May, 2023 Clutter Control - Fresh as a Daisy

[Harriet]

There is a freshening quality to decluttering. It's not just that visually we see areas becoming clearer, although that's true.

Easier-to-clean space without lots of varying, chaotic surfaces will hold fewer offending odors and offer fewer hiding places for pests or bacteria. Our families can breathe freely. If there is enough space to property store items we care about, they will be out of the way of floating dust and fading light. We are less likely to procrastinate (or despair?) about cleaning if our surfaces are not obscured by too much stuff.

This is especially good for our sleeping areas.

"Get rid of the clutter! Clutter collects dust, and by now you know that it also collects dust mites. Think about removing (or at least reducing) knickknacks, unnecessary objects, piles of books, magazines and newspapers, as well as piles of clothes from your bedroom." - Dr. Edward F. Group, Your Family's Health

How will you be decluttering your Fresh as a Daisy ❀ surroundings this month?

[Nancy]

I have two boxes and a book of things that are going a neighbor's friend will take them.
I put some empty boxes out in the trash!

[Harmony]

A success today due to the previous de-cluttering I've done in my kitchen. I needed to clean out and rearrange my vitamin Rx drawer. Several of the bottles I have are pretty large and won't stand up so take a bit of space. After trying a bunch of ways to reorganize, I decided I needed to use a different drawer that is wider. That drawer held some odds and ends we're currently not using very much. I was able to move stuff around, get rid of some, and use a cabinet shelf. So, now that wider drawer was available for me to use and is not stuffed full. Someday I may get rid of some other things I was keeping and moved. I was also able to get something off the countertop.

So, my advice is to keep at it, and one day it might surprise you how much easier things have become.

[Nancy]

Did a pitch and toss got some stuff off the counters and out of the kitchen last nite.
Today I did a sort of seasonal clothes, tossed some, others are moved out of my bed room and in suitcases or in the dresser I emptied out last month. My bedroom looks a lot better without so much stuff stacked around! Yea for some progress.

Three dresses loose fitting I made I am going to give to a gal that is expecting.

[Nancy]

Got a plastic basked of dog's stuff that was in the pantry emptied out.
Put the basket in the plant cage.
Weeded the next bed and got those in a bucket.
Progress is being made bit by bit.
Getting the clothes I do not luv & do not fit right out as well.

[Harmony]

I have 2 walk-in closets in the master bedroom. DH's is now cleaned out more. Every time he went for some operation or procedure he came home with foam pads, slings, apparatus-type stuff, breathing machines, vests, etc. etc. and I went through all of those things which I had neatly in bags up on the shelves... and I only kept a couple small bags of things we have a somewhat maybe chance of ever needing again, the rest is out for the pickup. 3 big bags of stuff and 1 smaller one. 1 Box flattened for recycle. Then I went through a big stack of his work clothes that no longer fit. I've replaced all his work clothes with the next size. A lot of the smaller ones thrown out, not good enough to donate...and only kept a few that were sorta decent.

I looked at my bag of picture frames. I've done this 3 or 4 times. Every time I do it I put more in the donation bin. Getting down through the layers. As months and years go by and those things weren't used, I managed to give up some. I like not having a lot of those picture frames sitting around; easier to dust. I have a nice album where I put those nice pictures. The kids no longer give us pictures like they used to. Everybody has them on their phones. When we're gone someday who's going to want all those pictures? Nobody I know!

[Harriet]

There have definitely had to be NOT-so-fresh-as-a-daisy patrols here lately! Kitchen and bathroom and mud room have had their moments!

My kitchen declutters had been falling short, and I decided to use P and P's trick of having 3x5 cards that tell what storage spaces have in them. That way, I could use some really hard-to-access space better. For instance, over our fridge there is a cabinet we just don't use because it's so hard to access. Have to get a stool and really needs 2 people - someone to pass to, because there's no counter beside you when you're up there. But there's no reason to let it go to waste - we just need to plan what's there. The same goes for under-cabinet space. The kitchen is cramped, so it's hard to look/reach all the way to the back, but that's okay if we plan it well and have a quick look at a 3x5 to tell us what's where.

"small" appliances don't seem very small when there's no counter space for them - they need to be in cabinets.

I'll consider some pull-out cabinet storage helps, too, but I'm not sure that's going to do what's needed.

[Nancy]

I got the pile out front of branches and seeds in the can for trash pick up at the curb yea for that!