September Appointments for Declutter and Organization

[Nancy]

I do not load a lot to go at one time but try to
Put some thing each week. Today I loaded some books just two and a cute pot decor item knick knacky thing I rescued from the neighbors junk trailer with permission.
I do not come up with fly ladies 27 things to fling u less it is a bag of bags to recycle. LOL!

[Ivy]

I dumped the trash from all over the house. DH emptied old leftovers no longer good to eat, from the fridge. He took garbage up and mail out, so that's been decluttered, too.

[Ivy]

I also today, dumped trash from all over the house! I put a box full of rubber stamps away into the rolling storage carts, discarded the box they were in, too.

[Nancy]

I dumped the kit. trash yesterday. That made a difference! Yea for progress!

[Ivy]

I browsed through 10 magazines, used scissors and an Exacto knife to remove things of interest for pen pals and purged the 10 magazines. When I emptied a box from Costco, although it's a small box, I put "ARC" in red letters on it and put it into the entry hall on the table to start getting ready for a donation. I can feel it in the air! I bet they'll call within 3 weeks.

[Ivy]

I decluttered books off my Nook by deleting some, archiving others, and now I have a number, which is workable for me and not overwhelming and too way out of site! I'd gotten up to 430 books, so now have 47 on my Nook and about 90-something archived. The rest HAD to go. I keep what I buy though!

[Ivy]

QUESTION!

If YOU were a writer and needed to have:
1- magazines I'm in, to also study the other writers' stories,
2- books for pleasure and studying other authors,
3- files
4- 3 x 5 cards and 4 x 6 cards, but luckily I have file boxes for both
5- and have a small office, WHERE does everything go?

I put things, sometimes on the dining room table and seats of pub stools to the dining room table, on my end table next to my chair and the bottom shelf to it, and I enjoy working in the great room where there is a fire, by hand or reading, but prefer working in my office on the computer. So some of my papers, books, supplies, and important contracts are in the office where they belong, but.....

When I'm studying the markets of other magazines or books, I start thinking I've got too much clutter. DH said it doesn't bother HIM at all, it's just us here, and if guests are coming, it's quickly company ready. I don't know if the answer is baskets, to pretty it up more, or what. Perhaps a basket on the floor, out of the way so I won't trip on it would look good and be okay. I can put a basket on my end table, too. I'll put my thinking cap on. I just don't want my great room looking like Fibber McGee's closet! At least my clutter does seem to have some order to it, but clutter is clutter. But then again, if this is for my job, is it actually defined as clutter or tools for working? I work from my home. But then, if DH were to do wood-working without a shop or garage and brought his "stuff" inside the house, it'd be clutter. Is paper clutter and/or book clutter permissible for a writer? :?:I'm a SHE and want to follow the SHE sorta code of ethics and adhere to what the other SHE's are doing, too. Know what I mean? My office is nice looking. I just need to figure out how to be neater and more orderly in the great room. Any tips or helpful answers are more than welcome. DH doesn't "get" the SHE mentality I have, but here at the Village, everybody understands each other and helps one another. Just because my clutter isn't bothering DH at ALL, doesn't mean it's not bothering me. I suppose I could move "stuff" back into the office, but the office will be more crowded. I'll chew it over and try to come up with a decision or good idea.

[Nancy]

Ivy I have kept a 3 x 5 file box of writing prompts in the closet. Some clippings I kept loose leaf notebook with sleeves in it notebook. Mag. articles I wrote were in a file cabinet drawer. This was before the net so there are other ways on the cloud to keep stuff now.

I have dumped trash and tossed some empty bags and cartons.

[Ivy]

Nancy, I have a double-sided 3 x 5" wooden box on the eating bar so I can put writing prompts in there, too. I have magazines in magazine organizers right now. I could also file them in a filing cabinet, too, if I got more, or go through old ones from 2005 - 2010 and put the cover, pages I wrote, into plastic sleeves, which would free up more room in the magazine organizers, too.

What I did was:
1- Went to the office, cleared off surfaces.
2- I transferred items from the dining room table, the pub dining stools, and end table for writing, into the small office.
3- I arranged things nicely and orderly on my end table, in the gr8 room and can actually see the wood top! Beautiful!
4- I put 2 small stacks of books in the office.
5- I put an over 900-page 3" thick book on the art of the short story ON my desk as decoration and as a reminder to remind me to read it in baby steps
6- I put stickers together
7- I put stationery and envelopes together
8- I made a file for current reading to do, which are items from a magazine(s) and the internet.
9- I no longer look like the gr8 room is Fibber McGee's closet!
10- My mind is already at peace, I feel calmer, and more relaxed! So it's true! "An orderly environment means an orderly mind!"

Thanks for your help, Nancy!

[Nancy]

Wtg Ivy!