Declutter Strategy Meeting, August 2017

Share your decluttering activities and ideas.
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Harriet
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Declutter Strategy Meeting, August 2017

Postby Harriet » Tue Aug 01, 2017 3:35 pm

In our strategy meeting... :D a little Old Business. Do ya'll remember we used to talk about Feng Shui a lot on our boards. The concept that "stuck" with me was a number... 27. There is a Chinese proverb that says: "If you want change in your life, move 27 things." That proverb had been adopted/adapted by declutterers many years back, to "Declutter 27 Things", but of course what we're really talking about here is not moving any particular thing or even decluttering it if that's not what's needed.

We really mean: "Make 27 Decisions." And I used to do that a lot. Something about the exact number - big enough to make a difference but small enough to make me believe it's achievable without making me crazy. I could pick something up and make a decision, and that's what the house really needed. Or, I could pull my hand back and not choose THAT thing, if I absolutely couldn't decide. :? But either way, I had to address a lot of items.

Last Saturday, dd18 and I were working through the house and got to the front rooms, where for some reason it really did look pretty rough. Lots had been going on - Grandchildren, grandchildren's dog, projects, projects that needed to be excavated from under other projects, etc. - you know how it is. I told dd I'd make 27 decisions if she would, but she'd never heard of such a thing. I modeled it for her, with decisions ranging from tossing one item fast, to clutching one to my heart ( :!: ) and rushing away to file it before it got lost again. :oops: She did it, too, much slower and with a look that said, " my mother may be nuts".

But, long story short, a little Old Business from our long-ago conversations on these boards was a good TIP that propelled us forward and got something DONE, and I decided I wanted to tell you all about it.

What old tip that you learned here has "stuck with you" and helped you when you were burned out on decluttering, or just needed a new direction? Are you using an idea :idea: that we may remember? We've been blessed with a wealth of information from very bright women for a long time!

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DeeClutter
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Re: Declutter Strategy Meeting, August 2017

Postby DeeClutter » Fri Aug 04, 2017 7:34 pm

Think I've been doing exactly that, Harriet. I have a stack of books I cleaned off the bookcase from our living room area. Now need to get at least as many off the bookcase in our bedroom. These I'm packing to take south -some to read, some to take to our church library. Guess I'll strive for 27 books. That definitely will make a difference.

Editing at 8:50pm. Well, didn't get to 27 but I made a sizeable dent in the books here. Some cook books I brought out to put by my computer to copy some recipes and get rid of the books -either give them away here or take to G oodwill. There's some I just simply want to keep -but not sure about whether I want them here or in FL. I really do need to USE the ones I have. Sometimes when I see a cookbook I buy it like a 'good read'. But getting around to actually use it????? Not so much.
Begun is half done -SO! JUST BEGIN!!

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Nancy
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Re: Declutter Strategy Meeting, August 2017

Postby Nancy » Fri Aug 04, 2017 10:50 pm

3-5 min. card has made a big difference for me lately. I can stand to be on my leg for three to five min. long enough to sort a stack if books, or take out the trash, or sweep one small area, or load the dishes in obe aink, or scrub one sink. U get the idea. The house is tolerable bc of this technique!

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Re: Declutter Strategy Meeting, August 2017

Postby BookSaver » Wed Aug 16, 2017 8:59 am

Laundry Room and Kitchen

I've done a major declutter project in the laundry room to get ready for a new washer and dryer.

The old machines were well over 25 years old, maybe closer to 30 years. We moved them from our first house to this one in 1993. They were installed in the "laundry room" which is only the size of a walk-in closet and is in the basement. They have not been moved since 1993, so maybe you can imagine the amount of clutter that accumulated on and around them in so many years, even in such a small room.

Outside of the wall cabinet that we use as our linen cupboard, the only things left in that room are needed for doing laundry and general cleaning. It feels good to see so much empty space. 8-)

I'll declutter the linen cupboard after the new machines are here and I get caught up on the laundry.

DH did a bunch of decluttering in his bathroom and mancave, too, to clear the way for the new machines to be delivered and installed. I'm afraid that he did more consolidating and moving stuff to another room in the basement rather than permanently getting rid of things. Nevertheless, I'm giving him a lot of credit for the effort.

In the past month I've also been fighting my nemesis, PAPER! I've been sorting through mountains of mail, recipe clippings, books, magazines and newspapers, etc. in the kitchen. Once I picked up a piece of paper, it either went into the recycle bin or to my office for further processing.

My goal is to get in the habit of putting all paper in my office instead of letting it pile up in the kitchen.

A big issue is that the light is a lot brighter in the kitchen so that's where I do more reading. I've also used cooking time as reading time. Solutions I'm trying: Added another lamp into my office for task lighting where I need it. Took the advice of my eye doctor and bought reading glasses. I've started using cooking time as cleaning time rather than reading; for example, it has become easier to do mini 2- to 5-minute jobs in the kitchen while waiting for meat to brown or rice to cook.

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Harmony
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Re: Declutter Strategy Meeting, August 2017

Postby Harmony » Fri Aug 18, 2017 12:01 pm

When DGS was here I went through my kitchen to see what I had duplicates of that I could give him. Surprised that I found almost nothing. I did find too many corn ear holders and gave him a baggie of them. I had a whole set of Libby glassware, and I had maybe 6 or so in one cabinet and another was full of them. In 10 years I haven't used any of the ones in the spare cabinet. So I gave him 4 large ones. I had 3 J ohn D eere glasses that I've never used and gave him those too. I had a small dish that would make a good spoon holder. Also a nice B C rocker microwave cookbook I'd bought but never used. That went back with him too.

I had a little wall clock (battery) that I'd hung on the laundry room wall...totally unneeded and unused. It kept falling off the wall and I gave up putting it back up. He said he'd use that too.

I must be cleaned out pretty nicely around here. I had no extra furniture, lamps, linens, towels to spare.

BWTG Booksaver. Isn't it nice to get a space like that cleared out!

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Re: Declutter Strategy Meeting, August 2017

Postby blessedw2 » Thu Aug 24, 2017 1:18 pm

wishing you all a lovely clutter free day
it is always a joy to be here with you!

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Nancy
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Re: Declutter Strategy Meeting, August 2017

Postby Nancy » Thu Aug 24, 2017 5:35 pm

Had a met w me and yook some books to drop off at the little free library on my way to town. Yea for success!


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