The more things change, the more they stay the same.
unknown author
It feels pretty good to have the pod unloading done. The new normal for the garage is going to get old quickly though. I’ve got to start moving some of the new stuff into place AND start minimizing stuff that is no longer needed.
It’s a good thing we got all that prep work done earlier when there was lots of room in the garage to move around… haha! This seems like a good milestone moment and the outdoor storage shed delivery is supposed to take a few weeks… so we have time for a long weekend getaway!
Don’t get me wrong – it IS a ‘getaway’ and NOT a ‘runaway’ from all the stuff. Sometimes we need a little break to step back and look at things with a fresh perspective!
Remember a few weeks ago we talked about the value of rewarding yourself to keep momentum and make progress in your system and toward your goals? Well, that’s what I’m going to use the long weekend getaway as… it’s a reward for getting to this point in the minimax process.
But before we leave it would be good to get an item or two in place and keep the momentum of staging, sorting, minimizing to maximize our space in the house. Some minimalist types make a game of throwing stuff away – but we can make a game of optimizing our stuff!
playing the minimax storage shuffle game
Remember that small number game where you move the numbers or letters around to put them in order? It only has one open spot so you have to shuffle all the numbers around strategically using that single space. I loved that game as a kid!
That’s what we do with our minimax game too. When we stage stuff, we are strategically leaving open a few spots in the house, room, or whatever space we are working with. The staging area is where we can move items temporarily while we make room somewhere else for the item to ‘live’ permanently.
So before we go on our trip, I want to make a little progress with some of the stuff in the garage that is most visible and takes up the most space. This will keep the momentum with the minimalist phase of my minimax system. It’s like getting well water from a classic hand pump… priming the pump to get it flowing is a lot of work so you want to keep it flowing!
Ideally, the items I move at first can do double duty as a storage space too… like a desk with drawers, or a bookshelf. Fortunately, I happen to have both those items in my staging area! What a happy coincidence!
small steps for big results
Since I have a few days before the long weekend starts, there is plenty of time for a small task like this. It will be an easy one and it will make a big visual impact on the staging area. Not only will it be good to clear some space in the garage, but I’ll be able to start using the desk and the bookshelves in my office!
My first task was to work on the space in my office to rearrange the old desk and shelves I am using and make room for the new furniture. Moving the bookshelves was the first step and was pretty easy to do – modular shelves are such a great invention!
Remember… the key first step to minimax systems is analyzing available space we have. When we put stuff into a space, it needs to be the right place for maximizing… a little tweak to fine tune is natural, but we want to move on to other things…
Then I had to move the boxes on the new desk so I could take all the desk parts downstairs for setup. It’s also a chance to clean and polish the wood while it is unassembled – in Colorado it’s really dry so this is a good thing to do if you want your furniture to last.
Getting that furniture out of the garage feed up another open spot in the staging area. Progress!
We already have some modular bookshelves in the office my wife and I share. These were from her father and any open space in them have been a battleground for storage wars over the years… I was able to consolidate those modular shelves for my wife to use and she was very happy to have the space for her books alone – plus some display shelves for her hand-made quilts in the guest bedroom. That freed up a lot of space in the office to accommodate the new bookshelves from my dad.
Once I had the new bookshelf in place it was a pretty simple matter to move the old desk over to make room for the new desk from the garage. I had planned out a way to try using both desks for the added work space… I will be doing some of my writing on the old desk and computer tinkering on the new desk in the corner.
While that corner was opened up I took the opportunity to really clean the area well – how often to you get a chance to vacuum behind and under a desk? That’s where a lot of dust and allergens can lurk if you don’t take care of it periodically.
The office was really starting to shape up. All the books were off the floor and in their new bookshelf and the new location for the desk was ready to go.
putting it all together
It took a while to set up the ‘new’ desk due to its modular design from the 1920s. It’s a great desk – solid oak construction with many innovative features from a century ago… a real family heirloom… at least I consider it a family heirloom. Once you see the pictures you may question my sanity again!
All those dings and spots have memories from 100 years of use, adaptation, and modification by the DIY-er who treasured it. This item was saved because it still has utility beyond the sentimental value. Those drawer pillars on the sides are monstrous and the drawers go all the way back to the wall – a terrific storage solution for a work desk! The fact this old desk is still around is a testament to the American innovation that built our country and reminds me to keep the faith as life goes on.
It only took me an hour or so after work one evening to set up and install the new desk in the corner. The new desk configuration for my work space is already more productive. Sitting on my spinning office chair I can move between multiple tasks easily to get more work done.
If this doesn’t work out in the long run it’s not a loss. I can always minimize the old desk using the same minimax system.
This is the value of systems over goals. If your goal is to get organized, you have to keep resetting it every time something in your environment changes. With a system for organization you can experiment and see if something works better than your original goal. If it does – bonus! If not – you still win because you tested a new solution out and learned from it.
Learning like this spurs your creativity for the next step to maximize your stuff.