Still Decluttering

I'm still decluttering the condo. I'm on a roll and can't seem to stop. I've decided to streamline my wardrobe to the following colors that I look my best: black, gray, white, blue, green, pink, purple. Good bye warm colors: brown, yellow, red and orange! I've been going through my clothes and donating ones that don't fit this color scheme (assuming that I have enough clothes left so I don't have to purchase anything new). This has allowed me to get rid of the 8 purses that don't go with this new scheme. I still have shoes and jewelry to go through and streamline to coordinating items. I just started on my makeup, face wash and moisturizers. Why do I keep the products that I end up not liking?!  It feels so good to declutter! I keep reading organizing, simplicity and living a minimal life blogs to keep me inspired and moving forward.

10 Great Declutter Tips

I had a small bit of a clean out the other day in my living room when I was feeling kind of blue. The rearranged and decluttered, now more minimal and monochromatic accessories lifted my spirits. And if you believe in such things, moving the items around eliminated stagnant pools of bad or stale energy allowing good fresh energy to flow throughout the room, which is what perked me up. Either way it feels good to give a room a bit of a declutter.

Clutter is to "fill with things in a disorderly manner" or "a state of confusion". I think we all know it when we see it. If you struggle with clutter (and really - who doesn't have a little clutter tucked away somewhere?) here are some tips to make clearing it out easier.

1. Declutter for 15 minutes every day. It's amazing what you can accomplish in small increments.
2. Declutter during TV commercials. You don't need to watch the commercials and want new items. Get up and spend a minute or two decluttering a surface, drawer or basket.
3. Don't allow new things in the house in the first place. Whether you’ve begun decluttering, or you’ve just completed it, stop bringing in new stuff NOW. This way, when you do get to decluttering the existing stuff, you’ve already stopped making it worse. 
4. Use the "one in two out" rule.  For serious clutter busting, when you bring in a new item, two items have to leave.  A new decorating accessory in - two back to Goodwill. 
5. Reduce your storage space. If you have lots of storage you can have lots of clutter.  Clutter will fill up whatever space you let it. Eliminate extra storage barns, lockers, rented space, etc. and stop it's creeping presence.
6. Clothing Rule - if you haven't worn an item in 2 seasons (e.g. last summer and this summer) or it doesn't fit donate it
7. Donate the stuff you are decluttering  This way you won't feel like you're wasting things. Besides donating can help someone else out and keep things out of the landfills.
8. Declutter one room at a time (including desk drawers, closets, etc.) It will feel so good to be in that room that it will help motivate you to keep going.
9. Declutter in layers. You won't get all the clutter on your first pass around a room. Start at the door and go around the room. First get the superficial stuff (the surfaces and piles), then open drawers and doors on the next pass around the room. Then when you think you are done, revisit the room in several weeks or months and give it another pass. You'll be amazed at what you now see and are now willing to part with. Decluttering is like housework. You might "finish" but you have to do it again next week because, well, it keeps getting dirty!
10. The One-Year Box. Take all your items that you are unsure about getting rid of (e.g. “I might need this someday…”), put them in a box, seal it and date it for 1 year in the future. When the date comes, and you still didn’t need to open it to get anything, donate the box WITHOUT OPENING IT. You probably won’t even remember what there was in the box (don't label the box - that's cheating).

I'm off to take a look at what's lurking in my china hutch. I have an abundance of table linens, candles, and "picnic dishes" (Its been 4-5 years since my last picnic). The doors are barely closing so its time to reduce some clutter!

If you want to revisit an early post of mine on the emotional aspects of clutter go here.

How's your clutter? Mild, Medium, Get the Bulldozer? Do tell!

Clutter

Clutter, how I despise you. You make me twitchy. If you saw my perfection post you'd probably guess that I have a tremendous dislike of clutter because the house doesn't look close to *perfect*. Right now its far from it. I'd be embarrassed if someone came over (I embarrass easily). I'm trying to embrace some of my clutter and accept it as part of normal life. Everyone has it, right?! But the house feels overrun! I have a theory. My house is small (650 sq. feet) and has 2 adults a dog and a cat living here. I don't think I have an empty surface in the entire place. So my theory is that the clutter looks amplified because the space is so small. When I had a 3700 sq. foot house the same amount of daily clutter was spread out and "appeared" to be less. There were so many more surfaces for it to sit on. So I don't have too much clutter, my house is just too small!

Quick Declutter Tips From Unclutterer

 

Everyone is busy and sometimes decluttering falls to the bottom of a long list of chores to do. In fact I've heard that there is a rare breed of people out there who don't like to organize and declutter?!

