The Golden Rule of De-Cluttering…

 

The  Golden Rule of De-Cluttering is…

to identify what you need and love,

Store it in the most accessible spot,

Add so-so stuff only if it fits,

and get rid of the rest!

One reason that we avoid and dread the de-cluttering process is that it’s such an unpleasant one. When we open a drawer or closet with the purpose of ‘getting rid of stuff’, we know that we are going to be faced with the painful task of deciding what to put in the throw away pile or the give away box.  It’s no fun saying ‘good-bye’ to things that we love, paid good money for, or that are still quite useful.

And therein lies the problem.  We are focusing on the NEGATIVE aspects of de-cluttering.  We need to focus on the bright side…

When you are getting ready to declutter anything, The question to ask yourself is NOT what should I get rid of…but

What should I KEEP? What do I LOVE?

What do I NEED? 

What can I NOT live without? 

Which clothes would I hate to not have in the closet? Focus on what you truly need to keep and what you love.  Pull those favorite or absolutely essential books, records, CD’s, fabric, movies, dishes, clothes, craft supplies, toys, shoes, desk supplies, bathroom accessories, jewelry etc and put them aside.  Make a pile of your BEST stuff in whatever room you are working.

Remember the 20-80 principle? THIS stuff is the  20%

that you actually love, need, and use.  

Now, pull everything else out and set it aside. Put your treasures and/or your most useful and valuable tools in the BEST SPOTS… Give them EASY ACCESS. 

THEN…when you are ready to de-clutter, look at what’s left. Throw away the junk.  Now, IF and this is a big IF..there is extra space in the drawer or closet, you can put some of the ‘useful but not my favorite’ things in there.  But once the storage space is reasonably full, donate the rest. Stick it in garbage bags and donation boxes.

This week, I de-cluttered my fabric stash. I gathered all of my fabric and piled it on the couch. Then I began pulling out only the fabric that I LOVED…ADORED…or knew would be extremely versatile and useful for future projects.  Rebekah, my daughter, and I made stacks of everything that was white or linen, everything that was dark blue or denim, a stack of dark colored or costume fabrics, and a stack of light colored or bright colored prints--prints we thought were just so pretty we couldn’t bear to part with them.

 

These fabrics we sorted much like we do the laundry. Three drawers now house ‘whites, lights, and bold or dark colors’. We also have one drawer in our IKEA cabinet for unfinished projects that we really do want to finish. We put all this ‘good stuff in the drawers right away.

Some fabric was already ‘ear-marked’ for special projects like a green brocade fabric destined to be made into a Victorian costume for Dicken’s on the Strand, a $30.00 piece of Old English style tapestry, the indoor-outdoor fabric for my porch swing and porch lawn chairs, and many yards of light denim won from Trudy at Sewing with Trudy. All of these large pieces of fabric went in an ‘under the bed bag’ to be pulled out when we have time to do those projects. You could also hang extra large quantities of fabric on coat hangers in the closet.

What about the rest of the fabric? Well, first we culled out some fabric pieces that we thought we  could use sometime in the near future. We didn’t love all of it, but there was room, so in the name of ‘frugality’ we kept and stored some of it.  Of the rest of the fabric,  half of it went into the garbage can (scraps which we refused to save due to lack of storage space) and half of it went into a giveaway bag.  Yes, we gave away some perfectly good fabric and we may possibly regret that but we really didn’t have room for it in those drawers.

The premium here is on space..and ease of living.

I also have a new rule that helps me decide when I have ‘enough’ of anything or ‘too much’.  If the supplies or tools that  I need won’t fit into the room where the activity is being held, then I have to get rid of it or make room for it in the proper room. 

Now..Our cubby hole shelf holds livingroom items especially our movies.
(Wicker shelf has been removed.)

Before...The wicker shelf housed our movies. The cubby hole shelf held my fabric.

In other words..no storing fabric in the living room, tablecloths in the bathroom, appliances in the utility room, games in the bedroom, or  books in the kitchen. If there is overflow, get rid of it.  Now our 12-cubbyhole shelf houses only living room items like games, movies (organized by genre), cassette tapes, grandkids' toys, magazines, and music CD’s.  The fabric (that used to be in those cubbies)  is all gone or moved to the sewing room where it belongs.

Why De-Clutter? The less you OWN...

the less you have to put away, dig through or clean.  

When your home is streamlined, you will find you have more 'free time'..time to live, create,.and enjoy the people in your home. I am thoroughly convinced that we do have ROOM for the things we really need. We just don't have room for the excess..unless we live in a really big house. Even then, why bog your self down with more stuff to have to deal with?

When your possessions are pared down,

you will find that every job you do is easier. 

 Having only the essential cooking supplies, sewing accessories, and school supplies, books, or gardening accessories at hand will save you hours of preparation time and clean up! This is worth taking the plunge.

