Day Eleven - Spring 30 Day Clutter Buster Challenge

Did you put out any Easter decorations this year?  Or maybe Passover decorations?  I don't really have any Easter decorations.  I found that it was more than enough work trying to dye Easter eggs with the kiddos, stay up late to hide them and put on a wonderful Easter dinner.  I did not need more stress by trying to decorate the house too!  And as my boys got older the thrill of finding hard boiled eggs wore off and Mr. P. and I were forced to hide little chocolate eggs instead.  One hundred or more little chocolate eggs!  That all had to be counted to ensure that each and every little egg was found!  I have to admit to finding eggs in July and August, partially melted on the windowsill.

Do you have too many Easter decorations?  Could you get by next year with just a lovely spring bouquet of flowers on your table?

Since I don't have any Easter decorations to declutter, this is what I decluttered today.

This is my humidifier.  The one that leaked twice all over my bedroom floor warping the hardwood.  It took days for the wood to dry out.  The humidifier is going in the garbage!

What did you declutter today?

Day Ten - Spring 30 Day Clutter Buster Challenge

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend!  Mr. P. and I had a great time visiting our nation's capitol this Easter weekend.  We had the opportunity to tour the parliament building, visit the National Gallery and enjoy some amazing food.

I love going away on trips like that but I absolutely hate to pack for it.  As the mom, I am the CEO of packing in our house and heaven forbid I forgot to pack something vital for one of the other P's!

Shortly after I decided to embark on this journey of becoming a professional organizer, Mr. P. and I had to make an overnight trip to attend a family birthday party.  Since it was only the two of us and only one night, I decided to not follow a list and just "wing it".  It was one of the worst packing jobs of my life!  We realized part way there that I had forgotten Mr. P's medication and had to turn around and get it.  I forgot deodorant, my glasses and some of my makeup.  It made me seriously wonder if I was entering the right profession if I couldn't even pack for an overnight trip!  But in my over-confidence I missed one very important step - a list!

I've always kept a packing check list saved on our computer and believe me when I tell you I did not skip this step when packing for Ottawa!  Keeping a master list will save you time and headaches because you only have to think of these things once.  You can scratch off the things you will not be taking with you on a particular trip and add in things that you need to remember.

So make your next vacation go more smoothly by creating a master check list now.  Don't wait until it's almost time to travel as there will be too many other things going on in trying to get ready to go - making arrangements for pets, doing up all the laundry, making all the travel plans, etc.  Simply think about what you need to get ready each day and what items you would need to take on most vacations - medications, camera, shampoo, comb, etc.  Do this now and you may not even need a vacation you will be so stress-free!

Now for what I decluttered today.

Today I got rid of my old food processor.  The shredding and slicing blade on the top broke a long time ago and I find that I really need a shredding blade.  I make all my own dog food for my three little furbabies and I need to be able to shred things like sweet potatoes and apples.  I'm just not strong enough to shred vast amounts of sweet potatoes on a box grater so I went out and bought a better food processor.  That means that this one is extra and no longer needed.

Here's a photo my my little dogs in their Christmas sweaters that I knit for them.  Aren't they cute?!

What are you decluttering today?

Days Five, Six, Seven, Eight and Nine!

First of all I would like to say how proud I am of all of you participating in the challenge!  I received a wonderful email yesterday from Linda.  Linda was showcasing her Tupperware drawer.

This is a very deep drawer designed for pots and pans. I don't have many pots but I did have a LOT of Tupperware at one time. Pared it down to just what I use, rather than "what I think I might need once in the coming decade" - Linda

What I like about it is that she has used a container to keep together certain Tupperware items and their matching lids.  She also has all the smaller lids stacked neatly in the centre of the drawer where they are easy to get at.  It looks awesome Linda!

With Easter fast approaching I am going to give you a tip that even the Easter Bunny would love.  Keep a distribution basket - or bag or box - in your home.  There are always things out of place.  As you wander through your home let's say you come across your child's toy that needs to be returned to their room.  You walk up the stairs to your child's room and put away the toy and walk back down the stairs.  Later you find that bracelet you took off the other night.  Again you walk back up the stairs to return the bracelet to your jewelery box and then down again.  This can happen several times during the day.  You are wasting time and energy!

