The following pictures are before and after shots of my living room that once again show that even in an uncluttered room things can end up out of place. Can you spot the 12 differences between the two photos
If you want to see a the solution to this SPOT THE DIFFERENCE puzzle here is a link
It is so good to have everything decluttered. And little things matter, eh?
Hi Nurchamiel,
I am sitting in the space from this post right now and it needs a little tidying right now. It can wait until I finish my cup of tea though. Have a great day.
I love how your before and after always both look super-tidy. 🙂
Hi Megan,
I have been a bit of a neat freak ever since I got married. Mothers must really hate that when they have been nagging their daughter to clean their rooms all their lives and the minute they leave home they become tidy all of a sudden. I tell my daughter that if this happens with her I am going to go to her house and mess it up. 😆
Ok, I only got seven! This was really fun, I do this sort of thing with my kids (6, 7 yrs old) all the time (what is different from one picture to the next). Bring it on!!!
You have such a lovely home!
Happy Saturday!
Hi Annabelle,
actually there is a 13th item that I missed. There is a video game case leaning against the Playstation underneath where the phone is on the TV unit. I am glad you had fun playing. Isn’t it fun playing games with your kids, I still love to play with my kids even though they are 19 and 21. When they were younger I used to make elaborate treasure hunt games for them for Easter where they had to follow a list of cryptic clues to find plastic eggs with $1 coins in. I loved reading to them as well. Enjoy them while you can.
Great pictures. I love your carpet and the collection of pictures on the wall.
I am definitely trying to improve on my ‘don’t put it down, put it away’.
As you prove in the pics, it is the start of clutter if you leave things lying around.
Hi Katherine,
I like your policy ‘don’t put it down put it away’. My cleaning day is quick and easy because I don’t have to tidy as well as clean.
I loved Megan’s comment because that’s just what I was thinking too!!!
Hi Jo,
I would be a bit of a hypocrite if I didn’t practice what I preach. My next goal in that room is to declutter enough to eliminate that big display cabinet that is on the lefthand side at the back of the photo. Unfortunately though that piece actually belongs on top of the piece that we use as the TV unit so it amy mean having to replace the TV unit. One step at a time though and we will work it out as we go along.
Hi Colleen. Don’t you just love Facebook and the incredible things people post? I clicked on a link for a declutter article and discovered you 365 days of decluttering. What an inspiration it is to me. Over the 36 years of marriage to my wonderful husband, we have both become pack rats! I hate it, but have a hard time letting go. Since we’re going to be moving in the next few months, I have to step up my decluttering and I’m choosing to toss out/get rid of 3 things per day. It’s hard to look at my stuff and say, “What can I get rid of today?” Yesterday, I put a lanyard with a duck on it and a baseball cap (a gift) in a box for my granddaughter and daughter-in-law and I threw out an broken necklace. Whew! What do you do about paper clutter? My hubby runs his own business. I put a cute basket next to his computer and told him to put receipts in it. (They used to just stack all around his desk.) Hopefully this will make the area around his computer look better. Any other ideas?
Hi Betsy and welcome to 365 Less Things. I hope you have read enough on the blog to know to work on the easiest stuff first. That is the best way to get started. It is less confronting. As you begin to see the results of your efforts it will become easier to let go because suddenly your focus isn’t on what you think you want to keep but what you want to let go of to create more improvement and lessen the burden of stuff. Focus only on what to get rid of each day and don’t dwell on the task as a whole, that can be very daunting.
As for paperwork. The most important thing is to have the facts on what you actually need to keep and in what form and only keep what you have to. Keep up to date with tax laws, you might be surprised to realise some have changed and you don’t need to keep paperwork for as long or that they can be digital copies and not originals. Develop a system that works for you when it comes to filing and weeding. Not everyone’s brain works the same when it comes to organising such things. A conventional method may work for some while others work better with a more creative system. There are plenty of suggestions you can find by searching for this subject on the internet. In our house we can what we can and shred what we don’t need to keep. The important documents that must be kept are minimal for us and we keep them in hanging files in one small plastic box. Once we used to have a two drawer filing cabinet full of the stuff but then we got smart.
Good luck with your decluttering and I hope you learn to enjoy it rather than struggling with it.
Cheers Colleen