Category: Clutter

Super Simple Simplifying Checklist

A year ago I embarked on a journey to declutter our  home — I wrote about that in several posts, Intentional DeCluttering, Tidying: You’re Still You!, and a couple more, beginning with, Eliminating Clutter.  As I mentioned then, I hadn’t heard of Marie Kondo until after I’d begun the arduous project. My family “introduced” me to her program and teased me a bit about getting rid of everything that didn’t spark joy. The idea totally resonated with me and propelled me to keep working at it. And it still does in many ways.

In the decluttering process I had to change some of my self imposed rules from time to time — I had to “give myself permission” to not go through/sort/declutter some things.  I didn’t have or wasn’t ready to take the necessary time to sort through and organize our gazillion pictures (again!), for example.  Nor did I feel like going through bins of notes, letters, cards, mementos from travels, programs, etc.  I also didn’t want to go through our homeschool books/workbooks/materials. I’m sure one of these days I’ll just wake up and, out of the blue, decide to tackle one or all of these three areas!

So, for today I thought  I’d share a list with you that I have in the ongoing quest to simplify our home.  By the way, my simplicity is probably not at all what another woman’s simplicity looks like. Example: I have way, way, way more dishes, cups and glasses than most would think necessary. Same with pans, kitchen gadgets, small appliances, and clocks.  But the daily goals for a tidy home, clean counters, orderly shelves, no piles of laundry, sorted mail/papers, and several other things continue to be met.  Decluttering really and truly has made an enormous difference.  Feel free to copy, add to and personalize this list.

Give yourself permission to reduce or get rid of these things:

  • Chipped/broken or disliked  dishes, cups, mugs, glasses
  • Kitchen gadgets you NEVER use, don’t like
  • Old food {fridge!} {pantry!} {spices!} {coffees/teas!}
  • Frozen foods you cannot identify {old or freezer ‘burned’}
  • Under sink stuff (Order, consolidate, eliminate)
  • All plastic storage containers that don’t have lids. Lids.
    Refrain from buying various types of plastic. Choose one. Stick to it! Always.
  • Water bottles you do not use. Leaky ones will keep leaking!
  • bread bags/ties and bad paper plates/napkins you NEVER use
  • spent birthday candles (Any candles you really don’t like/use)

Closets / shelves / drawers

  • Clothes. Clothes you KNOW you’ll NEVER wear
  • Old shoes. You know you don’t even ever plan to wear them
    especially if they don’t really fit or are in terrible shape
  • Coats, Jackets, Scarves, Belts, Gloves, Hats you NEVER wear/use
  • Underthings you KNOW you’ll never wear or that don’t fit you
  • Socks, stockings, leggings, etc., you know you’ll never wear
  • All socks MISSING mates
  • Event t-shirts and/or tote bags with no sentimental meaning
  • Glasses (donate) sunglasses, jewelry, wallets, purses
  • Old luggage, bags, backpacks you NEVER use
  • Make-up and nail polish (esp. old!), toiletries you NEVER use
  • Old perfume
  • ALL *old* medication, creams, drugs, cough syrup etc.

Books
Magazines
Movies
Electronics
Arts / Crafts / Sewing  {lists for another day!}

And remember… even “baby steps” taken to declutter, simplify, or add order to your home are steps taken!
There’s no score keeper, the steps you (and I) take to simplify or declutter our homes are just for us and our families. There’s freedom in order!
There’s freedom from bondage to meaningless or useless or no longer useful stuff!

I’m on to “round two” or year two of simplifying and decluttering…
Continuing to work on my Super Simple Simplifying Checklist.

Intentional DeCluttering

Over the last month or so, living with less clutter, I’ve experienced some unintended benefits of my intentional decluttering project. Not the least of which has been ease of housekeeping and/or ease of moving from one daily activity to another with very little preparation or tidying. Having been the mother of many children for decades, home organization has been paramount. But even with all my planning and organizing, I still had clutter.

In this process of decluttering over the last couple of months, I’ve mulled over some of the “clutter factors” and how they came to be. One of the reasons, which I discovered quite by accident, was that I’ve had a “country farmhouse” decor for the last thirty five years or so. And, while I’ve loved all the decorations – baskets, candles, bears and geese and whatever else was showing up in my Country Woman, Taste of Home, or other related magazines, they’d become clutter. Cute stuff. Everywhere, cute stuff. When I gave away some books and stacks of magazines, it dawned on me, I no longer have the longing to accumulate and decorate in that way and magazines showing me all my favourite things weren’t necessary to keep anymore– I clipped my favourite pictures to keep for memorabilia. While some country farmhouse decor remains, the time had come to move on from there. And the more I moved on, the easier it was to keep moving on.

