The Lost is Found

If you declutter and pare down your possessions, it is easier to find things when you need them.  Think more about this in your quest to simplify.  An organizing principal is "a place for everything and everything in its place."  This is crucial to being able to locate items when they are needed.  Always put things away in their place rather than laying them down helter-skelter.  It is a habit we can develop.  Mentally challenge yourself today to start making changes. Save time and money by simply being able to find things in your space.

In House or Out?

As I'm roaming my house, I can't believe how many gadgets we own that aren't really necessary.  Today I am putting a little hand vacuum into the donate bin.  It was for vacuuming out the car, but we never used it much.   There are wonderful vacuums at gas stations now that are super powerful and can really clean carpet in vehicles.

This brought me to a concept with decluttering.  Do we have to do everything in house?  Can we share lawn care tools with a good neighbor?  Can we vacuum our vehicles with a powerful vacuum at the gas station once a month?  Can we visit the farmer's market/grocery more often for fresher food and less storage?  Consider how this can affect the spaces in your home.

An Over Organized Life

I pinned a pin on Pinterest that was entitled, "How I Organized My Entire Life."  As I read through her claims, I thought, "Wow, she's over the top.  Slow down, dear."  Some of her claims were:

• I planned a 90 day rotation of meals and have grocery lists to go with each one
• I only kept what we use in our house and sold the rest on Craig's List
• I went through 2000 digital photos and organized them into photo books
• I use a computer reminder system so we never miss a practice or appointment

After reading through her unbelievable list, I was thinking, "Whoa…too MUCH organization and you have no room for a life, creativity, or a little rebellion against what's expected."  Thankfully, she ended the exhaustive list with a quip that it was made up.

As we try to get organized and fit everything into our 24-hour days, consider the overkill of too organized a life.  I find that instead of setting up charts and schedules for everything, it's better to have less stuff and fewer commitments.  It's good to have free spaces that don't require anything of us and free time where we might actually be…bored.  Creativity sometimes springs forth in those empty spaces and times.   

It's a heavy load to own a lot of possessions to care for.  It's also a burden to have a packed schedule.  Is there anything you can pare down?

Gift Bags

Being a teacher, I am blessed with sweet gifts at certain times of the year from loving children.  As a result, through the years, I've accumulated a plethora of gift bags:  Christmas, Valentines Day, summer…you name it.  I really try to reuse them, but they add up, so I need to unload some.

Think of your rolled wrapping paper and gift bag stash.  Are there any that have been stored for years that you won't ever use because the paper is outdated, faded, or just ugly now?  Donate it or throw it away.  If you just have so much of it you can't imagine using it all, again, donate to an organization that can get it into grateful hands.

One last story to end…my favorite gift bag story.  One year, a boy approached my desk toward the end of the school year with a shy smile on his face.  "This is for you!"  he said, obviously pleased with his offering.  Of course I oohed and aahed over the sweet gift.  His family didn't have a lot, so I knew this came from his heart.  Later that week, as I was putting away the gift bag at home, I looked more closely at the bag.  It had come from the Dollar Store and had a race car photo on the side.  The sponsor of the race car, with the company name written boldly on the door of the car was VIAGRA.  I had a good laugh, and that bag got donated.

Old Towels

There are many uses for old towels such as drying cars after hand washing, letting dogs sleep on them, lining your van with them when you buy bagged manure for your garden, and many more.  So, keeping some is a good idea.  I heard a friend questioning what to do with old kitchen towels, bath towels, sheets, etc.  Lorie Morerro, of The Clutter Diet book, recommends letting a place like Goodwill decide if they are worth reselling to others.  Goodwill workers sort everything and determine the utility of each item.  If old towels are not worth reselling in their stores, they have textile recycling.  She said they recycled millions of pounds of textiles last year, keeping them out of landfills.

If you have some old towels shoved back in a closet that are faded and you don't ever use, donate them.  It will give you more space and help others.

Dishes

On HGTV shows, when people tour kitchens and say, "Oh, there's not much cabinet space," sometimes my minimalist-leaning mind thinks, "How much do you have to store? There are two of you!"

How many dishes do you have?  I have two 8-piece sets.  One set is in the kitchen cabinets, the other on a hutch in the dining room.  We really only need two plates, two cups, and two bowls most of the time.   A friend of mine once told me she collected sets of dishes.  I think she had eight at the time.  To her, they were beautiful AND useful.  She loved to entertain, so used the varied patterns to set an elegant table.

Sadly, for most of us, dinner parties with full tableware have become infrequent.  If we do have a BBQ or dinner, often it's casual and paper plates are used.

