn’t find the first one at the library.

As you will know if you’ve been following this blog I have been slowly clearing out my home. However, I’d not really given much thought to actual tidying, I thought things would automatically get tidier just because there is less stuff but I am discovering that this is not necessarily the case.

So for me KonMari mania has come at a good time.

I read ‘Spark Joy’ from cover to cover (all 278 pages of it) and one thing really resonated with me and that is that you should make your storage spaces look as pretty as you can.

To put this into practice Rose and I set out to organise the drawers in her room where she keeps her jewellery. We had a lot of fun.

First we went through everything and Rose chose what ‘sparks joy’ for her. She’s quite good at this process and I have noticed that now she says thank you to all the rejected items she finds it much easier to let go. This is the pile of stuff going to the thrift store.

Then we sorted all the stuff we had left by category and organised it in the drawers with little boxes and some drawer dividers I made from scrapbooking card stock (I might put up a tutorial on that). Notice how we made good use of the inside of a Ferrero Rocher box.

We are really pleased at how it looks like a little boutique and now you can actually see all the pretty things she might even wear some of it. Maybe she'll even keep it tidy.

We also did a thorough sort out of the big set of shelves so now there is room for the little jewellery box of clip on earrings from Grandma, these have been a big hit. Here she is in one of her favourite pairs.

Next on the list is the pantry which currently looks like a bomb hit it, I’m not sure I can make it look this pretty but I’m going to give it a jolly good shot.

Happy tidying
Kirstin

Folding Things Up

This Weekend I discovered Marie Kondo on Netflix.  I watched the whole first season of her Tidying Up show in 24 hours and have subsequently spent quite a bit of time looking through her videos on YouTube.  I have spent even more time folding things up.

I was a bit sceptical about it at first, greeting the home and 'sparking joy' all seems a bit unnecessarily whimsical and airy-fairy but I am now well and truly converted and will continue in my own tidying journey with lessons learned.

I was particularly struck by two of her concepts.  The first is saying thank you to the things you let go, I think this is very useful for helping to let go of items that you are finding difficult to discard.  I mean the sorts of things that you don't really want but feel like you ought to keep, for me that's things I bought or made but didn't wear.  For people like me the act of saying 'thank you' alleviates any feelings of guilt associated with throwing something out.

The second thing I really, really like is folding up clothes.  I love it, I've folded all mine, I've folded Rose's and then I folded a whole bunch of other stuff too.  Look how nice my tea towels look now...

And my quilting fabric stash looks like a shop.

Storing stuff so you actually see all of it is genius.  In hindsight it's obviously the best way to go about things, you no longer have to empty entire drawers out before you realise the item you need is at the bottom of the washing basket, also using the Konmari folding method makes everything take up much less space.

But what I think I really love is the act of actually spending time folding things.  Marie says that you should smooth out each item with love first then carefully fold it according to her method so it will stand up, this is both practical as you can be checking if the item is still in good condition but it also gives you the chance to contemplate the piece and accord it a bit of respect.  I don't know about you but I feel like I own so much that it's not a bad thing to really look at everything individually once in a while.

So at the moment I love it all.  The only thing I'm not loving is finding small boxes to compartmentalise my dresser drawers.  Marie shows up at everyone's homes with bags of lovely boxes in beautiful colours and tactile materials, where does she get them?  If anyone has any hints and tips for that I would be very grateful.

Towels

So now 2019 has begun and the house is free of contractors for a day or 2, I decided to round up and sort out our vast selection of towels.

Here's the stats...

• Bath towels - 20
• Hand towels - 18
• Bath mats - 6
• Beach towels - 6
• Face cloths - 7
• Total Items - 57

I definitely do not think we need this many between 4 of us.  I have whittled it down to this...

• Bath towels - 10
• Hand towels - 10
• Bath mats - 4
• Beach towels - 5
• Face cloths - 4
• Rags and cleaning cloths - 6
• Total Items - 39

That's not a very round number is it?  I now have the problem of how to get rid of the remaining 18 without putting them all in landfill.

I have 5 that are good enough to donate to thrift, they are hardly used because they were too big or too thick or have Ben Ten emblazoned on them.  The other 13 pose a bit of a problem as they are well used or have mysterious bleach stains on them.  My first thought was the Humane Society but they have a prominent note on their website right now to the effect that they don't need any towels so I guess I'm not the only one with that bright idea.

So after a bit of research I've decided to try to re-purpose them.  Here are some ideas I found online...

• Reusable Swiffer pads
• Dish cloths
• Ironing board cover
• Make up scrubbies
• Home made pillow form
• Spa slippers
• Draft excluder

I'll be trying out a few of these over the next few weeks, my One Monthly Goal jobs will have to come first but I'm quite excited about some of these especially as I might get to use up some of my stash and scraps as well.