By having a distribution basket you would simply place those items in the basket.  Later in the day when you are heading upstairs - or anywhere else in the house where there are homes for the items in your basket - you take your distribution basket and hop (sorry) around putting everything away at once.  Once your basket is empty you reverse the process.  Anything that needs to go back downstairs is now placed in the basket to be taken down with you when you are ready.  Try this with a canvas shopping bag hooked over the railing.  It will save you so much time and more importantly energy during the day!

Now you may be wondering why the title of this post is Days Five, Six, Seven, Eight and Nine.  Mr. P. and I have a very busy weekend planned for this Easter weekend and I will not be near a computer again until next Tuesday.  Therefore, I decided to get a little ahead of myself and post my items for each of these days in advance.  Please feel free to continue decluttering one item a day from your home and posting it here or wherever I posted the link to this blog.

Here we go with my stuff.

DAY FIVE - Pretty little serving dishes that I never use

DAY SIX - My VCR broke last fall and I don't have a machine to play all these VHS tapes on

DAY SEVEN -  Three speakers that have been sitting in the entertainment centre for 10 years and have never been hooked up!

DAY EIGHT - My toaster oven that has not been used in over 3 years.

DAY NINE -  In honor of Easter a Dumb Bunnies book.  My boys are 20 and 17 so this has been sitting around a long time!

Wishing everyone a very Happy Easter, Passover or just a wonderful weekend!  Thanks so much for dropping by and keep decluttering!

Day Four - Spring 30 Day Clutter Buster Challenge

Did you know that organizing is not about how your home or office looks but about how those spaces work in your mind?  Organizing is about the process of arranging items and creating systems to maximize the efficiency and utility of a space.  It is not about making things pretty.

It's also not about how others thinks the space should work.  For example, some chronically disorganized people have a very difficult time filing their papers away.  Experience has taught them that once something is filed it is never seen again.  As a professional organizer, I would not be helping my client by coming in with a bunch of boxes and filing cabinets and just start filing away.  This would cause more stress and would not be a system that would work for that individual person.  Perhaps hanging files on the wall would be a better option for such a client.  It may not be pretty but it works for that person.

So throw your perfectionism out the window and really think about how you want your space to work for you.  Your bookcase may look lovely with stacks of books and pretty little knick knacks carefully placed but how do you retrieve that bottom book without knocking over the whole stack?

You paid good money for all that space in your home, make it earn it's keep!

Now for what I decluttered today.  I have been hating my makeup case for quite a while now.  It is past time that I decluttered it.

My makeup case matched the wallpaper in the bathroom - I hate the wallpaper in the bathroom!  It was dirty and because it was covered in fabric it was hard to clean.  And there was a lot of unused makeup in there!

I was out shopping at Winners the other day and I saw this beautiful box.  I knew instantly that I wanted to use it for my makeup.  It even had a mirror on the inside lid.

No, it does not match the wallpaper now but there is a bathroom renovation on the horizon and it will match the new decor perfectly!  It even has a nice handle on the top.

The makeup that I use everyday fit in the tray on the top and under the tray is room for the other stuff that I don't use as often.  I really like it.

Today I decluttered all the makeup pictured below plus the old ugly makeup case.  Not bad!

Here is a link to a great website that tells you how long to keep certain kinds of makeup.
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-long-should-you-keep-your-make-up.html

By the way, this whole decluttering process took all of 2 minutes.  It took way longer to take the pictures, upload them to my computer and then add them to the blog than it did to do the actual decluttering!  Isn't time you went through your makeup case?

Day Three - Spring 30 Day Clutter Buster Challenge

Welcome to Day Three of our 30 Day Clutter Buster Challenge!  Today I decluttered this!

I'm not sure how Vince the Slap Chop guy managed to convince me to buy one of these.  All I can say in my defence is that it was late and he promised me that I could "slap my troubles away" and that this would "change my life".  But honestly I think I bought it because I really did love his nuts! 

But I procrastinated and waited beyond the 20 minutes to call (because you know he can't do that all day!) and I missed out on the genuine Slap Chop with the complimentary Graty.  I had to settle for the Starfrit knockoff version.  I should have listened to Vince.  The knockoff was not easy to clean and he's right, "it's worthless".  It slices.....it dices.....kind of like a......knife!

So the lesson for today is - "If it's too good to be true, it probably is"!

