Happy New Year, Everyone!
Do you make resolutions?
Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t (out of fear of failure I think). This year, I know in my heart I need to do more decluttering around the house. My husband rarely complains about anything, but I know clutter bothers him. So to be considerate, I’m resolving this year to get rid of stuff. I’m going to be brutal about it too…hopefully. So pray for me. LOL!
Once upon a time (no, really), I was ultra-organized and had everything compartmentalized. Everything had a place and it bothered me if things weren’t in its place. Yes, I may have some slightly OCD tendencies…but who’s counting? LOL.
Enter a dynamic ADD/ADHD husband and and then add three wonderful kids to the mix and we have (drum roll…..)
COMPLETE CHAOS! Joyful though. LOL!
Somewhere along the way, early in our marriage and family life, I realized I needed to let go of some of my perfectionistic expectations with regards to a clean and orderly house.
The problem was…I fell mostly out of the organizing habit.
So…in my house there are now an embarrassing number of junk drawers that look like this:
And this:
Those photos are humiliating. However, since I know I’m attacking those drawers with my newly revved mad ninja organizational skills soon, my shame will be sanded down to nothing when I get to show you the AFTER photos. LOL! Also, in an upcoming post-I will show you some of my storage solutions for stuff I do keep/stuff we use daily or a lot. :-)
What about you? Do you have any organizing goals for the new year?
What about organizing tips? I LOVE household and decluttering tips!
Where are some great places to donate “stuff”?
PLEASE SHARE! I LOVE interacting with you.
Blessings,
Cheryl Wyatt
USA Today bestselling author and RN Cheryl Wyatt writes romance with virtue themed with rescue. She’s grateful to be a worshipper of Jesus, a mom, wife, orphan/troop advocate, plus wrangler of words and spoiled Yorkies.
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USA Today bestselling author and RN Cheryl Wyatt writes romance with virtue themed with rescue. She’s grateful to be a worshipper of Jesus, a mom, wife, orphan/troop advocate, plus wrangler of words and spoiled Yorkies. She loves readers and cherishes interaction at: https://www.facebook.com/CherylWyattAuthor. Join her newsletter via her website: www.cherylwyatt.com.
I’m not a tidy person, yes I can clean for someone else but not as good here although I am better in this house than my the one I use to live in and I think its cos when I moved I got rid of so much stuff. the drawers in my desk are not tidy. I do clean out the container cupboard a couple times a year and last time got rid of some of the recyclable containers (ice cream etc) I put them in the recycling bin. I bought smaller containers to freeze food and just had to many that I don’t use.
I tend to go through my clothes a couple of times a year and any that I haven’t worn or don’t fit I will donate to one of the charities here. I have a few currently with a couple of dresses I made for weddings but they are just to big now so they are being donated.
Christian books normally go to the church library or the Christian bookshop which as a book exchange and other books to the library or donated to the charity shop. A few other items were donated to a garage sale (yard sale) that was a fundraiser.
I consider myself a tidy person, but like you, I have drawer issues. My mother is the same, so I’ll blame her. :)
Magazines are another clutter issue, they seem to clone themselves and before I know it, there are piles everywhere. When I get into a certain mood, I’ll go through the house and purge. I donate a lot of clothes and other items to the Disabled Veterans.
Love this post and your plan to declutter! Last year, I read Marie Kondo’s THE LIFE CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP, and it really was life-changing! This year, I need to go back through my clothes again, but I got rid of so much last year that the rest of the house isn’t too bad. Highly recommend that book!
Decluttering- I’m afraid to open some drawers because I know there are gremlins in there! One thing I did was get an organizer for my computer desk, to hold pens, paper clips, business cards, highlighters, etc. Then I got a cork board so I could find things like the animals’ rabies certificates, cards for upcoming wedding showers, baby showers, etc. The best thing I ever did, was create a three ring binder and put dividers in and had sections for contacts, birthdays and anniversaries, records for the vehicles-oil changes, what oil filter they needed, online account information-passwords and such.
Thanks for this inspiring post! I will not be decluttering my books however. I am planning on getting bookcases so they are not boxed away in the corner lol.
I love that I’m not the only one with drawers like that! :) Yes, I’ve decluttered one room this year. My master bathroom. I love cosmetics and face products and have quite a collection. I needed to be able to see the counter top, so I purchased a three tier rack and two complementary baskets and got to work.
We can now not only see the bathroom counter now, but I feel so much better about that room.
LOL maybe one day I’ll tackle the cluttered multi-purposed, laundry/storage room. Ugh.
