Welcome January!

Happy New Year!!

I wrote in my last post that I am weary of New Years resolutions, with their emphasis on finally making ourselves better. The subtext of New Years resolutions almost always seems to be that we are currently not good enough, and that is just baloney. Because the truth is we are already great, y’all! I mean it!

That said, I have always had a bit of a soft spot for January. Rather than seeing it as a time to commit to some doomed-to-fail extreme makeover of my body/house/life, I try to think of it as a time to take stock of where I am at, what I have, and what I want to do in the upcoming months. I do always feel energised in a special kind of way, inspired to finally tackle some of organisational and creative projects I have been putting off for too long.

Over the holidays, we managed to get a few of the crazier corners of our house in better shape, namely The Closet Formerly Known as The Cupboard of Shame. Located at the top of our stairs, it has been a sort of dumping ground since we moved in, a place where size-two diapers floating loose in giant moving boxes and gross old Ikea lampshades go to die. Every time you tried to open the door, you were assaulted by an unreasonable number of gift bags and rolls of wrapping paper. It was also the place where I hid all of the art that I no longer actually liked, but felt bad throwing away.

I wish I had taken a proper before picture, but I did take this one of the upstairs hallway mid-way through our day-long clean-out process:

It was a beast to tackle, but I am so glad we did. Now I can access gift-wrapping supplies without taking my life into my own hands. It also freed up space that allowed me to shift some of our less used toys and games out of the play room, making it feel so much less cluttered and overwhelming. We have placed these toys at kid height, so they are still totally visible and accessible, which we hope encourages them to help themselves and actually put them away independently (here’s hoping!!??). This is also where we have tucked some of the stuff (like the wooden puzzles) that our kids are actually too big for, but still get used by the many toddlers that visit our home on the reg.

I also began a deep purge of my clothing, finally letting go of some of the things I was apparently holding onto in case I ever did become A Serious Business Lady. I finally admitted to myself that, even if my life did dramatically change and I am working in a more formal environment, all of the shoes and clothes from my previous life no longer fit and are starting to look pretty dated.

We also did some organising in the basement, but I am not going to bother showing your that; just imagine a generic basement that doesn’t look tidy, exactly, but also doesn’t look like somewhere a murderer might be lurking. Got it?

I am going to try and pick away at some of the other trouble-spots in our house over the course of the next few weeks and months, before this burst of Konmarie-esque energy inevitably wears off, so stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, I hope you are enjoying January on your own terms. Throw out all of your Tupperware and line your clothes up vertically in their drawer like a little cotton army! Or, crush a sleeve of Pringles while reclining on a couch-mountain of unfolded laundry.

You do you!