2021 DECLUTTERFEST
MadisonMolly2017
Posts: 11,157 Member
❤️2021 DECLUTTERFEST Challenge❤️
Please post your plan for your decluttering & give us updates as you proceed!
Think of it as SUPER Spring Cleaning 🧹 🧽 over a YEAR!!! 🤣😂🤣😂
Marie Kondo, Flylady, room-by-room, category by category, 15 minutes a day, 27 thing fling boogie ... whatever works for you!
Detailed day by day plan for the month or do what “calls you” each day?
Tracker or no tracker?
All of these methods work!
July 1 UPDATE: We’ve got half the year left! Perhaps you’d like to Declutter a little each day or do a monthly or weekly burst. You get to decide, but we all agree that keeping what we love & Decluttering the rest NOURISHES us & helps us “Create the LIFE we always DREAMED of”!!!!❤️
BEFORE:
AFTER
Before
After:
Before
After
Be SURE to take some BEFORE photos!! (You don’t have to share them, but you will LOVE looking art them March 1st!!)
What’s your approach going to be?
Have Fun!
🌸Maddie & Denise🌷
Photos from Unsplash
Please post your plan for your decluttering & give us updates as you proceed!
Think of it as SUPER Spring Cleaning 🧹 🧽 over a YEAR!!! 🤣😂🤣😂
Marie Kondo, Flylady, room-by-room, category by category, 15 minutes a day, 27 thing fling boogie ... whatever works for you!
Detailed day by day plan for the month or do what “calls you” each day?
Tracker or no tracker?
All of these methods work!
July 1 UPDATE: We’ve got half the year left! Perhaps you’d like to Declutter a little each day or do a monthly or weekly burst. You get to decide, but we all agree that keeping what we love & Decluttering the rest NOURISHES us & helps us “Create the LIFE we always DREAMED of”!!!!❤️
BEFORE:
AFTER
Before
After:
Before
After
Be SURE to take some BEFORE photos!! (You don’t have to share them, but you will LOVE looking art them March 1st!!)
What’s your approach going to be?
Have Fun!
🌸Maddie & Denise🌷
Photos from Unsplash
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The desk above inspired me to take a before pic of my “work” table. Oh my! Still looks the same but now I know what I’m dealing with...pens, pencils, cup, thermos, paper notebooks, sticky notes, headphones, napkins, my special”I did it” jar.... and so much more. All needed, but kind of a jumbled up disaster. It would be nice to come into the room in the morning to a neat area.4
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Please head to Challenges & look for this post. We’d love to have your thoughts there!
It looks like this:
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I jump-started this because I am so excited! So far I've 1) broken down all the boxes that were taking up space upstairs and are moving them flattened to the basement. I will be selling on eBay and hate to throw them away until I know what I need. 2) sorted Barbie dolls and clothes, Barbie Kitchen, car, and accessories and put them in the basement. My girls have outgrown them, I'm sure, and we can always bring them back up if they want them. 3) Today I will go through all of the kids' craft supplies and organize their bookshelf. I should get busy
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I jump-started this because I am so excited! So far I've 1) broken down all the boxes that were taking up space upstairs and are moving them flattened to the basement. I will be selling on eBay and hate to throw them away until I know what I need. 2) sorted Barbie dolls and clothes, Barbie Kitchen, car, and accessories and put them in the basement. My girls have outgrown them, I'm sure, and we can always bring them back up if they want them. 3) Today I will go through all of the kids' craft supplies and organize their bookshelf. I should get busy
@nebslp
WhoooHoooooo 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Ride that 🌊!!!
🏄🏻♀️
I LOVE your post❣️2 -
Hot Spots
Parents Estates File
Photo Box
Bedroom bookshelf
Sewing drawers
Today I worked on the Estate File.2 -
I posted this in the old thread. Ooops! Thank you @MadisonMolly2017 for all your tips!
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1/31/2017
February's declutterfest starts tomorrow! I am so excited! I need to do this SO BAD!
Do you find it works best to set a goal of WHERE or WHAT you plan to declutter, or does it work better to have a goal of how long you plan to declutter each day? Or do you actually schedule what to work on, and which days to do it? I obviously need to freshen up on my organizational skills!