The best way to de clutter is to move. I have moved 20 times in my life. Several times I moved twice within a year. While packing for a move it is easy to give stuff away. We have been in this house for 16 years and are amazed how much stuff has accumulated, especially since we had a devasting house fire 19 years ago and lost everything.
Last year I sold my parent’s home. Some things I donated to Goodwill, but most stuff I donated to two local resale shops in SW Michigan. Mosaic trains young people in our area. They also allow needy children to pick out donated books – rather than making them pay for them. As a retired teacher, I am promoting learning life skills and the love of reading when I donate to Mosiac Resale Shop & Cafe. In the summer on Friday’s they even have a farmer’s market in their parking lot.
I also donate items to Six Degrees Resale Shop. The proceeds from the sales here are donated to an area Woman’s Shelter.
Oh yes, I HAD drawers like this! We cleaned them out while my husband was on vacation. We also de-junked our master bedroom, closet, and bathroom (which hadn’t been done since we moved in nearly 4 years ago so we were throwing away junk from our last house too!) Don’t tell but the kids rooms are next!!!
I often declutter but keeping it that way is my problem.
My landlords just repaired our ceiling and we had to take EVERYTHING out of our bedroom. We knew we had a lot of stuff, but actually touching it all really puts that into perspective. We think we can start moving the stuff back in tonight, so we’re going to do some decluttering in the process. We decided to rearrange our living room too, so that will help with decluttering there. My husband is a minimalist and I am a keeper, so unfortunately, almost all our extra stuff is mine and is my responsibility to get rid of. My goal is to go through all 4 rooms, clean out some things, and get the rest to where it is organized and easily accessible. It would be really nice for everything to have a place.
I agree with Sally though….No book decluttering!
Love the idea about donating books. I need to do that, too. Thanks for stopping by, friend!
Oh, taking them to disabled vets is a GREAT idea! I hadn’t thought of that. We have a VA nursing home near here. I did some of my nursing clinical rotations there when I was in nursing school. Thanks for the idea and for stopping by. We appreciate you!
Thanks for the book recommendation. I’m going to look for it today, Kindle edition if possible since I’m trying to thin out my paperbacks around the house. LOL! I have bookshelves in almost EVERY room. LOL! Thanks for sharing! :-)
I love my cork board. I used to keep my deadlines on it but the board fell down. LOL! So I resorted to using a dry erase board in my husband’s old office…but the kids would come by and swipe the dates off. LOL! I keep them in my calendar now. Cute Rocker Dude is trying to talk me into going digital with my calendar (probably because I have an atomic meltdown when I lose it-LOL), but I can’t seem to get rid of the paper and go digital. Trying though. I like seeing the entire month and that’s hard to do on my phone. New shelves are a GREAT idea! Not sure my hubby would go for it. LOL! I have thinned my books some, just because I got tired of dusting them. Plus a local church started a Christian fiction library…and it was a good cause to donate lots of books to. When I know things are going to good causes, it’s easy for me to get rid of stuff. LOL! Praying for more good causes. LOLOL! Thanks for stopping by!
Your post could have been written by me, except not as well and I only have 1 child. In any event, my goal is to address clutter as well this year.
I reach out to friends first to see if they could use anything – especially the child’s clothes that are outgrown before destroyed or toys and books that he no longer wants. Just between you and me – my craft room is THE WORST area. I have too many projects and need to get more realistic about what I can do and better organized until I figure that out. It is where I pay bills, have my stash of cards, along with my craft supplies. It also has become a catch all room for items that need homes. Thankfully, in our community, we have a “give and take” area where we can bring items that we no longer need and someone else in the community can take whatever they want/need. So if my friends don’t take everything, we bring it to “give and take”.
I need to extend some grace to myself, knowing that clutter does not happen overnight and it will take time to address it appropriately. I have the motivation to plod on though – my scrapbooks are way behind and I don’t create well in clutter!
Thanks for sharing and I look forward to seeing your after pictures for some inspiration.
Kimberly Rosee, glad to know I’m not alone in my junk drawers of disarray dilemma. LOL! I have scrapbook stuff and card making stuff upstairs that I need to organize…your post reminded me. LOLOL! It can be overwhelming when we think of everything at once. So it’s good that we’re focused on one room or one area of one room at a time I guess. Bite-sized decluttering is my motto this year. Thank you so much for stopping by and commiserating with me! :-)
Oh goodness, yes…moving would do it. LOL! Your comment cracked me up. If we had to move all the stuff we have now…I think the movers would go on strike. LOL! So sorry to hear about your house fire. My husband lost one of his businesses to fire, and that was hard but I imagine losing a home was far worse. Hugs to you! I LOVE the Six Degrees concept. Wish we had that here. I need to check around. Thanks for stopping by and sharing!
