I was musing to my 30-yr old son yesterday how life’s journey reminded me of a navigational system, except we are not privy to a map of the course we are taking. It is comforting, when going toward a destination, to see only a road or two ahead, knowing the big arrow will give us enough time to make the turn up ahead and keep on course. Read the rest of this entry »
On Monday I wrote about the power of photographing your mess. I just wanted you to know 20 minutes is all the time it actually took. I only got one space done, and yes, there are some phone notes and folders I haven’t found a better home for, but I resisted the temptation to start painting the other stool black! Staying focused is always a problem in the home clean-up area, but all the items found a real home(or the trash basket) and are not just out of sight, but put where I would be most likely to use or find them. Hooray! The clean picture will serve as a reminder, posted in a drawer nearby. Next?
One of the best ways I can help people get ready to put their house on the market is to take digital pictures. In fact, most times I ask them to take their own the week before we take the official ones to market it. By shooting different places, like the refrigerator (full of magnets) and the counter tops, they often notice how things they have become accustomed to seeing (and tend to look right past) will show up in a picture.
This is enough incentive to clean up, and eliminates the need for me to mention it. I often go home and shoot a few of my own home, alarming myself sufficiently to get cracking on the obvious! It is amazing how bad things look in a picture that don’t seem to bother me at all in person. Imagine putting your home on the market next week and take some pictures to see how it will look online. I think I will find twenty minutes to tackle these two spaces this week!
P.S. An update nearly two decades later. Yesterday I spent the day helping my sister bring calm to her condo, mostly by eliminating from her sight many pieces of furniture that cluttered her view in each room. Also replacing harsh cool lightbulbs with warm ones to take the start coolness off the walls, replacing busy flowered shower curtains with solids and bright, patterned bedspreads with cozy solid colors she likes to look at. Instead of painting all the walls or ripping up functional boring carpets at the moment, both huge commitments of time and money, we found a subtle color she loves and I was able to paint the entire walls of her kitchen, again very minimal space, with a sample size from Sherwin Williams.
After we finished I remembered this entry as one of my very first and scrolled all the way back to read it. I have just finished clearing my desk for the same reason. A quick phone picture of it made me realize it was an overwhelming assortment of undone projects that didn’t get better by being visual every time I sit down. I found bills, recipes, addresses and phone numbers to add to my phone, and also the two projects I am working on. There was nothing good coming out of fifteen visual reminders except my failure to complete tasks. Now I have only two to focus on and already I am already doing something about one of them right here.
