Are you wasting your space like a gambler wastes money? I AM! I as just telling Am today about our square footage. We have just over 1100 on the main floor, a full basement (so another 1100), and 2 lofts equaling around 300 square feet. So much of it is wasted! So, let's take stock of and take back my cluttered, wasted space. Wanna help??? lol.
Everything needs to have a place and a place for everything. And that place is NOT in a box or on a pile in a "forgotten" room or space. If you don't love it enough to have a home for it, why do you keep it? I need to ask myself that question more!!!
The Attic
We have never been in our attic. Ever. And don't plan on going up there any time soon. Whatever is up there, isn't mine. It can stay there a little longer. Moving on . . . .
The Basement
Our basement includes the following spaces:
- bathroom (tiny, under the stairs)
- 2 furnace areas (2 large furnaces, one wood that we don't use yet)
- the kitchen
- a guest /storage room
- girls' bedroom
- a common area containing:
- toys
- storage
- laundry
- linen shelving
Our basement is kind of a dungeon, in my opinion. I don't really like spending time there. That being said, this process and some of the work already done should make it better. The pros and cons of the space the way it is:
Pros: it is large and open. the windows are large and many. High ceilings, for a basement.
Cons: messy, disorganized, unfinished, poor lighting as the windows are at ground level.
The Guest Room (if you can call it that)
We have a room that we call the guest room. This room is linked to the girls' room by closet doors (no closet, just the doors), has a hole in that same wall and a serving counter thingie that opens to the kitchen. Right now, when no guests are expected, the room stores our unused beds - a queen, a twin and a toddler (which is currently in the girls' room). Oh, and it has no door; we hang a sheet over the doorway when we have guests. My poor guests!!!
The Shed (we don't have an actual garage)
This is dh's space. I don't go out there unless I'm helping him with the garden or something. I have NO idea what is out there. All I know is that he wants to move some supplies (renovating stuff) into the storage area in the basement. Before that can happen I have a project to finish down there. He will be using the shed space for woodworking, carpentry and small engine repairs type projects.
The Laundry Area
"Perpetual chaos" is a term that Regina Leeds uses that describes my whole basement to a T, but this is especially true for my laundry area. No cupboards or shelving, until just this last Saturday. (Thanks, 7.) No dryer. (Electrical panel is not large enough to run a dryer.) It is chaotic because we have so much laundry. (There are 7 of us and of those 7 five are 7 and under. That's a lot of 7's!) No storage. There are no closets in this house AT ALL! So, we've been slowly adding shelving. I need to centralize my cleaning supplies in this area, too. I am getting excited about this area all of a sudden. (I told you my latest "craze" was laundry.) I need to add something pretty to this area. I found some curtains I'd made for another home. Maybe they would work to add some color.
Do you have a laundry schedule? I do, but it needs to be more defined. Right now, I should do (or plan to do) 3 loads a day. Now that's just washing and hanging. I need to add Flylady's other steps - sort (need a sorter of some sort), wash, dry, fold, put away. FIVE STEPS! That's it. And, as Ms. Leeds says in her book, these are great chores for little ones!!! Gotta give these kids some chores.
I positively multitask by listening to Dave Ramsey (or some other) podcasts on my Creative ZEN and folding laundry into baskets for the kids to put away.
Regina Leeds talks at the end of this chapter about feeling overwhelmed and a sense of ownership. I feel both. There is a lot to do in ALL these areas of my home. And I feel like I'm getting some control of these areas already!
Striving to learn and live God's purposes,
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