 

We applied this same principle to the living room with stunning results. Rebekah and I asked ourselves..

What furniture did we absolutely, without a doubt,

have to KEEP in the Living Room to survive?

We came up with this list…

• couch
• upholstered chair
• coffee table
• one end table with lamp
• TV and stand
• piano
• 12 compartment storage shelf
• 2 book cases
• record player and stand

Livingroom before decluttering books and furniture.

What did we get rid of? The doggy-bed/cradle (stored until it can be returned), antique sewing machine, retro-style leather chair (moved to game room), a huge hutch (it replaced a worn wicker shelf that housed fabric in the sewing room), and one wicker shelf.

That’s five pieces of furniture removed
from our small living room!

 Livingroom after…

What did we keep beyond the essentials? The second matching end table. With everything else gone, we could afford to have two end-tables. We could have lived without it, but it didn’t hurt to keep it and was helpful on the other end of the sectional couch.

For the first time in three years, our living room seems truly comfortable! It feels ‘right’.  It looks good--streamlined…stylish...well..more stylish-LOL!  It looks like we had all the space we needed..right from the start.  :o)

  Ahh…NOW we can breath easy!  And our home feels SPACIOUS!

Try applying this Golden Rule in your closet, bathroom cabinet, or desk drawers…and see if it doesn’t work…beautifully!

Linking with My Romantic Home's Show and Tell Friday

PS. Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Getting Things Back in Shape…

I know Ladies, it is almost Monday. We’re supposed to be working in the master bedroom…and bathroom. And, yes, I’ve done some cleaning and organizing especially in the bathroom.  If you are a Flylady fan, then that is this week's zone…but with Christmas over, I’ve done a lot of work all over the house.

 

It’s always kind of refreshing to get the house and especially the living room all back in order after the holidays. I’m celebrating because I only put back HALF the Christmas boxes in storage that I pulled out. Next year, I’ll be all streamlined with my holiday decor which will make the holidays even easier to prepare for. Might as well de-clutter while you’ve got everything pulled out! My motto—never miss an opportunity to purge and clean!

For Christmas this year, one of the things I received was a set of lovely antique kitchen utensils from my friend Laurie. She also gave me the antique spools of thread you see on the little ledges, several years ago. I just can’t wait on the FlyLady schedule (kitchen week)  to share them with you, so here they are! Aren’t they pretty?  It’s amazing that some kitchen gadgets and appliances really do pass the test of time. Of course, some…like these…don’t! Ha!

I must fess up to you all..I bought a new GADGET!!—even worse…it’s a new kitchen appliance! Yipes!!! You can be sure that my daughter and I had quite a soul searching discussion--to buy or not to buy.    I had a credit for a gift that didn’t fit and the only thing I could find was this coffee press.  Since we are so low on counter space, and three of our family members are coffee aficionados', we decided that we’d all enjoy a gorgeous coffee press.  The coffee we made in this pot is SO SMOOTH! And we can make it as strong as we like it too.  

We’ll be able to get rid of two bulky electric appliances—the coffee pot AND the espresso machine. I love how new things are taking a more ‘retro’ swing. They fit right in with my decor.  Plus..there’s something much more ‘feminine’ and pretty about THIS kind of coffee pot. We can set it on the coffee table with our china coffee cups..and it will look very ‘dainty’.  Great for entertaining!

The coffee press will go perfectly with my new kitchen canisters..all stainless steel..and ‘weevil’ proof—a serious consideration in a kitchen out in the country.  Tim just can’t get over  the idea that I would want canisters, totes, and a coffee pot for Christmas…but then..HE’s not a woman is he? But he sure does love the order and cleanliness that results. from my passion. And he's thrilled about my new habit of de-cluttering with empty boxes and bags. (Yes..I did, indeed, fill the box that the coffee pot came in with fabric scraps…and the shopping bag with old clothes. :o)

With some of the Christmas money that I was given by generous family members, I was able to buy ORGANIZERS (and serger thread)!!! I know, I just told you that organizers aren’t the solution to too much stuff only two short posts ago. But, I’ve been de-cluttering and have earned the right to buy a few—yippee!! With the money my husband’s parents gave me for Christmas, I ran straight to Target and bought these lovely fabric collapsible totes. Thank goodness for boring ole’ me, they didn’t have enough of any one color so I bought several of each color that I thought would go with my new couch and dining room table cloth. I thought the design element of mis-matched color blocks was pretty great!

This cubbyhole shelf has been a lifesaver and the bane of my life at the same time. It’s been useful in every room of the house…a home school grand central organizing station (kid’s school books, teacher’s manuals, school supplies, and even curriculum, and it's been used for pending projects, toys, and fabric.  It’s lived in every room in the house at one time or another depending on what I needed.  It first housed my ‘standing to do list’ of sewing projects. For me out of sight really can mean out of mind, which is a bad thing when you are behind on projects. Later I found a different way to organize those sewing projects. 

