Overwhelmed? Take clutter to a cleared space to sort.

My husband and I work out of the same office and the other week I had to use his desk & computer when he was out.  When I walked into his office, my stomach immediately ached.  There were papers everywhere on his desk.  I had a hard time focusing on what I had to do with all that my eyes saw!  There were papers everywhere.  There was no room to put down my notepad because there was not an empty spot on the desk!  These surroundings were too much for me to handle.

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Before I could move on with what I had to do, I took about 15 minutes to make sense of his desk.  From past experience, I knew not to clear others people’s clutter for them without their permission.   I wanted everything off his desk in one full arm sweep!  But I knew he would not like this.

So instead, I took everything from the right side of the computer and carried it to the conference table, which was cleared, and sorted the papers into similar piles.  Then I replaced it back on the right side of the desk in a few different piles making some space on the desk.  I repeated in the same manner with the left side of the computer.  After this was finished, only then was I able to work at his desk.  I felt better and I was more relaxed.

Does clutter make you anxious? This 5-minute video gives scientific evidence that clutter can cause anxiety.  My hubby’s messy office got my heart beating fast and I felt uncomfortable.  It helped me physically to do the sorting in another room that was clear.

Clearing clutter helps you feel better & helps calm your inner self.  Ask for help if you need it, but get it done for your health!  Let me know if I can help you either virtually or in person. Or ask a friend or get a family member to help.  Reach out!  You don’t have to do this alone!

Clearing out items that were gifts

I know it is only October, but are you starting to think about the holidays yet?  Well,  here is something to chew on for the next few months as the gift giving season quickly comes upon us. When someone special gives you a gift, do you feel obligated to keep it?  What if it was expensive?

I have a hard time clearing gifts out of my home.  The item reminds me of the person that gave it to me.  Will the person get mad if they don’t see the gift in my home? Why do I attach strong emotions to gifts?  It is not the person being discarded; it is an item!  Most people may not even remember what they gave you.   Instead we could give the gift to someone who will use and love it.  This frees up space & allows you to surround yourself with only items you love.  This is much more healthy than keeping gifts just because you love the person that gave it to you.

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Here’s another idea, this holiday season why not give gifts that won’t turn into clutter? What about giving the gift of time to a loved one.  A special date night with your sweetie or outing with your child may be more cherished and appreciated than a sweater.

What do you do with unwanted gifts?

Discarding the old before buying new?

We have a coffee table that is not quite right for our living room.  It is a bit too small and wobbly (inexpensive).  I have been wanting a round or oval coffee table for this area for a long time.  However, we have had this one now for several years and I have not been actively been looking for a new one.  My thoughts have been:

• It is fine for now
• I could save money by NOT buying a new table
• I am too busy to do the research to find what I want

Why am I not getting rid of it since it doesn’t spark joy?  I want a new coffee table but I keep it there until I get the one I want because we need something there.  However, it has not been a priority.  I am settling for this one and it doesn’t give me joy.  What is the cost of that?  My time and my mood!  I see that table every time I walk in and out of that room several times a day & it doesn’t make me happy.  What is the cost of happiness and joy?

I feel if I remove the coffee table my family might complain they have no place to put drinks — yet if I leave it there I won’t replace it anytime soon.  Do you also have this challenge when clearing clutter in your home?  Some minimalists live without until they research and find the exact item they love and then they purchase.  Could I do that?  If we had no coffee table in the living room, my family would definitely propel me to find a new one.  It would be better for me not to settle and get something I absolutely love and fits my space the first time.

What are your thoughts?  Can you live without until you find exactly what you love?

How to clear large bulky clutter from your home?

What do you do with the large bulky furniture, mattresses, beds, & appliances that donation centers won’t take? If they are still in good shape and someone else can use them, how do you find them a new home?  Selling them takes time and space.  Sometimes it may be worth it, but for me to get clutter out quickly, I donate.  This is the fastest way with the most satisfaction.  In past blogs, I have referred to Vietnam Veterans of America for free donation pick up in most states.  I love this because they come to your home and that means one less errand for me! Other resources I have found for large & bulky items:

• NextDoor
• Craigs list
• Free cycle
• Buy nothing/ Facebook group
• Put by the curb with “free” sign next to it
• Some cities have a once a year all trash day that you can put out as much trash as you want for no extra charge
• Our city has a once a year spring clean up in various neighborhoods to drop off bulky furniture, appliances, items for recycling, scrap metal, building materials, etc
• Junk removal services
• The city dump

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On another note, timing could be a big part of releasing clutter.  I had a large chair that I wanted to release all summer.  I tried several different avenues and no one wanted it for free.  It has been on our front porch for several months and my daughter made a comment that it is not looking so nice on the porch (frat house?!) Well, after a break simply because I forgot to “re-post,” within a couple of hours today I had 3 responses and someone picked up this chair within the hour!  She looked to be a college student and may have been renting her first apartment.

