I know I am getting slightly outrageous today but I just wanted to plant this thought. Now that you have created space in your home do you really need it? That much space I mean. How many of us live in homes that are far to big for our needs. Is your home just a status symbol with more rooms than you need that just cause you a whole lot of wasted time doing housework. When I was a child with four siblings and a mum and dad, we all managed to live quite comfortably in a four bedroom house with one bathroom, a kitchen, a lounge room with a rumpus room under the house. One of the … [Read more...]
Archives for April 2010
Day 109 The linen closet
When retrieving my vacuum cleaner from the linen closet this week on cleaning day I paid a little attention to the number of towels on the shelves that I really don't ever use. They were sitting there taking up valuable space simply because they were still in reasonable condition or I thought they might come in handy one day for rags or if some incident happened where I would need to mop up a large spill that I wouldn't want to put in my washing machine. After giving it some rational thought I decided three things... since I have discovered microfiber I would never use lint filled old … [Read more...]
Day 108 Food Clutter
Sometimes when going through the home uncluttering we forget the pantry and the refrigerator which is one place that we should visit on a regular basis to make sure there aren't foodstuffs that are past their used by date. Now I do tend to do this fairly often because I have one of those not so well designed pantries that are so deep you can lose things in the back reaches that won't be seen until it's too late if I am not vigilant. But because I thought this was a good topic to write about I had a look anyway and found the items in my photo below that were in some cases waaaay out of … [Read more...]
Day 107 Unclutter the ironing basket
Now I know that uncluttering your ironing basket doesn't actually remove anything from your house but it sure would lighten your To-Do List leaving more time for real de-cluttering. Speaking from someone who spent at least three hours slaving over a hot iron today, I am up for any suggestion as to how to reduce this workload. It would certainly help if we bought clothes with less cotton content and more in the way of poly/cotton blend. I put fabric softener in all my loads to try to cut down on the wrinkles and I am sure that helps but not enough. I also hang the clothes on an airing … [Read more...]
Day 106 Giving back
Today's item is a great example of giving back. My mother-in-law gave me this bead spinner because she knows I do a lot of beading and she thought I would find it useful. I think she may have purchased it at a garage sale or the like especially for me. It seemed like a great little gadget and I was most appreciative of her kind gesture. Unfortunately after experimenting with it a number of time I found it did not live up to the expectations I had of it to make threading beads quicker and easier. This item could then have easily been relegated to the "well I can't get rid of it because my … [Read more...]
Day 105 Check those expiry dates
What is worse than having sunscreen in your home that is past its expiry date? Yes that's right, medications that are out of date. I only found one item where I keep regular medications like ibuprofen but I obviously hadn't checked my first-aid box for some time where I found two bottles of motion sickness tablets (one had expired in 2005) and a tube of antiseptic ointment. If you have not done so recently go now and check the places that you keep your medications and first-aid supplies and discard any overdue items. Replace these item if they are something you feel you should have on hand … [Read more...]
Day 104 Car “Stuff”
How much un-necessary stuff do you keep in your car. My car isn't to bad (I don't think) but I will let you be the judge of that. Below is a list of the things that are currently in my car, I am literally sitting in it while typing this list. In the trunk/boot Jumper Leads Blanket Recyclable shopping bags x 10 for grocery shopping Plastic crate to store the above items Glove Compartment CDs x 8 1 pair of sunglasses Car size Yellow Pages An old rental car receipt Registration and Insurance papers Car warranty papers Tyre warranty plan Old shopping … [Read more...]
Day 103 Justifying
There are a lot of ways we go about trying to justify why we should keep the clutter that we have around out homes. Here are a selection:- I may use it some day. I am sure it will come back into fashion. So and so gave this to me. If I keep it long enough it may increase in value. I might loose weight and it will fit me again. It has sentimental value. Everyone has one of these. I paid a lot of money for it so I am not getting rid of it until I get my money's worth out if it. Maybe the kids will want it when they grow up. Maybe the kids will want to give it to their kids … [Read more...]
Day 102 Garage sale tips
If you are thinking about having a garage sale to off-load your clutter here are a few pointers you might find helpful. Choose Wisely: Only include clean, usable items that don't look like they should have gone in the dumpster. If you have some items that are still useful but a little neglected give them a bit of a clean up before putting them on display. Pricing: Make sure you clearly mark the prices on all items you are selling. You can do that in many ways but here are a few suggestions Stickers: Write the price clearly on small stickers and place on each item. Colour coding: … [Read more...]
Day 101 Finding time to find things
Here are some of the ways I go about looking for areas in my home that need some de-cluttering attention I set aside one day a week, usually Tuesday, to do my general housecleaning. On that day I keep a watchful eye out while working and write down the trouble stops in my trusty notebook so I will remember to come back to them later on. While puting away the clean laundry is a good time to have a glance around in the closets for any clothing items etc that haven't seen the light of day for a while. Even if you pluck out just one thing every now and again it all makes a … [Read more...]