Organizing

An Experiment in Clothes Closet Clutter

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I was reading a blog post from “Be More With Less” where she talked about doing experiments on how to live with fewer things.  She said to look at these experiments as temporary.

This seemed to hit a cord with me.  The definition of experiment is: a test, trial, or an act or procedure for the purpose of discovering something unknown.

The unknown can be learning to live without clutter.  Of course everyone’s definition of clutter is different.  Most of the time it’s the fear of having nothing left after we clear out the clutter keeps us from taking actions. A temporary experiment with decluttering might just be the way to discover those fears are unfounded.

Experiment – Step 1

I decided to give it a try.  Somehow my clothes closet has grown smaller over the past several years. I figured that is a good place to set up an experiment. Tackling one section at a time should help to avoid feeling overwhelmed.

I started by taking everything off the 3 foot rod where most of my tops are hanging.

When I piled them on the bed I separated them by winter, summer, and all those T-shirts that have accumulated from special events or vacations.

 

I packed away the winter clothes in under-the-bed boxes. Since it’s summer, I’ll deal with those clothes this fall.

After all the extra hangers were put in another closet, I hung the summer clothes back in my closet. I easily got rid of six summer tops, but I know I need to declutter more.

After putting the summer tops back in the closet I realized I had 13 more clean tops hanging in the laundry room. They are not in the photo above so needless to say my closet will still be crowded.

Experiment – Step 2

In this step comes the real “experiment”.  All the vacation/event T-shirts (the ones laying on the bed in the above picture) were hung up in a closet in another room. I always think I’ll wear them to work out in the yard but I never do.

The next thing is to mark a calendar or desk planner for a date in September. Summer will be winding down so that will be a good time to make a decision on whether to keep those T-shirts or not. Maybe by then I’ll discover I can live without them and give them away.

Summer is the time we naturally “lighten up”. Take advantage of this time to experiment with different areas that are cluttered in your home.  Pack away books, trinkets, and other items on your shelves. Live with the uncluttered summer cottage look for several months. Then decide if you miss all those things.

Remember, the experiments are temporary. You’re preforming the experiment to see if you can live without many things that clutter up your home. You don’t have to get rid of anything just yet.

Of course if there are things you’re ready to let go of now, then go for it! That will be less to deal with later.

If you’ve preformed an experiment like I described above I would love to hear about it.

To a lighter load along the way.

Janice

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How to Pay the Love of Reading Forward with the Gift of Books

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During this past month there have been so stresses in my life I haven’t spent any time on writing blog posts. I have spent some time taking care of myself to heal some of the emotional wounds that have been building for a long time.

One way I took care of myself was to go to the annual St. Louis Book Fair. It is sponsored by Macy’s as a fundraiser to benefit local non-profit education and literacy programs. It’s been going on for 60 years. I remember going with my mother and sisters when I was a child.

Because I have way too many books for my current bookshelves (their double stacked already) I have avoided going to the fair for about 5 or 6 years. This year was different. It was time to get back to doing something I love. But it also required making a promise to myself to declutter some of the old books so I don’t feel guilty about buying new ones.

With some birthday money (my birthday was last Thursday) I went to the book fair on Friday. I ended up buying 19 books.  Some were cookbooks (3) and the rest were non-fiction books.  I didn’t even go over to the fiction book section because I still have a few I haven’t read yet.

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On Saturday I found a box and started going through one shelf at a time to pull out some books I could get rid of. If you’re a booklover like I am you know how hard it is to let go of them. Since the majority of my books are non-fiction I always feel like I’m giving away a valuable resource. Even with so much information easily available on the internet I still find it had to let them go.

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So far I have 23 books in my box. Yea me! Since I bought 5 books last week at Goodwill (first time there in over a year) plus the 19 books bought at the book fair I feel I have done pretty well so far. Even with pulling that many books off the shelves I still don’t have enough room for the new books.  Therefore I will get another box and work on filling that one.  I have four more bookcases like the two below.

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My local Macy’s store collects books year round for this book fair. My goal is to have a least 30 and hopefully 40 books to take to the loading dock by next week.  I’ll be paying it forward so those books can be sold next year to help support the education and literacy programs. That way more children and adults will be able to learn how to read all the magic and knowledge that books contain between their covers.