Do you live near any colleges or universities?  Many students that return in the fall are typically in need cheap or free furniture.  Now is the time to get it out of your house if you no longer love it and it doesn’t spark joy for you.  Offer up your larger furniture, sofas, chairs, tables etc. for free and see how fast they fly out.  It is better than paying to haul it to the dump and it will bless them as well.  Cheers and happy back to school!

Clearing Clutter in the Garden

I am persevering through Maria Kondo’s book,  The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and taking action.  When I was in my garden weeding recently I wondered if I could have a KonMari session outside.  Kondo never mentions tidying a garden in her book, but maybe it is because she lives in Japan and doesn’t have a yard?  But if we do have a yard,  can we apply the same concept?

Kondo insists that once we completely go through our entire house and finish the tidying of EVERYTHING, we won’t need to do this event ever again.  It would be just a quarterly or bi-yearly maintenance tidying in the house.  I have not finished my entire house yet so I can’t speak on this matter.

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If we look at all our perennials, trees, shrubs, annuals, and grasses in our yard, we could take out any plant that doesn’t spark joy.  We could plant low maintenance plants & shrubs that we love.  And when a good mulch is applied that would prevent weeds from coming up too quickly.  What about lawn or grass? That is usually the easiest to maintain but needs to be mowed more often than every couple of months.  Hmm.. something to think about.

Right now,  our teenagers help me in our yard for 15 minutes every week.  I decided on 15 minutes because  Flylady recommends decluttering for 15 minutes every day in the house.  Kondo says that if you only do 15 minutes a day, you will never finish your home and you will be tidying for the rest of your life!  These two might have to have a clearing clutter debate 🙂

This is how I feel about gardening- it seems to be never-ending.  But will it really work, a low maintenance garden, and still spark joy to look at?  I guess more research is needed for me to find easy, slow-growing plants that I love.  Either that or have more kids to help!  HA!  (Not happening!)  What do you do? Do you have professional gardeners come and do the yard work for you?  Or do you just let your garden go natural?  Please share your favorite low maintenance plants.  Thanks for reading and I look forward to reading your comments.

Warranties and Instruction Manuals

I am still working through Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up in our house. It is taking a while, but I am determined! I got a bit sidetracked, but I’m back working on my paper clutter. Yesterday I went through all my warranties and instruction manuals that you get when you buy a new gadget. I thought I was SO organized since I had all these in this one file folder, alphabetical by item. I would attach the sales receipt to the warranty and in the folder, it would go. I would go through this folder every 6 months or so to weed out items I no longer had. I don’t really remember using a warranty but a few times but felt “safe” to have these papers all in one place just in case.

 

Kondo recommends saving only those hard copies of warranties for up until the time of the warranty if at all. Most of the time registering an item for a warranty is done online and the company keeps track of warranty timeline so no paperwork is needed to save at all. She says to toss/recycle all instruction manuals as most of these can be found online if needed. When was the last time you looked at an instruction manual after you used the item? ….EXACTLY! Now I can even get rid of this large file folder.  And now I have more space in my file cabinet!

Container Organized?

What are your thoughts on containers to organize your stuff?  I like plastic clear boxes to see the contents easily and have several in my home. However, how many containers is too many?  Is there a magic number to have?  If your stuff is all neatly labeled in the containers, is that still clutter?  The other week, I was working with an organized woman that must have had about 100 clear plastic containers of different sizes.  I was helping to put together some shelving units for these containers when I felt overwhelmed looking at them all.  Do you get this feeling when looking at all your stuff, even if it is neatly in boxes?

Recently I gave my teenagers each a big plastic bin for all their keepsakes.  This is a new concept for them.  They used to have mementos in different corners of the house.  I had them gather up all the things they wanted to keep– (I even helped find some of the old trophies in the book case) and had them put it all in one of those big plastic tubs.  The idea is that they only have this area to keep all their mementos.  If they want to add something and it doesn’t fit in the bin, then they have to get rid of something, so that the lid closes.  🙂  This makes it their choice and it keeps it contained to a limited space and size.  They can keep these bins in our basement and don’t have to keep them in their rooms which is nice.  But that is the only area to keep their mementos other than their rooms.  We’ll see how it works!

Now that the school year has started for most, what will you do with all the papers and artwork brought home by your children?  How do you help your kids contain their keepsakes? I would love to hear your feedback.