Another reason for a good deal of the clutter has been the shear number of people in our home and the volume of furniture, bedding, possessions, clothing & shoes, jackets, purses, backpacks, toys, hobbies, etc. Homeschooling eleven children has necessitated the gathering of all sorts of books, materials, equipment, supplies, etc., for all the studies and projects. Seasons change and I needed settle into this next season.

But, as I mentioned in my last post (Tidying. You’re Still You), I’m still me, I’m exceedingly sentimental, we still live in a farmhouse, because we’re a big family, big things regularly happen. So, I’ve kept things to accommodate our life/family. But! There’s a place for everything and everything’s in its place.

That’s where the intentional part of this decluttering project comes in. What I’ve learned is that it was good to have a clear plan and be willing to work until the plan was complete. As I wrote earlier, it took weeks. For the sake of brevity, I’ll share a part of the plan. I decided to get rid of the large oak corner desk and shelves of our school/craft room. There were dozens of bins, towers of plastic drawers, plastic shoe boxes, and the myriad of supplies each contained. The next, and parallel part of the plan, was to set up a craft and sewing room upstairs. This is a luxury that was never an option prior to this season. Now that most all our kids are married and have homes and families of their own, we had an ’empty room’.

Intentional decluttering requires ♥ having a plan for freed up space and how/where the new set-up will look and function.
Intentional decluttering also requires ♥ thinking of, and planning for, the immediate disposal, give-away, etc., etc., of no longer needed/wanted items.
Intentional decluttering also requires ♥ the resolve to stay with the plan until it’s complete.
Intentional decluttering means ♥ keeping an eye on the prize: a peaceful home.
Intentional decluttering means ♥ intentionally maintaining the new way of living/thinking.

As I sorted every single thing, I immediately took things upstairs to their landing spots. I set up the room and filled the spaces as I intended. It became easier with each passing day — one area was getting all cleaned up and another all set up. I also immediately took boxes of giveaways out to my car, furniture out to the porch, bags of trash to the bins. Each activity fueled the completion of the project(s).

Finally, I’ve allowed this intentional decluttering to flow into other areas of our home and my life. Eliminating and concentrating in other areas, drawers, cabinets, etc., etc. And then, going back over and over again to eliminate and concentrate further. Honestly, it’s been a very encouraging process to a peaceful home. There’s no ‘clutter police’ so the process can just continue to evolve over time and the simplicity will continue to be refreshing as time allows for projects to be undertaken. I recognize it will take practiced “intentionality” to maintain this peaceful home.

Tidying. You’re Still You.

The problem with attempting to make dramatic changes, or to carry out new resolutions, or most anything, really, is that we’re still the same people with the same proclivities, habits, personal styles, bents. The tidying, or in my case, the project of eliminating clutter, only lasts as long as the determination/work/project continues. No matter where you are in the project of eliminating clutter or tidying, you’re still you.

You’re still you. I’ve had to repeat this to myself many times in the last couple of weeks as I see myself “dropping my guard” on eliminating clutter. Just recognizing this has been inspiring. And I’ve remembered a couple of old adages: It didn’t get this way over night and its not going to go away over night, and: Anything worth doing is worth doing well.

As the weeks pass, and still maintaining the mindset of working to eliminate clutter and possessions, I’m sure seeing that no matter where I am in this process: I’m still me and this is a process, not a race. No one’s keeping score and there’s not an arbitrary finish line. I understood this when I made the decision to not sort and eliminate the boxes of mementos and memorabilia. But I still seem to operate as if there’s a score being kept or a standard not yet met.

An important revelation for me was to realize that I didn’t need to try and be someone else. I’m still me and am just fine being me. I’ve spent over forty years being a wife and mother to eleven children and have had decades of learning how to arrange, make space and organize things. I really don’t want to start over and do things differently–I won’t be able to maintain that persona, know what I mean? I don’t need new methods, I need to apply what I already know! This is freedom!! I hope if you’re on this track, you’ll see your freedom, too!

