No decluttering happened this week. I was just too darn busy with life stuff and writing stuff.
decluttering
Decluttering Week 6
Not much to report this week on the decluttering front. I didn’t get a lot done other than kept up with the usual decluttering tasks–shredding, recycling junk mail, recycling food trash, etc.
I was busy with other tasks involving book stuff which will be another post later on. 🙂
At any rate, I did get some decluttering done. I got rid of old cooking oil when I changed the cat litter.
I also trimmed back the rosebushes, but I’m not sure that counts as decluttering, though it definitely needed to be done. Hopefully I didn’t kill them.
And that’s about the list for the week. I still have a long way to go to make it through the list I made but at least there is some progress going on.
So. Onward.
Decluttering Week 4 & 5
Okay, okay. So I’ve been remiss in posting my decluttering post. But I have been working on getting rid of the garbage in the house. I got most of the master bathroom organized but I still have a ways to go. I had stuff that was going to be donated stacked up around the house. This weekend, I got a large bag and started putting everything in there for donations. So that’s done.
And what else have I been doing? Working mostly and trying to keep the house clean(er). Part of my decluttering plan is to at least TRY to be a better housekeeper. I’ve been vacuuming and sweeping the floors every week. It’s really hard to keep up with the mess. And every time I cook dinner, I make a mess in the kitchen. Last week, I spilled flour all over the floor. Go me.
I abandoned by decluttering plan to finish cross-stitching one of my projects. I got obsessed with it and wanted to get it finished and see the final product. I love making those small projects. They are so fun! And to see what it was, you can check out the Plotting Princess blog where I talk about it.
Decluttering Week 3
Okay so I’m late in posting my decluttering update. I was a tad busy polishing up some chapters. While the husband worked on his project this weekend, I set about cleaning up the bathroom cabinets. We have a storage unit over the toilet and it had become cluttered on the top with tons of bottles and general crap. The open shelf below was in the same state. I had stuff in there I hadn’t used in years. Not sure why I hang on to stuff when I have no intention of using it ever.
Anyway, I cleaned off the top and got rid of bottles of old shampoo we weren’t using. Then I organized the open shelf below. Now it only holds essential things we use daily. And the top is much cleaner too!
I also went through kitchen linens and organized those. I have too many to fit in one drawer and rather than take up space in two drawers, I remove them, refolded and reorganized. Some went to the linen closet for storage. I’ll rotate them once a week. I put all the potholders in one drawer, too, so I can reach them easily. Though in hindsight I think the potholders need to be in the drawer closer to the stove.
I tried to organize the drawer with all the big utensils but there’s only so much you can do with that. I did manage to get all the things we use most on top but I know that will be jumbled up as we use it.
I intend to take the linen closet soon. It’s overflowing and awful. How many spare pillows does one need anyway?
Decluttering Week 2
Today is my obligatory decluttering post. I’m pretty happy with the progress I’ve made so far this year.
I tried to do one thing every day this past week on my decluttering plan. I can’t remember exactly what day I did what but I did:
- Decluttered part of the bathroom cabinet over the toilet. I got rid of unwanted hair clips and cleaned the disgusting basket it was all hanging out in.
- Decluttered my t-shirt drawer because DAYUM. I had a lot of shirts I don’t wear.
- Decluttered my file drawer. I freaking had stuff in there from 2006. Pretty sure I don’t need that anymore.
- Decluttered my bank statements. It’s a new year so time to shred all the old stuff. I can get past statements online anyway.
This next week I’d like to go through more stuff in the bathroom and also the kid’s long-sleeved shirts need to be culled.
I have to admit I almost felt like a domestic goddess this past weekend. Not only did I get my laundry done in a timely fashion, but I also replaced the stupid shower curtain rings and shower curtain in our bathroom, baked a cheesecake (using my new and awesome Kitchen Aid mixer that I LOVE – thank you, honey!), colored my hair myself and saved $150 in salon fees and swept the floor. I’m trying to be a better housekeeper but we’ll see how long that lasts. 🙂
Anyway, I felt really accomplished this weekend. I hope I can keep up this motivation. It is only January, after all. 😉
Decluttering Week 1
So I have this grand idea that I’m going to declutter my house over 2016. So far, it’s working.
I told the husband I wanted to go through the pantry and get rid of what was expired and donate what we weren’t going to use. Since he’s sort of the keeper of the pantry, he went at it with gusto. The worst thing in the pantry that was expired (like since 2008 expired) were the spices. Sadly, we threw away a lot of spices that were expired. Like WAY expired.
Our trash smelled good though. 🙂
I also got rid of a bunch of stuff that was cluttering up the top of the bathroom shelf. There was a jar candle that had been for, like, five years. It had a thick layer of dust on it and was just kind of yuck. I poured boiling water in the jar, let it sit for about 15 minutes and then removed the candle so I could recycle the glass jar.
Then I got really crazy and decluttered my pen cup. It had pens that no longer had ink. I threw them all out. Then I got rid of a bunch more that were in a pencil case in the top drawer of my filing cabinet. It felt really good to get rid of that stuff that has been taking up space. Especially stuff that no longer has a use.
I’m serious about this decluttering thing so hopefully I can keep up the momentum throughout the year. I’m writing this on January 2. We’ll see how I feel in, say, six months. 😉