There are lots of ways to pay the love of reading forward.  I remember one year I had a garage sale and because it was cold and rainy there were very few customers. Right before closing up a young woman came in looking for children’s books which I had a few. She said she was going to be a new 1st grade teacher in the fall and was buying reading books for her classroom. I gave her the whole pile of books for free. It felt so good to help out a new teacher that would be able to instill the love of reading to her many students.

So pay the love of reading forward by donating your books to a charity, local school, or a new teacher starting out. If you’re not reading them anymore then they aren’t doing anyone any good sitting on your shelves.

To a lighter load along the way.

Janice

 

If you’re planning on having a garage sale be sure to check out the eBook:

“How To Declutter With A Garage Sale”

It will help you from start to finish with clearing the clutter out of your home.

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Easter or Passover Planner

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If you have read my blog for awhile you know I’m big on creating planners to help me get organized for special events, holidays, or travel. Today I’m setting up my planner for the Passover Seder.  Since the holiday dinner is at my house every year I know I have a lot to do during the next 2 1/2 weeks.

Through experience I have learned how this kind of planner helps lower my stress level and even saves me money. Last week I went to New Orleans with my husband for a few days.  My Travel Planner helped keep all the papers (airline tickets, hotel, emergency phone numbers, etc.) in one place so when I left town I had everything I needed.

I had even researched some places we wanted to visit beforehand. For the Aquarium I found a $3.00 off per person coupon online. I printed it out and put it in the Travel Planner. It saved us $6.00 that morning. That paid for the streetcar ride later in the day to see other attractions.

So whether you are planning an Easter dinner for the family or a Passover Seder creating a planner now will help you get organized and reduce the stress over the next couple of weeks. Here are a few simple steps to create that planner. You most likely have everything you need on hand so take a few minutes today to set it up. It will make planning for your celebration much easier and more enjoyable!

Step 1

You will need some kind of notebook, pocket folder, or file folder to keep everything in. If you have several celebrations or events you are planning for it might be easier to use a small 3-ring binder with pocket folder dividers to keep each event separate. Since I only have the Seder I’m using a pocket folder with clips to hold notebook paper.

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Step 2

You’ll need enough paper to create several lists.

    • Shopping list for groceries.
    • Shopping list for table or household decorations.
    • Write out the full menu and any condiments, special seasonings, etc. that you plan on serving. If other people will be bringing certain dishes for the meal make sure you put their name next to that dish on your list. Also make sure they know way ahead of time what they are expected to bring so they can plan accordingly.
    • Write out a timetable for the next couple of weeks of what and when you will do things such as cleaning, shopping, polishing silverware, and baking or cooking things ahead of time. You can write this timetable on the notebook paper or print out a calendar (monthly or weekly) to write it on. Here is a site to download a free calendar, either monthly or weekly.

http://www.calendarlabs.com/blank-calendar.php?template=weekly

Step 3

Put copies of the recipes you plan on making into the pockets of the folder. Check all the ingredients for each one and write the things you need to purchase on the grocery list.  If your recipe is in a cookbook you can list the cookbook and page number next to the dish on your menu page. Just make sure you check the ingredients for the grocery list as soon as possible.

 

Now your planner is for the most part organized and ready to go. Customize it for your particular needs.  If your family dresses up in special clothes for church then you can make a list for each family member and what they will wear. If you need to buy anything new you can plan for a shopping trip now instead of running out to the store at the last minute.

Keep this planner in a place where you can check it daily. If you know you’re going out to run errands check your shopping lists first to see if you can buy some of the things now.  With the cost of gas you don’t want to make any extra shopping trips for just a few items.

If you have any questions or suggestions on creating this planner please let me know.

To a lighter load along the way.

Janice

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Time to Revisit Those New Year’s Resolutions

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By this time of year many of those New Year’s Resolutions have gone by the wayside.  It’s time to review them again and decide which ones really matter to you.

It could be you had great expectations of what you would be able to change and accomplish this year.  After almost two months not much progress has been made so now you’re beating yourself up.  STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!

You do not deserve a beating.  What you do deserve is some self-compassion.

