My only child is moving across the country for his first year of college. My husband and I are excited for him but have some trepidation about what we will do with our time. No matter how much we spoil our dogs, we won’t go to their baseball games, they won’t call us when they have a flat during a thunderstorm, and they certainly are not leaving back-pack/shoes/sweatshirts/charging cords around the house (of course our son never shed like the dogs…). Our son has been our primary focus for 18 years – while this change is good, our life will be different.
I have found myself wanting to re-nest – not redo the house or paint the walls but freshen things up a bit. Reducing visual clutter will lighten my mental load and allow room for new hobbies and activities.
This has set me on a mission to give places in my home a few touch-ups. I am not re-creating myself, or banishing all evidence of my son, but spending some time on the things below will help me feel empowered to respond to transitions with a positive, growth-oriented, mindset:
Repositioning things based on use. Items that are not used frequently do not need to be easily accessible spaces. My son’s baseball bag does not need to stay near the front door – it isn’t going to be used. That goes up to his room. Even if we don’t want to throw anything away, we can change our environment by storing seldom used items in out-of-the-way spaces. Similarly, we can love something but not want to see it every day. It is fine to store sentimental items out of sight.
Re-setting often used spaces. I often hear clients say how much they enjoy driving into a freshly organized garage or opening the linen closet to find everything folded nicely and accessible. Doing this with any space lets us control our environment, even when we can’t control the situation. Giving the linen closet, pantry, or other storage area a touch-up, doesn’t have to take long but can make a space feel fresh and new! For example, with my son not running out to sporting events every night, we certainly do not need 20-some water bottles cluttering our kitchen drawer!
Removing the irrelevant. My son’s coats have always hung on visible hooks near the front door. They won’t be used and don’t need to stay in view or be accessible anymore.
Care items. Like clothes and food items, many of us tend to have a collection of fancy soaps and lotions, and a lifetime supply of travel sized items. While we fully intend to use them some day, and they may have been expensive, the truth is that we usually keep using the products we are used to. It is ok to let those things go. My son’s collection of hair and skin care items will not be cluttering the bathroom for long!
Knock down the to-do list. I started stripping the wood on the sleeping porch 17 years ago. We had just moved in, and the finish was rough, so before our son was running around too much, I thought I would redo it. It was a great start! Finishing that project now will finally get it off my to-do list and spruce up a room. This can apply to any project though, maybe you finally get that picture reframed, repaint the hall closet, or update the curtains. Nothing huge, just sprucing things up!
Organizing at any time can help us feel good about our spaces and in charge of our environment. It does not need to be a big, time-consuming endeavor, but can be done in small doses – just tiny actions that will brighten our day!
