Stay-cation

This year I forgot to schedule any summer vacation time off. I remain in saving mode so an elaborate vacation was not in the cards for me. I originally thought that I'd just take several Mondays off and enjoy some nice long weekends throughout the summer. This just never seemed to happen and next thing I knew the end of July was coming on fast. Work has been extremely busy so I decided to take a one week stay-cation. I'm so glad I did.

What am I doing with my precious week off? Well, not much and that's the point.

I'm seeing some movies and having dinners/lunches with friends. I enjoyed a nice sleepover with my niece and nephew and stomped them in Disney Monopoly. That was fun. I've also been reading one of the creepiest books ever called The Little Stranger. The book creeped me out so badly last night that I had to stop reading at midnight to watch some Conan O'Brien just to calm down. I'm also slowly tackling some of my clutter. I picked up a fun new paper shredder and have shredded all kinds of dumb old paperwork. There is something so satisfying about shredding all of those credit card solicitations and other junk mail, ya know?

I've also been slowly going through closets and drawers and clearing out the old junk I don't want, need or use. I've done some research on where and when to recycle Household Hazardous waste and E-Waste. For those in my neck of the woods you'll be happy to know that there will be a HHW/EWaste drop off location in Sierra Madre on August 15th. I've gone through my old medications and cleared out a tons of old Sudafed, Tylenol and other expired meds. I've also started a stack of old electronics to drop off including an old VCR, a DVD player some random remotes that don't seem to have any use.

Is this a glamorous way to spend my time off? No. Is it effective? Absolutely! I can't tell you how much happier I am when I can open a desk drawer and find my stamps or a pen or that tiny thumbdrive. I also love having my bathroom drawers all in order. The linen closet is now a dream. I even invested in some over priced dryer sheets just so I could throw a few used ones in my closets and drawers to keep them smelling extra nice. I haven't hit my primary closet but it will be done soon. I've otherwise made some great progress. I find that putting down my scary book for about 15-20 minutes at a time is all it takes to really make some head way. In fact I just cleaned out the cabinet under my bathroom sink and it took almost no time at all.

As satisfying as all of this clearing out is I don't recommend spending an entire day doing it. That would only annoy you, trust me. I like the small spurts of time approach instead. Turns out I'm not alone in this theory. Have you ever visited Flylady.net? She's an organizational diva who also subscribes to the baby steps way to de-clutter. My favorite tip is her "De-clutter 15 minutes a day" idea. Pick a spot to de-clutter, set a timer for 15 minutes and... go!

So, that's what I've been up to. I'm feeling so much better already!

Now, back to my book before it gets too dark out!