April Appointments for Declutter and Organization, 2013

[Ivy]

I decluttered, cleaned, did washing, for 70 minutes straight and things look so much more organized. I read the E-Book on "Household Simplicity: Practical Minimalism at Work for Your Home," by Faith James. She has a blog, which comes up if you "Google" it. What's on her blog is in her E-Book, too. It's just about decluttering and living with less "stuff".

[BookSaver]

Ivy and Nancy ~ You have both been doing so much work this month in decluttering. Good job!

I am making slow and steady progress.
* Sorted through a large box of misc. sewing supplies, kept very little.
* Found an old stash-n-dash tote bag. Rescued bobby pins & makeup sponges from it. (I'd had to buy more when I couldn't find the bag, that's the danger of stash-n-dash.) The rest of the stash bag was old papers and magazines, which all went to the recycle bin.
* Flipped through 6 fashion magazines bought from the library's sale self for 10 cents each, but found nothing in them to keep. Since they were new issues (April & May), I took them back to the library so they could sell them again.
* Tossed some old makeup from the bathroom drawer.
* Took 2 big black bags of bottles & cans to the store to get back the deposit. Nice to have that space back in the kitchen.
* I have a medium bag of papers to be burned, but the weather has been too rainy to have a fire. It has been sunny today, though. If it stays dry tomorrow, I might burn this little bit. Even if it's windy, the yard is so saturated that there would be no danger.

Continuing the goal that any space that is cleared, stays cleared. Hoping to have at least 1 large block of dejunking time this week.

[BookSaver]

Last night while watching a movie, I sorted through an overflowing file box of misc. "stuff" -- over 10 inches high.
Reduced to less than 2 inches of papers that need further processing, plus 5 Christmas music CDs.
Everything else went either to trash or recycle bin.
That was fun because they were easy decisions.

Actually, most of my dejunking decisions are easy. The problem was never that I couldn't decide. It was that I worked too many years at a job where I frequently had to work double shifts 7 days a week. Everything that was not related to most basic 3Ds was set aside for "later" -- little knowing that "later" would be much later than anticipated. Finally, "later" is now, and every time I empty a bag or box, the whole house feels lighter.

The recycle bin will be really full this week.

Forecast is for storms again today, so cannot burn the confidential papers yet.

[Harmony]

My office closet declutter was a huge success. I'm so pleased to turn around in my seat here and just look at it, all neat and sparse. Quite a few bags went away with the truck today.

A couple weeks ago the county put flyers in our recycle bins about how to put out computer equipment for pickup. We had 2 pieces and did just the way they said but they didn't pick it up. Called the company and their instructions did not match their flyer one bit. So the stuff is still out there and supposedly they'll send somebody out for it. I'm disappointed they don't have their system operating more efficiently, but one way or another this stuff is gone, outa the house!

[Ivy]

Booksaver & Harmony, You're both doing GR8!

We decluttered the eating bar today by putting groceries away.

I'm reading "Less Mess, More Time," by Faith James and she preaches "minimalism". In essence, it's all about decluttering, to have less clutter to have to try to clean over and around, which just doesn't work. She's all for donating items, purging, and blessing others with our "stuff". Once in a college calligraphy class I attended, I heard another calligrapher comment on the work of the students and she announced, "Less is More." How true! You have less stuff and less clutter and you get more Peace of mind, more time with family and friends, and more time to do what you truly were put on this planet to do and that you WANT to do, too. So Less is More. The less you have, the more you've got.

[Nancy]

Thanks Booksaver for saying that!
I worked on h's office yesterday and it looks a LOT better today because he had a box and 3 laundry baskets and baby stuff in there that are now out of that room and they took up a lot of room.

Laundry baskets we are not using can go; the baby stuff is in my office now where I was going to put them anyway glad I did that.

[BookSaver]

Over the past couple of days, I've been flipping through a stack of cooking magazines over 7 inches high. Tore out recipes that looked exceptionally good -- and realistic, with ingredients that I normally have or can easily find. That brought the stack down to a folder about 1/4 inch thick. All else in the recycle bin to go to the curb tonight.

Today I picked up a 3 inch high stack of New Yorker magazines that a friend had given me some time ago. Glanced at the covers, decided I really didn't want to spend any more time with them because they were past issues (I won't say how old) and I have plenty of books and blogs to read. The whole stack went directly into the recycle bin.

Tomorrow I want to get to a very large box of fabric that someone else gave me. I am sincerely hoping that there is nothing in it that appeals to me, so I can put it back in my car and re-gift it.

[Nancy]

I donated 2 stacks of mags. this week.

[Ivy]

Put away bins of yarn and craft bins, in the bunny room and small office. Decluttered and re-decorated in the master bedroom. Switched the main/guest bathroom white rugs, glass angel, glass candle and decorative glass jar of sea shells, put them in the powder room. Then, put blue hand towels, darker colored lighthouses on the counter with blue rugs on the floor of the main/guest bathroom, which grandsons will use while staying here this summer. Am trying to work ahead, so I'm not caught with everything at the last minute. This all took an hour or so.

[Ivy]

I decluttered my purse, but since my appt., I need to run and declutter it again.