August's Dynamic Declutter, 2014

Share your decluttering activities and ideas.
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FelineFriend
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Re: August's Dynamic Declutter, 2014

Postby FelineFriend » Tue Aug 19, 2014 6:32 pm

My desk remains uncluttered, I'm very happy with it, and I will work as hard as I can, to keep it this way.

If I get out a coaster, to drink my coffee, for instance, when I'm done with the coffee, the coaster goes back in the drawer.

Whenever I get anything out of a desk drawer, for any reason, when I'm done with it, it goes back into the drawers. I love the clean, sleek, uncluttered and clean, orderly look. It makes me feel less cluttered in my mind and I have more energy with more creativity thoughts coming to mind about routine things, be it writing, crochet, letters to write or housework to do. :mrgreen:
"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." ~ Arthur Ashe

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Re: August's Dynamic Declutter, 2014

Postby FelineFriend » Fri Aug 22, 2014 9:16 pm

I dumped the trash from all the waste baskets, too.

:mrgreen: I added an angel holding a dove to my desk top in my small office today, from The Dollar Tree. My desk surface remains orderly. I have 2 books, red ones, in 1 stack with a red-patterned Kleenex box on top of the books with a red plastic desk cat calendar in front of the books/Kleenex in 1 corner of the back left-hand desk.

On the right-hand corner of my desk is an antique vase with a pretty summery silk flowers bouquet dfriends/neighbors made us for a house-warming gift. (We moved into our new home on 8/21/04!) We've been here 10 years, exactly! :!: :P Also, in front of the bouquet is my digital clock/calendar/thermometer with a mug of pens/pencils, a decorative black and white handled pen inside a silver pen holder with a snowman figurine, to remind me that I'm "supposed" to be doing my Christmas crochet! LOL! My timer and 1 ink pen is to the left of my laptop and my Nook Color is behind my laptop.

I just decluttered a desk drawer of 1 AARP Bulletin, 4 receipts printed off the Internet for orders, which I've already received. So why was I hanging onto the out-dated receipts? :?: :oops: :o Anyway, I vow to continue to keep my desk tidy, because it's my "shiny sink" in the office and order begets order. If we make a "shiny sink" in every room, order follows. Such as, a king-sized bed or dresser in a master bedroom could be the "shiny sink." :idea: It's nice to get order to every room. My dining room table remains beautiful with nice place mats, a large hand-blown vase of silk sunflowers, a sea shell, etc... I make sure that my dining room table remains beautiful, so it's a welcome to us as we come into the great room area, which entails the kitchen, dining room, and great room, all together, without dividing walls. It's open and spacious, so as it remains decluttered, it's contagious and follows suit into other rooms as well. :idea: :mrgreen:
"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." ~ Arthur Ashe

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Re: August's Dynamic Declutter, 2014

Postby FelineFriend » Sun Aug 24, 2014 4:40 pm

I decluttered my end table in the great room. I put magazines on the back side end, where it's by my chair, so it's not viewed easily from the great room-kitchen area. I have 1 journal, from Jan. 2006, to read. It's decorative with a felt embroidered cover of a snowman, from his waist on up, his carrot nose and a black hat. When I read through the journal, I'll declutter out any pages (using an Exacto knife), if I've gone into an unkind rant about anybody. I want to save this particular journal, because of the cover. Also, I'm gleaning story ideas from it.

I put 3 books, from my end table, into the small office, on a rolling cart, out of the way. I put 2 books in the bunny room on the coffee table. The bed's made, the bathroom counter's tidy, the dining room table is tidy and so is the eating bar. I will work on de-cluttering my laundry basket today, mostly towels, to wash up.

I read a FlyLady Testifly. It was about magazine clutter. The woman who wrote it has ADHD. She said she gets a weekly magazine, which adds up magazine clutter quickly. She decided to only have 2 current magazines on her end table, to discard the rest, whether she's read them or not. :o

I have a "problem" with magazines. I'm a writer. I'm inside magazines, when my published stories are in them, soI save them, naturally. Also, I get magazine sample issues to study for work, which is just part of my job. I can't very well be throwing out new magazines, wasting money, when it's my job to study magazines for work. I believe my system, of keeping magazines where they are, working on reading them, and then putting them into the 2 offices or bunny room and also into magazine organizers, is a good idea. :idea: I do see a problem though. :roll: I have several "Paper Crafts," magazines, I'm keeping for rubber stamped card ideas. They're in my small office. I've decided to put them on the bunny room desk, where I do paper crafting projects, out of my office, which is no longer a craft room. It's a writer's office. After I finish with the craft magazines, I can get rid of them OR cut out card ideas with an exacto knife and put them into a file, for safe-keeping. I don't need the full magazine, can keep certain ideas, which appeal to me me, to help keep magazine clutter down. :idea: :mrgreen:
"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." ~ Arthur Ashe

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Nancy
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Re: August's Dynamic Declutter, 2014

Postby Nancy » Sun Aug 24, 2014 5:56 pm

I just look at the pics in the birds and blooms mags I got fordc free at the lib. Not much time to read so I gave em to the gal I walk with. I dropped off a small box to the thrift shop Fri.?

