Update on the clutter

I felt much better after writing that post the other day about the clutter in our house. Putting it out there kept it on the forefront of my mind (where it had already been for several days, but now I have a plan). Yesterday I woke up early to start decluttering and, again, became almost too overwhelmed to even start.

To get things I don't use very often out of the kitchen, I needed to make room in the laundry room closet to put them. That meant I needed to spend time in the laundry room first. I opened the closet and there was just so much STUFF. I can't even tell you half of what was in there.

Some of it was food that never fit in our kitchen pantry (how blessed are we that we have too much food to fit into a pantry?!) and had expired (see mom! it happens to me too :) ). I needed to throw it out, but our trash can in the garage was already overflowing with garbage.

I almost quit before I ever got started. I knew I was about to make at least 3-4 more bags of trash and knowing I couldn't put it in the trash can nearly prevented me from even trying.

I literally had to talk myself into JUST DOING IT. Just start. "Pick up something and go" is what I told myself.

And so I did.

I got the closet mostly organized. Although it wasn't a complete cleaning out (I didn't go through the box of scarves/gloves/winter accessories and I didn't move the boxes of unopened appliances that we received at our wedding and haven't yet used (the clothes iron, the waffle iron and the electric carving knife)), I rearranged things to make room for the incoming appliances from the kitchen.

I did get rid of some recipe books. I put them into a box that had been cluttering the laundry room floor for months (which contained books from upstairs, including more cookbooks, that I had set aside to donate to Goodwill).

That box is full and I WILL get rid of it TODAY!

I also cleaned off about 3/4 of the counter tops in the kitchen!! I moved appliances that only get used a few times into the cabinets underneath.

Now I have more counter space near the sink so more dirty dishes can pile up :)

Although I know I accomplished quite a bit, I don't feel like it SHOWS. It was one of those days where you work, work, work but you don't feel like you got much accomplished. I guess thats because I know I have much more ahead of me to do.

But, I AM getting there. I'm not usually a "slowly but surely" kinda gal, but I need to be when it comes to decluttering.

Side note: At one point I stopped to take pics for a before-and-after post, but then ditched that idea b/c I viewed it as yet another procrastination attempt!

My world of excess

With a 7 week old baby at home (SEVEN WEEKS! Unbelievable), our house looks very different than it did pre-baby.

The reality is that the clutter is not really due to the baby gear. I've just noticed our existing clutter more now that we have baby stuff here and there.

I'm an organized person. My day is often organized. My purse is organized. Most important things in our house have a home.

I'm running out of places to put things, though. Which leads me to a very important conclusion: we have waaaay to much stuff.

I've spent the better part of this evening being thoroughly annoyed with STUFF. There isn't a flat surface in our house that doesn't have a pile (and, much to my dismay, the piles have piles).

I'm living in a world of excess and it needs to stop.

I've really struggled this past week or so with how much time I should be spending cleaning b/c I have this precious baby at home and I don't want to waste even one minute of time I could be spending with him. But the reality is that he sleeps. A lot. And he's sleeping really well at night, which means I'm also sleeping really well at night. Which means I don't need to sleep during the day when he's sleeping. Which ultimately means I should have some time I could be spending make our house a home and not a pile of piles.

My on-going plan is to declutter (I don't think it's an end goal b/c there will always be stuff).
Here is my plan:

1) Start in the kitchen. We spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen so if we start there, I should feel better about our efforts b/c I'll notice it more (as opposed to, like our master bathroom closet, which we use, but not necessarily on a daily basis).

2) Move onto the bedroom.

3) Repeat steps 1 & 2 :)

Interestingly, I stood up tonight, walked into the kitchen to start my project and just got completely overwhelmed so I came back to the couch and decided to blog about it instead :)

Before I start, I have to have a mental game plan. I need to know generally what my plan of attack is before I start chipping away.

For example, before I start cleaning out cabinets, I need boxes ready to accept things I plan on donating to Goodwill. So I really need to locate couple of good boxes.

I feel like I can't start one project without first doing something else. This faulty thinking prevents me from actually doing any decluttering. It's a procrastination technique.

But that ends today.

I've learned that there are several key items that I have an excess reserve of and as such, those items are consuming valuable cabinet and pantry space. I need to decide what to keep of the following items and what to donate:

1) Glasses/cups/mugs- I have waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many glasses (cups). We have two shelves of glasses that we've almost never touched since moving in back in November 2006. I keep them "just in case." Just in case what? We host 102 people at our home and I insist on using actual glasses instead of the standard red Dixie party cups? YEAH RIGHT!

Even knowing we have too many glasses, I still insist on purchasing the $0.99 Coke glasses from McDonalds every time they're sold. WTH? ENOUGH already! Seriously, I need a glasses intervention STAT.

2) Cook books- Let's admit a reality: I cook, like, once a week. And, it's usually hot dogs and beans. Last I checked, I didn't learn how to cook up a weiner from Good Housekeepings Top 100 Recipes of 2007. I'm pretty sure I haven't made a new recipe out of a cookbook in at least a year. Despite this fact, I've acquired at least 4 cookbooks in the last 365 days.

