Declutterfest 2019!
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themedalist
Posts: 3,212 Member
It's BAAACK!
Has clutter gotten the upper hand recently? Do you have some Spring cleaning projects you need to dive into? Has it gotten so bad you're not even sure where to begin? We can help! Let's work on this TOGETHER. Let's spend the next two weeks and bag, tag, recycle, and reorganize! Let's make things SHINE! We can accomplish a lot over the next two weeks.
If you're new to our group and wondering what decluttering, cleaning, and organizing have to do with better health, there are at least two interesting connections. When we're working on house projects like these, we're not sitting. We are up and moving around and this light to moderate activity has lots of health benefits. In addition, for many people, clutter is a source of stress, guilt, and can inhibit focus and productivity. Clutter becomes an array of visual cues of projects we haven't finished. The articles below go into greater detail as to how clutter affects our stress, productivity, brains, and indeed our lives. It's not just stuff. Clutter takes a real toll on our lives.
Let's begin! What decluttering projects do you have in mind that you want to get done?
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Suggested Resources:
Why Mess Causes Stress: 8 Reasons, 8 Remedies
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/high-octane-women/201203/why-mess-causes-stress-8-reasons-8-remedies
How Clutter Affects Your Brain (and What You Can Do About It)
http://lifehacker.com/how-clutter-affects-your-brain-and-what-you-can-do-abo-662647035
The Emotional Toll of Clutter
https://experiencelife.com/article/the-emotional-toll-of-clutter/
The Cost of Clutter: How Clutter Affects Your Time, Money, and Stress
https://www.verywell.com/the-cost-of-clutter-3144688
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I haven't figured out what I want to work on yet. But I'm committing about 20 minutes a day and I know I can make real progress.3
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This is a very busy time of the year for me. But there is always decluttering I can do, so I’m committed to making it easy on myself. First thing in the morning I will start the timer and put things away for 5 minutes while I wait for my coffee to brew. This morning I actually did almost 8 minutes, and cleared a few things off the top of my dresser.
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4/15 Plan: go through short stack of papers on dresser. Prioritize tasks there.
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I am so excited! This is my favorite challenge! I know for myself that if my surroundings are cluttered, I have a harder time not letting my brain be cluttered! And there are many things cluttering my brain lately so this is needed! Thank you @themedalist !
I have many things I want to declutter and I think I will spend 15 minutes decluttering during weekdays and on the weekend, I will take on bigger projects. I will update the below plan as I go.
Week One:
4/15 Mess: Magazine pile next to green recliner
4/16 Mess: Continue with magazine pile next to green recliner
4/17 Mess: Magazines in big basket behind green recliner
4/18 Mess: Continue magazines in big basket behind green recliner
4/19 Mess: Magazines in bedroom nightstand
4/20 Project: Tupperware cupboard & begin one area of basement
4/21 EASTER SUNDAY: Rest day
Week Two:
4/22 Mess: Sock drawer
4/23 Mess: Bedroom closet shelves
4/24 Mess: Old documents in file cabinet
4/25 Mess: Coffee Cupboard
4/26 Mess: Magazines in basement basket
4/27 Project: Bathroom medicine cabinet, cupboard under sink, drawers & hall linen closet
4/28 Sunday: Rest Day, brunch with my daughter as belated birthday present.
Other spots I hit as I go: <enter here>
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Yay! 2 weeks of decluttering:) I decided I was going to do something that is important to me, has been on my want-to-do someday plate for years, and will be important to others in time, as well as something I can appreciate whenever I go upstairs. Last summer we did some remodeling and I put all of my many boxes and storage containers of pictures upstairs in the guest bedroom. I will be working in there going through pictures every day starting tonight. I planned to start today but my day has been upended with the horrible news of the Notre Dame fire that I haven't accomplished much of anything. It's so very sad.
Decluttering works! I did 5 drawers in the Marie Kondo way last fall and they are still in perfect order. It's easy to keep them that way because I can see every t-shirt, pair of socks, underwear, pjs and jeans upon opening the drawers and never have to dig through to get the thing I want. I get a peaceful feeling when I open them and they look so pretty. Maybe week 2 I will work on my everyday drawers by getting my work shirts and pants folded correctly and get my summer clothes out.
