July Clutter Control, 2015

Share your decluttering activities and ideas.
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Harriet
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July Clutter Control, 2015

Postby Harriet » Tue Jun 30, 2015 10:04 am

Here in this monthly thread, we encourage each other to commit to at least 15 minutes of clutter control time per day, OR the equivalent on other schedules. We hope you'll join us. Clear surfaces, organized cubbies and lovely living spaces are available to us with just the commitment to manageable declutter appointments.

For July we're also having a 30-Day Declutter Challenge, going along with this free printable check-off chart that Elizabeth found for us.

Might be fun to shake things up a bit, from whatever our usual methods may be, to tackle
CoMpLePteLy RaNdOm decluttering spots together, one for each of 30 days! :D
(Maybe random discussion on the 31st, since this month has 31 days!!)

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Harriet
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Re: July Clutter Control, 2015

Postby Harriet » Tue Jun 30, 2015 10:23 am

For decluttering ahead of our July Focus Cleaning :
week of
June 29 - closets (cleaning office)
July 06 - laundry (cleaning closets)
July 13 - storage (cleaning in laundry)
July 20 - outdoors (cleaning in storage)
July 27 - kitchen (cleaning outdoors)

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Ramblinrose
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Re: July Clutter Control, 2015

Postby Ramblinrose » Tue Jun 30, 2015 1:07 pm

Harriet...Yesterday I printed off the 30 day challenge .

I worked around the house..and I can cross these off the list.

* Clothes Went through my closet and discarded plenty
* Underwear Drawer See above
* Shoes See above
* Dresser Drawers See above

I'll be gone for two weeks during July, but will use the list to keep me on track. Many of the chores listed on the list have been done in the past 3 weeks so I shouldn't have any problems completing the challenge.
Live Boldly, Take Risks, No Regrets...Jilliam Michaels

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Harriet
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Re: July Clutter Control, 2015

Postby Harriet » Tue Jun 30, 2015 6:33 pm

I've been working on kitchen counters to get ready for our challenge.

Looking forward to the fun of a new direction to turn every day in July, and hearing what we all think of the day!

Several will be away from home some of July - yep, Ramblin', sounds like a good plan.

As for me, I printed the check-off chart in black and white and it did fine. I might put it on the fridge, or might put it at my desk area. (Hmmm... ... to have a true decluttering of my fridge, would I start by magneting something new to the outside? Maybe not! )

I do think I'll use my re-purposed small stickers for "checking off" as I've done on cards before. Just a little extra visual incentive to fill in all the spaces.

As far as time per day, anything goes and I wouldn't be surprised to see us feeling differently about it every day. One person might need twice as many shoes as another person, for instance, so a project like this isn't one-size-fits-all.

BookSaver says she will be specific and give 15 minutes per day.

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Re: July Clutter Control, 2015

Postby BookSaver » Wed Jul 01, 2015 9:39 am

I had already planned some major declutter projects for the month of July before we started talking about the 30-Day Declutter Challenge. I'll keep to my original plan but, as Harriet mentioned, I will participate in the group project by working 15 minutes in whatever area is listed for the day.

Also pointing out that I will only be decluttering -- NOT cleaning, which is a totally different task!

I did today's challenge, The Fridge, first thing before breakfast because it was easy. Set the timer, sat on a bucket in front of the fridge, and reached waaaaay to the very back of each shelf. I had done a major clean-out not that long ago of both the fridge and freezer, so there weren't too many questionable items to come out this time.

I also took most of the magnets and notes off of the front of the fridge.

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Harmony
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Re: July Clutter Control, 2015

Postby Harmony » Wed Jul 01, 2015 11:18 am

Okay, here I am to join in. I actually enjoy decluttering and organizing so lest y'all think I don't belong here, I'm confessing this:

Since I did my refrigerator pretty good on Sunday, I tackled the other side of my side-by-side, the freezer part. Things I make as big batches of food and I freeze portions for when I don't feel like cooking...get used up timely. But other odds and ends...well, not so much. I found a bag of ice all stuck together and probably tasting funny, so I knocked them apart to tell dh to use for his sodas he takes, it will be good for just cold. I've been putting those packages of gravy in there, the ones that come in the carcass of a turkey. Tried it once and gravy got dark more like beef gravy and salty so I didn't like them...and today tossed 13 packets! A couple mystery meats, freezer burned hoagie buns and I took the turkey carcass out and it's cooking in water to make broth. One little pkg of hamburger thawing to make a hamburger before it's gone for good.

