Survey #253—Full Response from Ginger

← Go back

Which of the following statements describe your living situation with respect to a dining room and dining-room furniture?
  • My home doesn’t include a formal dining room.
  • My home includes a dining area as part of the kitchen.
Please complete the following statement: “Members of my household and I eat most of our meals _____.”There’s just the 2 of us. We rarely eat at the same time or even the same exact meals. Hubby eats in his recliner in front of his TV. I eat at the kitchen table.
Please complete the following statement: “When I want to entertain guests for a meal, we usually eat _____.”Anywhere we can find space. Usually around the kitchen table. Or, with plates in our laps in living areas. Or, with a bigger crowd - we’ve set up tables & chairs in our super-sized garage. There’s a refrigerator, microwave and TV in the garage.
What feelings or memories—positive, negative, or in-between—does the phrase “dining room” evoke for you? How have your attitudes, beliefs, or practices around dining and entertaining changed over time? What impact, if any, do dining and entertaining have on the clutter in your space?▪️Nothing but positive. I enjoyed having a formal dining room in my childhood home. Parents and 8 kids. I have special memories of family dinners there. As an adult - none of my 4 homes had a formal dining room.
▪️I don’t think my attitudes, beliefs or practices have changed. I never was the best hostess and I’m still not. I’m not a cook. I get stressed having to cook for anyone other than myself & hubby. Fortunately, in my family - I never have to do these things alone. Someone always pitches in. This year is our year to host Thanksgiving & Christmas. I’m planning to have it at my niece’s home. I’ll need to prepare meats and dressing. The others will bring other items needed.
▪️The only impact I’ve experienced has been too many items we don’t use. Baking trays. Serving trays. Those are about to be decluttered. Our neighbors do a lot of entertaining. I’ll offer it to them. If they take it - we could always borrow some if we needed it.
Future topics

▪️Really loving these topics. The tittle this week of “Assess Yourself” has become a catalyst for getting me started again on organizing projects.
▪️I was a planner in my career of 34 years. I tend to think in action steps. So, I’ve done an assessment of what it would take to completely declutter & organize our whole home - again.
▪️My mindset has shifted and I’m so ready to make life simpler. We’re planning to paint, replace floors and get new furniture this year. I want less and simpler furniture. Getting rid of living room tables, a bedroom dresser, change bedside tables to each having 1 drawer instead of 3. So, I’ll need to declutter and relocate items in anticipation of having less drawer space.
▪️My suggestion for a future topic - is to have a follow-up on this tittle to ask for a progress report with a questionnaire to discuss what we experienced and learned. Did we have a timeline or deadline & did we meet it? What did we struggle with? What did we like about it? What’s next for us in organizing our homes?

Custom Content

Be the first to comment!

Comment on this survey response

Please use the form below to share a comment on this survey response. We ask that you keep your comments courteous and respectful. Polite disagreement is fine, but abusive language won’t be tolerated. Your comment will be held briefly for moderation after submission.

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Name*