FlyLady Tip: Paper Clutter

I found this in my FlyLady newsletter.  Love her tips although the newsletters can get pretty long. I usually just skim them and thought this was a clever idea. Thank you, to Helen.

http://www.flylady.net

Here is a tip for safely getting rid of personal documents like bank statements and so on: Soak them! After a few hours in water they'll be unrecognizable. Then you drain the water off. Dump the mush in the bin, wrapped in something OR use that mush for paper-mache modlling. 

You can make a face-mask for Halloween by plastering it over a balloon. When it has dried, paint it to taste. There are lots more things to be made from paper-mache, and they can all be beautifully decorated. 

Not into crafts? Make paper bricks to burn on your fire. 

For other FlyLady posts on this blog, click HERE.

Decluttering: Less Really IS More

Use What You Have Decorating.   I love that idea and consequently have a few books by Lauri Ward whose business is doing just that.  No need to buy much, if anything, although we all like to perk our homes up a bit with a few new things every season or so.

Sometimes it just takes moving or RE-moving one piece of furniture.  In our case, it was this traditional Bentwood rocker that we purchased just before our first son was born some 22+ years ago. I blogged about this previously when I gave it away over the summer.  Lots of fond memories in this chair with babies.  :)

The rocker above  used to occupy one corner in our living room where the other rocking chair sits now.

THAT rocking chair used to sit where the red arrow is in the photo below.

By moving the Bentwood rocker OUT of our family room above (and giving it away), the rest of the furniture fits SO much better and does not appear cluttered.  The room even seems larger to me now.

By moving the padded rocker into the living room, that room still retains a comfortable rocker for reading and for guests.    It can also be moved back into the family room if needed for extra seating.

Sometimes we make parting with a piece of furniture harder than it needs to be.  Just because it is a larger item to dispose of and we know how much we paid for it, it still may be time to say good-bye.  If it has fulfilled its purpose (mine was to rock our babies when they were small), it may be time to pass it on.   I passed this one on to a young woman moving into her first apartment.  Another step in decluttering one piece or room at a time.  :)

Check this out on Facebook HERE.

Decluttering: Less is More

Use What You Have Decorating.   I love that idea and consequently have a few books by Lauri Ward whose business is doing just that.  No need to buy much, if anything, although we all like to perk our homes up a bit with a few new things every season or so.

Sometimes it just takes moving or RE-moving one piece of furniture.  In our case, it was this traditional Bentwood rocker that we purchased just before our first son was born some 22+ years ago. I blogged about this previously when I gave it away over the summer.  Lots of fond memories in this chair with babies.  :)

The rocker above  used to occupy one corner in our living room where the other rocking chair sits now.

THAT rocking chair used to sit where the red arrow is in the photo below.

By moving the Bentwood rocker OUT of our family room above (and giving it away), the rest of the furniture fits SO much better and does not appear cluttered.  The room even seems larger to me now.

By moving the padded rocker into the living room, that room still retains a comfortable rocker for reading and for guests.    It can also be moved back into the family room if needed for extra seating.

Sometimes we make parting with a piece of furniture harder than it needs to be.  Just because it is a larger item to dispose of and we know how much we paid for it, it still may be time to say good-bye.  If it has fulfilled its purpose (mine was to rock our babies when they were small), it may be time to pass it on.   I passed this one on to a young woman moving into her first apartment.  Another step in decluttering one piece or room at a time.  :)

Check this out on Facebook HERE.

Decluttering: One Small Project at a Time / Bathroom Shelf / Gift Wrap

We have two bathrooms in our home--one in our master bath with considerable storage underneath the sink; the other is used by our son(s) and any guests we may have.   It has a large closet for storing extra toiletries and a few other items as well.   I cringe when I look in the closet of the latter, especially  the bottom "shelf" which is the floor.  I had organized the three other shelves at the beginning of the summer and can find whatever   I am looking for easily on those.

The floor was just a huge mess of gift wrap, boxes, tissue and ribbons.  I was finding myself buying a new bag instead of searching through this clutter for a suitable bag, tissue or ribbon. What a waste of $$.

No kidding, this little job that I had put off for MONTHS only took me about 30 minutes.

Here are the "before" photos...

After I completely emptied the area and wiped it down...

I dumped everything on our family room floor and sat there while the football game was on on Saturday afternoon.  I threw away only a small amount of what was in the pile and put about 7 items in a donation box.  Everything else was completely clean and useable.

I got a colorful red bin from the garage and a large  shopping bag and started organizing.

