Friday, May 26, 2023
It’s summertime (maybe not technically, but in Texas: it's heeeeere! And cooler climates--it soon will be) and to keep the living easy, here are a few simple, 15-ish minute projects to get you organized and ready to live your best life by the pool or in the hammock with essentials nearby.
Project 1: End-of-School Paper and Garbage
Dump
It happens every last day of school and yet it’s a stunning surprise every time. Your little darling arrives home for summer with enough worksheets and art work to paper the Great Wall of China. And gnawed pencils and Hot Cheetos-dusted pencil pouches. You vow to carefully scrutinize these items for anything valuable and salvage priceless quotables from free-writing exercises…when you have time. Soon, school is starting again and you either 1) push it all aside into a storage area to further clutter your space or 2) get so frustrated you throw it all away anyway. Take back your power and your summer and instead, do it now.
Step 1: Prep and Setting Limits
Before you get started, determine how much, if any, of your kids’ school and/or artwork you’re willing to keep. You can choose a specific number (5-10) or designate a small folder and that’s your limit. Put on something enjoyable to listen to: music or a podcast or an audiobook, get a small snack or drink to keep you energized, and set a timer for 15-20 minutes. Acknowledge that when the timer goes off, you are out of time for this project and will honor the commitment to yourself and your space to let go of anything still "unprocessed."
Step 2: Do the thing!
Go through the schoolwork quickly and decisively, remembering your commitment to yourself, and do not keep more than you decided ahead of time (folder full or quantity reached? One must go out before another comes in). When the timer goes off, let go of anything you have not gone through yet. Recycle paper and trash the trash and move on with your life.
Step 3: Speaking to Your Exceptions
“But, but, but…” Imagine I am looking you lovingly in the eyes and holding your hands as I say this: it’s okay to put it in the trash. I used to be the mom to agonize over the art work and the worksheets, wondering if not examining every piece of preciousness from the hand of my children meant I didn’t love them or was not a good mom. “And I have to salvage the $0.47 crayons that will join the pile of 12,427 more in the bin!” We have got to stop this, okay? School papers are neutral and have nothing to do with your parenting. They just exist and yesterday, you didn’t even know or remember that they did. Now you do and you’re having thoughts that make them mean something about your value as a person. A magnificent mom might throw every single paper away or might be stockpiling them for the apocalypse—it could really go either way. Agonizing over this question of your value as a parent is not useful here. Maybe this (or similar) thoughts, which are probably well within your reach, will feel better to you. “If I take care of this pile of papers now, I have more time (and space) to spend doing things I actually care about, including time with my kids.” Isn’t that actually true? Now do it and be free!
Project 2: Summer Beach Bag Prep and/or Detox
I love to be able to go to the lake or pool or
on an outdoor adventure at a moment’s notice, so I keep my summer “beach” bag
stockpiled with essentials like: sun screen, bug spray, pool or waterpark
season passes, a small pouch for change or money, a wet bag for wet things, and
a dry bag to keep things like my phone dry and within reach. Then I can just
grab a few beach towels and we’re off! (I keep my picnic blanket in my car's trunk.) The thing is, beach bags get janky like
all things get janky. While I am a stickler about immediately unpacking wet
swimsuits, extra clothes, or used towels, and most especially any food
immediately upon arriving home, sand happens. Use-by dates happen. All the seasons happen. Life
happens. And before I know it, I go to apply sunscreen only to wonder why I am
slathering cottage cheese on my tender little feet. No thank you. Whether you
keep these items in a beach or pool bag or elsewhere in your home, let’s do a
summer gear round-up!
Step 1: Locate every bug spray and sunscreen and related item in your house.
Check dates on them. Sun screen actually has pretty good shelf life (considering that if you’re applying it as directed--about 1 oz, you might well use ¼ a bottle in a single go). Sunscreens are required by the FDA to be effective at their original strength for at least three (3) years. Don’t have any idea when you bought it? Check for discoloration or inconsistency in texture and dispose of any that are off. In future, consider writing the date of purchase on the container if you tend to keep them awhile (I know; will any of us really do this? Still though, I’m putting it out there optimistically! Maybe you're a 1%er!). The shelf life for bug sprays is about the same amount of time and while they do not become harmful after 3 years, they do become less effective at repelling, so keeping them indefinitely is pointless and potentially itchy. After tossing any empty or expired items, consider replacing with only a single, high-quality favorite of each thing. I highly recommend checking the EWG’s Sunscreen Site and the EWG Bug Repellent Guide to find the best non-toxic products that will be effective for your family.