Closet Inspiration

After clearing out my closet I got motivated to make it look even nicer.  This may sound crazy, but I have always wanted matching hangers.  I look at the magazine pictures of organized closet stores with envy.  The clothes look so much nicer, more inviting.  It is a small thing, but at age 47, after releasing several bags of clothing, I finally took the plunge.

Hangers are not a big investment, so why is it that big of a deal for me? I think because no one else sees them but me.  So I never bothered.  Why do it, if it is just for me?  Well, the result makes me smile every time I open my closet.  So that is enough.

I bought 50 velvet hangers and my clothes don’t slip off.  They work great for tanks, shirts, dress, jackets, sweaters, etc.  I am still looking for hangers to hang up pants and skirts because I am not sure that these will work well for that.  However, after that, I am determined not to buy any more hangers.  I feel pretty good about only having 50 items to hang up.  How many hangers do you have in your closet?  My new mantra: if I buy something new, I will get rid of something similar.  If I don’t do this, I won’t have a matching hanger to hang it up!  Ha! I love the new look of my closet.

Just curious, do you have matching hangers?  If you don’t, what has prevented you from getting them? Is this something you have even thought about?

Paper, paper and more paper!

I was going through my filing cabinet the other day and got bored. This is not fun!  It was not rewarding for me because I didn’t really see the difference I was making.  I don’t often use the papers in my filing cabinet and thus don’t see the inside on a daily basis. Yes, I shredded about 4 inches of paper but the cabinet sits there closed mostly.  For me it was not was very cathartic to clean out my filing cabinet!

Marie Kondo in her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, says that her basic policy is to discard all papers. She goes on to say that there are three ways to organize your papers:

1. Needs Attention
2. To Save (contractual documents)
3. To Save (others)

She suggests not to make subcategories.  The idea is that you will have to go through the whole file anyway and it would be a waste of time to make smaller categories.  I have not done this.  My file cabinet still has categories that I have not taken out.  The idea is simple & basic, yet why I am resistant to try it out?  She also recommends vertical storage for papers, which I like.

Kondo also recommends to keep all papers together in the house.  Have a place just for papers.  Our filing cabinet is upstairs where I keep our contractual documents, taxes, etc. We have papers downstairs in the kitchen/office area that are more of the needs attention category which I need to go through.  So I wonder, will her suggestion work for a family of four that lives on a multi level home or only for one person living in a small apartment?

Maybe I can have all the To Save (contractual documents) and the To Save (others) in the cabinet upstairs and the Needs Attention file downstairs in the kitchen.  It seems crazy to me to have the contracts that rarely get looked at in the kitchen area (prime real estate).  It also doesn’t make sense to bring the daily papers that need attention upstairs.

Even though this was not the most exciting task, I know it needs to get done.  I have some more work to do.  Next time I will play upbeat Latin dance music to keep me movin’!

Here’s to a clutter-free home, ~Ellen

Books: To Gift, Sell or Donate?

The other day I was going through my books and asking myself, “does this belong in my Book Hall of Fame?”  This is the question that Marie Kondo in her book,  The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up suggests we ask ourselves when tidying our books.  As I was weeding out books, I had a stack of books to release to others.  I was then faced with what do I do with these unwanted books.  I don’t think Kondo addresses this topic.  I put these books separate from my other give away items so I could drop them off at the neighborhood free library.  However, when I walked by one the other day it was already full.  Now what do I do?  Do I drive around town looking for empty little free libraries, drop off at a donation center, save them for my daughters to read someday, sell them to a used book store, offer them up online?  There are many options to find the “right” way to get rid of clutter that I feel like I could get overwhelmed choosing the best way.  One person’s trash is another person’s treasure, right? Why are books different for me than giving away clothes or other household items?

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The details and logistics of when to give to friends, where to sell or donate books is distracting me from my special event of “tidying up” the house.  Do I save in a pile for when I see a friend next? How long will that be? Do I have time and space in my house to post each book and mail it when someone requests it?  There are sites that do this, like this one,  bookmooch.  It sounds like a great idea; however, I’m not sure it would work for me right now. I am focused on getting everything out of the house quickly.

In the end, I gave two books to friends within two days, saved one for my daughter and donated the remaining to Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA). The reason I use the VVA is that they pick up at my home usually within a couple days.  It is a good cause and tax deductible, but for me it is all about convenience.  With a busy schedule, it is one less errand for me!  They have locations in most states and I have passed this resource along to others that I have helped to clear clutter and they have also be pleased.  Besides, once you get it out the door it is gone!  And there is no clutter in my car waiting for me to drop off at a donation center.  One idea I remember reading said that if you really miss or regret an item you gave away, go back to a thrift store, VVA or Goodwill to buy it back!  If it is meant to be, you will find something similar.