Now to deal with the bucket of plums.

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Re: August's Dynamic Declutter, 2014

Postby FelineFriend » Sun Aug 24, 2014 10:56 pm

Is there such a thing as plum butter you can make from the plums, Nancy? I've heard of plum pudding before, but I think it's an English dish at Christmastime and has some rather unusual ingredients in it. Perhaps a plum pie would be good. :?: Dmom and our family, growing up, just ate plums plain. I can't recall Dmom making anything else from plums. I just can't remember.

At http://www.allrecipes.com , they have a Search for recipes. :idea: In fact, you can even put in your ingredients there and up comes recipes! :idea: Also, All Recipes website is based in SEATTLE! :!: :P So they're local WA gals, who started it and now look at them. 8-)
"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." ~ Arthur Ashe

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Re: August's Dynamic Declutter, 2014

Postby Nancy » Sun Aug 24, 2014 11:14 pm

Mom used to make plum butter. But I am not going to be able to do it as dgd is alergic to cinnamon so cannot cook with it.

I have mixed them I with peaches and necterines and made a yummy crisp! One year I sold plums. Another yr. Donated them to the thrift shop. Last yr. I froze them and the hens loved them in the winter.

Some will go in a couple of gift baskets with a dish cloth on the bottom.

I love the all recipes web site did not know they were from Seattle!

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Re: August's Dynamic Declutter, 2014

Postby FelineFriend » Tue Aug 26, 2014 4:44 pm

Cinnamon makes me ill, too. :( Your ideas for your plums sound like super ones!

I dumped trash from 2 bathrooms. I'll be decluttering mail and groceries off the kitchen's eating bar counter when DH returns from town later this afternoon. :idea:
"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." ~ Arthur Ashe

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Re: August's Dynamic Declutter, 2014

Postby FelineFriend » Thu Aug 28, 2014 12:00 am

:D I decluttered my end table and end table basket. :!: - AGAIN! :lol:
AND, the eating bar and kitchen counters, except for a few dishes, which need to go into the DW. :idea:
The dining room table's decluttered, except for DH's directions and address to a funeral on 9/13/14.

I called the library. I asked if I could donate magazines, if my address and name were not on them. The librarian said they have a magazine trade-in bin, where people exchange magazines back and forth. I have several "Paper Craft" magazines, crochet magazines with projects I either cannot do or don't want to do. I have some "Writer's Digest" magazines. I have some scrapbooking magazines. I'll keep the magazines that I have short stories, prayers, poems, fiction and non-fiction in though. :idea: :mrgreen: I was very happy they'll be able to use my old magazines. Now I want to search through my magazines, baskets, shelves, and bless others with my magazines, when I go pick up my library book. I have time, because my book's not in yet and might not be for several days. :( But it's a good thing, because it gives me much more time to collect my magazines.

I have a question: :?: :?: :?: :?: :?: How do you all work on crochet or knitting or quilting or sewing, etc... in the living room or great room area, without cluttering it up? :?: I seem to have 1 spot around my great room chair/end table on the floor, where my yarn totes are and THEN, at the other side of the room, at the end of the sectional sofa, is my recliner. The sofa has a large wide arm, I put cones of yarn on a clipboard on it, it's terrible-looking, is clutter, to me, but I want my project out, to have as a pick-up project until it's done. I suppose I could put everything away into 1 tote on the floor next to my recliner, when I'm not in the midst of the actual crochet process. :idea: :?: It's just so hard to be creative and keep from being "messy". HELP! Does anyone else have this problem? :?:
"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." ~ Arthur Ashe

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Re: August's Dynamic Declutter, 2014

Postby FelineFriend » Thu Aug 28, 2014 5:25 pm

:D I hung up my bedroom clothes, cleared off the eating bar from sorting mail today, and kept my end table nice and tidy, too. :mrgreen:
"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." ~ Arthur Ashe

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Re: August's Dynamic Declutter, 2014

Postby FelineFriend » Fri Aug 29, 2014 12:53 pm

I have one dozen magazines ready to donate to the library. They are "Paper Crafts," and "Memory Scrapbooking Makers" magazines. :mrgreen:
"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." ~ Arthur Ashe


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