I now store my fabric, sorted by type, in the 12 cubby shelf and have been for the last four years. The problem with putting it in the sewing room, though, is that it’s also the office and school room and there just isn't room for it--so it had to go in the living room. The problem with that though, is that it just didn’t look nice to have a bunch of fabric on display with my living room decor . I have always had to cover it with a quilt or fabric of some kind to hide what was inside because the fabric didn’t look all that great. But it was always a headache to 'dig' under that blanket, trying not to knock everything holding the quilt in place over. And it looked tacky in my opinion. What a mess! Finally..I have a solution that looks nice for a change. And it's so much more convenient!

Speaking of antiques, my mother gave me several lovely things too…like a cradle, a rocking chair, and some of the kitchen utensils above. I just can’t resist something lovely…that brings back memories of a slower and more ‘natural’ pace of living.

This is a great time of year to get things off to a better start…time for new habits, new organizing solutions…and a new outlook on the year. How about you? Are you starting to feel like life is getting ‘back to normal’?  Any new habits you are trying to establish? Just think--31 days…and it will feel like second nature!

FlyLady Tips: What is the Secret to Making Your House feel like a Home? Home Blessing!

You may be surprised when you find out the answer to this question! It's not having a dear hubby or children. It's not canning, sewing, decorating cookies..or other nostalgic past times. And amazingly enough, it's not even interior decorating as important as that is.

 photo credit 

Cherl Mendelson, author of Home Comforts, says

"In fact, too much attention to the looks of a home can backfire  if it creates a stage-set feeling instead of the authenticity of a genuinely homey place."

(Sheesh...I guess I can quit worrying about that now!) Surprisingly, she also says, "I know from experience that you cannot make a home by imitating the household chores and crafts of the past era.  Ironically, people are led into the error of 'playing house' instead of keeping house by a genuine desire for a home and its comforts.

Nostalgia means, literally, "home-sickness".

So are you ready to hear her answer for the secret to making a house really feel like a home? I can tell you right now...you may not like her answer!! (I like it though! Tee-hee!)

photo credit

HOUSE CLEANING!!! Imagine that!

Here's what Cheryl has to say about it... "What really does work to increase the feeling of having a home and its comforts....is housekeeping!  Housekeeping creates cleanliness, order, regularity, beauty, the conditions for health and safety, and a good place to do and feel all the things you wish and need to do and feel in your home. Whether you live alone, or with a spouse, parents, and ten children, it is your housekeeping that makes your home alive, that turns it into a small society in its own right, a vital place with its own ways and rhythms, the place where you can be more yourself than you can be anywhere else."

Having moved 23 TIMES! (Count 'em!), I think I can safely claim to be an expert on this particular topic!  Truly, it is as you LIVE in your home that it BECOMES your home.  It is  in the process of cleaning, washing, cooking, shopping, dusting and going through all the other normal routines of home life, that a brand new house, begins to finally feel like home.  For us, it takes about a month to feel like we really belong and aren't just living in a hotel.

You want to know another strange thing? I've noticed that it is the driving back and forth from the new house, to the new post office, bank,  grocery store, library and church, and back again that finally ingrains in our brains that the building we are now living is our home and not just a house.

Coming home is your major restorative in life!

Housekeeping...is the source of most of the good things things that make a place homelike--fresh sheets, good meals, airy, clean, orderly rooms, and so forth.

1920’s Reproduction Quilt…made by me

Other good things include fresh flowers, good books, half finished projects to work on in spare moments...It is a cliché, but true, that a room that looks lived in looks more homey. This implies not that you should be less neat but that you should actually live in the rooms! 

Faked signs of life make the room feel desolate and lonely. Signs of real life make the room feel comforting and warm.

We will talk more about decorating and other fun things...but it is important that we keep in mind that cleaning is  important...and not secondary to the beauty of our homes. I love the fact that FlyLady calls the Monday Morning Routine a "Home Blessing".  Cleaning is a way to bless not only your home, but everyone in it!

photo credit

Now that you are ALL inspired...Here's my "Home Blessing" list...

Weekly Home Blessing Hour

• Cull/toss old magazines.
• Change sheets.
• Empty all the trash.
• Vacuum all rooms.
• Mop kitchen and bath.
• Clean mirrors and doors.
• Feather Dust furniture.

Just 10 minutes each so you can spend the rest of the time de-cluttering or deep cleaning your zone for the week!

 photo credit

Here's our deep cleaning plan for this week. We are in Zone 4: The Master Bedroom!