Does anyone else out there have any great ideas for reusing or disposing of old towels?  If you do I'd love to hear them or see some pictures.

Garage Miscellany

Last week I cleared out the garage.  I put all of my gardening equipment in a big plastic deck seat/box, relegated outdoor toys to tubs outside the backdoor and stowed away the fold-able deckchairs in the cold room.  There was an alarmingly large collection of never used cleaning products (mainly speciality stuff that had been left by the previous owners) that went to the dump and quite a lot of odds and ends of timber which was donated to the next door neighbours, I hope they find it more useful than I did.

All that left was bikes.  Gary has reclaimed Jacob's bike because he never uses it and today we donated mine and Rose's old one to Recycle Cycles, a community project in downtown Kitchener.

I now have a weirdly empty garage.

While I was clearing out I discovered that we had managed to collect a whole load of car window cleaning implements:

• 4 snow brushes (1 broken)
• 3 squeegees (that spelling looks really weird)
• 5 ice scrapers

We only have one car.

Again I ask ask how does all this stuff creep up on you, I know we used to have 2 cars but still that's an implement to clean each window on each car.

In order to put a picture into this post I am now going to share a quilting innovation...

Can you guess what these are for?  All will be revealed on Friday, or whenever I get my quilt sandwich finished.

The Basement Part 2

Over the weekend I've been very busy in the basement as we now have less than 2 weeks until men arrive to frame it.  Arghh.  Will I get everything out in time?  Things are even tighter because I've set myself the 'goal of the month' with Elm Street Quilts of finishing a quilt top and that is due very soon.

Today's offering comes in the form of 3 lists.  First is the donate list, all packed up and delivered to the Salvation Army Thrift Store

• Set of green plastics in-trays
• 2 framed Dali prints
• Cranberry glass bonbon dish
• 2 small picture frames
• 1 pair curtains
• 6 pillow covers, not used since 2005
• dog lead, found in the garage when we moved in and doesn't fit the kids
• Ornamental toy car
• Plastic bag of clothes
• Shelf with coat hooks under it
• Brush and shovel set for hearth
• Assorted Christmas ornaments and lights
• Coffee machine
• Miscellaneous plastic toys from McDonalds

This list went out to the curb on garbage day.

• Broken iron
• Broken kettle
• Broken mason jar, broken since 2015
• Suit case with broken handle
• Half a pound of party balloons

And this lot has been packed into a big plastic box for a yard sale in the spring.

• 4 Christmas side plates
• 3 glass vases
• Set of 6 wine glasses
• 5 glass ramekins (kept 14 which is still pretty excessive)
• 4 matching mugs
• 2 cup and saucer sets
• 2 antique cups
• Assorted coasters with cats on
• 'Fashionable Coasters' 20 of them in a now very rusty tin

I also found these items and couldn't bring myself to bin them.

You just never know when a moustache might come in handy, especially an edible one.

Notions

This week I've been a bit under the weather so I decided to tackle an easy one and went through my collection of notions.  They live in a set of plastic drawers with labels on the front, for easy organisation and access (theoretically), and contain mostly useful items such as zippers, elastics, snap fasteners, pinking shears and grommets (the round fixings not the dog).

It would seem that my worst hoarding problem in this section is tiny pieces of pretty ribbon.  I had (notice the past tense there) loads and loads collected from all sorts of places but most notably:

1. Little tiny pieces from the cinched in bits of Christmas crackers
2. Long skinny bits that are sewn into the underarms of tops to stop them falling off coat hangers

They have not proved to be useful so they have now gone.

This is a list of items that I have kept and I think I will give myself a time frame (lets call it 6 months from now, 16 May 2019) in which to use them up or bin them.

1. Assorted bias tape
2. Spare snap fastenings from old clothes
3. Rick rack trimming
4. Pom pom trimming

I might use the bias tape to make some festive scrappy bunting but need ideas for the rest of the stuff please.

These are the best 2 Items I found.  The first I inherited, it made me laugh back then and I marvelled at why anyone would keep a collection of these.  Guess what? 6 years later I've still got them.

In case anyone's wondering they are free sewing kits from hotels, and you know what? I still can't bring myself to get rid of them.

Next are these name tags, they must be 40 years old, I've not had to sew a label into anything since I left high school and my name hasn't been Kirstin Miller for the past 14 years so I'm sorry labels, you're out!

Memory Boxes

Last week when my contractor suggested December 3rd as a start date for our reno's I panicked and spent a while flinging things at random into boxes in the basement.  After some deep breathing and a coffee it occurred to me that wasn't the best approach so I went through the kids memory boxes instead.  That took a while because some of the stuff was pretty cute, I particularly like the things they write about us on Mother's and Father's Days.  According to Rose I am a chef and a chauffeur, and my favourite thing to do is watch Downton Abbey.  Oh dear, so much for 2 degrees.

