digsandthat.com

DigsMagazine.com
transform your space into
your personal haven
.
.
.

what's for dinner?

take the poll

 

 

 

 

a home + living guide for the post-college, pre-parenthood, quasi-adult generation

01.21.2002

home
editor's note 
_____________

DEPARTMENTS
 
o lounge 
o nourish 
 
o host
o
laze
_____________

o BOARDS
_____________

about
contact
submit your ideas
search
links

..
big decorating dreams. tiny little budget. don't be a wallflower! jump on over to the discussion boards and get decorating help.
 
..
other recent LOUNGE articles:
o Gallery-style Picture Hanging Tracks
o After School
o
Sew What?
o Curtain Time
o
Lazy Decorator's Bag of Tricks
o
Home sweet homes
o
Minor Makeover Miracles: Kitchen
o
CD decor
o
Home/work
o Say it with Spraypaint
o
Painting 101
o
Make it Mosaic!
o
Estate Sales 
o
Open House 
o
Hammock Heaven 
o
Makeshift Vases 
o Newlyweds' Nest 
o Variations on a Theme 

copyright ©1999-2002
DigsMagazine.com.

fight the 
c
haos
organizing your 
living space
|
1 2 3 4

Somewhere along the line during the college years, I acquired the reputation for being a chaos-magnet. I, of course, always liked to blame the mess on the endless cycle of art projects with which I was perpetually in various stages of completing – neatness hampers creativity, right? And when that excuse failed me, there was always my takeout-loving, dining hall-tray accumulating roommate, who – much as I adored her as a friend – had an amazingly high tolerance for messiness, and saw no need to ever bring out the trash, or escort those dirty dishes of half-eaten spaghetti mush back from whence they came.

Then I moved into a place of my own. And after many years of denying the truth, I’ve given up. There’s just no getting around the evidence: I’m a messy, messy person by nature.

All this would be fine, if I felt comfortable with the chaos. If I didn’t mind excavating a mountain of shoes thrown carelessly in my closet in order to find that perfect pair of black boots, or if I didn’t loathe the sight of a living room teeming with mounds of old magazines and new books, laundry waiting to be folded … if I felt at home living in a certifiable disaster area, I suppose, my inherent untidiness wouldn’t be a problem. But I’m the worst sort of messy person, you see, because I can’t stand my own slobbish tendencies.

So believe me when I tell you: I understand what it means to have a hard time keeping a lovely home. Housework’s a chore, organization is tedious. Still, a little bit of effort here and there goes a long way towards making a home not just livable, but lovable too …

learning to weed
The first step (and alas, I’m afraid there’s no getting around this): Conquer those pack-rat tendencies. Take inventory of your belongings, and decide whether each object you’ve accumulated is something you use often, something you use occasionally, something of sentimental value, or just plain junk. The first you’ll need out and about, the second and third can go into storage, and the fourth should either be jettisoned or recycled (donate it to charity, have a yard sale, give it to a friend – get rid of it). Be ruthless. You don’t need your notes from freshman year psych. Really.

keep wandering this way!

 

---------------------------> lounge . nourish . host . laze . home.