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cleaning and repurposing
Jul. 31st, 2013 01:37 amThis one's probably too dull to read, so feel free to move along!
So this weekend, to distract myself from waiting, I did some deep cleaning — a lot of the stuff I've been procrastinating. My closet was a mess, and so I'd been putting closet stuff (bags, mostly) on the comfy chair next to the closet. Which means I've been sitting at my desk and not sitting in the comfy chair. It all needed to come out before I could sort it out, so the other night I just started by pulling everything out of the closet and piling it on the bed. Once I do that, I know I'll keep going, because otherwise I can't go to bed.
I decided I was keeping a few things that I didn't need to keep, so I kept those out. Also I took some clothes out that are (temporarily) too small, and put them away. Always good to let the closet breathe a little. Took the giant IKEA bag filled with mother's shoes into her closet in her room. I hate bringing stuff into her room (since so much really should come out), but really, why should I live with them? And hooray, suddenly the chair and the closet were mine again.
I had also been thinking about a few other problem areas, and I was determined to implement the solutions I'd devised. One is the linen "closet" — a series of shelves we have that hold all the sheets, towels, facecloths, pillowcases. The main problem is that mother has difficulty getting across the room to get to the towels, which we kept on the left of the unit. I keep my scale and my laundry basket usually right there, so she'd have to go around them. There's also the comfy chair and ottoman, making it slightly more obstacle course-y and she's not very spry. The rightmost column, which is closest to the door, had linens for the spare bed, the middle columns had linens for her bed, and the far left was all the towels and facecloths. I often leave a clean stack of towels and facecloths in the bathroom, but the cat is very good at knocking things down so that had to stop. How to solve the problem?
So suddenly I had a DUH moment and realized if I just rearranged the stuff in the linen cabinet I could make her life a tiny bit easier. Move the sheets over to the far left, voila, room for the towels in the area closest to the door. Clean mother, no falling. Why didn't it occur to me to change it sooner?
Another "think different" moment: a coworker bought herself a three-drawer filing cabinet recently. Not one with one file-sized drawer and two smaller drawers, but two full-sized filing drawers and one small drawer on top. She said it changed her life: she was so excited because 1. it locks, and she lives with busybody relatives, and 2. she has somewhere she can just dump receipts and mail until she's ready with it, and it's not all in the way. I suffer from a lack of surface space in my room, so I was instantly jealous and spent a couple of hours over the next few nights researching the filing cabinet options out there. I couldn't find one that I like, however, as to a unit they are all too shallow for my needs. I already have a stuffed full 2 drawer cabinet that is 28" deep. Most of these were 15" or 18". Nope, can't do it. Plus mine is nice, and these all seemed too cheap. I couldn't find an equivalent one, so I gather there is no market for this item. Most people either want four drawer tall filing cabinets, or ones that will fit under a desk. Anything in between is no go.
All of that is the long way 'round, I'm afraid. So I was sad that I couldn't change my life, too. I was convinced that the only solution to my desk drifts was the three drawer filing cabinet. But again, a couple days ago, I had another aha! moment.
*Hey, self, you ALREADY HAVE A DESK!*
Um, yeah?
*THE DESK HAS SIX DRAWERS!*
Right, but each drawer has a task.
*BUT YOU COULD COMBINE TASKS, and make one into a receipt/mail/deal with later drawer.*
But...
But...
Wait, I really could, couldn't I!
*DUH!*
So I did that, too. And now I don't have to move things off the desk on work from home day! Genius. Except not, since it took me months to think of it. Christ. At least I didn't think of it AFTER I tried to buy something to solve a problem, rather than just repurposing something that was already fine.
Back to waiting.
So this weekend, to distract myself from waiting, I did some deep cleaning — a lot of the stuff I've been procrastinating. My closet was a mess, and so I'd been putting closet stuff (bags, mostly) on the comfy chair next to the closet. Which means I've been sitting at my desk and not sitting in the comfy chair. It all needed to come out before I could sort it out, so the other night I just started by pulling everything out of the closet and piling it on the bed. Once I do that, I know I'll keep going, because otherwise I can't go to bed.
I decided I was keeping a few things that I didn't need to keep, so I kept those out. Also I took some clothes out that are (temporarily) too small, and put them away. Always good to let the closet breathe a little. Took the giant IKEA bag filled with mother's shoes into her closet in her room. I hate bringing stuff into her room (since so much really should come out), but really, why should I live with them? And hooray, suddenly the chair and the closet were mine again.
I had also been thinking about a few other problem areas, and I was determined to implement the solutions I'd devised. One is the linen "closet" — a series of shelves we have that hold all the sheets, towels, facecloths, pillowcases. The main problem is that mother has difficulty getting across the room to get to the towels, which we kept on the left of the unit. I keep my scale and my laundry basket usually right there, so she'd have to go around them. There's also the comfy chair and ottoman, making it slightly more obstacle course-y and she's not very spry. The rightmost column, which is closest to the door, had linens for the spare bed, the middle columns had linens for her bed, and the far left was all the towels and facecloths. I often leave a clean stack of towels and facecloths in the bathroom, but the cat is very good at knocking things down so that had to stop. How to solve the problem?
So suddenly I had a DUH moment and realized if I just rearranged the stuff in the linen cabinet I could make her life a tiny bit easier. Move the sheets over to the far left, voila, room for the towels in the area closest to the door. Clean mother, no falling. Why didn't it occur to me to change it sooner?
Another "think different" moment: a coworker bought herself a three-drawer filing cabinet recently. Not one with one file-sized drawer and two smaller drawers, but two full-sized filing drawers and one small drawer on top. She said it changed her life: she was so excited because 1. it locks, and she lives with busybody relatives, and 2. she has somewhere she can just dump receipts and mail until she's ready with it, and it's not all in the way. I suffer from a lack of surface space in my room, so I was instantly jealous and spent a couple of hours over the next few nights researching the filing cabinet options out there. I couldn't find one that I like, however, as to a unit they are all too shallow for my needs. I already have a stuffed full 2 drawer cabinet that is 28" deep. Most of these were 15" or 18". Nope, can't do it. Plus mine is nice, and these all seemed too cheap. I couldn't find an equivalent one, so I gather there is no market for this item. Most people either want four drawer tall filing cabinets, or ones that will fit under a desk. Anything in between is no go.
All of that is the long way 'round, I'm afraid. So I was sad that I couldn't change my life, too. I was convinced that the only solution to my desk drifts was the three drawer filing cabinet. But again, a couple days ago, I had another aha! moment.
*Hey, self, you ALREADY HAVE A DESK!*
Um, yeah?
*THE DESK HAS SIX DRAWERS!*
Right, but each drawer has a task.
*BUT YOU COULD COMBINE TASKS, and make one into a receipt/mail/deal with later drawer.*
But...
But...
Wait, I really could, couldn't I!
*DUH!*
So I did that, too. And now I don't have to move things off the desk on work from home day! Genius. Except not, since it took me months to think of it. Christ. At least I didn't think of it AFTER I tried to buy something to solve a problem, rather than just repurposing something that was already fine.
Back to waiting.