I threw quite a bit of stuff out because I couldn't remember why I'd kept it, but I also kept some pretty ridiculous things.  For instance I have all of their school reports from age 4 onward.  Maybe the time will come where you have to present a full education portfolio to get into University and my children will get into Oxbridge, Harvard or similar as a direct result of my hoarding.  Ha!  I'm sure I'm not alone in this kind of hoarding but it would be good to know that for sure.

I have kept a few of the kids tiny clothes, like Rose's teeny, sparkly dance shorts that she would still be wearing now if I'd let her, but I think these might be my favourites, Jacob's first pair of shoes.  How did he get so grown up?

Books

This week I have had some news which has put rather a rocket under the clearing out project.  We are having some home improvements done, did I mention this in any posts yet? I can't remember.  Anyway, it's been a bit of a trial but I finally found someone who can do the work and he can start rather sooner than I anticipated.  I need to completely clear the garage and basement by December 3rd.  Gulp.

On Wednesday I cleared out and bagged up 169 books.  I have found this a bit hard because I do like books, but if I'm being really objective there are a lot of them in the house that will never, ever be read again.  For instance, textbooks from my first degree, I graduated in 1995 and haven't opened them since so I think it's probably safe to let them go.

I've also had the kids go through some of theirs.  Jacob has been very good and decided to donate almost everything he owns, all he seems to have left is 'The Game Maker's Apprentice', which is so old and dog-eared he can barely read it and 'Calculus for Dummies'.  How did I create such a nerd?

Tom has also done his bit and thinks he can live without such riveting reads as 'Exploring Corporate Strategy' and 'Affiliate Program Management - an hour a day'.  I fear he went though hell to get his MBA.

Rose is going through a big reading phase at the moment and finds parting with her possessions difficult so we put the stuff she doesn't read in a box and I'll take it away when she's forgotten about it.

We still have quite a few books but I feel that a house isn't a home without at least a few.  I went through the house and estimate around 250 remain.  Some more can go if I can figure out e-readers and how to own or borrow e-books.  If anybody reads this and has any observations on that I would be very interested to hear from you.

One Finished Top and a UFO Inventory

If you read any other posts on this blog you will notice that there isn't a whole lot of sewing going on.  This is because Mrs Parker's Blog is a motivational exercise for me as I try to clear out my house.  So far it's working quite well.  I post twice a week; on Tuesdays and Fridays and for each post I must have cleared out and organised something (be it big or small) in my house.

Today's organisational challenge is my big box of UFOs.  I have decided to get them all out, post them here and set myself a time limit for finishing them, so here goes.

Here is a top I finished around 5 years ago and this is my Finish it up Friday.  It's made from a batik jelly roll I bought because I loved the earthiness of the colour pallet and is supposed to be a sort of abstract representation of satellite images of Southern Ontario that you can see on Google Maps, the black lines are roads, small green blocks are wood lots and the strips are fields.

The reason I never got further than this (apart from laziness and lack of staying power) is that I couldn't decide whether to put a border round it or not.  I had the idea to use a mitred border to almost make it look like a framed map on a wall, I even made the fabric pieces for the frame.  If I do that it will look something like this...

So what do you think?  I am still really not sure what would look best and would be very grateful for any feedback.

My next UFO is actually leftovers from another quilt, you can see the original one in this post from The Parkers Abroad.  It is based on Elizabeth Hartman's Xylophone quilt pattern in her book A Modern Patchwork.  I totally over estimated the fabric I would need for my xylophones and ended up with all these strips to use up.  I'm pretty happy with them and I love the happy yellows but I've not found a background I like yet.

Third is this scrap quilt I started for my nephews, I'd better get on with it or they will receive it when they're teenagers and not be impressed.  The train blocks were designed all over the floor by Jacob and Rose one day when I left my scrap box out.  This quilt is my One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts, my goal is to finish the top by the end of November.

And finally, this is my most recently started quilt, I blogged about it here.  It is also inspired by an Elizabeth Hartman design, Bird Bath, from A Practical Guide to Patchwork.

So now I just have to get on with finishing them all up.  I am going to see if I can motivate myself to finish some aspect ready for Finish it up Friday each month.  My aim for November is to have the scrap quilt top done.  If my 'proper' sewing machine is back from its spa break I would like to have the whole thing completed so I can post it off to England in time for Christmas but that might be a little ambitious.

So now I'm all done I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts , Can I get a Whoop Whoop and One Monthly Goal then I'd better get sewing!

More Shoes?

Rose was quite taken by my shoe sorting and arranging the other week and wanted to join in.  So here are 11 of her 12 pairs of shoes (her indoor school shoes are at school so not included in this picture).

