This is probably not the image that one would expect to see in a blog post from a professional organizer. Sometimes, life throws you curveballs, just as it did for my family this week. Thought I'd write about yet another benefit of keeping your home organized. Well, at least that is what I had intended this post to be about! We've known for a while that our furnace was nearing its expiration date since it was over 20 years old. Yesterday we had our yearly furnace tune-up, at which time the technician discovered a crack in the heat exchanger. Long story short...we need to replace our furnace! Ouch!
While we are awaiting estimates from different heating companies, I started preparing the basement for the installers. A shelving unit that stored our coolers was tucked into the corner of the furnace room. Knowing that the installers would need the space to work, I moved the shelf and its contents to the other room. Clearing out the space took me about 5 minutes, which would have been much longer had it not been organized.
Initially, this is all I had intended to write about. The simple fact is that life's challenges are much easier to deal with when we stay organized. Once I started taking pictures, though, I was struck by something quite different! What in the world were we doing with so many coolers? Therefore, I came clean and share my "hoard" with you!
I have to say that 3 of the large coolers belong to my husband. He uses them occasionally for work; although I think we will pare them down to 1 and return the others to his office. We will also keep the large orange cooler because it is being used in the summer for parties but will donate the little blue circular cooler since we rarely use it. It was a cute gift, but the odd size is not very practical! Remember that you don't have to keep an item you don't use just because it was a gift! Let go of the guilt and let someone else enjoy it! Next, I looked around more intentionally and noticed that we had more items stored than I was aware of! Generally, I am great about regular decluttering but must admit that even I have saved things over the years that I couldn't part with. The trouble when storing items in the basement is we often forget about them, or that they blend in over time! Which is exactly what happened at my house. Needless to say, I will do yet another purge of my basement!
There is, however, one area of the basement that will stay just the way it is. We all have different passions and mine is Christmas! I especially love decorating with trees, as you can clearly see! I regularly purge my Christmas decorations every year and donate anything I no longer use. So, in this case, I will take the advice I often give to my clients - if you love and use something and have enough storage space by all means, keep it! Also, I have everything stored in labeled bins, so it's easy to find what I need and it looks neat and tidy!
As to the rest of the basement? It will once again receive a good declutter session this weekend and I will get rid of anything I no longer need, use, or love! Figuring I need to "walk the talk"! Once I'm done, I will share a picture of my donations. So, which area of your home needs to be looked at through a fresh set of eyes? I bet you can match my donation pile!
Want more thoughts on organizing? Here are a couple of posts that may be of interest: Inspiration, Benefits of Getting Organized
Need accountability or hands-on assistance with any of your organizing projects? Call or email, I’m here to help, whether in person or virtually. Call 585-201-6009 or write to Yve@organizingbyYve.com.