• Ribbons in the Rubbermaid box
• More ribbons, bag stuffings, cellophane and bows in the large shopping bag
• Gift bags and colored tissue in the red bin
• Large boxes stored flat against the red bin and the wall

 I even labeled the items so that when someone wants  to wrap a gift for me they can easily find what they are looking for.  :)

Next time I see something like this I won't put it off for so long.  

Ah... continually organizing the house, one area at a time..  

Cleaning Out / Decluttering / Parting with an Old Friend

If you know me or have read this blog for any length of time, you know that I am always decluttering, throwing out (as often as I can slip things past my family), giving away and selling items around the house.   Recently, I parted with a piece of furniture that we purchased in 1989, a month or so before our first son was born.

Yes, this was the first rocking chair of my very own which was purchased for $40 specifically to rock our first child.  I spent many hours holding my precious little ones over the years in this chair.  I took these photos before giving it away to a young friend of mine (a former piano student) who is moving in to her first apartment.  I thought long and hard about parting with this chair. I have a second rocker which is actually more comfortable and I don't really need two.   I also held the kids in that one as well.  But this was the FIRST one.  It didn't really "clutter" up the living room but there is definitely more room in there now that it's gone.  

I'll always carry the memories of those middle of the night feedings rocking my two sons to sleep after nursing them and just holding them there when they were little.  Sigh...I better go get a tissue.  Sweet memories...which I hold in my heart.  :)  Take good care of the chair, Amanda.  :)

Decluttering: One Small Project at a Time / Bathroom Drawer & Cabinet

I reached for something in a lower drawer in our bathroom and I could not even see what was in there.  This has actually happened several times this week.  So, since I had some spare time in the morning while my son was at a clas, I just plopped myself down on the floor, dumped everything out of the drawer and went to work. About 45 minutes later, this...

looked like this.

AND 

I cleaned out 5 more drawers and the cabinet under the sink!

Reorganized and wiped down.

I threw away quite a bit, donated a few items and moved a few items to another storage area where they should have been in the first place. Now, I can see exactly what is in each drawer, everything in it has a current (not expired) date on it and is within easy reach.  One step at a time...

Decluttering: One 15-Minute Project at a Time / Dresser Drawers

Today I tackled dresser drawers--three of my husband's and one of mine.  We had already gone through clothes about a month ago for donations so mostly they just needed to be straightened up.  I did find a couple of treasures (one I might sell on Ebay) and a pair of pajamas I had forgotten that I even owned!  I set the timer and finished before the 15 minutes was up. I did all this just before I left to take my son to his Algebra 2 class this morning.

I'm out of the house for two hours, then piano students for an hour on Thursdays, plus I'm in the midst of a large financial project and an Ebay listing spree so this is all I had time to do today.

Taco Salad for dinner tonight!

BEFORE

AFTER

I even lined my drawer with pretty scented paper.  I'll do the others as well maybe tomorrow.

A little bit at a time is the key...not too much to get worn out, but just enough to keep it interesting and fast. Other jobs of course, can take quite a bit more time i.e. bathroom cabinet under the sink for example, but that's in my path soon!

Decluttering: One 15-Minute Project at a Time / Linen & Bathroom Closets

Winter Declutter Projects #3 and #4:   I set the timer this time and spent 15 minutes on each of these two projects.  The timer actually makes you work faster.  

Click on the numbers to see Projects #1 and #2.

I remembered to take a BEFORE photo of my linen closet.

And AFTER.

I went right to work on the bathroom closet and didn't take a BEFORE photo.  Here is the partially completed project.  I sorted all the OTC meds and used plastic shoeboxes to contain them.  Extra sprays, soaps, and toiletry items are together now.   There is a section for beach tanning and sunscreen supplies, one for contacts and solutions, herbal supplements, feminine products, and even candles are in there.  Now I'll actually be able to go right to these items when I need them instead of rummaging around!  :)

The floor of the guest bathroom closet has all of my gift wrapping supplies and is a mess.  That is a 30-minute project which I'll try to do later this week.  

In cleaning out both closets, neither of which is very large, I gave away about 10 items, threw away two small trash bags full of stuff and moved 3 things to other rooms of the house.

A little bit at a time... :)

Decluttering: One 15-Minute Project at a Time

Since the passing of my mother a couple of weeks ago, it seems there are less hours in the day than usual with all the extra things I need to be taking care of.  That should slow down in about 2 weeks so for now my goal of decluttering one hour a day has been reduced to short 15-minute projects.  I actually did four of these this weekend.  Get out a kitchen timer, set it for 15 minutes  and stop when it goes off.   You can always set it for another 15 if you really get into this.