She's cheating a bit because she pinched 3 pairs of old sneakers out of the donate pile in the garage so she can look like she's all carefree and bohemian with no need for possessions.  Nothing is further from the truth believe me.

She is getting rid of 3 pairs of sneakers (that are too small, I'm sure that doesn't count) and 2 pairs of sandals.  Here's her newly amended shoe selection.

This slimline selection will not last long as I owe her a pair of birthday boots and we'll be off to the store for snow boots soon.  Winter lasted so long last year that the soles of her old ones wore right through.  In April I resorted to filling the holes up with silicon bathroom sealant to try to keep us going for a bit longer.  This technique didn't work for me, if anyone out there has any tips for prolonging the life of a pair of well loved shoes please tell.

Shoes

So I actually decided to begin not by emptying the closets as planned, but by sorting out my shoes. I was quite surprised to discover that I'm the proud owner of 14 pairs of boots, shoes and sandals not including numerous pairs of slippers. That's even more than Rose who has only 12.

Here they are in all their glory.

Rose modelling her favourite pair of my boots

I did some brief googling and discovered that the average woman owns around 20 pairs of shoes so my 14 are by no means excessive. My problem is that I am completely aware that I only wear half of them on a regular basis and some not at all and if you'e going to own 14 of something they may as well all be fabulous or functional. Also (and more importantly) it's Fall which is my favourite footwear season and I want to buy some more.

I will be keeping the back 2 rows, they are my everyday, wear them until they fall apart shoes.

The rest are questionable.

• Only one pair is a definite keeper, the nude, suede wedges. Love these and do wear them about 3 times a year, honest.
• Also only one pair is a dead cert for the trash, the odd blue coloured heels that I last wore on a trip to Manchester in 2011.

Some of the others are more difficult to part with.

• My wedding shoes.
• The sandals that I bought at great expense for my first date with my husband.

I don't remember if I ever wore either pair again and I certainly haven't worn them since we moved to Canada in 2012. Francine Jay (author of The Joy of Less, see resources) says that "once something has memories, it's a bugger to get rid of" How right she is. But I guess I still have the husband (who probably has no idea what shoes he was wearing on our first date) so do I need to keep the shoes? I think that's 2 more pairs to donate.

• The not very attractive brown heels. I was going to keep those 'just in case' and because they are comfortable but writing that down is embarrassing and makes me sound very old so they are also going.

I am left with 2 maybes which are tricky.

• The cowboy/biker boots were much worn and loved over a period of 10 years from 1992. I'm pretty sure I'll never wear them again but they are now moulded to the shape of my feet and I'm having problems with the 'memories' thing, they remind me of when life was simple and unencumbered.
• The barefoot trainers were my everyday walking the kids to the beach shoes when we lived in Grand Bend. If I'm completely honest they pinch my toes a but they represent a lifestyle that I cling to the hope of one day returning to.

I can't decide about these so I might start an undecided box in the basement, is that cheating?

So bearing all that in mind here are my remaining shoes.

That's 4 pairs out the door. Can I indulge in a new pair now? How many shoes are too many do you think? Here in Southern Ontario quite a number of pairs is necessary because of the extremes that the climate throws at us. Looking at my collection now, I've got to say that it's a bit dull. I'd probably better go out and get something sparkly just to jolly things up a bit. A girl has to have some fun right?

Where to start?

* * This page, in fact this entire blog, is under construction. Forgive the spelling mistakes and grammatical errors* *

As we are reaching the seasonal changeover for outerwear I've decided to start my organising journey in the coat/shoe closets and yes, there is an 's' on the end of that closet. We have three of them and yet we still have 6 feet (tee hee) of boot mats by the front door. There's got to be some decluttering mileage in that.

My plan, which will be the method for all my organising efforts over the next few months is as follows...

• Empty each closet
• Give it a jolly good clean out
• Put stuff back in, hopefully less than I took out
• Get rid of anything that I don't put back in

Easy!

Over at A Bowl Full of Lemons, which is an excellent blog with lots of very good tips for a clean and tidy home, this is week 4 of the very excellent 2018 14 week home organisation challenge. As the name implies I think that this is supposed to be achieved in 1 week.

Mmm.

I shall leave you with a before picture of each closet and be back on Friday with an update.

This is the hall closet by the front door. It doesn't look too bad right now does it but I am really not sure whats in those red and brown baskets.

This is the other hall closet. It doesn't look like there's much in there right now does it.

And this is the coat closet in the spare room/office. Needless to say this closet does not get opened much and I could find almost anything hiding in the back.

Forgive the terrible photos, it was a miserable day today but if I keep procrastinating and waiting for everything to be perfect I'll never start this thing.