I’m in Summer Survival Mode. I’m keeping my kitchen clean and doing the weekly tasks.
But the clutter is creeping.
It’s especially bad in the office. The office/game room is such a fabulous room, perfect for all odds-and-ends. It’s the guestroom, the Wii station, the computer room, the shoe storage/mudroom, the place where a girl can store her tap floor. And every girl has to have a place to store her tap floor.
But somehow, all flat surfaces have grown clutter. (Again with the blaming of inanimate objects, I know.) The desk, the dresser, the day-bed, the shoe bench, etc. are back to full-fledged “before picture” status.
It could be worse. Soooo much worse. But it could also be so much better.
When I tell myself that I’m not in major decluttering mode, I tend to let myself believe that that means I don’t have to worry about clutter. But clutter is my big problem. I can’t completely ignore it.
I don’t have the time or energy to devote to major decluttering sessions, so I’m going to institute The Daily Chuck as a new non-negotiable. That’s not a typo. I didn’t mean “check” because simply checking is not enough. I’m very good at convincing myself that I have checked, when in fact, I have not. To chuck something is to physically throw it away.
I’m going to chuck five things everyday.
We’ll see how this goes.
One thing that helps me when I'm overwhelmed with mess in my house, is to look at the door of a room I am in, then go clockwise or counter clockwise around the room tidying up as I go. I focus on just that one section I am working on at a time. I do that every night before bed in each room downstairs. I'm a bit of a neat freak, and I can't sleep if the house isn't tidy. As usual, it doesn't ever take as long as I think it will!
I find myself dealing with the same issue now that we are back from vacation – the table, the kitchen counter, the entry – everything seems to be full of "where should I put this stuff?" stuff.
Sounds like you're getting a great handle on things before they too out of control. Good luck with the fight!
By the way – in case I haven't already (been a little scattered lately) thanks so much for linking to my green clean recipes. Sure hope they're still working for you!
Hey, kinda like FlyLady's 27 fling boogie!! Good luck with your chuck!
Every flat surface in this house tends to catch clutter also. I am trying to take advantage of our summer break to go through things and get rid of stuff we don't use. Right now there is a "what used to be kitchen table then became a computer table until we found a table that suited the little ones better for computer" table in my kitchen waiting to be taken to Goodwill. Yep, it is catching some MAJOR clutter. grrrrrrrrrr! This is going to be a slow process this summer, b/c I broke my little toe on my left foot last week… broke that poor piggy bone completely in two. I'm just praying it doesn't require surgery. Praying you have a successful Chuckin' summer. :o)
WooHoo! I’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting since the start of your blog for you to do the daily chuck! You got there – GO YOU!
That’s where I started – throwing stuff out – I’m on daily tasks now, your blog has inspired me to add a couple more and to understand why I need to do them and why I haven’t done them in the past.
Yeah just got to say again GO YOU!