This Week In My Home: Clutter's Finish Line



This week in my home, I continue with my decluttering progress.  I shall be working in my bedroom and I have determined that I will not only make my closet neater but I will completely empty that bottom drawer that is about half filled with odds and ends I never touch or look at.  Wasted space!  I can use that drawer for linen storage which I need.



I determined in December that this should be my year of Joy.  Interestingly enough I watched the first  episode of "Marie Kondo's Tidying Up" on Netflix  and she mentioned the joy of a tidy home.  I have noted that when things are orderly and neat I do experience a deeper sense of contentment with life overall.   I cannot say that I am overwhelmed with clutter anywhere in my home but then this is an ongoing thing for me.   The disorganization in the shed has more to do with the massive removal of big items to go into the skip last month.  I had boxes and such neatly stacked.  Now they are helter skelter and there are many items which have no designated place.  I do want to donate a good deal from the shed and will begin that process next week.

Never mind the shed...I am actually looking forward to setting to work on my bedroom and craft area in the guest bedroom this week.



Work:
 

 Cleaning out my bedroom closet and the bottom drawer of my dresser. Done this morning!!

Harvest week.  Bills, errands related to bills and banking, groceries.  This is spread over a couple of days as a rule.   This week I'll work on the bill box and checkbook Sunday morning.  We'll do banking and mail and such on the day we pick up the check and we'll go grocery shopping on still another morning.

Work on the craft/sewing portion of the guest room.  Ultimate goal is to empty out the chifforobe having only a clean set of sheets and a suitable blanket for guests in the thing.  I don't know that I can quite manage that until I buy a better storage piece for fabric and sewing but I'm going to at least get rid of all the excess of stuff I've saved 'just in case'.

I'm going to leave off planning anything extra from here.  I know that routine weekly cleaning  will take up most of my remaining work hours this week.  No need of over planning and feeling I can't do it all.

Zone:

Beds and Baths this week.  I began today by cleaning my closet out and vacuuming it well.  I'll likely focus on wiping down walls this week, dusting, etc.

All the decluttering work has pretty much been done except for that sewing/craft area.    I also noted that the bookshelf that I put behind the door in the guest room looks pretty cluttered.  I think I have a solution since the items on that shelf are mostly things I do want to keep.


Meals:

 on my own x 3
John worked a half shift yesterday, is working today and will work one more shift this week.

Baked Chicken and Dumplings, Waldorf Salad, Green Beans
There should be plenty of leftovers with this dish so it will definitely do for two meals.

I'm nearly certain we'll eat out at least once this week but if we do either of these meals will freeze or keep well and cover meals for next weekend.

Chili with Rice, Pineapple Salad
I'll make the chili heavier on the beans than on meat

Macaroni and Cheese, Steamed Broccoli, Sliced Tomatoes



Leisure:

This week I'll be pulling out my February issues of magazines so I'll be reading short stories in those and mulling over menus, too.  I had said I'd declutter them as I went through each month and I have to share that I found this incredibly difficult even though some of the magazines are in terrible shape with torn covers, brittle pages etc.  I did however, cull down to 7 issues for January painful as it was to do so.

I will spend at least four hours working on genealogy either researching or adding notes to pages.

Reading.  I'm sorry I said I'd read 52 books this year... I haven't finished the one book yet and I like this author very well indeed.



4 comments:

Out My window said...

Getting rid of clutter is a life long process at least for me. I just keep working at it and I love the new MaryKondo method.

Anonymous said...

It seems trying to declutter is always at the top of our lists. One time we get rid of all we can then we add two things new that month. Next time around decluttering we find many of the things we thought we would always want to keep are now uninteresting and so we throw out much of what we want the month before! The main things is we Do work on clutter and so keep it in bounds. :-) If you have a place to keep things comfortably without stuffing anything all is good!! :-))) Sarah

Debby in Kansas said...

I think decluttering is the battle cry of many of us over 50. There's just so much stuff. I'm not even interested in buying anything anymore that doesn't get used up. With the redoing of our bed & bath, we bought new linens & paint. I think making our wedding gift towels last for 25 yrs. was pretty good! (We must've received 20 bath towels!) For decorating, it's all coming from the basement. As I've rearranged over the years, there were certain things I've just never parted with because I really liked them and knew I'd want to use them again. I'm bringing up several that I have down there. I have a garden tub with a big window/ledge & I'm setting 5 varied sizes of clear green jars along it. Two are corked so the other 3 will hold white daisies. A giant wine jug in the same green glass will hold some plain brown sticks from the trees that will be trimmed on the next 40+ degree Saturday! I'm hanging 2 new pictures in the same area. I have frames that just need painting. I'm planning to do something with paper inside. Imagine a patterned paper with a plain shape laid over it. I have 2 wonderful bird cutouts that I think will go well. I have a planter that just needs a humidity loving plant.

I love that pink washer dryer in your first picture. I would sooooo love to do my appliances in a mint green!

Karla said...

I'm also back at the decluttering work in my home. This weekend is supposed to be very cold here so we are staying inside and decluttering the "gym room" that has become a catch-all area from when we moved other rooms around. Now that I finally "want" to exercise, I can't because there is too much junk in there. I also plan to sit down and sew the rice bags I meant to do for my girls for Christmas. Perhaps a sleep eye mask for my husband too. We shall see how that goes. It's been years since I've sewn.

I'd love the baked chicken and dumplings recipe if you wouldn't mind sharing.

The Long Quiet: Day 22