Note about EWG (Environmental Working Group) research and non-toxic products: I am ultra-selective when it comes to sunscreens also and have tried many alternatives, but ultimately use a commercial one because sunburn is a real bummer. I also make my own bug repellent from DoTerra's TerraShield essential oils, a
carrier oil, and purified water. You can google a recipe--or 1000-- for
it if you want to try right now. Non-toxicity is something I take veeeery seriously because of my own
experiences and misadventures with my health. While I think non-toxic is
better for everyone and the Earth and therefore recommend at least some casual research and awareness, I know the extreme level of
importance I place on it is not necessarily everyone's journey. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good and better! You do you!
Step 2: Clean Out Your Summer Stuff’s Home
If your summer items don’t have a designated “home,” like your beach bag or a bin in the entry way or medicine cabinet, establish one now. You will always know where to find (and put back!) your sunscreen, bug spray, and lip balm (and related items). Ahh, home.
If your items already have a designated home (or once you establish one), give it a good wipe down. Shake out sand and wipe down surfaces (or launder, if applicable). Get it really clean! I like to put my liquid items in a gallon-sized plastic zipper bag to catch any leaks on the go, but a washable, lined wet-bag would work great, too. Any other items that need laundering? Coin pouches, beach towels, etc—run them through the wash, too. Throw in your pool or park passes or other regular use pool items and you’re set.
Step 3: Stay Gold (Maintenance)
To maintain your new, breezy summer bag, simply unpack and clean out right away after every trip. It takes two minutes and you’ll be golden all summer long! In the words of Will Smith “If you stay ready, you ain’t gotta get ready.”
Project 3+: Bonus Round Summer Edit Honor Roll
On a roll and want to keep going? Don’t forget these other seasonal items that could probably use a little attention, editing and love. Do them all this way:
Gather all the items in a single category together from wherever they may be.
Designate a “home” for them and establish limits for the items and set a timer to limit the time you spend on the decisions.
Choose your favorites and best first, then discard any items that are simply not useful or loved by you/don’t fit the space (donation) or that are beyond repair or no longer function (trash).
Carefully clean and mend all the favorites that remain and put them in their space.
Suggested Seasonal Categories
You can do each line all at once or break them up into separate 15 minute categories. Only you make the rules!
Sunglasses, sun hats, swim suits, cover-ups
Folding chairs, coolers, picnic blankets, and beach umbrellas
Pool floats and toys, including goggles
Outdoor furniture and rugs
Pots and planters
Gardening tools, watering cans, pitchers
Thursday, December 1, 2022
Seasonal items often never get a good purge and going-through since, unless you're the neighbor who leaves the lights up through April (and it's totally fine if you are), these decorations typically spend 10-11 months/year out of sight. Tastes change over the years, but we tend to be sentimental about our holiday items, even ones we no longer like or need, gilding them with nostalgia for their presence at and in our family traditions, but not valuing them enough to bring out of storage for their spotlight month. In some instances, their year-round existence in attics, basements, garages, or storage buildings have made them easy prey for pests and rodents, or left them at the whim of humidity and other climate-related damage.
- Get All your Seasonal Items Out Every Year at the Beginning of the Season
- Discard Any Trash, Obvious Dislikes, or Items You Don't Use and Enjoy the Rest!
- Do A Space and Container Audit
- Clean, Repack, and Re-Label
- Discard Any Items that Didn't Make the Cut
- Get out ALL your seasonal items every year at the beginning of the season. Did I already lose you? If you have such a huge amount that this would just send you running for the hills, break them down into categories and get every item for a given category out. These are some I came up with for Christmas decorations, but you could adapt them to fit any holiday/season for which you have a lot of specific items. If you wait until the end of the season to do this, you will only use what you readily access and not have the full awareness of all you have when you choose what you want to use.
- Outdoor- inflatables, furniture, large decorations
- Lights and Electrical- includes all lights and lighting fixtures, extension cords, timers, devices used to install lights
- Trees and wreaths--tree stand, tree skirt, artificial trees, all wreaths including advent
- Tabletop and Entertaining--dishes and servewear that you only use during this time
- General Ornaments (can be further broken down by theme such as "all white" or "circus" or whatever you have)--includes any and all tree decorations or small items you keep with ornaments
- Home Decor and Free-Standing decorations- Seasonal pillows, blankets, towels, stockings, stocking hangers, menorah, nativity sets, candles
- Cards and Paper Anything-- holiday books (including cookbooks), your saved holiday cards from friends for the past 40 years or any other paper mementos
- Sentimental- Got any popsicle stick crafts or salt dough ornaments your kids made in nursery school? Great grandmother's gravy boat? These deserve special treatment, so we save them for last.
- See anything you just don't like even if it still works? Why keep paying--in physical and mental storage--for it year after year? If it is useful and in good condition, donating it at the beginning of the season can allow someone else to enjoy it right away! If it is trash or in disrepair, let it go with thanks for helping you better understand yourself!