I took 11 lbs of all of this out to the garbage. Sheesh! I did wipe out the bottom - you don't want to know. In my organizing the food I found 8 pkg of bacon. DH buys it when it's on sale. We don't eat bacon except when the dgkids are here.

And in true She fashion, somewhere around here I've lost my check-off list! What's next?

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Harriet
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Re: July Clutter Control, 2015

Postby Harriet » Wed Jul 01, 2015 12:58 pm

:lol: Harmony! I'll have you know that when I went to find mine I saw it right away! (peeking out from under a note, my fitness journal, a pen and one of the cordless phones, but that doesn't matter - it was RIGHT THERE! it had another hour or two before I would have lost sight of it.)

Oh, the pain of declutter decsions! Not the things inside or even the magnets, but the darling crayon drawings! I took all down so my fridge is nekkid except for the most helpful magnets and a gift potholder that I think brightens up the kitchen. My note-pad holder is empty except for the note pad (which reminds me I should put a pen back into the pen part). Hidden on the non-visible side of the fridge, a heavy-duty magnet still holds my reacher/grabber thingie, but only I know that.

Agreed. Cleaning is a different task. I think sometimes we avoid an area and let it get worse because we have an all-or-nothing mentality.

Off to find that pen and my sticker for the day!

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Sunny
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Re: July Clutter Control, 2015

Postby Sunny » Wed Jul 01, 2015 2:02 pm

Okay, Day 1 Declutter Challenge is done. There really wasn't much cooked food/left-overs to discard as either dh or I clean out fridge on Fridays while doing supper dishes. Trash pick up is early Saturday morning. I did go through the bottles and jars on the door shelves where we keep the condiments, salad dressings etc. and threw away a few outdated/nearly empty containers. I also wiped down the glass shelves and door shelves. Oh, also discarded a stalk of rubbery celery.... :shock:

Now I'm ready for Day 2 -- Pantry!
Start by doing what's necessary, then what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible. --- Francis of Assisi

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Kathryn-in-Canada
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Re: July Clutter Control, 2015

Postby Kathryn-in-Canada » Wed Jul 01, 2015 8:46 pm

Fridge decluttered top to bottom, inside to outside.

Tossed some food from the freezer since the door had been left open overnight a few weeks ago. Refreezing ice cubes, or bread is acceptable, not meat.

The fridge wasn't too bad.

The top wasn't too bad and the outside wasn't great but is now better.

I even vacuumed the coils for the first time since moving in (that's a twice a year chore normally but as I've said, I've been ignoring zone work for almost 2 years now - first because I was packing and then because everything was 'clean' when we moved in.)

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helia
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Re: July Clutter Control, 2015

Postby helia » Thu Jul 02, 2015 8:13 am

Well, in true SHE fashion, I didn't get to this yesterday (Wed.) so I did it first thing this morning. Decluttering our fridge took all of about 3 minutes. LOL! We have a smaller fridge, and with feeding so many people so often, like 7 adults + baby J tonight, tomorrow night, and possibly even more on Saturday, we don't have a lot of space for extra food that we're not going to eat, so it gets decluttered pretty often. There were a couple food items that were past their date and some leftover veggies in the veggie bin were starting to liquefy. I discovered my bottled lemon and lime juices are both past their dates, so I put both items on my groc. list. The outside of our fridge is also not cluttered. Dh does not like having it covered with lots of paper, magnets, etc. So, on the front are: (1) my menu plan for the week - a large square lined post it - on top of last week's menu plan, which is still there to serve as a guide to knowing how old leftovers are (2) a groc. list to be added to when anyone uses the last of anything in the house and (3) trackers of girls' yard work hours for pay.


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