My plan at this time is to spend 15+ minutes/day decluttering the following areas, going down the list item by item:- Desktop
- File Drawers
- Tupperware cupboard
- Cookbook shelf
- Bedroom closet shelves
- Magazines upstairs
- Sewing supplies in sewing space
- Magazines in sewing space
- Crap on the shelves of bar downstairs
- Download photos from FB to iCloud
- Clean up HP laptop and back up on external drive
- Clean up Lenova and back up on external drive
- Digital declutter photos
- Digital declutter documents
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BTW, that is NOT my house in the photo above....just grabbed it off the internet.
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@MadisonMolly2017 thanks for starting us off for our SPRING 2021 DECLUTTERFEST!
Excellent introduction!
@nebslp it was fun seeing you jumping right into the thick of things before February! You accomplished a lot!!
@77tes What a good plan of which things that you are going to take care of, and also a good start to your declutterfest already!! Well done!! Thanks for sharing the photo.
@PackerFanInGB Wow!! You definitely have a very clear and specific plan of what you are going to do this month! I admire that. I'm not good at looking at things in that way. I probably would get more done if I could identify specifics within a given room and organize those in a doable list. I have tried, but I get bogged down especially in the planning, and then other little things that distract me from what I really need to accomplish. Lol about the picture... I was wondering about that because of the elementary home school posters on the wall 👀.
Earlier today I first straightened up the top shelf of the pantry which was decluttered and straightened up the previous two years and was still in good shape, as it is basically storage for a few things. I decided on a whim to change what I was doing with most of the disposable paper goods/cutlery up there. I wasn't planning to work in the pantry this time around, but when one unexpectedly gets an idea... 💡.... 😁.
However, I was proud of myself at actually stopping with just that one shelf as I had decided yesterday that today needed to be a start in the Master Bathroom. The rest of the pantry is still in good shape and doesn't need a declutter/ tidy at this time, but I could find myself doing it anyway if I allowed myself to get that distracted. It has happened before 🤣, and I already started to look at the next shelf down 🤷♀️.
I began the declutter/ tidy up under the Master Bathroom's sink. I first cleaned the entire area and then rearranged a few things while putting them back, and tossed a thing or two. I moved some things to the Hall bathroom and put some other things under the this sink now that there was more room. I then wiped down the medicine cabinet. Tossed 3 items, rearranged a few others.
After that I began the planned spring cleaning deep cleaning of this bathroom. Spring comes early here 🌼 and when it actually comes I really want to be in the yard/ garden.
I have no actual 'laid out plan' at this moment, but I do know that there are some areas/ rooms that I definitely plan to get to this month. For the immediate next few days I will continue in the Master Bathroom, possibly tandem cleaning or tidying/ decluttering in the Hall Bathroom if it makes sense to me.
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Thank you @texasgardnr & @PackerFanInGB for you appreciation & glad I could help
@nebslp How’s it going? 😘
Sounds like many in our group will be doing at least some decluttering here or there!
Maddie 🎉1 -
Feb 1: moved various things to where they belonged in art studio & from front entry
Feb 2:
* Emptied, decluttered, cleaned, and then organized drawers in bathroom.
* Tossed/recycled old packaging, instruction booklets, way out of date makeup, stuff I never use. Went through my travel items to make sure none needed replacement.
* Consolidated bandaids, alcohol wipes, etc. recycled unnecessary extra packaging in medical drawer.
* Went through shelves under my sink, tossing things, putting misc items where they belong, etc.
* Made all drawers & shelves spacious (so when we take one, the rest don’t fall like a house of cards
Insight: Everything has stayed remarkably clean & organized. There are still a few things here & there I should toss, but I love them, so I kept them again.
Future Plan:
Feb 3 & 4: counting Feb 2 towards those days. Took over an hour
Feb 5: Will be the last two drawers & folding all the towels 😆
Feb 6: On to our bedroom & then our closet...2 -
@MadisonMolly2017 Well done today and a good future plan!
February 2: I have one drawer under the counter on the left side of the sink. I have 5 smaller dollar store plastic containers about 6.5x8.5x2.5 that fit perfectly together in that drawer. I cleaned the drawer and washed the containers. I then replaced what belonged into each one.
There was nothing that needed replacing like new toothpaste, or anything to toss this time. I also did the same with the first shelf in the 'linen' cupboard. In there I cleaned the first shelf and also washed the one container. I folded the clean towels and put them away. I tidied the several bath products in the container.
The Master bathroom linen cupboard shelves and vanity drawer were also decluttered during a previous declutterfests, so all was still ok so far. I'm not so sure about the next two shelves in the 'linen cupboard'. They tend to get cluttered more easily when I purchase new products like shampoo etc. Both of those shelves and the space beneath the linen cupboard are going to get finished this week.