Another reality: there is only one cookbook I use- it's a homemade one that my Aunt Sher compiled for us as a wedding gift. It's a book of recipes that she gathered from our closest family and friends. I LOVE it. I use it all of the time. In the rare instance than I find a recipe out of another cookbook that we like, I put it into Shennie's cookbook.

I need to keep a few cookbooks that I think we'll like and purge the rest of them AND agree to not acquire any more until we're cooking more homemade meals.

3) George Foreman grills- I'm totally serious. I'm pretty sure we have THREE Foreman grills. Well, maybe we have two. Regardless, I use it (the small one) maybe twice/year. So why is it taking up precious space in our kitchen island? And the other one (the BIG one) is taking up valuable space in the pantry (it takes up about 1/2 of the shelf it resides on). Unacceptable.

4) Glass baking wear- I rarely cook, yet I own no less than 4 9x13 glass dishes in addition to my CorningWear. Again, in what situation would I have the need to use FOUR glass casserole dishes? It's a similiar situation with glass mixing bowls. I have TWO sets of glass mixing bowls that I NEVER use. When I need mixing bowls, I exclusively use my THREE sets of Pampered Chef bowls AND my TWO sets of Oxo rubber-soled bowls. You read that correctly. I own THREE of the same set of Pampered Chef bowls (side note: I LOVE those bowls and when I do bake or cook, I use them quite a bit, so those were a good investment).

If I declutter the aforementioned items, then I'll have more cabinet and pantry space in which to store the stuff that is currently cluttering the counters (blender, toaster, toaster oven, bowls, etc).

It would be really nice to walk into the kitchen and have visible countertops.

When my house is clean, my life is in order and I tend to eat better, sleep better, exercise and generally be in a fantastic mood. (Side note: let's not assume that once my kitchen is decluttered that I'll drop 20 lbs...but it's a possibility ;)- or maybe that is my procrastination method for nothing having lost more weight!)

I'm hoping that with this plan, my world of excess will shrink. I know I don't NEED this stuff and I'd like to do without it.

Here's to trying!

Cheers!

It's in the bag baby!

Connie wants to see what in my bag. She thinks I'm organized or something.

I own a Butler bag, as seen on Oprah (don't hold that against me).

Here's my purse and all of its contents (read the list, even I can't believe some of the stuff in my purse- click for larger images). I enjoyed doing this because it gave me the chance to clean it out:

1. Pink Wallet
   
2. Animal Print Wallet
   
3. Business Card for Lisa from Budgetude
4. My Planner
5. Packaged Pens (different colors since I color coordinate my planner)
6. Advil
7. Visine
8. Chapstick
9. 3 bags of my daily pills (half empty- see my Facebook "25 Things" to learn how I tend to not finish things- this includes my pills!)
10. Sunglasses
11. Stack of mail
12. My high school report card (long story about why this is in my purse)
13. A reimbursement check from work
14. My Sirius Stiletto
15. Two containers of hand sanitizer
16. Package of emery boards
17. Nametag for the Chamber of Commerce
18. A frog pin that a friend gave me
19. Contact case
20. Cell phone
21. Vera Bradley makeup bag
22. AZO pills (for my used-to-be-frequent UTIs...have only had ONE in the past 2 years, but I still carry the pills with me "just in case")
23. Hair clip
24. 3 sets of keys
25. A funny birthday complete with a stamped envelope (I carry it around so I can drop a card in the mail at the last minute if need be)
26. Checkbook with the "Checking" account label (I LOVE labels!)
    

The last pic is the "after" picture-- I got to put everything back in and its a little more organized now. Thanks Connie!

It's a deal!

If you're addicted to organizing and sorting like I am, then chances are, you'll love this deal too!

At OfficeMax you can get a Brother label maker for $10! It originally retails for $40, but it's on sale for $10 right now. It is the exact labeler I use at work:



Here's the catch: it's a higher end machine and the tape for it is approx $25/roll. So depending on how much you plan on using a label maker, a $25 recurring expense could be cost-prohibitive (as it was for me).

HOWEVER- while looking at label makers, I found a Brother Home and Kitchen labeler for $20 and the replacement tape is only $11. Even though the actual label maker was twice the cost of the other Brother, the recurring costs will be much less; therefore, I went with the Kitchen and Home label maker:



This one really is made for Kitchen and Home as it has a Date/Time stamp. If you're someone that labels your food prior to storing it in the freezer, this feature would be helpful. Just click the date/time stamp then print and slap it on the container.

I haven't actually used the labeler yet, but will let you know when I do!

Blogging has taken a back seat lately....life remains busy for us. We've got family coming into town at the end of the week for Rebecca's Baptism, so Hubs and I have spent some time preparing the house for our guests. I'm SO excited that my Aunt Janet is coming out! My grandparents never made it out to see our house before they passed away, but with Aunt Janet coming, I feel like I would if they were coming. I want everything to be perfect!

Ben and Becca are coming over today since Jennie has to work (we have today off for President's day). Ben and Craig will play video games (mostly Mass Effect) and Becca and I will hang out together. She's the bestest goddaughter in the history of goddaughterness.

