July Clutter Control, 2015

[Dove]

Kathryn, I've got a drawerful of duplicate travel supplies on the attic. Thanks for the idea. Then you mentioned office supplies & I had a small moment of panic , thinking about how many office supplies I have! Those items (especially my stockpile of 3x5 cardfile supplies), plus books & craft supplies are the hardest for me to let go of. Oh, & I totally agree with your binocular assessment

Lucylee, I love how some of your posts make me giggle! Quote: " I should do ds's baby & toddler clothes though...
OH, WILL Y'ALL PLEASE QUIT LAUGHING AND ROLLING YOUR EYES."

Harriet, I found myself nodding at your comment about shaking up your preconceived notion of where clutter might be. For me I see this especially with smaller items. Jewelry, kitchen utensils, makeup & medicine cabinet contents can really add up in terms of quantity, but those areas are often pushed far down my "I'll get to it someday" list. Maybe because bigger items scream more loudly to be decluttered & organized

Harmony, I like the idea of skipping Sundays, too. I'm thinking about using August to catch up on the days/categories I missed this month. I'm looking at this as a fun thing, so when I need to skip days I do so with no guilt. So far many of the categories I haven't done are ones I really want to work on.

Maybe down the road we can all contribute ideas of areas in our homes we should declutter & make our own 30 Day Challenge

Update from Doveland: Underwear drawer --check. Accessories -- skipped, but needs doing. Shoes -- check. I'm so glad this category was on the list because on Friday I took advantage of a sale plus coupon at K ohl's & bought two pairs of comfy sandals in different colors. I thought of you all & this challenge while I was on line in the store , knowing I would have to make room for these new additions. Back home, out went a pair of sandals with high heels that were never comfortable but were oh-so-pretty & bought from a clearance rack. Also gone are a pair of winter ankle boots that I got plenty of wear out of.

Tomorrow is the junk drawer, but I got a commitment from dh last week to declutter some more in the basement. It's even written on the calendar, so I hope to make real progress there. I can finally see the light at the end of this enormous tunnel.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Re: tomorrow's junk drawer. Which one?!!!!

(Or are we supposed to do all of them!)

I learned, early in this process, not to mess with dh's stuff. So his junk drawers will remain untouched.

Accessories and shoes still need to be done but I've been away from home for 11 hours and in high heat/humidity for a lot of that, and on my feet for too much of it so will pass on doing anything tonight.

[Nancy]

Took one kids lawn chair out of the living room to swap with the one in the basement yea for progress.

[Sunny]

Ahem....I've been avoiding this thread because I'm slightly behind. The way the dates fell in this 30 days made the challenges over the first weekend bigger jobs than I could start and finish in a shortend time. It's hard to start a big job when I'm expecting a house full of people at any time! When I start something I like to see it finished at the same time, rather than partly done.

I'm looking forward to this week being able to catch up.

I like Harmony's idea of Sunday off.

[Nancy]

Winding off warp helped me to free up space I was able to declutter the cardboard fillers in the crochet thread 3 bags tossed of them to go tomorrow is trash day. Yea.

Multiples include roos we have 3 so one is rough on the hens...sparing U the details. Wish me luck with this.

Kiddie chairs x3 toddlerN got one & 3 kid girl movies not needed bc we have net flicks. Yea for more progress.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Today is garage. which I had re-assigned to storage locker since we don't have a garage and our parking spot is well organized.

But I won't get to it. I need dh's help with it since 2 of the bins are 50 - 100 pounds of tools. And near the front so they are 'handy.' As well, the remaining bins are stacked high, and I don't have the upper body strength to bring them down. Therefore he has to be there (and yells at me if I try without him.)

We are gone from the house too much today so I'll reschedule this for Thursday and focus on catching up and doing whatever is scheduled for Thursday.

[Harriet]

I'm still putting in "junk drawer time" since I don't have a garage and the storage barn is very much the menfolk's "baby" for declutter and organization.

Neglected to say I was able to toss several accessories, but agonized over shoes and the only ones found to be declutter candidates were dd's. I just have very few shoes and those I have have purpose, such as everyday, exercise, church.

About a place for unknowns, my junk drawer in kitchen definitely has a little cubby for that. Plastic or rubber ends of somethings. Nail/screw/hangar unknowns. I think about once every couple years or so we figure out what one of them is.

Do ya'll keep scotch tape in a junk drawer? I have mine front and center in a weighted dispenser, pull out the drawer, pull off a piece of tape and close the drawer. Then, from front to back, the drawer gets less and less efficient, lol.

[Nancy]

I am working on the craft cave sewing zone today I have done another round but only apx. Half done more to do. Sigh trying not to over due. Got a challenging phone call 2day or 2 slowed progress a bit.

[Harmony]

Okay, this decluttering is on my radar, but just barely. I hear a faint blip blip once in a while. Here's what I've done so far, not in order and not complete in any of the categories since my life fell apart in the sea of grass:

3 pairs of socks tossed
2 pairs of underwear tossed; one casual shirt tossed.
one stack of plastic seed trays tossed

and looking ahead, I got the bin down that held my pottery village. very heavy oversized bin. I took all the houses out and put them in my donate bin except for a very nice cathedral one which I will put somewhere and use at Christmas. These houses were all from the dollar store so not very expensive, except for the cathedral which is nicer. And today I got down that big nativity set which DH brought back from that house he gutted and showed DD...and tonight we packed it in her car to take home. Those figures are a foot tall and beautiful, but I already have a nice set (smaller figures) and a stable that DH made to fit them. She didn't have a set at all. And it took up a big part of the closet shelf where I had them.

I have a big plastic bag of "fake cotton snow" to toss also. I used to use that with my village.

That's where I am with all the decluttering. Not very good, but life's been hectic.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Harriet: That's a brilliant idea about the tape dispenser! I have two of those (duplicates because of two office areas in the house and now here.) Mine is on my desk (desk organization is tomorrow I believe) and I just checked. The drawer is a smidge too small. The side drawer is fine, and there's room, but this desk has a pull out 'return' shelf and my laptop is on that since it is lower and therefore more ergonomically correct.

In the main office it would work so I'll have to think about that.

I'm still behind but not paralyzingly so. I still have storage locker (garage), shoes and today's item: car.

I was going through the bin in the console a few days ago and realized I need to clean that out well. I'll probably take the car to an above ground parking lot do to the clean-out since the garage is so dark. At a glance, the car is immaculate inside and out, but in fact I've got tons of stuff tucked under seats and in bins, all things that should be evaluated. We keep work gloves and hats in one storage bin and we have a set of jackets in the back in case it is nice when we forget to grab a jacket on the way out the door. In winter, I had a set of toe-rubbers for dh because he kept forgetting to put boots on, along with warm gloves and scarves. Those are in the storage locker right now.