Bottom line is, if you use your dishes as my friend did, and aren't overwhelmed with storing them, great!  If you really could use the extra space that multiple sets of unused dishes are commanding, donate or sell them.  Another thought... how many dishes, matching and unmatching,  that crowd the cabinets do you really use?  Could you store some boxed in a closet somewhere until you have a large number of people over for dinner?

Lots to think about on our quest to simplify our spaces and lives.

Reading Material Current?

As a teen, I visited an older relative's basement.  The only feature of the house I remember was a basement wall stacked high with columns of newspapers. I spent multiple minutes staring incredulously thinking, why keep them all?  Now perhaps, they made great insulation against the northern cold protecting that basement wall.  Not likely.

That brings me to the question of our reading material.  I've heard the question posed, "Is your reading material current?"  One question begs another.  Is the coffee stable piled high with reading material:  magazines, junk mail, or newspapers that are months old?   How about the mail pile wherever it all lands?  This is a problem in our home.  I could easily purge, but others like to read through it, and I don't want to be the offender who threw away a catalog for which someone pined for weeks.  I just wish they'd read it sooner than later!

Consider this question today:  is your reading material current?  If periodicals are months or years old, you may not have time to read them.  It's somewhat freeing to get rid of them.  Recycling is a declutterer's best friend.  Just toss in those old newspapers, magazines, and junk mail, and you've got a more serene space.

Yard Art

Whether your yard boasts plastic flamingos, old casks filled with flowers, bird houses, hummingbird feeders, or an old bathtub planter, consider how they're looking these days.  Sometimes we get so accustomed to the view that we don't see items deteriorating in the elements.

This week I'm getting rid of a pink, faded watering can planter.  It's still usable, and someone might want to repaint it and add it to her garden.  It has been looking very weathered, so it's time to go.  In a far away flower bed, a metal wind chime/pinwheel yard decoration was unnoticed until this spring when I was stuffing bag 56 with fall leaves.  It was blue.  Now it's an uneven purple color.  My husband commented from afar one time, "What is that blue thing back there?"  (He's not the lawn ornament-type.)  I countered that it was given to me by a very sweet student.  He knows that I give every gift a life…with limits.  It is also being donated.

Walk through your yard soon.  Are there any garden project implements lying around?  Does a cracked, chipped flower pot need to be replaced or just trashed?  Is that once-neon pink flamingo now a faded Pepto-Bismol color?  Simplify the look of your landscape and only keep what is still beautiful or useful.

Look Up

Once you have decluttered your hall closet and determined what you need to keep, you still may not have enough space to store everything in an organized way.  My advice (gleaned from many advice columns and books) is to look up.  Is there a lot of unused space high up in the closet?

Our hall coat closet is small but has sufficient hanging space for coats.  There was one shelf above the hanging bar.  I installed another wire shelf above that in the vast unused space.   I also got a leveled shoe rack for the floor.  On the sides are hooks for hanging our umbrellas.

I purchased two cheap bins for the first shelf.  In one are mittens and gloves.  The other holds winter scarves.  On the very top shelf I keep extra tote bags, seasonal purses, folded coat liners that aren't needed in summer, and compact rain ponchos.   This simple organizational fix has made this closet able to store more items in a neat and orderly way.  

If you feel a closet doesn't have enough storage, look up and determine if you can make use of wasted space.

Birds of a Feather

"Birds of a feather flock together" is an idiom used to indicate similar people sticking together.  It also can apply to organization within our homes or offices.  In order to be able to locate things, store items together that are easily associated.

For example, our suitcases are stored in a certain closet.  With the suitcases is a box that contains travel adaptors, airplane neck inflatable pillows, money belts, luggage tags, and other useful travel items.  We go to that closet for suitcases, and right there are items that we might need for travel.

As you think of a particular activity you enjoy and for which you keep supplies, consider whether they are stored together in a place easily located.

Why Declutter?

Someone recently asked why I like to organize.  I had two immediate thoughts that might be a catalyst for some readers to move toward decluttering:

1.  You can find things when you need them.  

Have you ever bought products or clothing, then weeks later discovered a stash you didn't remember you already had?  When someone needs tape, can you find it immediately?  So much time and money are wasted because of disorganization in homes.  Clearing out the clutter and actually having a home for everything can help with this.

2.  Housekeeping is easier and takes less time.

When you are organized and your home is decluttered, there's less to maintain and clean.  You have fewer gadgets and use the ones you've kept over and over.  There are bare floors and table tops so vacuuming and dusting can be done quickly.  The house stays neat when there is less stuff everywhere, and you can welcome guests at any time without panic or even hesitation!

If you want to live as I've described,  continue on the path toward decluttering your spaces.  It will simplify your life.

