Tuesday, October 11, 2011

More of Less

I have been obsessed with interested in organizing for a long time. Especially if other people are doing the organizing and I am watching the process on TV or on my computer screen.  Oh, I have dabbled in the process in the past (see my very neglected More of Less column).  In fact,  I am pretty sure that one of my very first purchases ever at IKEA included storage boxes.  I got rid of those boxes in January and wrote about it in my first post titled  More of Less.  Over the course of my "column" I lost sight of the title or maybe I just wasn't ready for what it really meant or not fully committed.  Who knows.

I am still not there, but I am closer.  For the longest time I thought being organized only involved putting things in pretty boxes or containers. It does not, that is merely a quick fix.  A few weeks ago I read this.
Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.
–William Morris.
Now this is the house that I want to live in and those should be the words repeated before something is organized into a box. Jules at Pancakes & French Fries is on her best way with her October series titled "31 Days of William Morris" and her blog is where I first read the quote.  It is also the place I have found countless hours of blog reading excellence.  Really.  Go have a look.

So what does this mean?  It means that I am taking no prisoners and  have ordered a special trash pick-up for large bulky items (called Sperrmüll in Germany).  Everything has to be out on the curb on the morning of October 25th.   I mean business.

I am also back in my shelves, containers and cabinets. Here is a photo of the after of a bathroom drawer,  unfortunately there is no before picture.


It was one of those organizing projects that came about spontaneously.  As in, I opened the drawer and went into a fit.  It was a productive fit.  I threw out a lot of stuff (mainly lipgloss).  You know the half used, can't remember when I bought it kind.  Most importantly I found a use for the dividers that  came with the pullout drawers from the IKEA PAX closet.  I hope they will help keep mayhem at bay. This post is all about purging, but sometimes it pays to keep (see the useful part of the quote).  I even had to partake in some saw action so that the slats would fit. Yes, I am talking real big time blogger stuff and I only have this picture to show for it.

8 comments:

  1. You're a very brave gal. I know the words you speak are true and I must do it too. I will move forward and not look back. Thanks for the push and the link...I'm off to check it out. xo

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  2. Well good for you, Monica! I'm doing something similar on Planet Baby as The Great Unpack continues apace. There is something so cathartic about throwing things out, don't you think? J x

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  3. Love it Monica! The best thing that happened to me was moving last year! Oh, the things I threw out. It was a great feeling. Then, once we got down here and started unpacking, I gave away, recycled (whatever you want to call it!) a ton more. We just don't need all we keep..... So I am with you!

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  4. Ach bitte komm doch mal bei mir vorbei und hilf mir beim Misten!

    Und ja die Kannen gefallen (leider ;-))

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  5. Sieht toll aus, so organized... Deine Serie more of less inspiriert mich immer wieder aufs Neue. LG Tesca

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  6. nothing feels better when you go home and you know that everything is clean and orginized!!

    http://infinitelifefitness.com
    http://mscomposure.blogspot.com

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  7. Oh I adore that quote words to live by!

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Always happy to hear from you!