February Declutter Challenge



Last month I shared a link to a January declutter calendar.  I was surprised at how much I was able to remove from my kitchen even though I'd just been through it early last Fall.  This month's calendar may be found here.  Remember to scroll down the page past the sign up block and there you will find both a daily listing and a printable calendar if you'd prefer to use that.

I plan to follow along with this plan.  Some of the work will be done in the kitchen again and some in other rooms of the house depending upon where you store items.   Hope you too will follow along, too. 

I'll be starting a little behind since I won't begin until Monday, but that's not too terribly late to get started especially since some of these tasks were done this past month when I sorted through the kitchen.  I can assure you all however, that I've already scanned the lists and can see that I still shall have some items to tend to.

4 comments:

Delorise said...

Looking forward to following your decluttering process. I have finished my decluttering process except for the closet in the garage. I have decided to wait until warmer weather to do it. I know pretty much what is in it-- not a lot to get rid of-- other than a few things I hope I can get hubby to part with. It is the most wonderful, freeing feeling to not have a lot of stuff-- I wish I had known this when I was in my 20's-- I would have saved a lot of money and time cleaning and moving unnecessary junk around. I put the electric can opener on a top shelf in the kitchen-- the less clutter sitting around- the times that I need a can opener I use a manual one. I would donate the electric one but figure I may get really old and not be able to use a manual one. I have all my clothes in one small walk in closet now. I had a set of gorgeous china that we inherited when my mom in law passed away (used 1 time) that was taking space and I gave that to my step mom in law-- on the condition that she could "not" ever return it to me. So good luck on your decluttering process--don't think twice- if you haven't used it or worn it in the past year--- it is unnecessary. (Now if I could just get my hubby to clean out his workshop-- oh well it is his space and he has to clean it- not me. )

Debby in KS said...

I did a big declutter in Fall. Apparently not big enough, because I'm finding more every day. I now keep a box in my guest room and anything I'm not wanting goes in there. When it's full, it goes to one of the charity shops.

This month I'm concentrating on cleaning every corner of my desk. It's a big roll-top that holds a huge amount. I've done great so far, but I've yet to tackle the dreaded cut-out recipes files. I have so many and haven't tried most of them. It's crazy. I need to make a rule to try 2 per month or something. And if I don't, they hit the trash. I snooze, I lose!

Decluttering is a challenge for me. My mom used to joke that I must've lived a previous life during the depression.

terricheney said...

Debby in KS (I think I've been misspelling Debby for a long time now. I apologize!) I have been dating recipes with the date one year out, then I file them in my notebook. I go through it monthly and toss every single one I haven't tried. I reprieve the occasional one and give it a date six months out and if I haven't given it a trial after a year and a half I acknowledge that I'm probably not going to try it at all.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the hint to date the saved recipes Teri !! I tend to save specific food recipes. Like what to do with too many Pomegranates..since we get them and such. It helps but I find I still usually only use say 4 of the recipes no matter how many others I find. :) For a long time I had trouble finding recipes to use fresh plums other than for jelly or a cobbler type dish. Still don't find many. You can only eat so many fresh no matter how good they taste!! I was surprised with I started to look for recipes using them in all my cookbooks and found none! Although I want to keep all my cook books and other books I can't say I have ever regretted giving away any later. Now if I can just keep that in mind when I sort through them again!!! :-)))

I have taken to drying more leftovers lately. Like I had too much fresh broccoli. Open a huge onion and knew I would not finish it all before it got soft. I put it and any other bits..like some fresh green beans....in the dehydrator and dried them. The onions took longer than the broccoli. I turned off the dehydrator and put the onions and the few beans that still needed to dry a bit into my oven that still has a pilot light. They dried in another day that way by themselves. What do you do with dried broccoli? Well to be truthful it tasted so sweet I ate some by itself! I dried it till crispy. The rest I will powder and add to anything I want to. Like any powdered vegetable. I can mix any vegetable powder to use in soups or anything. I know I could have frozen the broccoli but I was given way too much to keep frozen. So this time I dried it. When celery or mushrooms are marked down or goes on a wild sale I get some of it or anything else and dry it along with whatever leftovers or smidgins of stuff I have left. Those I use in soups or stews..anything water is added to. Just a thought. Sarah