DeClutter in April

Isn't it so much easier to breathe in clutter free homes that have plenty of natural light, and are clean and tidy? Maybe this is your home! Lucky you! (can I come stay for a while!!) But for many of us, it takes some effort to get our homes in such order. Especially for those of us with children in the home. Personally, I cannot relax and enjoy myself in a home that is a cluttered and in disorder; and this includes my own home. Maybe it’s the OCD in me, but I just like everything in its place and I love a light airy atmosphere in the home.



I did take a month off from decluttering and now I feel like I must play catch up! So, if this is your first visit to my blog, let me quickly fill you in. I found an amazing self-help blog with the focus of assisting others in simplifying their lives and homes through reducing clutter. The site is called My Simpler Life and here is the link. http://www.mysimplerlife.com/ This blog is designed to guide you day by day to getting your home in ship shape order! I find to be successful in tasks like this that encouragement is a necessity for success! So please feel free to encourage me and hopefully I will do the same for you!



If you follow the link above you can sign up to receive encouraging emails and reminders and you can also download the 2012 month by month calendar of declutter activities. This month, as per the calendar activities, I will be working on reducing household knick knacks, reducing the number of blankets and pillows on beds and couches, throw out old magazines, throw out old pots and pans that the non-stick sealant is peeling on (I was warned that it can cause cancer…who knew?), clean up my baking supply draw that my baby loves to rummage through, throw out old make up, go through my paper/mail basket and dispose of old out dated items no longer needed, organize my laundry room cupboard…..and that is it! Whew! That sure does seem like a lot to me!



In addition to all this, I plan to take a large box into my bedroom closet and get rid of all those clothes that I have not warn in the last two years. I think I may also part with all the maternity items….though I may shed a tear or two in the process of closing that chapter.



You may be asking yourself why bother going through all this trouble every day for one year. For me, I never saw the need for such measures during the first few years of my marriage because we moved so much. Every time we moved we threw out so many things, including old out dated materials. We then would start off fresh again in a new location with minimal clutter. However, now after living in the same location for so many years, the clutter has started to pile up! The more you let that go, the harder it will be to clean it up later. This can include items such as pantry goods, spices, medications, clothing, make-up, toiletries, home improvement left overs (paints, solvents, pest sprays), books, magazines, and old bills. Some of these items must be disposed of in a safe manner, which causes many of us to hold on to them until we have time, which thus leads to a pile up of the item! Kinda feels like the “When you give a mouse a cookies” book, doesn’t it?


If you give a women some perfume she may want some lipstick to go with it.

When you give her the lipstick, it will remind her that she wanted to go on a date.

She will need a new dress for the date, so she buys a nice new red dress.


The red dress reminds her that she doesn’t have any shoes to match the dress,


So she will buy a new pair of red shoes.


As she is waiting in line to pay for the shoes, she sees a pair of sandals that she simply must have.


She buys the sandals and the new red shoes.


The sandals remind her of the beach, which reminds her that she needs a new bathing suit.

The new bathing suit makes her look fat, which causes her to buy a whole bunch of diet food.



After losing a few pounds she tires of the diet food and lets it sit on the shelf to expire.


The expired food reminds her that she spent too much money on all that diet food and so she will being collecting coupons.



The coupons pile up on her counter for a few weeks, until she finally uses the ones that have not expired yet.


When she picks up the coupons she will see that she really needs to clean her counters.


So she will clean her counters, and that will motivate her to then scrub the floor, which will then motivate her to clean the entire first floor of the home.



Once done, she will be exhausted and in need of some pampering, which will remind her of the perfume her husband bought her.



Hehe! Not quite the way it goes for all, but the big picture is that these little things pile up into big things!! I think the secret to success in this is motivation. I cannot determine what motivates you. For me, it’s my family and for my own inner peace. I want to instill good habits into my children and I want to be able to relax and enjoy their company instead of worrying about cleaning a stack of papers in the kitchen. Really, it only takes a few minutes a day to be successful…if you do it every day. Or you can spend a weekend on it every month. Either way, it will get done and you will feel better having that load off your back. . Okay…gotta go and get started! Wish me luck!

A Year to Declutter

I don't know how we have managed to collect all the junk we have over the years, but after 15 years together, my husband and I have amassed a house jammed packed full of everything under the sun...in several shapes and sizes! Okay, I just made us sound like hoarders! It's not that bad! But, if we don't get our acts together it might be in a few years! To be honest, I think we are going through what many families are going through at this stage of their lives.


My husband and I have been married for 15 years; we have three children and have been living in the same house for several years. Being settled in one place exacerbates the amassing of junk! Let me tell you! In the beginning of our marriage we moved a lot. Every time we moved we went through everything and tossed junk or unnecessary clutter. Now, not having moved in a while, all that clutter is still in our house…and growing! I am even posting pictures of our mess! Ahh..the agony! I know it's painful to look at, just imagine living with it! But not for long! It's time to clean up!


So that you have a better idea of what I am talking about, let me provide you with a list of areas where we need to de-clutter. I have a walk in closet that we can only ‘walk-in” half way because half of the closet is jammed with several suitcases piled up against the wall. The closet is filled with clothing, some of which hasn’t been worn in years, other items being saved for when I lose weight (come on ladies, you know what I am talking about!! Those size 4 jeans you wore before the kids arrived that you swore you’d get back into! It’s not gonna happen! Toss ‘em!).  I have to be realistic. I am not in my 20's anymore and some of the clothing items I have from my 20's would be indecent on a mother of three!  LOL! I am much more modest these days!


My sewing area looks like a tornado whipped through and tossed everything around into a big heaping mess. I tried to keep it all organized, but when my supplies grew larger than the containers I purchased to hold them, it all just started spilling out over the sides and onto the floor. That means two things to me; one, I need to cut back on spending on craft items and two, I need a better system for organizing what I do have!


I have a laundry basket in the hall filled with socks that have not been matched up with their pair. Who knows where the other sock is, probably paired up with the missing pair to another sock! My son does the laundry and he just won’t pair up the socks! I need to come up with a better system!


My garage is a nightmare! I have a few boxes and large furniture items sitting out there waiting to go to Goodwill or the dump….who ever will take them. I have boxes upon boxes of decorations, keepsakes and other misc. items that I know I could do without. What I really want is a nice clean and organized garage that I would not be embarrassed to let my neighbors see every time I take out the garbage.

My backyard is a mess of moss, barkchips, mud, leaves and cypress tree needles. Nothing I plant will grow under the trees, so I have just given up...and it shows. It is embarrassing! I want a backyard I can enjoy and spend time in when the weather is nice.

Okay, I think you are getting the picture! So, what to do? I recently happened upon a website through a link on Pinterest. It’s Mysimplerlife.com and is an ongoing blog and instructional website on living simply written by a gal named Beth. On her site I found her month by month Declutter and Organization Calendar. There Beth has created a day by day list of tiny tasks you can do to get your house in order in one year. Here is a link: http://www.mysimplerlife.com/2011.htm. This idea struck a chord with me and I knew I needed to get on board and simplify my life!!

Visit My Simpler Life Blog

So, here is the good news; you can follow me and my journey to declutter and simplify life because I am going to blog my journey week by week here. I am doing this with hopes of inspiring others in similar situations as mine that you too can do this! In fact, why not join me, download the calendar and follow along! Comment as you do and let me know how you are doing each week. Maybe together we can motivate one another to keep going all 365 days long! Ahhh, that is a daunting thought! Let’s just take it day by day!

Stay tuned! I will start ramping you up for this after Christmas! Join me!