I watched a few episodes of the Netflix reality series Tidying Up. I mentioned in a previous post that I stopped watching after a few episodes bcz I didn’t need/want to learn new ways of storing things or folding clothes,— that, and I couldn’t get into living other people’s clutter drama. I also didn’t need a new mindset concerning possessions. I bristled at the thought of thanking items before setting them in the discard box. As I mentioned in a previous post, I had already taken to thanking the Lord for His provision and the use I had for the items I discarded (and I even sought forgiveness for the carelessness I’d exhibited for the several items I bought but never used). But even as I “fast-forwarded” through the shows, what I saw inspired me to stay my course and keep eliminating and organizing my “new normal.”

I already know how sort, clean, and organize things well and I already have an ample supply of plastic bins, containers, and drawers. I like the way I fold things, I like to order and arrange things. I know the flow of our home, and have learned by trial and error where things go best. I like the ways we use space in this old farmhouse. All that to maybe inspire you to take a look at your life and recognize your strengths and abilities, too.

In all this clutter elimination and tidying, I’m still me – with all my abilities, successes, failures, quirks and flaws.

And if you’re in the process, remember this: you’re still you! If you’ve got tidying to do (or like me, have the arduous task of a massive elimination of items!), keep in mind: if you won’t use it, no longer need it, want it, like it: Let it go! Thank the Lord for His provisions, repent if that’s in order, muster up the strength to do what you can/must for the day, tidy up your house and live a joyful, clutter-free, ordered life.


Clutter is Relative

There’s a saying, One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. I kept this in mind from time to time as I proceeded through my month-long activity of eliminating clutter in our home. I also had in mind a couple of other thoughts that sort of guided my process: I’m doing this for me and our family and clutter is relative! After an initial confrontation, I purposely blocked out a couple of thoughts: cost/origin of the item and other’s opinions/style. I kept in mind the goal of eliminating clutter, living in our new normal, gratitude for the past activities/needs/possessions, and keeping home home.

Guilt was the first giant I had to slay tackle. I didn’t realize how big this was! I felt very guilty (and have many times through the years) for getting rid of items that were no longer useful, no longer fit, or just weren’t right. (This is, in part, where my clutter is relative thought comes from.) Guilt was a giant for me. After a mental confrontation, a freeing thought came along — and it was in the form of a prayer of sorts. I said, Lord, thank You for this_____, for what it cost, how it’s been used and what was accomplished here. I would repeat that ‘prayer’ many times as items went out the back door. The giant, guilt, is a formidable foe, but must be seen for what it is. And the more I faced it, the easier it was to say: I no longer need this, use this, want this, or like this ITEM! Yes, there was a bit of regret, but no guilt, no shame in that.

I did have regrets — some regret that I hadn’t used items I’d bought — regret that they had become either obsolete, irrelevant to the next season or I never learned to incorporate them into our family activities/schooling/etc. All that, or I never even liked them. Other regrets were the time or money spent on items. To those regrets I answered with repentant thanksgiving — thanksgiving and reality. I’m thankful we had this or that item, yes, it cost a lot for us, but now it’s no longer needed, no longer necessary. And won’t be in the future. Whatever happened before this day must be a guide for my future purchases and acquisitions. Instruction gained: Do I need it? Will it be useful? Do I really like it? Am I doing this for someone else/some other reason?

This is where the clutter is relative thought kept coming to mind. I got rid of so much clutter, I reorganized/eliminated so many items, shelves, drawers, cabinets, etc. But our home didn’t even begin to start looking like a hotel room or an airB&B with few/no mementos or personalized style. My style did not become minimalist — even though there are areas with minimal items — there are areas that appear unretouched. On purpose. But! The clutter (for me!) is eliminated. An aside: I kept to a decorating standard – I reduced items on a table or shelf to groupings of three. Aesthetically, it is pleasing to me and curbs my (seemingly insatiable) need to fill space.

One more thought today… I came to a realization that there are a couple of areas I’m not going to address right now. Weeks ago, in the big closet reorg, I pulled out several large boxes of cards, letters, memorabilia… all over the floor, I began sorting. And then I decided: I’m not going to be bound by a set of arbitrary rules to go through every single space and eliminate every single thing I’m not using. I’m not ready to decide that quite yet. So, I put everything back in the boxes and neatly stacked them. When I look at them now, they aren’t clutter to me, they’re things I know I’ve loved a long time and have purposely decided I’ll go through them again another day. They’re not clutter – this is us, this isn’t someone else’s home, yes, I may die before I get to some of these other things, but for now I don’t have a specific timeline, there aren’t rules of clutter-engagement. One woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure. These are treasures to me. That, and clutter is relative.

