Brittney Bush Bollay via Compfight
We’re going to play a fun game today…it’s called Why Do I Have This Stuff?! And it’s because when I was cleaning out my rooms, that is what I kept asking myself.
We had piles of trash! This is 3x more than we would throw out in a typical week. And it was just sitting in my house…around in various places, randomly. Under sinks, in cabinets, on top of the fish tank, etc.
Ridiculous. Let’s take a tour of the house and see what else I found….
My Room
We’ll start in my room. Take a look at the top of my dresser.
Most of that is mismatched socks, many of them old and torn. Why? Some of it is kids’ books or toys that should be in their homes…which is not here.
Tip #1: Regularly go through your clothing (especially underwear and socks) and throw out the ones that are stretched out, have holes, or otherwise basically unwearable. Do the same for your kids’, also packing up the ones in good shape that are too small to sell or for another child.
Then there is my sewing table.
At least most of this has a purpose. There’s my machine, my snap press, some clothes that need mending, my sewing basket…. Even so, there is some junk there, and I really need a better way to organize this. I even have one…that I don’t use.
Tip #2: Keep a basket near your sewing area for any clothes that need mended or projects that are not yet finished. Try to make time to take care of these things regularly and get them put away. Clear out your basket every few months of projects you aren’t going to finish.
The TV area. The bane of my existence. It used to be worse before we got the giant TV…that we almost never use. (Which is because Jacob still sleeps in our room. We’ll use it more once he’s in “the boys’ room.”)
That TV, by the way, cost us just $100 on Craig’s List. Score.
We tend to pile things around the TV. Stuff we don’t want to forget, or stuff we don’t want the kids to have. There has to be better places for all of it…or at least most.
Tip #3: Have a specific filing system for important papers, and put them there immediately. Use a filing cabinet or box, one that locks and is preferably fire-proof.
Finally, since I already did my closet (and you saw a couple weeks ago just how much stuff got piled up outside it…there was ultimately about twice as much as that!), there’s my vanity area.
Since I have no vanity (ha), it has become a clothing catch-all. I have learned to live with this. However, I tend to pile up more and more stuff…that I’m really not planning to wear again. Also, there are tons of old vitamins, papers, and various other things that do not need to be there.
Tip #4: It’s okay to have a place to lay clothing you will wear again — plan this space in advance! — but check it before you do laundry and clear out the items that are ready to wash. Remove any paper or other clutter regularly too.
My bathroom…is far too scary to even show you. I mean eek scary. I don’t even shower in there anymore. (Relax, I shower…I just do it in the other bathroom.)
Downstairs
There are two major trouble spots downstairs that we will be addressing this week: the top of the dehydrator, and the top of the fish tank. Which is disgusting in and of itself, since we don’t take care of it. It needs to go.
(Sorry for the super bad pic. The window was glaring and I couldn’t figure out a way to get around it…I know, I should have just waited until later in the day, but…I’m not smart.)
See what I mean? The tank’s gross, and there’s way too much stuff piled around it. I’ve got cookbooks, notebooks, random papers, books (even though the book shelves are less than 10 feet away), an old laptop, and more. The few things that need another location are going there. The rest, is going out. Including that old laptop.
Tip #5: Check to see if there is an “electronics recycling” place near you. They will pay you by the lb. for the metal and components from your old gear, meaning it’s recycled/disposed of properly and you can earn a little money.
Finally, the dehydrator area. Much of that stuff has already been moved to the kitchen table because I had to find something over there the other day, and that required getting the junk out of my way first. Ahem.
I’ll be throwing away much of this stuff. Some will go to other locations. The dehydrator has been my catch-all system. And you can see above it, my cookbook shelf, has stuff piled all over it too. Namely, over a dozen egg cartons that need recycled.
Tip #6: If you plan to recycle, have a regular day each week or month that you take the items to the recycling center (if you don’t have curbside pick up). Have a designated, out-of-the-way space to keep your recyclables until then.
Hopefully, by getting rid of all that stuff I didn’t need, plus reorganizing the stuff I do, I will have a house that is cleaner and easier to keep that way.
What’s your best organizing/decluttering tip?
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TESTING!
I ask myself that question everyday and my husband at least twice a day. He has a habit of hanging onto stuff and the bane of my existence is my room which is the catch all as well. My kids both sleep with me since my husband works odd hours.
I try to go through everything now at least once a month but the daily cleaning drives me crazy but I must admit when I saw your pics, I thought to myself “Oh, thank god, I am not the only one” and instantly felt a little better about myself as a home keeper.
My best tip is to have a place for everything and put things away as soon as you are finished using them. This will make it easier to keep your house clean and you won’t have to worry about your baby crawling on your carpet. The little items seen in your pictures could be choking hazards! I use the computer/internet as my motivator – no computer until all is neat and tidy!
I recently read, “The House that Cleans Itself” and I definitely recommend it. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0736918809/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=12342507721&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1461463509299459490&hvpone=10.39&hvptwo=20&hvqmt=e&ref=pd_sl_199pav9qp2_e
In her book, the author has you categorize your home into “zones” (entry, dining area, bathroom, etc.) and then go through your areas zone by zone. In the process of organizing, you inventory everything in that zone, and you write down why it’s there. (Example: Entry – backpack, shoes, books. Why: Johnny didn’t take backpack to his room, shoes didn’t make it to the coat closet, books need returning to library . . . ) As I began following the process myself–which I did rather loosely–I began to realize that a number of things accumulated in spots simply because they had no designated location. This was very revealing to me. I honestly didn’t realize, until it was “on paper” that my issue wasn’t necessarily laziness or too much stuff, but rather stuff without a “home.”
Something else the author points out is the need to make your home fit your habits, rather than trying to train yourself to to adopt a different way of doing things. For example, that entry that always gets messy–stop trying to make yourself use the coat closet that is 20 ft. down the hallway. Instead, put hooks for the backpacks, rack for shoes, shelf or basket for your library books, etc. She also shares more about why certain ways of organizing simply don’t work for certain people.
I got the book via my library. I definitely think it’s worth the read, even if you only partially apply it.
Cleaning just isn’t the same after staying home with kids and the conversion to real food. The thing that has helped me the most so far is to pick up a couple of things here and there throughout the day as we walk past them or get a quick energy spurt. If I see anything in the kitchen that should be in the trash, I gather them up on my way to the bathroom and toss them. Before Katie can show me her new gymnastics move or made up dance, I ask her to clear the area and put the toys away that are in the way. If I find dirty cloths (I use old cloth diapers as Katie’s napkins when it’s just us) or clothes lying around, I grab them up and toss them in the laundry room or laundry basket upstairs. Why is there always a random child’s sock on the floor??? Doing just this makes a HUGE difference in how long it takes me to clean up, even when the house still looks cluttered. It also keeps us cleaning rather than avoiding it. Katie gets excited about cleaning in small spurts and is much less likely to get distracted than during a scheduled “clean up time”. Don’t think my house is clean all the time! It’s just a lot less dirty than it could be.
Now if I could just figure out a method for dishes that I can actually stick with…
My two best tips are completely basic, but they’ve worked really well for me. First is something drilled in to me when I was in catering: full hands in, full hands out. Walking across the house for something? Grab whatever you can that needs to go that way and drop it off en route. That one habit minimises a lot of clutter for me!
The other one is to take five minutes before I get ready for bed to pick things up, put them away, or do a handful of dishes. I usually take 10 minutes to prep for the next morning anyway (making sure there’s clothes, lunches, etc) since we’re up and out early, so that fits right in and helps ensure a smooth, low-stress morning.