Decluttering The Outside of the Fridge.

I have fallen behind in my kitchen overhaul project: so many things left undone--and the month is over.

To boot, I am overwhelmed with clutter. Th dishes have piled up (again), the living room is awash with scraps of paper from my daughter's efforts to pull together her science fair project presentation board--and bits of construction paper flotsam and sticky tape jetsam have drifted into the dining room too. It's knee deep in various papers waiting for me to do something...and, well, everywhere else, there's usual mess and clutter that comes with a family of four (and a dog) who've been cooped up for a week and a mother completely distracted by everything non-household related.

Including reading this book:

It's quite the archeological study of modern life!

It turns out that at the extreme ends of the scale, "the numbers of objects families place on their refrigerators appear to signal something about the possessions they have in the house." To wit, the more cluttered the outside of the fridge, the more cluttered the rest of the home.

So, I cleaned off the outside (and top) of the fridge.

Before:

Top: dead flowers, the runner for the table, a half empty coffee can, and three or four failed sugar crystal science projects.

Side: extra recipes, pens and pencils (in the blue holder), envelope for grocery receipts (with a form for tracking them clipped to the outside), 12 magents, 2 shopping list notepads, monthly dinner menu plan, replacement warrenty information for our new cast iron frying pans.

And after:

Top: Nothing!

Side: pens and pencils (in the blue holder), envelope for grocery receipts (with a form for tracking them clipped to the outside), 10 magents, 2 shopping list notepads, monthly dinner menu plan.

Now, for the rest of the house!

Linking to Jules and the wonderful William Morris project--without which I probably wouldn't have done even this little bit this week!