Wow… this is my objective right now.
About this blog…
“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
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
Recent Comments
- on Ratzinger in 1976 on the “old Missal” and “new Missal”: “The only way forward is to go back. We’re liturgically lost, and we can talk all we want about making…”
- on VINTAGE RECTORY BATHROOM TILES: 05: “A former near-to-city parish of mine had a moderately substantial brick pile of a rectory of some age. Main floor…”
- on Ratzinger in 1976 on the “old Missal” and “new Missal”: “I wonder just what he means by – and therewith what his basis is for – “der in Wirklichkeit ganz…”
- on 22 July: Feast of St. Mary Magdalene – A rocky history. Like the saint herself?: “But in Eastern Catholicism and in Orthodoxy, she is given the title Equal to the Apostles. See today’s kontakia, troparia…”
- on 22 July: Feast of St. Mary Magdalene – A rocky history. Like the saint herself?: “At exactly one month old, I was baptized on this date, 64 years ago, Sunday, July 22nd, 1962, into the…”
- on Daily Rome Shot 1663 – Happy International Chess Day!: “It is sad what has happened to Jesuits as well as other orders and societies since V2. One of the…”
- on Would a marriage impediment apply in this case: ““a girl who used to babysit my brothers and I got married”. This is a case where the case of…”
- on Daily Rome Shot 1664 – quick: “Black to move and mate in 4 1. …. Rh2+ 2. Kg4 {forced} h5+ 3. Kf4 {or Kf3} Be3+ 4.…”
CLICK and say your daily offerings!
A Daily Prayer for Priests
Fr. Z’s Podcasts RSS Feed
Federated Computer… your safe and private alternative to big biz corporations that hate us while taking our money and mining our data. Have an online presence large or small? Catholic DIOCESE? Cottage industry? See what Federated has to offer. Save money and gain peace of mind.
ABORTION PILL RESCUE NETWORK
Everyone, work to get this into your parish bulletins and diocesan papers.
Donate using VENMO
GREAT BEER from Traditional Benedictine Monks in Italy
Good coffee and tea. Help monks.
I use this when I travel both in these USA and abroad. Very useful. Fast enough for Zoom. I connect my DMR (ham radio) through it. If you use my link, they give me more data. A GREAT back up.
Help support Fr. Z’s Gospel of Life work at no cost to you. Do you need a Real Estate Agent? Calling these people is the FIRST thing you should do!
They find you a pro-life agent in your area who commits to giving a portion of the fee to a pro-life group!
This blog has to earn its keep!
PLEASE subscribe via PayPal if it is useful. Zelle and Wise are better, but PayPal is convenient.
A monthly subscription donation means I have steady income I can plan on. I put you my list of benefactors for whom I pray and for whom I often say Holy Mass.
In view of the rapidly changing challenges I now face, I would like to add more $10/month subscribers. Will you please help?
For a one time donation...
To donate monthly I prefer Zelle because it doesn't extract fees. Use
frz AT wdtprs DOT com
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!