The next phase

I have a plan. It’s no longer theoretical, or merely possible, but actually already in progress. I entirely skipped over the concepts of a plan stage, though, obviously, no sensible person would ever think that was actually a thing. Of course. Instead, I’ve made actual plans, and they’re now beginning.

This all relates to what’s essentially the last remaining work on the inside of my house, and I’m starting inside for good reason: It’s literally the middle of winter here in Aotearoa-New Zealand, and that means that it’s not pleasant to be doing stuff outside (or in the garage), though I do make sure I mow the back lawn every other week. It’s cold and damp outside most days, and while neither would my choice of weather to work in, it also a lot rains this time of year, and so, outside work isn’t happening right now.

A month ago, I wrote about sending piles of clothes and bedding off to a charity shop, something that took me a couple months to finish because I constantly kept finding more stuff to donate. On that last day, when the stuff left my house, I already had a vision for what was next.

As I said last month, my priority is the inside of my house because “I want it to be my sanctuary”. I decided to start with what seemed to me to be the “easiest” room, the living area. The stuff headed for the charity shop had been piled up in the living area of my house all that time, and after helping me get it all packed and ready leave, family members then helped me tidy and clean up the living area, something I definitely neglected during the sorting phase. Since then, I’ve focused on keeping it tidy, and that includes vacuuming a couple times a week (and I’m very glad I bought my stick vacuum last September.)

The next phase is to finish decluttering the living area, because there are three spots that have some excess stuff. However. This work will be interspersed with a different room, the guest room.

Work on the guest room isn’t about decluttering as such because the room doesn’t have unnecessary stuff in it. However, the room’s wardrobe has become a sort of storage cupboard, and one that’s not well-organised. So, I’m going to finally install the wardrobe system I bought for the guest room wardrobe. That project will mean I first have to do some wall repairs, then prime and then re-paint the inside of the wardrobe. While those repairs are drying, I’ll work on finishing the living area. I emptied that wardrobe today so I can start working on that wardrobe tomorrow morning.

I’m pretty sure that I’ll finish the decluttering in the living area before I’m done installing the wardrobe system, so if I still have down time on that wardrobe project, I’ll use it to work on tidying my bedroom. I’d almost completed work on my bedroom (not including the wardrobe) quite awhile ago, but when family was staying with me for a time recently, I needed to empty out the guest room and its wardrobe, and some of that stuff ended up in my bedroom, back where there hadn’t been any clutter since last year.

Finishing my bedroom’s not a big job, so I can do it in small doses, like when I’m waiting for paint to dry in the guest room wardrobe. Installing a new wardrobe system in my bedroom’s walk-in wardrobe will be sometihng I’lll do much later on, mainly because the decluttering of clothes gave me a lot more space to hang things, and so, the reorganisation of that wardrobe isn’t a priority any more. My final inside project will be completely re-doing my office, which is so overrun with stuff that doesn’t belong in there that I very rarely actually use the room. I’ll talk about that more when I get to that stage.

I also have a number of relatively small projects for every room that are related more to decorating than mere decluttering and reorganising. Much of this will also be work I’ll do concurrently, and not entirely separately, so I’ll mostly talk about each room separately because it’ll be easier to understand what I’m talking about. There will be photos, of course.

The final inside project is The Garage Of No Return, and I hope to begin that in early spring, when it’s no longer bloody cold in there, but before it gets hot. That’s also the time I’ll start working on outside projects, too, so that when spring actually arrives I’ll be ready for it. As with the projects for each room, the garden is a subject all on its own, and I’ll talk about that when I get to it.

And that’s the entire plan: It’s not linear, but it’s definitely about methodically working on the things I need to, and in the ways that work best for me. I expect it’ll be quite a ride. I planned for that, too.