Saturday, February 9, 2013

Declutter Challenge

Found a blog, The Organised Housewife (she's Australian, thus the s where I would put a z), that has a "Declutter 52 Things in 52 Weeks" challenge.  I was intrigued!

My new year's resolution is a bit stalled: I have a long-ish list of things that have "come in" to my life, with no balancing outs.  I had thought it would be a simple matter to match in with out: a new spatula means I need to get rid of an old spatula.

Not so simple.  The January quilting retreat resulted in a load of swag coming home with me.


Magazine, charm pack, notepads, sewing gadgets, tote bag (to carry all the stuff home), socks, gloves, nicknacks, etc.--total count of items in for just this event was 20--aack!

I gave away some of the retreat items immediately: a book on sewing with knits for small children, for example.  I have offset some of the new by discarding old: got rid of three quilt calendars, knowing I have enough projects and ideas within magazines and books.

So, this is where the Declutter 52 Things comes in and rescues me.  She talks about the places where clutter breeds and lurks:  under sinks, in laundry rooms, in the back of the linen closet, in those filled-up drawers that I never open.  Yes, I have to go back to scouring around the edges for things to get rid of. 

First candidate:
Ummm, yeah.  About those drawers that I never open...


Oh, wait: there's actually two of that sort of drawer in this particular dresser.  They are both filled with beading/jewelry-making supplies, some papercrafting tools (I see a decorative punch on top), and miscellaneous "craft" stuff.

To be completely honest, there's another drawer in the living room that also belongs with this stuff.  Call it overflow?

So, this is my next declutter project.  I wouldn't let Sweetie throw anything away last time she tidied in this room, so she just tried to categorize and corral (thus the plastic bins and containers to hold like items).

But, as I have learned from FlyLady: you can't organize clutter--you can only get rid of it!

There must be at least 20 items in here that need to go away. 
Setting a timer helps: 15 minutes at a time.  I can do anything for 15 minutes.

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