Failure to Plan is Planning to Fail, Blah Blah Blah

When I was a teacher I lived by the saying, “Failing to plan is planning to fail,” and I’ve tried to apply that idea to my project. But more pressing, immediate things are always popping up. For example, the main bathroom in the house had never been a huge problem, and it still isn’t. Early in the project I decluttered and reorganized the vanity and it’s stayed pretty neat.

But on Thursday, I realized I need to reorganize once again, but in our other bathroom. Bob and I now get ready for work at the same time, which we have never done in over ten years of marriage.

I’ve watched shows on HGTV where couples and small families insisted they needed multiple bathrooms. And I’d feel smug and superior, because I grew up in a family of 5 in a house with one bathroom, and we made it work. Some of our success can probably be attributed to the fact that I was the only girl among the children; three or even two girls in the family may have led to my dad using his well-honed building skills to tack on another bathroom.

So our house, with one full bath and one half bath, felt like a little splurge to me. But I still wouldn’t have called the second bath a necessity because I always got ready for work way before he did. Now, it’s a different story. I relocated my hair dryer and my cosmetics to the half bathroom so we won’t make each other late. For the moment I just dropped my stuff in there, but I need to organize it better. I usually shower at night, a habit I acquired when I lived in my first apartment and had no control over the thermostat. Mornings were always a little chilly and I often went to the gym after work, and the habit stuck. Bob showers in the morning so it made more sense to leave the full bath for him.

That was the first deviation from my plan. (I’m supposed to be purging the attic.)  I did make a big dent in the mess I left on the library couch, but it’s not a complete success because all I really did was relocate all the toys to another spot. I still need to deal with them.

My current philosophy is, “Deal with anything that’s really getting on my nerves.”

For example, I went grocery shopping on Friday morning and when I was putting everything away I decided I was tired of my disorganized baking cabinet. So I took everything out, tossed a couple expired things and put it back together.

Baking

Keeping the flour in the freezer helps it last longer and frees up space in the cabinet.

It’s inspired me to deal with a couple other spaces in the kitchen. It makes me a little sad to have to deal with this cabinet again, because I reorganized all my food storage items back in January. But it’s devolved.

FoodStorage

I didn’t donate any food storage containers, but maybe I need to.

This closet, where we keep towels, sheets, toiletries, first aid items and odds and ends, was also decluttered in January. I carefully pared down our towel collection, and donated them along with sheets from our old queen bed. I also committed to not buying toiletries until we used up what we already have, which I’ve stuck to.

linencloset

In need of a reorganization…again!

Unfortunately it’s become a mess again and I’m the main culprit as I tend to go looking for things and am careless about shifting stuff around.

And that’s where I am this week. I have a lot on my plate over the next couple of weeks, which is probably why I’m gravitating towards these smaller projects I can do quickly.


4 Responses to Failure to Plan is Planning to Fail, Blah Blah Blah

  1. I love the idea of working on what bothers you first. Save the attic until you’re comfortable where you are (and you’ll be much more vigorous about throwing things out then, too). Make your living space simple, first.

  2. When we moved a year ago after 10 years in our previous house – wow, awesome and awful at the same time. You have to touch everything twice – once to pack and once to unpack. My kiddos are 12 and 14. During their packing, I noticed that there was a lot of indecision. I finally told them they were not allowed to “move” anything. They either packed it or put it in the donate pile. Same when they unpacked. No figuring out where it went later. It was an AMAZING turn around for them on both ends. It may have taken longer to pack/unpack a specific drawer or box, but when it was unpacked, it was done. Put away. Their take-away was if you touch it, do something with it. No just moving. Maybe give that a shot? You may only take care of 6 things rather than 20, but it’ll be done instead of just somewhere else. Also, your attic sounds like quite a project. Kuddos to you for even having it on the list! Out of sight would be easy to just leave there 🙂 Baby steps in main spaces . . . lots of little make a big and soon you’ll have it all where you want it.

    ****I just reread – this sounds preachy and I didn’t want it to. Just trying to offer up a lesson I learned while trying to move 10 years worth of stuff from one place to another 🙂

  3. My current philosophy is, “Deal with anything that’s really getting on my nerves.”

    That really did make me laugh out loud. I can get on board with that!

    I don’t think you’re really failing–your project is just presenting itself differently to you than you thought it would. You can’t see the attic, but you can see your kitchen shelves. It’s perfectly reasonable to switch gears.

  4. Pingback: 24 Hour Sick Leave | The Simple Year

Tell me, tell me...