On a side note: drawers have been so much easier to maintain since I learned to corral like items with like items a number of years ago. I use these, or other sized plastic dollar store containers in certain drawers and on cupboard shelves around the house for that purpose. They are not essentially beautiful, but they do the job well for me. And they are not seen unless I go into the drawer, but then I hardly notice them because the items are more visible and neat (usually 🤪).
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texasgardnr wrote: »@MadisonMolly2017 Well done today and a good future plan!
February 2: I have one drawer under the counter on the left side of the sink. I have 5 smaller dollar store plastic containers about 6.5x8.5x2.5 that fit perfectly together in that drawer. I cleaned the drawer and washed the containers. I then replaced what belonged into each one.
There was nothing that needed replacing like new toothpaste, or anything to toss this time. I also did the same with the first shelf in the 'linen' cupboard. In there I cleaned the first shelf and also washed the one container. I folded the clean towels and put them away. I tidied the several bath products in the container.
The Master bathroom linen cupboard shelves and vanity drawer were also decluttered during a previous declutterfests, so all was still ok so far. I'm not so sure about the next two shelves in the 'linen cupboard'. They tend to get cluttered more easily when I purchase new products like shampoo etc. Both of those shelves and the space beneath the linen cupboard are going to get finished this week.
On a side note: drawers have been so much easier to maintain since I learned to corral like items with like items a number of years ago. I use these, or other sized plastic dollar store containers in certain drawers and on cupboard shelves around the house for that purpose. They are not essentially beautiful, but they do the job well for me. And they are not seen unless I go into the drawer, but then I hardly notice them because the items are more visible and neat (usually 🤪).
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Well done to you as well @texasgardnr ❣️
Agree with all you wrote!
I am re-using plastic containers & various boxes that I cut down to just under height of the drawer. I’m continuing this until we have “used up” older supplies. Then we’ll decide what we want to have available & how much, if any, as a back up supply.
For example: our band-aid supply now fits in 1 box instead of sprawling thru the drawer.
Another example: I’ve streamlined my make-up. And once I use up the various bits of lotion, I will just use one.
I look forward to continuing to hear s as sl of your great ideas❣️1 -
Estate file is empty! Finished it yesterday! On to the photo box today.
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February 2: Today was the 2nd and 3rd shelves in the 'linen cupboard'. These shelves are the home for items like shampoo/ conditioners, bath items, the pretty container for Q-Tips, candles, lotions and so on. First I cleaned both shelves, and then rearranged a few things while putting everything back. Sometimes just doing that will help me to notice items that I had forgotten to use. I also tossed a few things that I no longer wanted any more.
Tomorrow will be the space beneath the 'linen' cupboard. It is a larger space that was apparently set up to fit a clothes hamper in there, with a small door that swings down from the top of the space to drop clothes into the hamper. I never used it for that reason as I keep the hampers elsewhere. So I installed a paper towel holder on this swing down door to be convenient when I am cleaning in the area. Beneath that is another cupboard door to the large space.
This is where I stash extras or other items for the bathroom. Drawers and shelves would be difficult to use since the bottom of this space is the actual floor. What ends up in there changes over the years. For instance, there are no longer toddler bath toys living there.
So tomorrow I'm only going to check if I need to declutter anything. Otherwise I'm not going to change anything. It is still functions well enough at this time, and it was about 6 months ago that I had made a second pass through in there. After that is finished I plan to finish cleaning the bathroom. So that's my plan for tomorrow.
🤠🌺 see y'all tomorrow!2 -
February 4: Today was the space beneath the 'linen' cupboard as described in my post above. I washed the plastic containers and boxes and vacuumed the floor in the space. I decluttered some outdated nail care products and several other things that I no longer use or wanted. I rearranged how I put the containers/ boxes back in. Someday when I do another pass through I'll evaluate whether I like this arrangement or what I used to use.
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texasgardnr wrote: »February 4: Today was the space beneath the 'linen' cupboard as described in my post above. I washed the plastic containers and boxes and vacuumed the floor in the space. I decluttered some outdated nail care products and several other things that I no longer use or wanted. I rearranged how I put the containers/ boxes back in. Someday when I do another pass through I'll evaluate whether I like this arrangement or what I used to use.
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@texasgardnr It sure is a fun, satisfying, creative activity💞1 -
Finished the photo box yesterday. Today I start on the bookshelf of chaos!