Beth, can you come to my house next and help me? LOLOL! I bet you are a go-getter. I also declutter my kids’ rooms when they’re not home. LOL! To their credit, they went through some boxes with their dad and I was banned from the area because they all know I want to keep every memento. LOLOL! I have no clue what they tossed, donated or kept…but the piles went from five big baskets full to being able to fit in one small shoebox which was far from full. Maybe I need to have my husband do the decluttering instead of me. LOL! Oh, wait, he did that once…and I had to go out and buy a new cutting board, cheese grater and colander…stuff he swore I never use but that I use daily…sometimes more than once. LOL!
Thanks for stopping by and sharing.
Me too Merrillee! I have two daughters who are crafty and it seems like that stuff multiplies by the thousands once it hits the floor. LOL! Thanks for coming by and commenting. :-)
Katy, what a great opportunity to declutter. We’re going to rip out the carpet from our living room and put something else down (kid with allergies and me with asthma means the carpet needs to go). So your idea is spurring me to plan decluttering that room since we have to take everything out of it to change out the flooring. Thanks for stopping by and sharing. Glad your roof is fixed. :-)
That “give and take” area sounds awesome! I wish there was something like that around here. LOVE your thoughts about extending grace to yourself. Realistic goals is something I have to keep in mind or I get overwhelmed and give up. I hope you get your craft room organized. I’m like you, I can’t write with clutter around me. Glad I have a laptop that I can move around and leave a room if it’s messy and I don’t have time to clean it…or I want to have the people who left the mess clean it up when they get home…not naming names or anything…hahahaha! For what it’s worth, I thought your comment was VERY well written. :-) Hugs and thanks for stopping by. :-)
We’re going to start using a different internet service and they are going to have to come into our bedroom–specifically, they’ll have to be able to get into our “junk corner.” Decluttering just became a priority.
Haha Deb! I’d be freaking out. LOLOL! My bedroom corners need attention too. LOLOL. Especially since I haven’t completely put Christmas decorations away yet…just set them in the corner. Thanks for commenting. It made me giggle.
I was better about keeping clutter out when I worked fulltime. Now that I work from home, it’s easier to ignore a few piles here and there. Then one day I can’t set incoming grocery bags on the counter because of all the piles. You’d think I’d learn. Excuse me a minute while I go put away some piles.
Okay, back. Hubby has hoarder genes and my mom was a neat freak who never taught me how to do it. It seemed like magic to me growing up. That was not a good combo and I’ve been fighting to figure it all out for 35 years!
I say donate to goodwill or local school or nursing home
I hate clutter too! Even my piles of stuff are somewhat organized and not toppling over at least, lol! But I have found over the last few years that I’ve let things slide more than I like. I know there are things I need to get rid of or find a place for, maybe I need to get more disciplined myself!
I take things to Goodwill or the thrift store here in town that benefits the animal shelter. If something is too damaged, clothes too torn or whatnot, I just throw them away. And with clothes or shoes, my rule is, if I haven’t worn it in 6 months, then I get rid of it :-) I don’t buy clothes at a store without knowing it will replace something I already have. That way, I don’t have so many clothes in my closet. So far, my system has worked pretty good!
Val, I LOL at the hoarder gene. My husband threatened to turn me into the Hoarders show if I didn’t attack my office soon. The funny part was once I actually got in there to clean it out, it was mostly his stuff. LOL! Anything from all of his Eagle Scout stuff, to his gazillion 80s music CDs and concert paraphernalia. Amazing how suddenly he didn’t see the stuff as clutter when it was his. HAHAAA! Too funny. You’ll probably still be trying to figure it out in another 30 years from now is my best guess. I’m an OCD married to an ADD…so we will probably always clash on the clutter issue. LOLOL! Makes life interesting for sure.
Great ideas! I have donated to Goodwill and intend to take some stuff to nursing homes. I forget about schools, though I have donated stuff and they’ve appreciated it very much. Thank you for stopping by and commenting. I appreciate you!
Trixie, that is a GREAT system. My husband suggested something like that. That if we want to buy something new, we have to get rid of something else. It’s been working. It’s addicting in fact, the more I get rid of the more I want to get rid of. I need to research some good causes around here. Thanks for sharing your system. Glad you stopped by! :-)