Now if I can only stay away from the Schticky - "You can clean your home in a quickie if you use a Schticky"!  Oh Vince......you smooth talker you!

Have you ever bought anything from an infomercial?  Maybe it's time to get rid of it!

Here are links to Vince's commercials.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTmC7UQj7_M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAQjF5RPgbg

Day Two - Spring 30 Day Clutter Buster Challenge

     
What if we decided that living is more important than having?

It seems that everyone these days is wishing for more time.  Time to read, play, learn something new, create, exercise, eat healthy, travel, etc.  But how much time do we spend maintaining out stuff?  Nobody wants to say, "I'm sorry kids but we can't go to the beach this weekend.  We have to clean the garage."  But the fact is the garage (or basement, or attic, or house) will need to be cleaned sooner or later and the less stuff we have the faster it will be.

Here is a little bit of trivia for you.  Did you know that over 30% of all Americans (and Canadians I assume) cannot park their cars in their garage because of too much stuff? 

Is the stuff really more important than fulfilling your wants simply because it made it through the door?  "The stuff was here first," is a poor excuse not to do all the things that will make you healthier and, more importantly, happier.  We all deserve better than this!

If we don't have the time to maintain our stuff then we are living beyond our means!

So with this in mind I am posting my picture of what I am decluttering today.

This is a beautiful clock that Mr. P and I received as a wedding gift.  Unfortunately, it no longer goes with the decor of our home.  It has been sitting in storage for years and it needs to bless someone else.  It will look lovely on someone's wall, just not ours.

What are you decluttering today?

Day One - Spring 30 Day Clutter Buster Challenge

Welcome to the first day of our 30 Day Clutter Buster Challenge!  I am so excited and I'm looking forward to hearing all about what you are decluttering!

There are no real rules to this (except that children and pets do not count as clutter!).  However, having said that, try not to let the items pile up over the month.  If you are throwing something out then put it in the trash right away and when the bag is full take it out.  If you are donating something to charity then take it directly to your car and the next time you are out, drop it off.  Don't allow your car to become filled with UFO's (untethered flying objects that can become dangerous if you are in an accident).  Place items that you are taking to charity in a box or a clear plastic bag.  Do not use a garbage bag for anything but garbage because there is a high likelihood that whatever is in there will be mistaken for garbage and thrown out.  Now let's start decluttering!

My first item that I am decluttering is my large, electric roasting pan.

We bought it when we used to go camping.  The trailer that we owned did not have an oven so we would use it occasionally to roast something like a turkey, usually for Thanksgiving.  I think I can count on one hand how many times I have used this and it has not been used once in the past 2 years since we sold the trailer.  In this house we have 3 ovens and a warming drawer so I find that I really do not need another roasting pan.

There are 5 questions you should be asking yourself when assessing an object that you are considering decluttering.

1.  Do I need it? - I am NOT giving up my blow dryer!
2.  Will I ever use it?  - Some experts word this differently by asking, "Is it useful?"  I prefer, "Will I ever use it?"  Using my roasting pan as an example, sure it's useful, it could come in handy in many situations, but that doesn't mean that I will ever use it.
3.  Do I love it? - Another way to ask this is, "Does it make me smile?"  Do not have anything in your home that does not make you smile (unless you need it).  I once had a couple of photos on my mantle of dogs that we had owned.  These photos did not make me smile when I saw them since the dogs had passed away.  In fact, they made me quite sad.  Eventually I decided to replace them with photos of my kids that do make me smile when I see them.
4.  Is it a duplicate? -  Do you have a dozen white tee shirts?  Maybe you have 14 pairs of blue jeans.  Do you really need that many.  Do they all fit perfectly and make you feel awesome when wearing them?  Maybe some could go.  My roasting pan is a duplicate of the 3 ovens that I already have. 
5.  What is the worst thing that will happen if I let this go? - Some day I may need to host a very large party (to which you will all be invited!) and I will not have enough room in all my ovens to keep things warm.  However, I think that my mom has one of these roasting pans that I could borrow and I could always change the menu enough that we could have a few cold items too.  In reality, nothing much will happen if I let this go.

Are you ready to start decluttering?  Get rid of one thing a day for the next 30 days and you will feel a difference in your home and your life!  And don't forget to share with me what you are getting rid of!  Let me know below or wherever I have posted the link to this site.  Let's celebrate our achievements together!