These small projects may not seem like much but oh, what a difference tidying up a small space, or a drawer, or a shelf can make, both in the way things look  and the way you feel looking at it!  :)

Here are a few photos of some of our 15-minute projects this weekend:

Project #1:    This is my (and my husband's) quiet time spot.  I organized the basket where we keep devotional books, highlighters, pens and paper.  It was a huge jumbled MESS before I started. I forgot to take BEFORE photos but will do that next time.

SO much tidier!

Project #2:  In the same room is my piano and a keyboard for teaching music lessons.  I had not even put away my Christmas music yet!  It is all stored with other books in the cabinet where the green lamp sits above.   After putting the music away, I organized the large black basket where I keep a few teaching supplies:  flash cards, rhythm makers, metronome, headphone adapters, shakers, etc.   I should take a horizontal photo so you can see it better.

It sits tucked away between the keyboard table (an antique architectural drawing table) and my piano.  SO much tidier!  Ready for quiet reading, guests and piano students.

I feel like I can breathe now (especially after dusting things off)!   As a bonus, this weekend my husband got motivated and cleaned up our home office plus his dresser and book cabinet in our bedroom. He didn't set a timer and just kept working.  Wow!

Our office, master bedroom and living room are basically done, keeping in mind that there are drawers and shelves that are perfect 15-minute projects.  So, set your timer and start decluttering!

Decluttering Your Closet / Coathangers and Shoes

If you looked into your closet right now, what would it look like?  It seems that I am constantly organizing and re-organizing our closet.  My husband and  I share a walk-in closet and it has to stay tidy or you can't find anything.  Too many hangers OR clothes and everything gets squished and wrinkled.   Yesterday I couldn't stand my shoes all over the floor so I straightened them up and gave two pairs away.

Now I can actually see what is in there and they ALL are wearable.

I only had about 30 minutes to work on this project so next I tackled all the extra  coat hangers in there.  My husband's pants go to the cleaners often and we end up with WAY too many hangers taking up valuable closet space.  

How does this.. .

...become this?

I have a lower rack on our closet shelving where I hang GOOD hangers now...

...and I took the extras to the dry cleaners.  The last time I was in I asked if I could bring our used hangers back and they were delighted to get them.  

Decluttering and reorganizing this little part of our closet took about 30 minutes.  I had been avoiding it because I thought it would take a lot longer.  Don't procrastinate.  Do a little at a time and the annoying places / eyesores  in your home tidy up pretty quickly.

Spring Cleaning / De-Clutter One Drawer at a Time

In March I did a series on Contentment.  My thought for the day for April will come from  a display I keep on my kitchen windowsill.  Here is today's:

Spring Cleaning...for some that phrase strikes terror and anxiety; for others, it's like a new lease on life to start cleaning out, throwing away, and starting fresh.  Far beyond putting away Christmas decorations and the tree, it's a deeper, more thorough aspect of getting your home and office tidier.  For me, I look at some decluttered spaces and it's like I can breathe more easily.  Desktops and wood appear where before, there was just stuff.   

I usually begin with the two desks I use most often. The tall one is in our bedroom; the shorter one (rolltop) is in our dining room.   I should have taken BEFORE photos of these because you could barely see the wood in both of these.

Then I moved over to my Ebay shipping center which is in a corner of the dining room hidden behind this screen.  Before I started, you could see a lot of stuff sticking up above the screen.  

Now it really is hidden and all the supplies are neatly organized in this red sectioned box which I got for free at Sam's Club.

My cardinal rule:  ALWAYS make the bed when you first get out of it. This is our spring/summer bedspread.  We have another for the fall and winter.  A cheerful bedspread makes a big difference in your bedroom.  I love the red in this one.  [On clearance at Bed, Bath & Beyond last year, plus I had a 20% coupon!]

Yesterday I started on my dresser. This one drawer full of nightclothes was organized while talking on the telephone for about 10 minutes.  Big projects are best done piecemeal. First, I emptied the drawer onto my bed.  This is pretty much how it all looked in the drawer.  :(

Then I spread everything out on the bed and sorted it all in "outfits" or by color.    If you try to do this while it's still in the drawer, it's a mess and you really do a thorough job.   This way you can easily see what you have, what you might need and what you want to discard, donate, throw away or put elsewhere.  There were two tank tops in there that I wear only in the winter, so they were put in the winter clothing drawer.  Everything was in great shape, clean, with no repairs needed.  I had about six completely different sleep outfits and most things can be mixed and matched with each other.   

Then everything was put back into the drawer where it belongs.

One step at a time, little by little, the house will be done.  I'll be working on this project throughout April.  Have a great day.