Week 4 - Master Bedrooom and bathroom 
O Launder: Wash area rugs, curtains, (shower curtain if necessary), Bedspread, mattress pad, and dust ruffle (turn mattress)
O Floors: Vacuum, sweep, scrub and/ or wax floors
O Scrub toilet, shower door, tub (use Bathroom cleaner for water deposits and scum)
O Dust high and low, (ceiling fans, floorboards,) cobwebs, polish furniture and wood
O Clean windows, mirrors, switchplates, walls and doors, medicine cabinet, dresser tops (409/ Windex)



 
Habit for This Week...Let's Spend 30 Minutes a Day DeCluttering our Master Bedroom!!


What do you believe makes a house feel truly homey?

Happy Homemaking!


Donna

Check back tomorrow for our Menu Plan and Recipes....

Monday Morning Challenge! April Menus, Deep Clean a Room, Sewing Projects in Progress

How did things go last week? Did you get everything done that you had hoped to? Me neither..though I did get quite a bit finished.

This week, I got these things done…

• Sold appliances
• Started Weight Loss Blog
• Sewed 3 couch cushion covers
• Did 75% of my “How to Re-Cover Couch Cushions”post. It’s a doosey!
• Sent Dad’s paperwork for the house and paid the bills!
• Made Menu Plan for April

Hurrah for me!!! (And why shouldn’t I cheer myself on? I deserved a little pat on the back!)

Now it’s your turn….I want to post a few ‘challenges’ for you to consider this week.

 Photo from Marie Killam’s Color Me Happy Website

This Monday’s Cleaning Challenge:

First, if you are up for it, I’d like us to tackle two rooms this week-the bathroom and one other room—your choice! For me, the second room will be the sewing room. It gets cluttered pretty quickly!

Two of my followers have already been doing a great job at this..Deb of Jeremiah 29:11 and Shannon of Room for More. Great job, Girls! 

Deb Said...

I've been putting off cleaning my craft room...but today, I'm tackling it...still have a long way to go, but I can see progress!!! Yesterday, I cleaned out the boy's toys and have a huge bag to give to my daughter for her to sale at a church yard sale. Decluttering makes me happy...so why don't I do it more often?!?!? Congrats on selling the fridge!

Room for More said..

Since you 'introduced' procrastination day, I have been following through!  Today, I need to get a couple of things up on WOL/Craigslist that Rhea has been asking to put up, mend couch pillows, and clean the fireplace rock/chimney. Okay, I need to get after it!

Here are the assignments from my monthly cleaning chart for the bathroom for this week:

Week 3 - Main Bathroom and Child's Room (or Office)  

•   Launder: Wash area rugs, curtains, (shower curtain if necessary), Bedspread, mattress pad, and dust ruffle (turn mattress)
• Floors: Vacuum, sweep, scrub and/ or wax floors
• Scrub toilet, shower door, tub (use Bathroom cleaner for water deposits and scum)
• Dust high and low, (ceiling fans, floorboards,) cobwebs, polish furniture and wood
• Clean windows, mirrors, switch plates, walls and doors, medicine cabinet, dresser tops (409/ Windex)

If you would like to pick a different room click here for the whole monthly cleaning plan chart.

Spinach and Goat Cheese Pizza…click here for recipe

Suggested Menu Plan for April

Here is one week of menu ideas for April. The rest are posted on the April Menu’s page.

• Roast Chicken, Baked Sweet Potatoes, Baked Whole Greenbeans
• Sloppy Joe Casserole, Peas and Carrots,
• Grilled Pork Chops, Grilled Corn on the Cob, Steamed Zucchini
• Chicken Fajitas, Mexican Rice, and Refried Beans  (use leftovers from Monday)
• Spinach & Swiss Cheese Pizza, and Cranberry-Almond Salad

Sunday Dinners:

• Brisket, Southern Style Green beans and Whipped Potatoes
• Chicken Pot Pie and Tossed Salad, Cantaloupe spears
• Grilled Steaks with Sautéed Mushrooms, Baked Potatoes, Steamed Asparagus, Fruit Salad

Set Some New Goals for This Week!

I literally have my work ‘cut out for me’ this week!Not only do I have few things left over from last week to do, but I had to add a couple of new ones also. I still have to ….

• Do my monthly grocery shopping
• Make quesadillas
• Sew more couch cushion covers
• Work on Driver’s Ed with Jacob

AND….

DAILY: Exercise Daily on My Walking Machine

• Finish knitting purple scarf for Laura
• Hem pants for a friend
• Hire someone to Mow the Lawn in Grand Prairie
• Take the truck back to the auto place while still under warranty.
• Help friend with fundraising project for the National debate tournament

Ah well, that is the nature of a to do list. It’s never quite done! But we do have to decided what is important. For me the grocery shopping, furniture covers, car repair, and lawn mowing (got a warning from the city…oops the grass is growing in Grand Prairie too.) must be done..do or die!

Art Project near Mission San Juan

Well, as I always say, "Let’s make hay while the  sun shines!!” 

Have a Marvelous Monday!