I have cleared an area - about 1 square foot - on my desk (actual desk, not virtual) for my Zentangle box and my pen box. This area is JUST for a ZT in progress! I plan to keep one in progress in the spot all the time. It encourages me to ZT and keeps the space just for ZT. If I don't have a square or ATC in progress in the spot, I will put STUFF there. BAD.
We have a disease in our family called " flat-surface-itis". ANT flat surface is subject to infection! We also have "Pile-itis". And the piles just sit on the flat surfaces for indefinite time spans.
I haven't QUITE got the cure figured out, but some things help. If I give my DH a basket - and designate it for "stuff" he will use it. However - when it gets FULL it tends to breed OVERFLOW. UhHUM.
I point out how EASY having a task basket makes GATHERING (yes, another disease) stuff to be put away. It's the actual PUTTING AWAY that is the problem at this point. Do you think anyone would EVER consider putting objects away to begin with??? My excuse for this is - I'll get it LATER, I'm too busy right now (translation = I'd rather do ___ than take the time to put ___ away). Too easy a habit to fall into.
Yes, we are collectors of STUFF. (Which puts me in mind of
George Carlin's "stuff" bit - very funny guy. He is missed). We outgrow our designated spaces and then pile UP. We (and mostly I mean "I" here) - am terrible about collecting - DH calls it pack-rat-itis - and my Dad was worse! We have so much STUFF there is not enough space to store it. We have garage sales but then we see something "shiny" in the stores and home it comes. (Again reading the "we" as "I").
Since we down-sized our house several years ago, the amount of stuff is less out of necessity, but it creeps up on you. Now, my DH can be just as bad about the diseases. He doesn't collect as much "stuff" but, his piles are awful! It's paper, it's coins, it's more paper. I'm still working on this habit he has of keeping ALL the mail (including envelopes) in piles. He has a designated BOX for his stuff - keys, phone, etc - on a table by the door. However, the WHOLE TABLE (lamp? what lamp? porcelain rose? what rose?) has become PILED. (there's a table?) LOL!
Now, I AM an organized person. As long as there is a spot to put something, it will go there. Even if that is "eventually" - once the "pile" it comes from gets too far out of hand (as in falling over/off).
I must admit I am the worst of us. I love to collect art supplies. Even those things that most people do not consider 'art supplies'. Rusty metal pieces, rusty bottle caps (used in collage/assemblage), old books with no covers (used for text clipping), old tinkertoys, boxes of dominoes (necklace pendants), bag of old eyeglass lenses (thank you optometrist), well, you get the picture. And you can't just throw this stuff out because you never know when you might want to use it in an art piece. I just try to contain it all in my Iris Cart or Alex cart drawers. And fail at the attempt. More about the Studio space later.
I read this thing once and heard it on TV, too - SOMETHING OUT BEFORE SOMETHING IN. I do try, but it doesn't always work! In fact, it hasn't been working AT ALL. Yarn just seems to follow me home all by itself..... At least it's not CATS.
Now I admit - finishing some of these projects would help. More about this later, too. Right now, FALL is coming and I feel the URGE TO PURGE coming on! Time to fill trash cans and boxes to go!