Shoes for Repair

Do any of your shoes sit unused in a closet because they need repair?  Find a shoe repair shop.  Often they are connected to dry cleaners.  I would suggest putting the shoes in your vehicle so the next time you're out doing errands, you can swing by the shop and drop them off.  From my experience, new heels can run $10 - $25.  Soles can be more expensive.  It generally takes a couple of weeks.  The cost is worth adding years to quality shoes.

If something is just sitting around waiting to be repaired, it is clutter.  Make a plan to get it fixed to restore its functionality.   If it's not worth the money to repair it,  toss it or donate it so someone else can repair and benefit from the item.

Well Placed Station

An organizational tip…do you have a place where your everyday paperwork supplies reside?  Many would use a desk, but that may not be the best spot.  Think through where you set your mail, where kids are doing homework, the location of the non-cell phone.  Are supplies within reach for where those activities take place?  Does everyone in the family know where to find a pair of scissors, the postage stamps, scrap paper for messages?

Our desk isn't anywhere near the outside door, and but that's where most of our activity happens.  I set up a drawer in the kitchen right near where we exit the house as our supply station.  Since we grab outgoing mail right before walking out the door, the stamps, address labels, and address book are in the drawer.  There is also a long narrow basket containing pens and pencils, scissors, white-out, extra keys to the cars, and tape.  Though it's a small drawer, we also have pads of paper for messages and lists, a container of paper clips,  deposit slips, and bank books.  Since it won't fit in the drawer (it might not close), the packing tape for packages and glue are sitting in the cupboard directly below this drawer.  Everyone knows where to go for those supplies, it's located in the center of the action, and it stays organized.  It saves a lot of time having it in that setting.

Think through where you keep those items.  Is someone always scrounging for scissors?  Can you find stamps when needed?  Do people have to write phone messages on napkins for lack of a notepad?  You may need to think "out of the box," or desk,  to come up with a convenient, well-placed station.

Duplicates

A friend of mine discovered eleven spatulas in her kitchen drawers.  My brother and I found over 50 screwdrivers in my dad's workshop.  We owned three camera tripods for taking timed family shots or holding the camera perfectly still.

Here are some arguments for keeping duplicates:

"But what if one breaks?  I'll have a replacement!"  (or 49)
"I like having a variety."  (How many eggs do you plan to fry?)
"Each has a particular specialty."  (Really, could you accomplish what you need with just one?)

I donated one of our camera tripods.  Now we have a tall and a small, not two small ones.

Think about your possessions.  Do you have multiples that aren't needed and are taking up space and your time/effort to keep them?  Try to pare down your supply to what you need.

Ask Yourself

A couple of questions I learned from Lorie Morrero, author of The Clutter Diet, that might help you in decision making, (which decluttering is all about…decision making:)

What would my friend say about this item?  Keep or let go?

and

What's the worst thing that will happen if I donate or recycle this?

Furniture

Sometimes we have too much furniture.  There are pieces taking up space, unused.  If Great Aunt Sophie's tweed recliner was given to you when you were first setting up a household, but now you decorate with modern-style furnishings, you have options.  Ask another family member if he needs it.  Sell it on Craig's List as there are many college students and new couples needing pieces.  Donate it to a charity such as Salvation Army or Goodwill.

"But I've had that desk since I was ten!" could be another argument against unloading a large piece of furniture.  If you don't love it or it isn't useful to you, it's OK to take a photo of it and let it go.

Family heirloom pieces are difficult.  If you got stuck with it or truly wanted the rocking chair at the time, it doesn't mean you have to keep it forever.  This feeling of responsibility for old things appears to be a rather new phenomenon.  An elderly family member of ours had treasures in the upstairs of her garage.  When asked what to do with those pristine vintage suitcases and other antiques, her comment was, "Just throw them away.  They're old."  There was no sentimentality.  We were appalled and a family member rescued them for her home which is tastefully decorated with antiques.  Again, this is a difficult dilemma and must be met head-on with your individual situation.  The bottom line is, don't feel trapped to care for things you don't really like or need.

I donated a desk yesterday that I bought at a craft fair in 1986.  It has served its time with me and one of my children.  Now someone else can benefit and we have more space.

Just Hanging On

Today I threw away a pair of flip flops that I just loved.  They were a gift from a beloved family, comfortable, stylish...and 11 years old.  As pieces of rubbery plastic began to detach, I just cut off the strips to make them last longer.  Now parts are just hanging on, so it's time to part with them.

Why do we hang onto items that are easily and inexpensively replaced?  Probably because we think we can't find anything we like as well.   Look around today and evaluate some of the things you're hanging onto that aren't usable anymore.  There may be a memory behind an item, but if it's aged
beyond use, please get rid of it.  Also, avoid the danger of replacing a worn item and then KEEPING the old one.  It might be wise to toss the old, then look for the replacement.