Photo box before
Photo box pile o’junk
Finished Photo Box
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To all of my fellow declutterers... Feels SO good to just look at the new space, doesn't it?!?4
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@77tes you are certainly rockin' the declutterfest!! I am enjoying seeing your progress through the photos that you are sharing 👀👍. Excellent accomplishments!!
February 5: Today I cleaned & decluttered the main part of the Hall bathroom. The counter, underneath the sink, the two additional cupboards on either side of the sink and both drawers. Also the 'linen cupboard' which has the same storage areas/ shelves as the master bathroom has. This one has more storage area than the Master Bath so it is easier to store items and also keep track of what needs to be replaced, and the cupboards don't get so crowded either.
This bathroom is the one my husband uses mostly since the children are are grown. I washed the plastic containers and shelves. I decluttered things that were no longer being used or outdated. I rearranged some things to be more easily available or visible.
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@texasgardnr you are my inspiration.
@nebslp , it sure does feel good.
February 5 - I tackled the bookshelf of chaos. It turns out it wasn’t too bad.
February 6 Started on sewing stuff - sigh 😞 That will be a huge job. Today I did one drawer but didn’t take photos.
Bookshelf Before
After
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✅Feb 1: moved various things to where they belonged in art studio & from front entry
✅Feb 2:
* Emptied, decluttered, cleaned, and then organized drawers in bathroom.
* Tossed/recycled old packaging, instruction booklets, way out of date makeup, stuff I never use. Went through my travel items to make sure none needed replacement.
* Consolidated bandaids, alcohol wipes, etc. recycled unnecessary extra packaging in medical drawer.
* Went through shelves under my sink, tossing things, putting misc items where they belong, etc.
* Made all drawers & shelves spacious (so when we take one, the rest don’t fall like a house of cards
Insight: Everything has stayed remarkably clean & organized. There are still a few things here & there I should toss, but I love them, so I kept them again.
Future Plan:
Feb 3 & 4: counting Feb 2 towards those days. Took over an hour
✅ Feb 5: Thoroughky decluttered the last two bathroom drawers & folded all the towels a large Marie Kondo! 😄 Figured out a much better way to store all hair-related tools, products, decorations for hair that took less space! 45 minutes
✅ Feb 5: On a roll, I decluttered some of items in cutlery drawer that we don’t use, folded all kitchen towels & aprons. Reorganized drawers so one is just towels & the other now has sponges, dishwasher pods, etc. 15 minutes
Feb 6 -8 will count towards my Feb 5 work.
Feb 9: 🎶 “Hats, Gloves, Umbrellas...oh no!”🎵 I began in January gathering ALL of these. Will round up the stragglers, then decide what to keep, donate, trash/recycle/reuse. Then organize in a large drawer I’ve cleared. Funny thing is I’ve got 4 umbrella covers &’only 1 collapsible umbrella so far. I think they might all be busted. LOL1 -
Just catching up and WOW. Yall have really been going to town. Great progress. And I am floored!!! At the end of the month there are going to be a lot of organized folks here for sure!
Me - I finished my taxes yesterday and am eyeballing the PILE of paper which I must take care of. As a very minimal first step I have found the folding file which I used initially for my parent's house when I was handling it in 2010 to 2014 and have started relabeling the segments. I took the first step to file the bills I paid yesterday in there and move a few of the recent ones to the folders. It's a very VERY tiny step but as yall know progress begins with the decision and taking that step.
Next I need to pull the shredder out from the spare room as I do not need to keep bills from 10 years ago. seriously!
The folder will only be for current year or ones which need to be kept for record keeping and older ones as the pile decreases will be shredded. This is most likely an entire year vs month project and the start is slow but it is started!
Summer2 -
SummerSkier wrote: »Just catching up and WOW. Yall have really been going to town. Great progress. And I am floored!!! At the end of the month there are going to be a lot of organized folks here for sure!
Me - I finished my taxes yesterday and am eyeballing the PILE of paper which I must take care of. As a very minimal first step I have found the folding file which I used initially for my parent's house when I was handling it in 2010 to 2014 and have started relabeling the segments. I took the first step to file the bills I paid yesterday in there and move a few of the recent ones to the folders. It's a very VERY tiny step but as yall know progress begins with the decision and taking that step.
Next I need to pull the shredder out from the spare room as I do not need to keep bills from 10 years ago. seriously!
The folder will only be for current year or ones which need to be kept for record keeping and older ones as the pile decreases will be shredded. This is most likely an entire year vs month project and the start is slow but it is started!
