Enough is enough

I am going to get my house sorted and decided only way if I have an incentive so am planning a home party to have friends round and pamper ourselves it's on June 15th so seems a while bit isn't and having no energy makes it even harder but bit by bit does it I need to do some serious spring cleaning!

Back Door Logic: How to Get Started on Attacking Clutter

Back Door Logic: How to Get Started on Attacking Clutter: Clutter.  Piles of papers and mail that you brought in and dropped on the first flat surface... contribute to clutter.  Clutter is contribut...

New storage

I have a new unit for the spare room got it on gumtree for £25 including delivery and it's full already!
I just it looks better to have some storage which hides stuff away more than the open shelving I have.
So bit by bit does it......

Decluttering update

Working on decluttering the living room as I know that I can't tackle the worst room in the house first.
Every time I try I just get overwhelmed and stressed out and tend to move stuff around rather than deal with it.  The experts say not to start on the worst room to start off smaller and build up to the bigger stuff.
We have reorganised the room and got rid of a tall bookcase which was a real clutter spot.
We got a new tv stand one of those glass ones (only trouble is now you see all the wires which we did not have with the old one) but we will get used to it.  the old stand has gone to back of the room and it looks better as you do not see all the cds like before.  Here is a photo of the bookcase so you can see how bad it was

Here is what is in this space now much better:) this is what we had in the front room as a tv stand

Here is the front of the room now we have a new tv stand

The basket method

I got this suggestion for a Yahoo Group I am in called Clutter Help


"Fill the Basket, Empty the Basket" strategy.


Here is what you do:


1) Pick a spot in the room in a size you think you could manage. 1ft by 1ft


for example, or 1 box, or tthe desks surface, or 1 drawer.


2) Pick up everything from that spot and put it in the basket so that the


spot is completely empty


3) Go into a different room or even the garden if you have to and put the


basket down.


4) Pick 1 item out of the basket and really look at it. Then ask the following questions:


1) Is it rubbish?


Yes - walk to the bin and throw it in the trash right now.


No - Go to step 2




2) Do I need it?


No - Go to Step 3


Yes - Go to Step 4


3) Can it be given away / donated?


Yes - Get an empty plastic grocery bag, but the item in it and write the


person's name or place it is going to on the back.


No - Throw it in the trash right now.

4) Does this item fit into my ideal home?


Yes - Take it to the place it will go in your ideal home and put it there.


Even if the area is a mess, this is where that item belongs from now on.


No - Go to Step 3


Repeat the process for every item in the basket. Then go and get another


basket. Try to do 1 new basket a day. Every day go to that area you have


cleaned and do a quick tidy of that area using the basket method.

Decluttering Sites

Good sites for decluttering motivation and advice
http://www.clutterclearing.net/
http://www.declutterfast.com/
http://www.hintsandthings.co.uk/utilityroom/organisation.htm

Overworking the shredder

I have so far managed to fill a bin liner with shredded paper from the backlog of papers (bills etc) we had in our filing cabinets, as I remove personal info and recycle the rest (crazy I know) then it takes me ages.
It feels really theraupeutic!  We are planning to sell on the filing cabinets and just use the one that fits under my husband's desk in his office though I might get a small one for my craft room as I don't think hubby will keep up with the cabinet in his room somehow and I want to be able to find stuff easily.
I also don't want it to get that bad again!

Decluttering help

Decluttering is going ok felt a bit overwhelmed so trying small things like one drawer or box for eg.
I have been going to charity shop once a week with some stuff and selling things on ebay if you want to see my listings go to http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/simplycardz
I found on the net these sites on decluttering
http://www.hintsandthings.co.uk/index.htm
http://www.clutterclearing.net/index.asp
http://www.cluttercleared.co.uk/index.htm

Are you a hoarder?

Am making a little headway which is great the book I have No More Clutter by Sue Kay (highly recommended) says you should start off small and work up or if you have a huge amount of clutter you can easily become overwhelmed with it.  I did want to sort the spare room but then I think the living room is a better place to start as that is somewhere that really needs to be tidy.  I actually avoid people coming round and would rather meet them out than have them see the mess so it really needs changing.  But small steps is the way as I am the type of person (highly driven) who wants everything done now.  So far I have sorted my make up bag and got rid of half of it I use natural make-up and it doesn't last as long as others and half of it was out of date which I had been using.  I also took out of the bedroom two chairs which are clutter areas but then last night it was a tricky one tyring to find where to put the clothes for last night so I did bring one chair back in for now anyway, if it keeps piling up it is definitely going.  If you just do ten minutes a day then you can achieve a lot.  Deal with the post as it comes in resist the urge to just put it out of sight but it is not out of mind. I got really mad today our boiler needs servicing and I was hunting through piles of papers on my husbands' filing cabinet which are waiting to be shredded or filed.  He is also a messy one like me.
I am hoping my new found good habits will rub off eventually.  Hope so do the clutter test to see if you need to deal with clutter. 
Time how long it takes to get hold of these common items:
1. your passport
2. the spare house door key
3. your doctor's phone number
4. your last bank statement
5. an envelope and stamp
Less than 5 minutes to find the lot? Then you are decluttered and efficiently organised.  Ask yourself how stressful it felt.  Do you think you could improve on your time?  De cluttering experts vary on whether they think we should find things in 30 seconds or a minute.  More than 5 minutes? Chances are you are already wasting time on a daily basis looking for things you have lost.