Spring is in the air. Okay, maybe not yet. But the fact we’re nearing the month of March certainly has my eyes on the prize of no more snow and green grass. So it’s time to start thinking about spring cleaning, for those who partake in this time-honored tradition of cleaning the house. Specifically, I want to look at the concept of decluttering; because I’ve found that by tackling this first, it makes cleaning so much easier. Here is how I like to approach the clutter monster that tends to overtake my home during the colder months. My initial focus … Continue reading →
I love January because it is my best time for de-cluttering and organizing my home and getting a fresh start. The colder weather keeps us in doors more, so not only do we notice more clutter, but we have the time to actually do something about it. Weekends are perfect for major de-cluttering and organizing sessions, but I try to fit in at least 15-30 minutes a day, each day, during the week, in order to make some real progress on our clutter. A few days ago, I attacked my food pantries. Yesterday, I started following Peter Walsh’s 31-day challenge … Continue reading →
In my last blog I introduced myself to you and gave a general idea of the topics I would like to cover in housekeeping. I think that before we can even get into products or tools that will help; we need to address a common issue. That is, the state of your home may be in such disarray that you really don’t know where to start. When things look impossible, we tend to put it off. But the more you put it off, the worse it becomes and the harder it becomes to do something about it. So today you … Continue reading →
What happens to your home when you combine insulating the attic and basement crawl space, plus Christmas, plus cold and flu season, plus the recent delivery of a stove, plus a foot of snow? You get one very stressed mom who is worried that her living room is going to be featured on the next episode of Hoarders. It started out innocently enough, a plan to tighten up and insulate our home to save energy and our monthly heating expense. Our house is so leaky that we might as well just open up a window and drop the dollars out … Continue reading →
If you have a home office you likely have a paper issue. Paper piles can abound. They seem to grow almost overnight. So if you are ready to tackle those paper piles, here are some ideas. Invest in a bulletin board. A bulletin board is a great place to stick notes on. Instead of having sticky notes all over you can keep everything in one place. You can tack on reminders, to do lists, or passwords. Binders are another way to keep papers organized. Binders can organize school papers, receipts, bills or even CDs. Clear page protectors are a great … Continue reading →
Yesterday evening I looked into my daughter’s room, only to see a grand mess. It wasn’t that the room was really very messy, but there were little scraps of craft materials everywhere, dolls and stuffed animals piled high, and various doodads on the counters. There was an aura of general disorder, and I can’t stand an aura of general disorder. I’m not a packrat or a clutter person. Visual clutter can be comforting if it feels organized, but I still find it oppressive after a time. I feel a deep need to declutter, to shift things into places where they … Continue reading →
As I was writing about favorite cookbooks for the food blog it made me wonder about where people store their cookbooks. Some people I know have a display shelf in the kitchen with their cookbooks on it. Usually these are the big glossy cookbooks with lots of color photographs. The disadvantage is they can tend to look untidy this way if you’re not careful. The thought of putting my cook books on display horrifies me. Mine are tucked into two cupboards above the stove. Years ago it used to be one. But you know what it’s like you get a … Continue reading →
As a collector of owls of all sorts, pottery, wood, glass, ceramics etc my owls were taking over the coffee tables in the lounge room. That’s three tables. And the result was that they all looked cluttered. Originally, Mick was going to make a rookery for them. But then we saw the CD towers advertised. They were inexpensive and in a cherry color that fitted in with the rest of the furniture in that room, so we went and bought one. The tower is about 6 foot 6 inches high, 7 inches deep and 15 inches wide. It makes a … Continue reading →
Simple living is something I long to accomplish. I sit here and look around my cluttered house, filled with mostly things I don’t need. I waste money on these items and am just creating unnecessary trash when I throw them away. I do try to recycle and donate whenever possible, but really, I’d rather just have less stuff. I know I eat way too much junk food and spend far too little quality time with my family. And that is the basis for the simple living movement. Minimize your lifestyle to what you need and love and get rid of … Continue reading →
If you have been following my blogs, you might be aware that I’m a big fan of decluttering and organizing while still maintaining a house that never seems to be far from clutter. Now to my defense (watch out, rationalizing here), I have three young children, a work at home career, a hardworking husband in the middle of a huge work project and a healthy sense of procrastination. But I still hate clutter and the feeling that there is no space. So why is it that in the past few weeks we have added three very large items to our … Continue reading →
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