August, 2023 Clutter Control - Cool the Hot Spots!

[Harriet]

August is a hot, hot month for many of us, and we may be looking for smaller, "light" projects to help us cool down! Try COOLING a hot spot or two and MAINTAINING them at a nice comfortable "temperature" this month.

Hot Spots are the most frustrating surfaces! They are constantly re-cluttering and driving us crazy. They are likely to form RIGHT where we need to have space to work. AND they can be obvious to visitors because a prime space for them is at an entrance. We pass them as we come home with items, and they turn "hot" quickly. Also, bathroom counters are quick to catch clutter, so we may panic (slightly) when visitors have to ask ... ..

Where are your household hot spots and how are they making you lose your cool?

Would using August days to remember to keep a hot spot clear give you a HABIT
that keeps you refreshed every time you look at it?

[Nancy]

I did declutter the shed this past weekend.
Worked on the Patio too
Also kitchen pans are sorted and boxed up ready to leave the property.
One more lower cupboard to do in the kitchen is still left to do as I rotate around the room.
Some one upper done a bit left to do as well.

[Nancy]

Go times to leave the property staged and ready to go. Yea!

[Harmony]

My donation bin (which is pretty big) is almost full. I need to get to the thrift to empty it. Mostly clothes in there. A set of red towels (who needs red anything in their washer to fade all over white clothes?), a few tea towels that I had for a different purpose never done - these are linen ones and whoever thought those were good to pick up water? Today I put 2 pairs of shoes in there after trying them on for the umpteenth time. How many times is that? A lot!

I'm trying to remember who was talking on you tube about saving things for our fantasy selves. Now I can't remember who...there were a couple of them. But I am finally decluttering a project that will never be finished. My eyesight is almost not good enough to do that, and when I tried to get back to it I think I messed up one part and I don't think that is fixable...and I'm finally over the guilt of never finishing this project. That's all I'll say about it... I don't need to hear anybody saying "aw, that's too bad" stuff like that to make me feel bad again. I need to live in the here and now and not be dishonest about what I can do these days.

So, Harriet, you asked who I listen to on You Tube and I'll try to remember them all. My favorite to watch is Shannon Torrens, especially when she works with her DMom, Cathy. Together they are a whole lot of fun to watch. Cathy is more my age (I'm older) and she is cleaning out a whole house of belongings...and 4 years ago they did a series, starting with one showing and explaining about the Swedish Death Cleaning book. Cathy started out not letting Shannon make any suggestions and still wanting to hold on to everything. As she saw more and more cleaned out spaces, it got easier. These videos were done over 4 years. Finally she did one at the request of her mother who explained how her thinking about it all changed and why. EVERYONE should watch that one, which was made about a month ago, titled '10 things that changed from Swedish Death Cleaning.' Plus, they are really cute and fun to watch together.

Then, I watch The Minimal Mom, she puts a new one out every Tuesday. I watch Nourishing Minimalism...and she's the one who did one a year ago titled 'Abandon the Fantasy Self and Unlock Your True Self'. That one helped me a lot. I like Slice of Life videos, maybe A to Zen though she's a little too extremely minimal. And I listen to Joshua Becker, always a lot of wisdom there.

What is motivating to one person isn't always helpful to another. Once you start watching these, others will come up in your feed so you can try them out. These are just the ones I like the best. I watched one gal who cleaned out EVERYTHING in her house so they could travel and live that way out of a suitcase for her and 1 for her husband. I can't relate to that! Since I've been watching these, my house looks different and looks neater more consistently. It's a work in progress, especially the shop etc. which I'm so grateful DH is working on.

[Harriet]

Thank you, Harmony - I will check some of those out! For a while my youtube feed was showing me some "lets clean this house" type maid-service shows which were interesting, and then modest houses in foreign villages being decluttered for the next generation of family. I have no idea what "buttons" I pushed to get those and there was no real series.

I continue to have success with the hot spot of our mud room. Better use of some shelves in there - yay.
PLUS, I think the experience has encouraged me to work nearby too, so the little half-bath beside it is sparkling these days from deep cleaning, too.

Eyesight - I do pretty well with up-close work but have trouble with the overview of an area. For instance, I can work right around a counter and not realize that an item I was looking for previously was right there. I seem to need to look very slowly and carefully through a closet to be sure I'm seeing everything, or I'll miss items - not good for a craft/sewing closet of lots of things.

And I am DEFINITELY experiencing that phenomenon where you don't "see" the clutter because you get used to it.

I guess a lot of the struggle is because of the bad left eye. Doctors want to bother only with someday operating on the right for a cataract and never touching the left because it is not going to help. They say I'm not ready yet for cataract surgery, but it seems to me that I am. So, since they are the ones who know what they are talking about with the right, I guess the left is just not carrying its weight.

The new glasses are better - not just wonderful or anything but do make a difference.