Home sweet home
I woke up to a dripping sound the other night. Drip drip drip. It was coming from the bathroom. It was 3 am. My first reaction was annoyance at my house. How can you do this?! Then I quickly realized that was unfair. My house does a fine job of providing us shelter, and so much more. As my husband yanked the garbage bin under the drip, I formulated a plan to deal with it (in the morning) and rolled over and went back to sleep.
The next morning, without the leaky metronome, I thought about how much I appreciate my hardworking home. Then I thought of Marie Kondo. At the core of her approach is expressing gratitude for our homes. She suggests we greet our home, even out loud, every time we walk through the front door. I have not been doing this. Otherwise, the results of her step by step tidying process (that I completed a year or so ago) have stuck in my home. It was a commitment, but you only need to do it once.
Her whole approach is about putting your house in order so it supports you to achieve the lifestyle you want. It’s a mindset. It’s about restoring balance: focus on the meaningful, remove distractions.
I generally get a lot of eye rolling when I talk about how much I love the Marie Kondo approach. Her book the life-changing magic of tidying up may sound a bit grand. But I am a believer in this magic.
It’s essentially 2 kinds of activities: 1) deciding whether to keep something or not, and 2) deciding where to put it.
The first step is paring down your possessions to keep only those that support you and bring you joy. The second step is where the magic happens. I was delighted to see how my (fewer) possessions came together in new locations in my house. This was particularly true for my “sentimental” items, which I was most apprehensive about reviewing. This is why you don’t start with this difficult category. By the time I had made decisions about my clothes, books, paper, household and other miscellaneous items (following the categories laid out in her book), I was prepared to tackle the “sentimental” items. Now, items that were previously packed away in boxes in the basement have a proper home where I can enjoy them. I have fewer items, yes. But the items are more integrated in my life.
On a more practical note, I don’t spend time looking for my stuff because every item has a designated spot. There’s nothing magical about this but it is awesome in a very real time saving way.
How did I deal with the drippy drip from the bathroom ceiling? I waved my magic wand: Dehumivius! A strategically place dehumidifier should do the trick.
Thank you house for supporting me and keeping me dry.