Last fall I started decluttering my physical books as well by reading 5-10 or more pages a day. I am on book 7 or 8 now and have kept about 1/2 of them. They others are out of my house or on the way out. I can live with a 50% reduction. I am currently reading "the Secret".
Have a good first week and keep moving forward!
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@themedalist, those were very interesting articles. Thank you for the links.
I'm really excited that this challenge is for two weeks. I had thought it was for one week only. That's like getting a bonus week doing this together :laugh: .
April 15: 5 1/2 hours yard clean up after the weekend storm / winds, also included extra work in the yard.
April 16: Decluttered and lightly organized the pantry/ storage closet (yay! as that area has surely been irritating me as of late) located in the laundry room
April 17:
:flowerforyou:
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Sorting photos: Monday night 1 hour, Tuesday afternoon 2 hours, Wednesday morning so far 1.5 hours and I'm on my way back up as soon as I finish up with laundry load #2. It's a bit overwhelming. I didn't know I had thousands of actual photos in all those containers from1942 (from grandparents) to 2005 or so but I am working out a system that seems to be working fairly well mostly by families and my individual kids. There's the who-knows-where-this-goes pile too! Marching forward🚶🚶🚶4
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I’m so thrilled to be in this group with all of you!
4/15 Plan: go through short stack of papers on dresser. Prioritize tasks there.
Actual: Cleaned & disinfected cat food drawer
Cleaned small table by bedside & returned things to proper places. Moved art things that gravitated to bedroom back to art studio! LoL
Went and bought two aqua magazine holders so my current magazines & Active paperwork can be accessed more easily, be more beautiful, and take up less space.
Time it took: 45 mins (mostly attempting to remove LARGE sticker on each. Not even done with one yet! Lol)
Other Random Decluttering: Removed decorations on DR table & set up new display.
4/16 Plan: go through short stack of papers on dresser. Prioritize tasks there.
Actual: Went through 2 drawers of photos & memorabilia, pitched a lot & found invaluable ones! Found a priceless journal I wrote from fir the year of our son’s birth. Invaluable! Fun to read what I was like as expectant & new mom. Planning to do something art related with copies to gift to
him/his wife. He’ll love it! (Did not count time reading it in my time!)
Then I moved the Xmas & other gift wrap, I’d neatly organized 6 months ago to the empty drawers. 1 for birthdays, 1 for friends, and a shallow one for ribbons!
There’s even a pullout tray I’d forgotten about to rest the gift! Now that I think about it, I might shift everything to other side...as tray will block ribbon scissors tape drawer lol
Time it took: 60+ minutes photos
5 mins moving gift wrap
Other Random Decluttering: Pitched one pair of leggings that I was horrified to see were insanely baggy after me new aqua leggings arrived & FIT!!
4/17 Plan:go through short stack of papers on dresser. Prioritize tasks there.
Actual none, busy day—counting 15 mins from April 15.
Time it took: 0
Other Random Decluttering: some reorg of my clothes, moving darker clothes back, bringing brighter colors forward!
4/18 Plan: either Plan:go through short stack of papers on dresser. Prioritize tasks there OR use the remaining 15 mins from 4/15 & schedule some dr. Appts.
Actual:
Time it took:
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4/19 Plan:
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Photos: ended up spending 3.5 hours on them yesterday. I have 2 plastic craft units with about 8 drawers each which hold photos that are in categories (plus about 8 shoeboxes😲🙄), but have way too many doubles and bad ones. Made it through 3 of the drawers. One of them was labeled “nature” and I was ruthless! 5 categories...birds, butterflies, flowers, landscape, and critters. I kept only the very best or unusual ones. I kept asking myself if I could get a better picture of this or that thing now. If I knew I could improve on it with a little effort with a better camera than the one I had when I took it years ago, I tossed it. I have to set it all aside for 2 days as I’ll be gone most of today and getting ready for my 4 grandkids and daughter to spend a few days here starting tomorrow. But I will return!3
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4/18 Plan: either Plan:go through short stack of papers on dresser. Prioritize tasks there OR use the remaining 15 mins from 4/15 & schedule some dr. Appts.
Actual: Completed a 2nd pass (18 months later) of my 3 drawers of fabric art notions & tools. Now, it’s easier to access & I drew a map of each drawer on some thick paper & layer it on top of the supplies. I also labeled the outside of each drawer with sticky notes.
