Read the previous entry in this series: Day 1: Let's Start or or start at the beginning with the introduction: 5 Ways Clutter Costs.
You want to put your house in order?
Tired of living in the mess?
You've come to the right place.
I am, too.
Over the next 29 days we're going to tackle all that stuff weighing us down. We are going to breathe again. I promise.
Right this minute, I am sitting in what is probably the messiest my house has been in a long, long time.
And I'm utterly paralysed.
It's all clutter of the kind we will be dealing with over the next 29 days: stuff that needs to be put away, mostly, and a few things which need to be tossed.
This is our surface clutter--and the low hanging fruit--easy stuff.
The next twenty-nine days are not meant to be difficult or arduous. Use the "lovely limitation" of a time limit, if you like--use it to focus like a laser on an area or task. Set the timer. Ten minutes is fine, whatever you can do. Flylady trained me to work in fifteen minute increments--that's what I'll use.
So, first up, how to tackle the whole house, room by room, surface by surface.
Whole House Decluttering:
Supplies:
Timer
Container with handles (for things to be taken to another place)
2 grocery-sized bags. 1 for trash, 1 for donations.
When the whole house is trashed it can be difficult to know where to begin. Start with one room. Doesn't matter which one. Bring a container with you and your two bags. I am thinking grocery sized bags--you don't want big black garbage bin bags sitting around cluttering up the space waiting to be filled! Set the timer. Enter the room and look around. Anything super easy? Begin there. If that's overwhelming turn right and focus on the two feet in front of you. Start. Put anything that doesn't belong there in your container. Put the trash in the trash bag. Put any donations in the donations bag.
Move quickly. This is not the time to go through the family photos or the toys! This is not the time to worry about having too many shoes. Make your decisions quickly. If you're dithering, move on. You can come back later.
When the timer goes off, set it again--for just five minutes. Put the trash in the garbage, walk around the house and empty your basket, lastly, take the donations to the car. Remove them immediately.
That's it! Done. Breathe.
I chose to tackle the kitchen table. (Yes, part of room totally counts!) As you can see, it was over-run.
The easiest thing? That mattress cover in the Value Village bag. 90% of this is stuff that needs to back down to the basement--the stairs are on the left through that door.
See that blue nightstand? I have been dithering about whether to keep it for some time, now. Thing is, it needs to be sanded and restored--and I don't know where I'd use it. I didn't make the decision today--but I did put a deadline on my plans. If I haven't found a place for it (and looked after it) by June of next year then I will let it go.
Immediately, ok, not immediately, I didn't breathe deeply right away--actually, I confess, I was actually panting a bit (going up and down those stairs was quite the workout!) but after--eventually-- after I recovered--I walked into the kitchen and noticed my body did not tense up--I actually noticed.
I took a deep breath. It felt so good.
Fifteen minutes didn't give me quite enough time to wipe down the table--or sweep the floor (cringe) but I did do those things "off camera" as it were.
You can access all the posts in the series here.
or read the next entry in this series Day 3: The Fridge is an Elephant
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