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“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
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- on Daily Rome Shot 1075: “They really did have leather shield covers shaped like faces. You carve a wooden mold, you stretch leather over it,…”
- on NEW BOOK about how the Novus Ordo Lectionary came to be with its cycles and edits of Scripture: “Say a prayer for the good people at the two churches run by the Toronto Oratory, who *thanks to Rome*…”
- on 21 September – St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist: Wherein the Feast begat a blog post: “thank you for this excellent encouragement Fr. Z! i tend to get downhearted remembering how i have failed so many…”
- on From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 26-09-13 – Closing St. Casimir: “This hits too close to home for me. Been through it, initially albeit at a distance…but the difference is, I…”
- on From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 26-09-13 – Closing St. Casimir: “This one hit home, hard.”
- on NEW BOOK about how the Novus Ordo Lectionary came to be with its cycles and edits of Scripture: “It’s startling to think that the mere re-translation of the modern missal took a solid ten years (if we date…”
- on Recent report of the “gift of tears” during Mass that was being live streamed: “I’m with Fr. Z. on this one. I have seen this in the pews in the past. I am sure…”
- on 21 September – St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist: Wherein the Feast begat a blog post: “St. Matthew’s Gospel is divided in half, in a way reminiscent of Roman account books kept by families. The first…”
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Looks great to me!
Oddly enough, the cartoon closely parallels an actual home organization tip my wife and I were discussing with my mother just the other day.
In the context of the design phase of kitchen remodeling, the tip was to take your entire inventory of kitchen utensils, accessories, small appliances, etc… and put them in a large box. Then, in the course of a month, only those things which you had to reclaim from the box because you actually needed them for something should be given special places in your design.
Kind’a has some applications to life, too.
Well I don’t know about homes, but this is basically how my harddrive looks if you were to see a directory of my files…
#1 hire a teenager to do the “grunt” work-they move faster & have more energy!
Oh, boy. I can live with that.
Unfortunately the box just stays there in my house and more mess appears around it. This new mess is put in a new box and no one decides to empty it.
I have a couple places like that…usually it’s to hold mail that I haven’t filed away yet. Heh. And usually it’s in a closet on a shelf, out of sight. Otherwise things are pretty tidy.
When I had my house, a long time ago now, I had some rules which were these. One, if I did not use the useful thing in one year, I gave it away, clothes included. Two, if something was not either useful or beautiful, it went out the door, gifts included. Three, if someone needed something more than I did, they go it. Four, beautiful things were kept at a minimum, as art and beauty look best in an atmosphere of simplicity. Five, if there was an emergency and I could only take two suitcases, what was most important?
It is surprising what one can do without.
Looks good to me!
So often, we don’t own our stuff, it owns us!
I agree. Sometimes it just feels so overwhelming. We are homeschooling through the summer (three of five kids) and I can’t get to “those projects” that I wanted to get to.
Ha! Great!
This is exactly what our apartments look like when we move in. We get the internet all set up and so the computer and sometimes the tv, and then everything else just sort of sits in the middle. When my husband and I moved to our first apartment, we used a shipping container. So we had brought our computers and tv, along with some other essentials in the car, and had that all set up ready to go, then spent 3 days sitting on laundry bags and being on the internet and watching the olympics, before the rest of our stuff arrived.
I am so glad I am not alone. Some of your suggestions have inspired me because I can’t give up on my (so far) futile attempts at organizing. I have to get that bedroom cleared out enough to fit a bed in because someone is coming to stay. I’ve been using the whole room instead of the box in the picture.
I had reached the point where I no longer wanted to hang on to all that stuff but had just “given up” and decided it was easier to walk around or trip over it all (that room also contains my computer and printer). Your comments have given me hope. Also, we are planning a church rummage sale (I may be the only contributor they need!).
Best tip I’ve heard for those mementos you hate to part with–snap a picture to remember it by and toss/donate/recycle the actual item. But that brings to mind the comment about cluttered hard drives…
A cluttered hard drive is yea-big.
A cluttered room is Y*E*A-big.
Genius! I recently went through the kids clothes with them. Each one chose 10 outfits, pajamas, etc. We then packed the rest away for when something wears out or a season changes. It has simplified laundry – and caused them not to change several times a day needlessly. I’ve been mulling doing the same with the rest of our stuff. After a time if the stored stuff isn’t missed we could donate it. Surprisingly the kids were in favor! They have exclaimed how easy it is to find clothing in their drawers now!