Cleaning house

I'm going on this journey, guys. I think it was prompted by a sort of quarter life crisis. I made a list of all the things in my life causing me these little stresses that I think add up in a big way. I grouped these stresses into like-domains and assigned a month to fixing each category. March has been dedicated to cleaning up my digital life (facebook, computer files, papers for class, photos, dropbox, other dropbox, google drive, etc.). Next month is dedicated to fixing all these tiny broken things around me like how two of our cabinets are missing screws so the doors don't shut well and how the tupperware is basically a booby-trap and how the pots and pans and their lids are having some sort of cookware orgy in our cabinet. I'm also working on making my patio an oasis where I can ignore such things from time to time. That will be nice. The pots and pans are so noisy.

Anyway, I had this idea of documenting all my stresses for a while, but that seemed like the worst idea ever. I knew the list would be so long and the solutions to these stresses were all tasks I had been avoiding for forever (looking at you, Mr. Your-Device-Needs-Updating). But, I finally gave in one night and it wasn't that terrible. It felt nice to see exactly what was bothering me. And then it all seemed kind of manageable. They seemed to cluster themselves: digital life, closet-of-doom, little repairs, too-many-things. Giving the stresses solutions also helped me imagine how much better life could be. Tiny frustrations add up, you know? And if I have to fight with that cabinet every morning for the rest of my life, I'm going to Hulk smash it. The tiny things add up. I don't expect type of look-your-stress-in-the-eyes-and-squish-it tactic will work for everyone, but I"m cautiously optimistic for myself. I'll keep you posted.

Oh, and in case you wanted to see the list, here it is in all it's blunt honesty:

Things causing me stress:

My digital life: {MARCH}
Why aren’t all my pictures in one place
label events in iphoto
Why don’t I use my iPad?
need to update and sync with new dropbox
How should I organize the papers I read for class?
What can google drive do? (Pictures?)
Clean up desktop/drive/thumb drive folders (Yikes)

Why don’t any of our cabinets have the right screws? {APRIL}

Why is walking into our closet like walking into the hell mouth? {MAY}
Need uniform boxes from ikea to make it seem cleaner
Too many little trinket boxes. Need one big box.

Why are the kitchen cabinets such a wreck? {APRIL}
pots and pans need help
need to straighten all cabinets
tupperware needs permanent solution

Why do we have so many guitars? {JUNE}

Why is there so much shit shoved under the bed? {JUNE}
Croquette?? We have played that once.
Maybe all that stuff can go in the closet once we purge some stuff?

What is with all the aloe plants? They need to go outside our something {MAY}

Why is our porch uninhabitable? {EARLY APRIL}
Need to throw away rotting chairs, shoes, and potting soil
cover car supplies with outdoor table cloth (brilliant)
buy a hammock stand (ikea: $70)

Lets talk about the book cases. They could be a little neater. And maybe we don’t need all of them.. or maybe we need more. Undecided. {JULY}

Why do I hate my desk? {AUGUST}
not minimalist enough (too much clutter)
scared to open the drawers
need a new way to organize crafts