My Journey of Hope: Day 1 of 28 - Before and After

I ended up having about half an hour to spend on the office, mostly because lunch took longer to cook than I expected, and I got a call midway through to pick a friend up for a ride home.

Here's how things started out in the office:

From the doorway, looking left. There's a loveseat in there, honest!

From the hallway, looking right. Can you believe my new Ikea shoe cabinet is in here? Yeah, neither can I.

So, I really have my work cut out for me here. The OCD person trapped in my lazy housekeeper's body is screaming to do an all-day gutting of this room, but I know that if I do what I can, when I can, it will have a positive impact on my home.

I did my prep, gathering the tools I need:

Garbage bag the kids can't see into? Check. Thrift store box? Check. Bidding War box? Check. Water? Check!

At a glance, it was simple to find my starting point; the paper on the floor. It looked quick, and sure to give me a near-instant sense of accomplishment, motivating me to keep going.

I can do this!

Sure enough, I did feel great for having started there. It cleaned up fast, and had the added benefit of giving me a clear view of the carpet. I resisted the urge to vacuum that little patch of carpet in favour of clearing more square footage first.

Better already!

I cannot tell you how satisfying it is to see your carpet again! "Oh, hey...it's brown."

"Well, maybe more brown-ish..."

I would gladly have kept going, but I had a friend in need. In all, this was a good start to restoring order and calm in the house.

So here's what I ended up with at the end of my 30 minute session:

From top, L-R: Papers for shredding; my water, stuff for the upstairs rooms; thrift store stuff, bidding war site 

Schrödinger, our fearless feline supervisor, assesses the "damage" to his sleeping hole. Garbage on the left, recycling to the right. "Here I am, stuck in the middle..."

And it's ready to go for another session on Thursday!

What did you de-clutter today?