The clutter cause by unfinished tasks

I mostly talk about clutter in the form of items that are unused and unloved that could be permanently removed from our homes.  However the detritus of unfinished tasks also mounds up over a very short period of time when a short attention span, lack of planning or sheer laziness has us making a half hearted effort. Below are some reasons why this sort of clutter accumulates and the possible consequences... Mail is opened but not attended too. ~ At the very least there should be a designated place for mail to be filed when needing later attention. Not doing this can end up in late Continue reading

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ The “Floordrobe”

My youngest, Audra, made me laugh recently by saying that a friend had gotten a new wardrobe from IKEA but preferred to continue using "the floordrobe." Personally, I hate the floor. How does so much stuff wind up there? I have four animals, and they each seem to shed their bodies' weight in fur every week. I don't have any carpet to trap the fur, and that's a good thing, but it also means that I have the tumbling tumbleweeds of hair every time we open the windows and a breeze gets going. Yuck. I hate a hairy floor. I also hate to walk barefoot and have stuff stick to the bottom of my feet. Continue reading

Mini Mission Monday

Mini Mission Monday is about finding ten minutes a day to declutter. To make it easy for you, each Monday I set seven declutter missions, one for each day of the week for you to follow. It takes the guess work out of decluttering and makes it easy and "fun" for you to achieve some quick decluttering. There are definitely specific items that, in excess, make your home harder to keep tidy, organised and efficient. For today's mini missions I will make some suggestions of items to declutter and why they can have a negative effect in your home when in over-abundance. Most of the items I mention Continue reading

How much do you really love those nicknacks?

Here are some questions to ask yourself if you have a lot of nicknacks adorning your home. Usually a home full of nicknacks also has additional furniture to house those nicknacks. Pedestals and little tables for them to sit on, china cabinets and bookshelves crammed with them, open 3D frames hanging on the wall containing more tiny bits and pieces. Just the thought of it all makes me wheeze and sneeze. So here are my questions... How important can each and every item possibly be to you when they are crammed onto shelves where you can't even see half of them because they are hidden Continue reading

Mini Mission Monday ~ Make it easy on yourself

Mini Mission Monday is about finding ten minutes a day to declutter. To make it easy for you, each Monday I set seven declutter missions, one for each day of the week for you to follow. It takes the guess work out of decluttering and makes it easy and "fun" for you to achieve some quick decluttering. This Monday's mini missions are centred around the idea of making your home more user friendly. Or more to the point easier for you to clean and work in. You might be surprised how a few tweaks here and there can make tasks less painful. The target is to have less to dust, drawers and cupboards Continue reading

Do something important today

I read this quote last week when it arrived with my latest update to Gretchen Ruben's ~ The Happiness Project ~ newsletter.    "Anything one does every day is important and imposing and anywhere one lives is interesting and beautiful." ~ Gertrude Stein The part that struck me mostly about the quote was this "Anything one does every day is important ..." which said to me ~ Whatever you do today make it something good because it is important either way. Important because no matter what you do it will have either a positive or negative effect on either you, those around you, the planet you Continue reading

November “Keep it Tidy” Challenge Update

So how is everyone going with the November keep it tidy challenge. There have been a couple of mentions in the comments from readers about how they are getting on. Here are a two excerpts I wanted to share with you. From Lena ~ ...my november challenge is seriously successful. I found that whenever I have a big cooking session, that it helps immensly to clean right after the meal. for small things like glasses, cups and cans, its ok for me to leave it there. since two weeks, my kitchen is cleaner and easier to maintain and I find I am using not as much stuff anymore. my kitchen might be ready Continue reading

Simple Saturday – Cindy’s Cord Control

Cindy's simple solution to cords and chargers out of control and either tangled on the desk top or snarled in the drawer. A great use for the over-abundance of plastic containers wasting space in your kitchen. Continue reading

One Minute Rule

Cindy's Weekly Wisdom As I mentioned back in January, I recently read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. It’s full of rules, suggestions, tips, and research on making yourself, and by extension everyone around you, happier. In the very first month of her year-long undertaking, Ms. Rubin cleans and declutters, and she keeps it up throughout the year – helping out friends when she gets desperate for a tidying fix. One tip I got from her was the One Minute Rule. I doubt this is something she made up; it sounds like something nearly everyone’s parent said to them as they were growing Continue reading

What’s in your Purse?

Cindy's Weekly Wisdom I was in church one Sunday, sitting behind K. When I stood and bowed my head to pray, I could see right into K’s large, open purse, and what I saw in there shocked me. K had six items in her purse. It was as clean as a whistle besides those six items. Her bag contained a pen, wallet, glasses case, full size tape measure, box of mints, and a folded piece of paper. There was one pocket on the side of the bag with looked like it had her keys zipped into it. That’s it. K has three children in elementary and middle school and a husband. How does she do it? I think that I Continue reading