To Do

I love this time of year for several reasons....the atmosphere of giving and focus on others, family time, Christmas decorations...I could go on and on.

I think I particularly like this time of year because it feeds my "to do" list compulsion. The Holiday season is ripe with opportunities to list things.

I keep them organized in my daily planner (remember that I made the switch back to a paper based planner recently)

A few lists I have right now include:

1) Items to pick up when I brave Garden Ridge later today
2) Christmas Eve dinner menu
3) Christmas Eve dinner grocery list (see that- a list item that generated another list...love those)
4) Christmas Eve timeline and reminders
5) "To do" between now and Christmas

Occasionally, someone challenges my listing tendencies, suggesting that I can't be as productive because I spend too much time making my lists. I don't really argue with their point because:

1) they're wrong (as evidenced by the amount I regularly get accomplished)
2) arguing with them takes time away from:

a) being productive
b) time I could be spending updating a list!

I realize my listing lifestyle isn't everyone's cup of tea and I'm OK with that. To each his own, right? Now, time to put some of those lists into action.

P.S. I got new glasses yesterday and I'm in love with them! Hubs wasn't real hip on them at first, but numerous times throughout the day, he would mention how much he really likes them. I hope to post a pic or two later.

It's what I do

A few things I'm working on:

1) Christmas Planning- it's coming along. I'm not as far along as I'd like to be, but I'm getting there. My primary goal at this point is to focus on the annual Christmas Card. I'm wondering what upcoming events we could take a picture at to use for the card. I'm pretty much done updating my address list. Throughout the year, I keep all of the "we've moved" emails in a folder in Outlook and as we approach the holidays, I match those emails against my Excel spreadsheet that has a tab for our Christmas List. It's actually the list we used for our wedding invites back in 2004 and each year I copy the spreadsheet into a new tab and update it. It's fun seeing how the list has evolved over the years. Nearly everyone from our wedding list is still on the Christmas Card list- but the Christmas list is much bigger than our wedding list. We've added names of friends we've made over the years (and, friends we've reconnected with...mainly Zein!)

2) Home Inventory. I've been wanting to do this for a while now and just this morning downloaded free software to inventory our household goods. Its software that you use to store information that would be extremely valuable if anything were to happen to your home (break in, fire, flood, tornado, etc). My goal is to inventory one room every few weeks. I photograph several angles of the room and then inventory the large or hard to replace items (electronics, pictures, etc). I don't worry about inventorying the little things (knickknacks and such). I inventoried most of the living room today. I just need to find receipts for the furniture and the big screen TV so I can scan those into the program.

3) Get-Rid. This time of year is perfecting for purging and getting rid of excess in the home. Hubs and I have clothing that we need to part with; No matter how delusional we are in thinking we can ever fit into them again, reality is, the clothing needs to go. And fast.

Those are what keep me busy right now. Of course, we're all preparing for the arrival of Jennie and Ben's little one who is scheduled to bless us sometime in the next 4 weeks. They had another baby shower last night that Ben's family hosted. My favorite part of the evening was sitting outside in the cold enjoying the fire pit and catching up with Ben's sisters. They're a great family.

Time to get the day started in the usual Sunday fashion- Sunday ads from the paper and a glass of milk.

 

I regress

From Dictionary.com:

Regress: –verb (used without object)

1. to move backward; go back.
2. to revert to an earlier or less advanced state or form.

Thats me. Here's why:



I went back to using a paper organizer/calendar.

In college, I used a student planner religiously. It accompanied me everywhere. As an involved college student, I often had numerous meetings to attend after class, so to help keep myself organized, I used a planner. But not just any planner, I needed the Student kind- the ones that list the entire month over two pages, and then lay out each week of that month over the next few pages. I needed to see the entire month-at-a-glance as well as have enough space to write a good amount of information down on each day. I LOVED the organizers I had in college. I loved them so much, I kept them. They're in my basement in the single box that houses my college memories.

After college, life slowed down considerably when I started working; therefore, the need to keep a calendar dwindled and I eventually gave it up. In 2005 when I became the Practice Administrator at my clinic, I found myself needing to regain that balance which an organizer provides, but it was 2005, so a paper organizer wouldn't do. I needed a handheld device. Hence, I purchased my first all-in-one and have had once ever since. I really like it, but I find it very difficult to get that "at-a-glance" view of my week/month that comes with using a paper organizer.

Although I also have a paper calendar on our fridge, I needed a portable one so I could schedule things on the fly.

During our trip to FL recently, I found the perfect calendar at the bookstore, so I used my contingency money to buy it. I also have colored pens I use to organize the events that fill the pages of the calendar:



Life has become easier to plan with the help of my Time.Mine calendar. Twice a week, I sync it with the calendar on the frige.

Obviously, I still have my handheld (it's also my cell phone), but I don't put my social events in that anymore. Its much, much easier to keep track of life with the paper organizer.

But please don't tell my former boss. I poked fun at him mercilessly for keeping a paper organizer as long as he did. Guess I learned a thing or two from him afterall...