"Someone" Might Need It

I took a deep breath and climbed the ladder to our attic.  My plan was to make the stored goods  accessible and get rid of some clutter.  It might not be the best plan, but sometimes I stash my I'm-not-sure-I-am-ready-to-part-with-it items up there in the rafters.  After months of such things not being underfoot, often I am ready to donate something.

A mindset that causes us to cling to clutter is noble:  someone might need it.  By someone, we usually mean family members or close acquaintances.   So we hang on to many unneeded items, just in case.  For me, I realized I'd been holding onto two cork bulletin boards which used to hang in my children's rooms to keep their drawings, letters from grandma, and photo booth pictures up and organized.  Both children have been out of our home for one and three years, not including college.  In all that time, I haven't heard of anyone who wants or needs a bulletin board complete with football helmet push pins!

By donating to an organization like Goodwill, someone who needs a bulletin board will find it.  You can rest easy knowing your donated goods are helping someone and putting others to work.  Try to let go of a non-heirloom item you've been saving for an unknown someone today.

Winter Clothing

Spring has sprung in my state.  It took awhile, but now the warmth is consistent, and the flowers are blooming.  I really felt it Friday when I changed into a sweater and jeans after work before the realization hit that the temperature was 80 degrees.  Regretting the heavier clothing, I concluded it was time to bring out the spring/summer clothes.

As you swap out your clothing for the next season, use a critical eye to weed out pieces you didn't wear all winter.  Most likely, you can donate them.  Avoid storing unwanted pants, skirts, shirts, shoes, or coats until next year, letting them take up space.

I put two sweaters into the bin for Goodwill today.

Food Waste

I am very against wasting food.  However, this trite little ditty has stayed with me as I wrestle with throwing away extras:

It will go to waste, or it will go to my waist.

Looking through my pantry, I found a sugar cookie mix in an oven mitt, given to me as a gift for Christmas.  I'm trying to not eat as much sugar (most of the time.)  Why am I keeping this when it goes against what I want for my health?  I threw out the mix and will donate the mitt.

If a boxed mix has been in your cabinet or pantry for a LONG time, maybe it's time to get rid of it.  It truly is a struggle for some of us who see world hunger, but that box of cheese ball flavoring isn't going to help anyone else be better fed.  A superior plan is to buy cans or boxes of food and donate immediately to the group collecting food outside the grocery store or give money directly to your  church food pantry or community food bank.

Look for items you can donate or just throw out to declutter your pantry today.

Easter

As you are out and about this weekend, avoid the secular Easter tchotchke filling the check out aisles, the entire front section of Wal-Mart, and drug stores.  A friend of mine told me she buys sunglasses, a new swimsuit, and a little candy for her kids' baskets.  I thought that was a great idea, better than the little items that might be played with for a day and then tossed into a closet, possibly broken.  Always remember that keeping clutter from entering your home also helps you win the quest for a more simple, organized lifestyle.

Easter is such an important spiritual celebration and one that doesn't need a lot of "stuff."  Have a blessed Easter weekend as we remember how much God did for us by sending Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life!

Quilts

My friends and I went to Lancaster, PA, and visited one of the Amish-made quilt shops.  These were VERY expensive, hand sewn and hand-quilted masterpieces, thus the white gloves you were required to wear when browsing.  People pay good money for one of these.  I'm guessing a homemade Amish quilt gets listed in people's last wills and testaments.

I used to make quilts with a friend.  A couple bring back sentimental feelings to me.  BUT…one has been ripped for awhile, and the other faded and isn't used.  Do I keep them?  What about the person who inherits an Amish-made quilt and has modern decor?  Must we store them forever?  I think not.  If it's a family piece, find another family member who would cherish it.  Other options for me are to make one into placemats that could be used more often, or give it to the homeless shelter so it will provide warmth and maybe some joy to another.

How Time Flies

Today I realized the age of an appliance we were given as a wedding gift.  It's a homemade ice-cream maker in my favorite color, pink.  We've used it many times through the 25+ years.  The last couple of times I tried to make ice-cream, it didn't work so well, so I've avoided trying for maybe..two years.

When we look at our possessions, sometimes we forget how much time has passed.  Is there a more efficient model now?  Does this even work?  Do I fit into it anymore?  Is it even in style?  Time truly seems to pass more quickly with each year.  In order to declutter, sometimes we need to examine "stuff" with more than a casual glance or "Oh, there's the ice-cream maker."

Today I'm getting rid of the ice-cream maker, mostly since it doesn't work well anymore.  Ask yourself pointed questions about your stuff today.  It may help you let go.