2019-01-08 02:10:47
===================

Recently my wife and I have been watching Tidying Up on Netflix, about the
[KonMari][1] method of tidying up.

One of the things that she talks about is visualizing what you want your
future to look like when you're decluttering your space. The clearer the
better.

---

My garage is kind of exploded. There's a huge mass of all kinds of things all
over the place. I have a couple of sets of golf clubs over by the treadmill
that I rescued from somone's trash. Next to that are a couple of old doors. In
front of that is the remains of an old washing machine that's been sitting
there for a couple of years. Several totes are nearby. In the middle I've got
several more totes, my motorcycle that probably needs a tune up in addition to
wheels put on, my table saw that has several other power tools on top of that,
and then a bunch of totes full of old things and a big stack of old drawers
that have some tools in it.

I've organized parts of my garage, though. I have some shelves with mostly
organized totes on it. I have a giant shelf in the middle of the garage with a
bunch of shoebox totes that are actually well organized.

But that's it. Everything else is just kind of flopped where I had space for
it.

---

Several months ago I realized that I had a problem. I think it may have been
brought on by my travelilng for work. I was able to pack most of the things I
cared about in my 31(?) liter backpack. I got my computer, several changes of
clothing, headphones, camera, and keyboard. That was sufficient for most of my
needs.

All the rest of the gaming systems and stacks of computers, etc. etc. I didn't
really need.


The thing that I realized, though, was that I *do* enjoy making things. It's a
lot of fun. But my problem was that I was just bringing new projects on
without finishing old projects - typically because I didn't have the money to
finish them.


Except I did. Because I was spending money at garage sales brining new
projects on, and wasn't that silly? Instead of spending money on new projects,
why don't I just spend that money on my *existing* projects. So I created a
"Most Wanted" board, with the various projects that I have, so I could
remember the things that I actually wanted to get and work on. Which kind of
worked! I started finishing some of my projects!


But I still have so much junk all a clutter.

---

What do I want my life to look like, going forward?


I want to have a neat and tidy place to do my main programming work - a couple
of fiddly toys on my desk that I can fidget with while I'm waiting for things
to load, or talking to people, or whatever.

I want to have enough work space that when I want to work on a project I can
pull it out, and do work to complete it - or if not, put the project back
until I have time/desire/parts. I want to have fun fiddly bits so that when my
kids want to build something or another they can come and pick out parts and
fool around with them and experiement and blow stuff up and set things on fire
and figure out what works and what doesn't.

I want to have my things nice and organized so when I want to build a thing or
do a craft I have all my supplies there and available and all I have to do is
grab them and do my project.

I want to have space for writing and studying so that I can write letters and
things to people that I care about. Or read physical or digital material (or a
combination of those things).

I want to have space to play video games with family and friends - I have a
fairly large collection of consoles, but they're just taking up space instead
of being enjoyed and played with.

I can imagine coming out in the morning before work, and doing some letter
writing. Then I'd put my finished letters either in the mail or somewhere to
wait for delivery. Then I would move to my desk and start working - spending
most of the day there. When I was finished with work, I would get up and start
working on some project with my family - maybe we're building something or
maybe I'm teaching them how to make something. Or maybe my wife has something
that's broken that she'd like me to fix. I'd take the thing apart and figure
out what's wrong, fix it, and then put it back together. Or maybe I would see
that I don't have the right part to fix it, so I'd put it in a bin and on a
shelf or somewhere and then order the part. When the part came in the next
week, once I finished working I'd be able to pull out the project, fix it, and
then return it to its rightful place in the home.

Maybe the weather is nice, so I'd be able to take my motorcycle out for a
drive. Or one of th ekids needs their tire aired up so I'd pull out the hose
and fill their tire with air and we'd go on a bike ride.

Or perhaps we get an old toy that's covered with rust so we sandblast it and
then paint it - at least partially driven by air.

---

These are some of the things that I'd love to be able to do, but my space is
very much not tidy right now. I need to do a lot of work to fix that.

~wangofett

[1]: https://konmari.com/