Firstly, let's clear something up right now. I was not the man playing the mandolin on the last post. That was this guy. I thank you for your flattery, but really. I got the mandolin in December. I can play the first few bars of 'Din dirin din' and three chords, and that's about it. (This is Din dirin din, if you're wondering. And I should point out in case of confusion that in addition to not being a mandolin player from Ohio, neither am I a member of the King's Singers.)
My January declutter is going very well. Already I have
- Found the missing zombie book AND the Christmas gift card;
- Discovered three obsolete wireless routers hiding in the cellar and sent them back to BT in freepost envelopes;
- Reported a debit card lost and then found it 3 hours later inside an envelope;
- Found a light curtain bought before we even had children and then hidden in the loft. Why? All these years, and we have been denied the joy of snuggling down in bed to read a book with this as a backdrop.
What has struck me, however, is that every time I tidy up I create more problems for myself. I put things in ingenious places, only to discover when I want them that they are so ingenious I have forgotten where they were. Somewhere in this house is a descant recorder, tidied away lovingly until Littlest starts to learn. Littlest has started to learn - but where is the descant recorder? It is not with Musical Instruments. It is not with Silk Painting Supplies or Kites. (I thought it might be. You begin here to get an idea of why my organisational logic might regularly fail.) I have taken to labelling boxes with Sharpie markers: "Torches and tape"; "Wires and straps" - but still, the places where I put away miscellaneous objects in my last decluttering insanity elude me.
I like to refer to cleaning things and tidying up not as housework, but as 'battling the forces of chaos'. It has come to my attention that one of the strongest of those forces is actually me.
I know what you mean by storing things in ingenious places and then not being able to find them. A while ago while tidying up the storage boxes under our bed I removed a pack of laminating pouches to store them somewhere else so they would be easier to reach, and can I find them now that I need them?! I've looked and looked everywhere and they seem to have vanished so you're not alone :-)
ReplyDeleteIf you are anything like me, they will be nowhere near the laminator.
DeleteHa, I have learnt it is much easier to never tidy, as my husband's tolerance for mess is much lower than mine and he is much more logical is his tidying. So even though he's put the thing away without me seeing where, I have a good chance of finding it again.
ReplyDeleteI think you could probably clone him and sell him. You'd make a fortune.
DeleteUsually I lose things because I have "tidied" a pile of stuf on to the top of them. Not good.
ReplyDeletelike the lights! I'm with dottycookie, everything is underneath something. sometimes it is the cat.
ReplyDeleteI WANT a light curtain and well I need a book listing where I or rather other people put things!
ReplyDeleteOh, other people! There's your problem...
DeleteThere is a Bermuda Triangle hiding at the back of my cupboard. I am not sure which one.
ReplyDeletesounds all too familiar...
ReplyDeleteAnd after my mother died, I found the 90th birthday card that I couldn't find on her 90th birthday so had to buy another. I don't know anyone else who's going to be 90 before I'm likely to lose it again. Should I just throw it away?
ReplyDeleteYou'll need it. One day. And then you won't know where it is.
DeleteI love that your descant recorder might have been stored with the kites. That sounds a bit like me too :-). Is it because they are both wind instruments?
ReplyDelete