It’s hard to change some habits.  It’s hard to stay disciplined and motivated especially if our resolutions are very general and vague.  It could be you need to change the way you think about your resolutions and the actions you want to take to accomplish your goals.

Have you ever found yourself being so motivated to do something that you didn’t even think about what you had to do, you just did it? What was it that made you so motivated to begin with?

A few weeks ago I found myself motivated enough to clean up an area of my finished basement without all the stress and procrastination I had been using to avoid it. I had invited some friends over for Super bowl weekend.  Our finished basement has a big screen TV on one side of the steps and on the other side is a table and old kitchen cabinets lining the walls.  This is my sewing and craft area.  It also had become a dumping place for many things that I didn’t know where to put them or I was too lazy to put them away in their proper place.

Anyway, I knew I would be highly embarrassed to have my friends see this mess.  After all, I write about decluttering/organization and here was this disastrous mess!

Hey, I’m the first to admit I’m not perfect but this mess was just plain out of control. So to avoid any embarrassment I was highly motivated to clean up the mess before they came over.  The storage room has a door I can close so a lot of the stuff went in there. Now I’ll need to tackle that area but at least my friends didn’t see it! An added benefit is now I can actually use the sewing area to sew things.

I was talking to a friend recently and she too found motivation to clean up her finished basement. Her husband was babysitting their young grandson one day.  He later told my friend that he would love to play with the grandson in the basement area but it was too messy and not safe for him. That motivated her to finally take the action to clean up the area.

We both found a motivating factor that made it easier to take the actions needed.  Mine was having company over and not wanting to be embarrassed by the mess.  Hers was having a safe and better place for her grandson to play.

Sometimes it’s hard to come up with a strong motivating factor.  Just wanting to have a decluttered house probably isn’t going to motivate you to take action.  Having company over for a holiday dinner might be.

So instead of beating yourself up for not taking actions on your New Year’s resolutions try to find a motivating factor that will make you take the actions needed. Start small with something like cleaning off the dinner table so the whole family can sit down together.  Getting your kitchen cabinets organized could eliminate frustration when asking your family to help prepare the meals. It will be easier and more fun for them if they can find the right bowl or pan without having to dig through a messing cabinet.

As much as we should be motivated to do things for our own pleasure or safety I find it usually is easier to take action if the motivating factor involves the pleasure or safety of someone else, not just myself. I’m not sure if this is human nature, cultural, or family upbringing.  It really doesn’t matter.  The more you take action to declutter and organize your home not only will your family benefit, you will also reap the benefits.

It’s a building process. The more actions you take the more you will want to continue to take actions. Discipline by its self is the hard way. Find a good reason to motivate yourself to take one particular action. When that is done find another good reason or motivating factor to take another action.

To a lighter load along the way.

Janice

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5 Minute Under the Sink Decluttering

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Yesterday I listed several “5 minute decluttering tips” on this blog. The first one was decluttering the old sponges, etc. from under the kitchen sink.  I knew I hadn’t done that for awhile so I figured it was time.  One of the reasons I’m listing these tips here and on the Facebook page is not only to help you but to help me take some babysteps on the decluttering journey.

Well, what I found under my sink even surprised me. Not only did I have a lot more clutter than I thought, I found a few missing things. Here is a picture of the container I keep the sponges, brushes, and gloves in.

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Here is another picture of how it looked after I decluttered.

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Now here is a picture of what I found in the original mess.  I would save the old gloves (ones that were stretched out and hard to hold dishes) to use for other non-dish cleaning chores. I guess I collected them more than I used them.

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Most of these sponges were pretty worn out and stained. I use old sponges to clean up messes from the floor and other non-dish cleaning. I don’t think I need that many!

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Yes, this is a jar of Poppy seeds. The funny thing is that about 3 weeks ago I went over to my mother-in-law’s house for dinner. I was in charge of baking homemade bread. My husband wanted poppy seeds on the bread but I couldn’t find any in the house. I usually keep them in the refrigerator. Of course I didn’t even think to look under the sink. I have no idea how they got there!

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You never know what you may find when doing a 5 minute decluttering tip.  If you have Facebook please go “like” my page. I’ll be adding new tips on a regular basis. I certainly need to do them myself!

To a lighter load along the way.

Janice

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