Open Space

One of the challenges I’ve been experiencing as I have been going through closets, cupboards, and drawers specifically — and rooms, in general is newly exposed space: open space! If you’re either a Queen Of Quite A Lot or a Saver Of Quite A Lot, you just might find yourself in a quandary. No, not the first day, not the second day, but a couple of weeks after you uncover OPEN SPACE in your home, your natural tendency will be to FILL it! Fill it back up. Quickly.

Don’t do it. Resist the urge to fill space. Now, I know this advice is probably only applicable to Savers Of Quite A Lot. I know women who do not struggle with this {I know, right?!?!} — open space is natural for them. To them, minimalism is natural or intentional. But it’s not for me. I seem to like to fill space. I fill space wherever I find it. In my home, my closets and drawers, conversations and dinner plates.

In the past weeks I’ve uncovered a lot of open space — it’s been as much a a whole shelf, a whole basket or simply a few inches between items instead of every item touching another on a shelf or in a drawer. It’s seems to me that I’ve been uncomfortable with open space previous to this massive project of eliminating clutter in our home. If there’s ever been a space, I’ve quickly filled it–cluttered it all up nice and tight. To be fair, many times “highly filled and tightly spaced” has been more a matter of necessity than preference. Eleven children = highly filled and tightly spaced farmhouse living.

Open space is refreshing. Really, I just said it! And meant to! It’s been refreshing to have space in my pantry to arrange the food items and see them all well, space between hangers in my closet, and so on. I got rid of a very large oak corner desk that’s been the family hub — just removing the piece of furniture alone created open space! Eliminating about half of my very, very ample supply of crafting, sewing, fabrics, and art supplies created open space. For minimalists, I still do not truly have open space — but for me! I have much open space. There are still areas that are full – but they are extremely organized in containers/drawers and shelves and for me, it’s spacious! In an upstairs storage closet, I have quite a few *empty* plastic bins, baskets and boxes. This is amazing to me! Open space!

My latest mantra has been: Now that I’ve gotten everything all tidied up, pretty quick, I’m going to start getting serious about this elimination of clutter!! ~smile~ After all, I didn’t quit being myself: A Saver of Quite a Lot!

Eliminating Clutter

Clutter, clutter everywhere and not enough places to put it. That’s how the beginning of this year felt to me. Clutter of things, clutter of thoughts, clutter of concerns. I didn’t know what I needed to do, initially, but I knew I needed to get busy.

I process things either verbally, by writing or by cleaning. So, it really stands to reason that my resolve to clean out the clutter was really a resolve to clean up some other areas of my life, too. I didn’t start with an exact plan or schedule beyond the decision to eliminate clutter, but the first decision or first item I decided to eliminate set in motion the work of the next 30 days.

That first decision was to eliminate the large oak computer desk in our kitchen/family room. It has been the gathering place for the last 20 years–not only of people, but of things! So many things. It’s been the writing, crafting, schooling, and catch-all area. Since most of our eleven children are grown and have homes of their own, life as we’ve known it for so long has changed dramatically. We don’t need that sort of ‘center’ anymore. Having an ’empty’ bedroom is also a first time occurrence in our home — this made for a perfect opportunity to go through all my sewing, crafting, cardmaking, wrapping, and writing supplies and set them all up in one place–one room.

As I went through every item, the more I tossed out or put in the ‘giveaway’ boxes, the more I was able to toss out or give away. When either was full, I took it out to the trash bin or put it in the back of my car. Out of sight, out of mind. Day after day I repeated the process from room to room throughout our home. It was really a freeing experience for this queen-of-quite-a-lot!! Every item became a question: Do I even want this? Do I even like this? Will I ever use this ever again?

Somewhere in the midst of the process, one of my daughters asked me if I’d heard of Marie Kondo. No, I told her — to which she replied I must watch her programs. So, I did — I watched a few. And you know what? I was already on my way, I didn’t know about the KonMari method, but I was already in the process of “Kondo-ing” our home!

I found that I was saying, do I love this? Do I even want this? And after watching Marie Kondo’s continual asking does this spark joy? I realized I was on that great track and all my years of cleaning, folding, organizing items, containerizing things, scheduling chores, events, and meals for a large family had prepared me for my huge task of eliminating no longer used or no longer useful-to-me things and reorganizing our home. I was finding joy again.

I’m not all finished yet as I now need to go back and refine some sorting, get a little more ruthless about some items. But the freedom has sure been inspiring. There’s freedom also is discovering I really didn’t need to watch more programs, learn more tricks, get more containers… I already had what I needed – I just needed to put it all in action! That was so freeing! And energizing. And joyful.