February 2013 - Declutter Club

[Cindylouwho]

What is your plan for February? Keep chipping away or something specific? This month I'm still finishing the attic as DH liked the Ikea shelves and now wants to add on to them. So that ought to take forever. I'll just keep editing those boxes that are stacked up to return to the attic when those shelves are done.

Meanwhile, I'm focusing on both the kitchen and my desk right now (at different times of day). Realized my freezer system (we have 3 if you include the little one attached to the fridge). Two are in the basement and the one at easy access if filled with kid-junk. Decided I'm going to rearrange the plan and put the junk in the basement and put a selection of healthy meats in the kitchen fridge so that they have to travel to get their junk and meanwhile I can easily get something out to thaw for dinner (which is something I always forget to do til late in the day).

Today I start my get-in-shape for Spring plan. So it is good timing.

Will talk about the office on a different day.

Okay you guys -- what's the plan at your house?

 

[Miss JoDee]

I will begin going through file cabinet drawers 4 in all. A lot of it stuff I saved for the kids as they went through. I will box them and give them their memories for Christmas. The other stuff is appliance manuals I have kept. I don't remember to throw them out when I get rid of the item. I hope to put current ones in a 3 ring binder.

I also hope to keep track with the declutter calendar.

 

[luludou]

I'll be chipping away. Got rid of some papers this morning in my bedroom drawer.

 

[Kim Loves Snow]

My plan is to clean out closets and the pantry. There may have been one other target area but I've blocked it out at this moment!

 

[luludou]

deep-cleaned bathroom closet and got rid of old hand towels & face cloths.

 

[Cindylouwho]

Decluttered one of the shelves in our main cabinet above the cofffee maker and toaster (the catch-all shelf). Cleared the packaging and put all the little cider and cocoa packets in an clear sterilite box (lid off) so everything is easy to spot. MUCH better! Also put the two boxes of toothpicks in their own little clear box and tossed the container (since they are always falling out). That's MUCH better too! (It's the small victories...)

We have a declutter pile going by the door and now that it is started I'm finding myself grabbing an item here or there as I walk through my day and just tossing it in there. Don't know where it is all going yet -- just that it is going.

There's two boxes of clothing in my car ready to go -- at least I know where THAT is going.

 

[Ahorsesoul]

This weekend I gathered all the cracker type items together in one spot and decluttered all the plastic ware. I have two trash bags of old storage containers in the car. The shelves look very nice.

 

[luludou]

Decluttered emails.

 

[Cindylouwho]

Decluttered the Autumn Bin. Everything fits now except the 2 Fall Wreaths. I also have 3 Christmas wreaths. There has GOT to be e better way to store wreaths. Maybe one bin for all wreaths? Thing is - I want to add spring and summer wreaths too when the time comes. They won't all fit in one bin. Lordy, I'll have wreaths everywhere in here. A potential mess. Hmm....

 

[sweetpumkinpye]

I am working on the dining room in February, two desks in here plus a hutch and a small cupboard. Lots to declutter. I quite enjoy the process though, there is something "cleansing" about it, excuse the pun.

 

[Miss JoDee]

Cindylouwho Maybe you could hang your wreaths on a hanger, with a palstic bag over them to keep the dust off, and hang them in a closet or another out of the way place.

 

[luludou]

On Sunday I decluttered (purged) tons of papers in the filing cabinet and shredded the lot. Also found another old magazine that I put in the coffee lounge at work.

 

[Ahorsesoul]

Last of the cookbooks

The last of my cookbooks are going out on Saturday. LC looked at some of them tonight and has lightened my load. One huge cookbook I only used one recipe out of it so I copied it so I could let the cookbook go. I have two shelves empty in the Scrap Studio (but plenty of items waiting in line for shelf space).

 

[wijulie]

Wow, you all are inspiring!

Very pleased with the now-completed bookshelves. Next comes the freezer and clearing everything out the the craft room that's not craft-related! Also found about half a dozen rubber stamps I'm ready to part with. A trip to Goodwill is in the near future!

 

[Christmaslvr]

I have piles of papers everywhere that I want to tackle this weekend. And I have a few weeks of coupon inserts that I need to clip, so want to get rid of that too. I think I need to add my scrapbook room to the list of things I need to tackle. I really need to pare down and use what I have..then only buy what I need.

 

[Cindylouwho]

Wow -- cookbooks, paper and stamps. All hard ones! You guys are doing great! Cookbooks. Sigh. Soooooo haaaaaaarrrrrd!

Lots going out the door today. Yesterday I officially moved all our decluttered and reboxed items back into the attic in their color-coordinated bins that fit nicely on the matching set of shelves that DH built on the opposite side of the attic to go with the Ikea ones (same white material so it lightens up the space and makes things easier to spot). DH got big points for that. (Remember how I said he'd take forever to do it once he offered? Well I gave up on him and just moved all the boxes back in. Then he came home that afternoon with all the lumber and slammed it out!). I roll my eyes to myself but really I was very thankful he was doing it. Yep - he scored big points!

All the stuff that is leaving is in a 5x8 pile in my mudroom that about goes up to my hips. I watched Hoarders to give me strength. Always works! And now DH is gone today. Where is his truck when I need it? Several garage sale items are leaving too. I just want them GONE. Once I get a bee in my bonnet.....

It's amazing how much can get done in 20 minutes. I set my timer for 20 so I'm not overwhelmed, but then once I get me going I will often reset til I've spent an hour. An an hour is a lifetime in decluttering! Just amazing what can happen in an hour if you are focused. Then I pat myself on the back and go reward myself with internet time!

This clean-out will make such a HUGE difference come next Holidays. It will be so nice to not have those decor boxes in a jumble! Same with camping gear. It will be so easy to find and put away quickly.

Okay,.... what's next? Paper and the office? Not looking forward to that one. And photos. Anyone have any knowledge of photo sorting software for Windows? I need a program that I can just run and it will delete duplicates.

 

[luludou]

Cindylouwho if that program exists I'd like to know too! photos are my next big thing.

 

[luludou]

Decluttered Sears' catalogs. Got rid of pack of magazine sewing patterns. Got rid of camera box & instructions manuals (warranty is up and when it stops working it'll go straight in the garbage).

My craft-gift-catchall closet is deep-cleaned. I tried putting all sewing patterns together, wool (still have tons more in the basement though), felt, cards-cards-cards, gifts, craft paint, gooseberry patch cooking books.

 

[sweetpumkinpye]

I am so behind in my decluttering ATM as I have had to work extra days this month. Hoping to get back to it in early March. Hard to believe we are talking about march already. Have a lot to do to get ready for the winter months and I always feel better when the house is cleaned.

 

[luludou]

Finished decluttering my Christmas cards. Kept some in a box and the rest have been cut up for tags... threw out alot of cards!

Was looking at ideas on a declutter blog last week and I like one of the things she was saying. She said that when you go through your linen close you should get rid of thing you do NOT use... extra blankets, SHEETS, etc.... they may still be good but you do NOT need them, so why keep them? Next time I do my linen closet I'll try to think of it that way. She was also doing this for her kitchen cabinet (glasses!).