Creating a Happy Place

We all have strong points, but organization is not one of mine. Organization of time–yes. Organization of personnel–yes. Organization of projects–absolutely. Organization of things–absolutely not.

Perhaps that’s why I’m so drawn to simplicity and why I drool over home decor and organization porn (oh yes … Pretty Organized on Flickr I’m looking at you!).

This year one of my goals is to organize and decorate our home while maintaining the standards of the compact and respecting our goals of simplicity. Our home should be a haven, a sanctuary and a source of joy and it is my goal to make it just that.

I haven’t really started on any projects, but I was organizing our vast collection of books today and as I was sifting through them I started wondering just why I’ve been lugging them around for years. There’s books I will never use again, never read again but they still sit on my shelf. There’s books whose topics of long-since outgrown or am no longer interested in. I even came across my high school year book–why would I want to cling to that? Of course, posting books to Paperback Swap helps dilute the clutter and has been wonderful for our family and keeps us in new books when we need them.

There’s clothing we don’t wear often or that we have duplicates of. There’s my little dude’s stuff too–who knew a two-year old could accumulate so much. I come to work to find garbage bags filled with toys and clothes for him once every six weeks.

It’s almost insurmountable and it certainly is a hindrance to simplifying. After all, when I can’t find takers I just keep the stuff because loading it in the dumpster destined for the landfill seems so wasteful. (Before you start to suggest it: we’ve tried freecycle, free ads in the paper, flyers and donating it to charity but this area of excess even the charity shops are struggling under an avalanche of stuff.)

So let me circle back: I need to create a happy place–a home that allows me to feel at peace rather than like I’m drowning in stuff.

We live in approximately 750 s.f., so we live small and small messes look awfully big. Still, I think it can be done and with a few coats of (low-VOC) paint, a little ingenuity and the support of my family I think it can be accomplished beautifully.

So, dear readers, hold me to my promise!

In the mean time, I’ll be looking for inspiration:

• Pretty Organized
• Apartment Therapy
• Organized Home

X-posted at Green Mommy.

*Photo by house n baby on flickr’s Pretty Organized pool.