Having a clutter-filled home can be overwhelming and exhausting. It can cause stress, anxiety and reduce productivity. Clutter can seriously cut into decorating and crafting time. It's hard to accessorize when you can't see the table tops. And glue guns are dangerous when used in the wilds of a messy dining room table. When left undone little problems quickly become big problems. Soon enough it's easier to just do nothing. Then you show up on A&E's the Hoarders (kidding).

I came across this article on the fun and interesting website, Unclutterer on 10 tips to beat clutter in less than five minutes. It was written by Gretchen Rubin. Check out my favorites, but don't forget to visit their website to see all 10 tips!

Make your bed each morning. (Why is this so difficult for me to do?!)

Follow the “one-minute rule” – push yourself to do any chore that takes less than one minute. Throw away the junk mail, close the cabinet door, put your dirty socks in the hamper, hang up your wet towel. (Also, you can work just during commercial breaks on TV. It's amazing how much you can get done).

Pause for a moment before you “store” something. Storing something means you don’t intend to use it much. Other than holiday decorations and seasonal clothes, you should strive to “store” as little as possible. (This is an easy one for me as I have about zero storage space in my small condo).

Identify an organization or person to whom you can give things you no longer need – it’s much easier to get rid of unneeded stuff if you can envision someone else getting good use from them. Also, figure out a place to store those things until you hand them over. (I love Freecycle. It's so personal and friendly. Otherwise my items go into a bag behind my bedroom door and get donated on my next trip to the thrift store).

Hang up your coat. (Yes, Mother).

Before you go to bed, take five minutes to do an “evening tidy-up.” Don’t tackle anything ambitious, but just stack up the magazines, put your shoes away, shove the chairs into place, etc. Just a few minutes of tidying can make your house look a lot better, and it’s a calming thing to do before going to sleep. Plus it makes the morning nicer. (For me this makes all the difference in the world!)

What's your favorite decluttering tip?

Organizing Clutter

I live in a condo that is about 650 square feet with my teenage son, a dog who sheds enough hair to make another dog, and a cat. Storage is at a premium. In my quest to destuffify (made up word) my basement storage locker, I listed a few things for sale on Craig's List (LOVE LOVE Craig's List) because we all know you can't organize clutter (Thanks Flylady!). 

Wait, you didn't know that? It's true. I used to think it was a bunch of hooey. I mean my precious stuff was neatly contained in storage boxes, lovingly labeled (I love to label things) and stored on a pretty metal shelf in a room solely dedicated to the storage of stuff in my large basement (previous house). Of course it was organized!


Maybe, technically it was, you would think. That is if you didn't understand that clutter and organization are diametrically opposed.  Clutter can't be organized. Clutter sucks the life out of you. It weighs down on you, being dragged from place to place.  It consumes space and time and thought. It's MESSY! Even though my stuff was contained, I didn't realize it was EMOTIONAL clutter.


As an example, I had my wedding dress (a cute white cotton summer dress with an embroidered bodice) stored. It wasn't "preserved" or anything. It was just folded up in a tub where it yellowed on the crease lines. The funny thing was I WAS DIVORCED ABOUT 12 YEARS. Why I still held onto the dress was a mystery. Actually it wasn't. I was a "Keeper". I kept things because it was too hard to throw them away. Who wants to get rid of their wedding dress?! So I stowed it away in a box neatly labeled "Kathleen's Keepsakes". I moved that box with me. I looked at that box and that dress and felt bad. I was divorced a long time for goodness sakes. What was I holding onto? It was just clutter and needed to be gone. I still had the memories (and pictures) of that beautiful dress. So out it went. Emotional and physical clutter gone!


Think of how much better you would feel without all that STUFF hanging around, either physically or emotionally. I was ruthless and decluttered my beautiful storage room. Keepsakes that were only "keep for the sake of I can't throw it away because I'm a Keeper" got tosses or donated. Boxes were consolidated, new labels were made (swoon). I was left with boxes filled with things I truly loved and made me feel good or were useful (like Christmas decorations).  All the emotional clutter was gone! (Well not all, just the stuff that was contained in boxes, you understand.) It was much easier to make my last move because I had so much less stuff. (I still had too much to move into a 650 sq. ft condo, but that's another story). 


With this last round of decluttering I can walk around my storage locker. I can twirl in circles and access boxes (of good stuff, not clutter) without moving a bunch of chairs and other items. I still have some things to get rid of, like my camping gear (I haven't been camping in, oh, 10 years or so... CLUTTER (sing song voice).)


Decluttering is a process, like peeling an onion. You take it layers and pieces at a time. Sometimes there might be a few tears. But in the end you can be left with something very satisfying - peace of mind and empty space.