- Plug all lights into an outlet to see if they still work! Many local Keep America Beautiful programs (in my community, it is called Keep Nacogdoches Beautiful, for example) accept some lights for recycling, but putting them in the trash is just fine. Do not put them back in the box if they don't work!
- Discard all newspaper and tissue used to wrap fragile items and refresh it annually. Plenty of fresh newspaper is available for free at local recycling locations or yours for the asking via social media. This not only staves off mold and pests, it forces you to look at every single item every year as you unwrap it.
- Shake empty containers out over the trash to discard glitter and dust and loose pieces (holly berries anyone?) before re-use. There may be pest excrement, too. (I don't know about other places, but here in Texas, roaches love to poop on seasonal decor.) Yuck! But wouldn't you rather know and be rid of it?
- If something is so badly obscured by mold or rat-chewed as to be unrecognizable, it is no longer serving you and may be a health hazard to keep it no matter what it is.
- Enjoy your stuff! Holiday decorations are there to make your heart lighter and your soul feel its worth by connecting and sharing with others. You paid for this stuff and claim to love it. If you have and want 75 Santa Claus mugs, get them out and bring on the hot chocolate!
- How much space do you have to store seasonal items? Be honest with yourself about how much space you truly have and want to give to items used for just a portion of the year. (Are you dedicating half of your garage to 1/12 of the year items? We'll do storage math in another post, but believe me that that one just doesn't work out!) Consider upcoming moves or even right-sizing for your existing home. When your space designated for those items is full of containers and each smaller container is also full, that's all you can have.
- What shape are your containers in? Are you using cardboard boxes to store your seasonal items? These are the favorite food of roaches and silverfish and easily destroyed by rodents. (If you followed the above steps to shake loose debris out of empty containers and came up with poop, you already know this for sure!) Quality, durable containers are pricier than cardboard boxes and flimsier plastic ones, so I therefore only want to buy them for what I really cherish and use. (If the items are not cherished, do you really want to keep them around?) If you have bins and containers that fit your space already, even if not ideal in color or quality and it does not make sense to replace, wipe them out before re-use each year and thank them for serving you until you can. When I buy new containers, I invest in quality, acid-free, clear storage bins so I can easily see what's in them. These "Our Clear Storage Boxes" are my favorites and beloved by many professional organizers. I know they are more expensive and because I don't have unlimited money to spend on them, I am more careful about the items that I decide to keep. That said, most of my seasonal items live in a mish-mosh of plastic bins that I purchased at various stores over the years and I gratefully keep them as long as they are in good repair and protect my items.
- Wipe Down and Completely Empty All Bins Did you leave some stuff in there you're still not using? Out it comes! Wipe the interior and exterior of all bins to remove dust, mold....etc. before refilling with your cherished items.
- Box by category/ item type. You may have learned very clearly in step 1 that you could not quickly find a specific thing in a specific bin to save your life. Keeping like items together is not only helpful for keeping track of what you actually have, it makes decorating a whole lot easier when you only have to haul "the lights bin" (or two or three) to the front yard and not 17 different ones you have to dig through first. Use the categories I suggested above in step 1 or whatever ones make sense for what you want to keep. (Maybe you need an entire dishes bin?) As I go through my home taking things down, I gather it into piles--ornaments here, stockings and tree skirt there, before I box anything at all. Then I carefully wrap in tissue paper, bubble wrap, etc each thing, packing my most favorites FIRST. Any items that didn't get used this year? Back of the line, Buster! When a designated container ("ornaments bin") is full, those are all the items I can keep. Move leftover items to a discard pile for post-season processing.
- Label Time! When each box is closed, I use a sharpie to write every unique category in the bin on the lid (e.g. shatter-resistant ornaments, ornament hooks, stocking hangers, stockings, tree skirt) or if I am re-using a bin I labeled in a previous year, I check that all the contents still match the old labels and add or cross-off, as needed. If you do not want to write directly on the lid, try a label maker or tape an index card where it can clearly be read without opening the bin. There are a million fancy and simple ways to label bins. You do you! But don't skip this step. It is SO helpful!
- You are not throwing away memories. Those live inside you as long as you want to keep them.
- You are not throwing away a person, even if the item was a gift. A gift's purpose is immediately fulfilled the moment it is received and the love it was given with is never lost. A true gift should not burden you or your relationship with the person who gave it.
- Throwing something in the trash is not disrespectful. It is honorable to the item and empowering to you to make a clear choice about your relationship to that item instead of leaving it to languish and fester in a rat-chewed box. If someone were breaking up with you, would you prefer to be told with finality the truth with love and gratitude for your time together or moth-balled and strung along indefinitely?
- Donating or rehoming an item is wonderful and good in some circumstances, but not when it is used as a method to avoid processing your feelings and not because the item still has a useful life with someone else.
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