That spot by the phone is one of the few places where I can watch evolution take place from the comfort of my own home. Ten years ago, that’s where I kept a cup of pencils and pens, a pad of paper, and thousands of business cards, missed calls, and numbers I needed to enter into my phone book. You kept phone stuff by the phone.
Today, house phones are props, and the access number belongs to two distinct groups of people. First, there are those who fall outside the inner sanctum–those you don’t really want to talk to like your dentist, bill collectors, telemarketers, and your college alumni office. Second, there are those who are so deep in your inner sanctum that if you don’t answer your cell phone they call you at home. And if you don’t answer at home they text you and say R U busy (no punctuation) and then only after waiting and ungodly 10 minutes, call your cell and house phone and leave a message. Hey, call me when you get the chance. No rush, just as soon as you get the chance.
My spot by the phone is in a state of evolution. There isn’t phone stuff there anymore. It’s morphed into my “I’ll get to it in a minute pile,” only “a minute” can take months. My spot by the phone can bend the fabric of time.
Observation: The beauty of this month is that by tackling clutter that is out in the open, I’ll have less pictures to take. I don’t need to take a picture of my unveiled mess because there was never a veil. Brilliant.
I spent minutes going through the pile. Mikey’s headphones went back to his room. The coupons were all expired, so that was easy. Some craft items went back to the craft drawer. The only items left were a picture of the Mister and I that I took down “for a minute” last May, a pillow case I bought Nico months ago that I debated having shipped Priority because I needed it so urgently, and two gift cards.
The picture was as easy as grabbing my hammer and a nail. For some reason I thought I was out of nails, but my mama’s toolbox had an entire set in various sizes. Turns out I was just out of my mind?
I put away the West Elm gift card with the rest of the gift cards we have (I keep them in a box), but the Walmart card I used that day. You’ll see tomorrow how I put it to good use. Mikey was not impressed.
Watching evolution take place in the pile by the phone….a concept that can touch only a mother’s heart!
It looks so nice! I use this 15-minute concept at work sometimes. (Probably need it today.) So many of the things I’ have put off take 15 minutes or less to actually do – less than the time I have moved them around, re-prioritized, put them on a list “to do”, and explained to someone that I will have it done soon. Amazing how much time can be used up not doing something!
I adore that fabric/pillowcase you have there. Where did you get it?
Etsy. I’ll share the vendor and link tomorrow–I have to go in my etsy history to find it and last night I was too lazy. :)
It’s always the littlest things that make a difference. After I dropped the last kid off at school, I came home and cleared the clutter from three spots: 1) the large kitchen windowsill, which has been home to a dozen quarts of applesauce and a stack of cookbooks for the past week; 2) my desk, which had a week’s worth of kindergarten papers, materials for a science project, recipes, school pictures, coupons, and a big box of used lightbulbs; and the front hall table, a mishmash of Rainbow Loom parts, toys, books, pencils, notebooks and hair accessories. While I was at it, I threw in a load of laundry, took out the recycling, and wiped down all the counters.
Total time: 20 minutes. Thanks.
My phone spot no longer has a phone (we went all cell last year) but has become overrun with papers that I probably don’t need but might and school stuff that really needs to find a home. If you get time, I’d love some hints on how you find “homes” for everything. We’ve been here for a year and I feel like I’m still trying to decide what everything is for!!