Summer
@SumnerSkier
GREAT first steps!!! Our shredders are our friends!! 😂
I’m a HugE believer in baby steps - 15 mins a day is almost 2 hrs a week! A work day of 8 hrs per month!
You will find:
1) it gets to be addictive & fun to do this stuff
2) it will go faster than you think!
3) the joy & comfort of knowing you are on top of all of this is priceless
I’m in the middle of year 6 with this. There’s actually no rush. ANd I agree with Marie Kondo...do it when you want to. Makes all the difference! That’s why I’m doing a lot on some days & then skipping a few days. Riding my waves of when I Feel like doing it, while still hitting on average 15 mins/day
Now, in day 7, I woke up brainstorming ways to hit a few categories I didn’t want to touch a few days ago... haha
Addiction, a good one!2 -
@MadisonMolly2017 wow, you are rocking the declutter.
@SummerSkier congratulations on finishing your taxes. I just started the process today. Good luck on the shredding. Don’t burn up the shredder. 🔥🤣
@texasgardnr the way you are tackling the decluttering is so amazing.
Does anyone have suggestions on how to organize deep dresser drawers? I’ve tried, but they still need work.
February 1 - worked on estate papers
February 2 - finished estate papers
February 3 - started on photo box
February 4 - finished photo box
February 5 - finished bookshelf on chaos - it wasn’t that bad
February 6 - started first sewing drawer
February 8 - I worked some more on the first sewing drawer, organizing my thread. 🤪 I started one sewing drawer #2
Before:
After:
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Thank you @77tes ... I’m@MadisonMolly2017 wow, you are rocking the declutter.
@SummerSkier congratulations on finishing your taxes. I just started the process today. Good luck on the shredding. Don’t burn up the shredder. 🔥🤣
@texasgardnr the way you are tackling the decluttering is so amazing.
Does anyone have suggestions on how to organize deep dresser drawers? I’ve tried, but they still need work.
February 1 - worked on estate papers
February 2 - finished estate papers
February 3 - started on photo box
February 4 - finished photo box
February 5 - finished bookshelf on chaos - it wasn’t that bad
February 6 - started first sewing drawer
February 8 - I worked some more on the first sewing drawer, organizing my thread. 🤪 I started one sewing drawer #2
Before:
After:
Trying to be more moderate this time !
For deep drawers:
I use 2 methods:
One is Marie Kondo’s basically putting things in the drawer vertically. I only do this when I need to see each item: for me that is scarves & a few purses. And the bathroom towels. And large pieces of fabric...
The technique I use more often is having a bottom layer & then I use shallow boxes or trays (mostly from flats the cat’s canned food comes in.) to create a removable top layer.
I use this method for my thread (4 layers 2-wide for my thread sorted by color.
Beads, embellishments..
I have to say, now in year 5-6, I’m more inclined to just have one layer even if the drawer is deep. So I will give away or keep back-up supplies elsewhere. I learned that in a minimalist book as my mother always packed every drawer completely full. It blew my mind when they showed photos where there purposely left empty space and/or room around each item. 😁
Guiding principle: the ease of putting away trumps ease of taking it out!
Best,
Maddie1 -
@77tes the bookshelf is looking good! There appears to be some great older books on your shelves 👀 . Very nice job✨ . Thank you also for the words of encouragement 💖!
Your sewing drawer looks all tidy and nicely organized! Well done!
@MadisonMolly2017 good job decluttering the two bathroom drawers & also Marie Kondo folding the towels. They must look awesome as well as pretty 👏. And that was great that you took on the cutlery drawer and got rid of what you don’t use any more! Excellent job on your reorganization of the drawer too! A job well done!! You are an inspiration indeed!
Good plan awaiting tomorrow's decluttering!
WoW, I loved your last sentence in your answer to 77tes's question about deep drawers, which I was also interested in.
"Guiding principle: the ease of putting away trumps ease of taking it out!"
I never saw the correlation as to where things would start to fall apart. I always thought I must not be being careful enough, or I needed to decluttter even more. I am careful and decluttering was not always the cause. THANK YOU!
Yes, Shredders are our friends 🤪. and occasionally so is the shredding service at my office supply stores when the need to shred pile is very big. Especially when they have a coupon! Those free shredding community events never ended up either at the right time or place for me.
@SummerSkier Good for you getting your taxes filed! And that IS a big step toward reducing how many old bills you will keep, and for how long! You go girl!
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