Time it took: > 45 mins + 20
Other Random Decluttering: Did more organization of my spring/summer clothes by color families. Very cheerful! Cleared off my art table - mostly
4/19 Plan: Clear the rest of the things oof couch.
Actual: Emptied 2 drawers & 4-5 shelves of photo/memories. Put all empty albums, frames, extra pages, etc in a box except for one’s I knew I wanted to keep (a 2nd pile).
Went through all the filled albums & all of the photos, sorting like with like.
Dusted washed the shelves/drawers.
Labeled all the piles.
Then gathered some from the last time I did this & added them to the proper piles.
Purged photos that I didn’t want any more.
Moved trip albums/photos to that other area of the house.
Moved old family photos to another area of house.
Organized our son’s photos chronologically on one shelf.
Did the same with my own - after stopping my timer & reading my baby book cover to cover “Thanks Mom!” 🙏🏻
Still have several shelves to go through, but I’m having fun. It didn’t bring me down this time. I felt joy that I gave these treasures of those who have passed.
I am 99% sure that I will be creating or using ScanCafe to create digital copies of all of these in the future. It would be nice to use keywords to label photos that fall into 2-3 categories & be able to search!!
Time it took: 3 hours+
Other Random Decluttering: Made my bookbinding supplies easier to get to.
Thank You for inspiring me to do this, @nebslp ❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️
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I am enjoying reading your updates and I love your enthusiasm for decluttering! I chose two weeks for our Spring Declutterfest because it seemed like a reasonable time frame to get some things done. If you need more time, by all means, keep at it. But I think there are merits to focusing on decluttering for a specific period of time and not making this an ongoing challenge. When I have a start and end date for something, I get more done. Open ended things result in “I’ll do that later“ and then nothing happens. With two weeks, we can focus, commit to what we want to get done, and plow ahead and do it. And then we’ll do it all again this summer!
I’ve decided that I need to back off my 20 minute daily decluttering goal. I am flat out at work right now and I don’t want any more demands on my time, even self directed ones. But I can get something done every day even if it’s just for a few minutes and these daily somethings will add up! So I’m adopting @77tes approach of, “Start where you are and do what you can“. Last night I took five minutes and put a stack of clothes away. Completely cleared off my dresser and it looks great! I have more time this weekend and I’m spending today cleaning and then packing away our humidifier. I never realized how much low humidity in the winter affects me until I got a humidifier several years ago. I got frequent low grade headaches and always felt like I had allergies or something. With the humidifier going 24/7 in the winter, I’m fine. But I don’t need it now so I’m stowing it away in the basement until next winter. I’m also going to tackle the dining room table and hutch today.
Have a great weekend!3 -
4/20 0, I think
4/21 Finally did my daily plan since 4/15!!!!
(Coincidentally- also the morning after I got > 7 hrs sleep.) Told myself to just spend 15 mins on the pile of papers. 10 mins in, I realized it was not so bad. Finished that then went through my TO DO binder, removing some. Discussed 3-4 items with hubby. Total 50 mins including reading a few things & then recycling them.
Reorganized exercise equipment. 5 mins.
Later, helped hubby to go through two bins that had been sitting since Dec. I knew there were some important things, but he said he’d gone thru it. I figured out he hadn’t, so it only took about 20 mins for us to go through. 90% shred/recycled.😃
4/22 Plan:Merge the rest of photos saved during last ClutterBust in with new organization.
Plan: Move Ex equipment to closet or drawers in closet.
Purchase bookshelf for closet? Then move serving dishes & good china to closet where photos are now..
Photographs/memorabilia location?
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4/27 0 busy
4/28 0 busy
4/29 0 busy
4/30
Time I committed: 4 hrs (15 mins/day)
Time Spent So Far: 6 hours 15 mins
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Photo organization: I spent about 2 hours or more on photos today. I’m finding it easier to toss more every time I work on them! I have a lot of bad pics that no one cares about anyway. If I wouldn’t put them in a book, I should toss them, but I’m not a quite to that point yet. I’m labeling the ones that aren’t done already.
I spent an hour birding this morning north and south of my house in the grove and the pasture. SO awesome. It’s a form of meditation because I am totally focused on one thing and the rest of the world doesn’t exist when I’m listening, then identifying by sound or sight, getting documentation photos or videos. I ID’d 18 different species of birds this morning. Also saw a deer, a squirrel, and a bunny...the Easter bunny?? It was a good way to start the day.2 -
I’m glad you liked my idea @themedalist! I was able to do some decluttering 4 days this week with my 5 minute plan. All told, I managed a little more than an hour. I straightened the top of my dresser, my bedside table, my paperwork junk drawer, and started on a sewing drawer. Overall, I find that having the tidying mindset, helps me keep my house tidier. 2
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April 15: 5 1/2 hours yard clean up after the weekend storm / winds, also included extra work in the yard.
April 16: Decluttered and lightly organized the pantry/ storage closet (yay! as that area has surely been irritating me as of late) located in the laundry room
April 17: Cleared off the table in the "little room" and also took out the bins I "temporarily" stashed in there. Then I colored for a while
April 18: Took care of some papers and mail that had started to gather on the dining room table.
April 19: Decluttered and organized under the kitchen sink.
April 20: Decluttered the back porch: The last 3 bags of mulch that were on the porch are now spread out in the garden and I blew off the back porch and straightened it up. The mulch job in the Back Fence Garden is finally finished!
April 21: Rest day,
April 22: Start decluttering/ reorganizing the storage cabinet near the back porch.
:flowerforyou:3 -
Adventures in Decluttering
Today, my daughter wanted to get rid of a pair of shoes that are practically new but are uncomfortable. I offered to drop them at Goodwill since it is just a couple blocks from Curves where I meet my sister for our Monday workout.
Well, we marched to the Goodwill after our workout to drop off the shoes, but what did I see - 2 Faberware stainless steel pans with lids. They look almost new and even match the ones I registered for when I got married in the 70s, so I traded a pair of shoes for 2 pans - not a good way to declutter, but those pans are quite the find.
My hubby was impressed, but of course asked where I was going to put them because we have one small cupboard that hold the pans we have. So I dug around in the lower cabinets which I have not decluttered and found some awesome mixing bowls, that I'd forgotten I had. Still no decluttering, right?! But I also found some Teflon pans and we are eliminating Teflon, so I'll take them to Goodwill when I go to Curves on Wednesday.
I'm a little worried about going to the Goodwill twice in one week - afraid that I'll find another excellent find. But if it leads to clearing another cupboard, it is worth the danger.
Definitely more than 5 minutes today.3 -
4/22 Plan:Merge the rest of photos saved during last ClutterBust in with new organization.✅
Brought a few boxes of “memories down”
From bedroom & sorted all into my new locations/system. ✅
Travel in travel area (for an album of our lifetime travel ie one double-spread for each trip a la the best of the best!✅
Creative writing where I store my writing.✅
Sorted photos into the 30-40 labeled plastic envelopes along with memorabilia, memories I’ve written of that person, etc.✅
Slowly, but surely, a structure is emerging Its still a big job, but I’m definitely making progress!
Total time: 2 hours
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4/27 0 busy
4/28 0 busy
4/29 0 busy
4/30
Time I committed to do: 4 hrs (15 mins/day)
Time Spent So Far: 8 hours 15 mins3 -
Today I worked on photos from 2:30-7 PM with only one or two short breaks. I’m guessing and hoping I’m about 3/4 done sorting and categorizing. I’m getting to the harder things now. I have a box of slides from my “slide phase” back in the ‘90’s. I might have an old relic of a slide projector in our little storage building but it probably doesn’t work. More reasons to keep decluttering! I’m almost finished rereading Mari Kondo’s The Art of Tidying Up and am very motivated. She said you need to figure out why decluttering is important to you. I think the reason I have so many pictures and keep personal emails and family memories is because it tells the story of my life and that of the special people in it. I want to share those memories with my children and grandchildren. I have what I need, it will just need some organizing. I’ll get there🙂2
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Yesterday I sorted photos for 5 hours. I’m getting closer to the end. Still throwing lots away🙂. I spent some time while sorting trying to figure out how I will use the pics once I get them organized. I have a couple of ideas that I’m excited about, but I’m trying not to get ahead of myself.3
