Decluttering

With end-of-school-year-madness already beginning, I've been so very good about putting things into the calendar on my phone AND setting reminders to appear the day before and hour before. Really, that kind of brain-saving technology was made for me. But I hadn't remembered to put Monday's donation pick-up on my calendar, so I was excited … [Read more...]

When it was time to dye Easter eggs, I headed to the coffee cup cabinet. We had five colors, so I chose my five least favorite coffee cups to hold the colored water. As I pulled those coffee cups out of the dishwasher on Monday morning (we didn't have time to dye eggs until Sunday afternoon), I realized  each cup was chosen because there was … [Read more...]

By bragging about what I did, I'll also reveal that I don't always declutter so perfectly and considerately. Honestly, sometimes I throw things into a box in a moment of frantic madness, desperate to get STUFF out of my house. A slob's gotta do what a slob's gotta do. But this time, I was the Model Declutterer. When I ran across the … [Read more...]

Yesterday I shared a Container Concept Story with a sad ending. Today, I'm sharing a happy one!! While decluttering, I unearthed some tablecloths. Ugh. Tablecloths. A reminder of how I once thought I'd be a Tablecloth Type. Y'know, back when I assumed Future Me would host bi-monthly dinner parties and have a beautifully decorated table … [Read more...]

Grasping what I call The Container Concept has changed my life/home. Many of you have told me it has changed yours too. Today and tomorrow, I'm going to share a few examples of how it works. While decluttering recently, I excavated the glasses in the photo above. My first decluttering question is: "If I were looking for this item, where … [Read more...]

Dear Collector-Types, Please don't read this post. It will only cause your blood pressure to rise, and I don't want to be responsible for that. But if you insist on reading, please read the whole thing before you express your horror in the comments. My example in this post (as in all my posts) is personal and the decision I made is also … [Read more...]

I get this question/complaint a lot. I totally understand the frustration since it was MY main frustration with organizing and decluttering before I started this blog. To answer, I'll show my current decluttering project. I used to be all about maniacal decluttering sessions which involved pulling every last thing out of a cluttered … [Read more...]

Those are swooshy pants. In a Donate Box. Swooshy pants should really be the easiest type of clothing to purge, but I somehow still struggled. Oh. Not sure what swooshy pants are? They're the ones that make a swooshy sound when you walk. I think I've debated about those pants every time I've purged clothing for the past five years. … [Read more...]

A while back, I decluttered a kitchen cabinet. Inside, I discovered some trivets or hotplates or whatever-you-call-them. I was proud of myself for choosing to keep only two. The two that fit in the drawer next to my stove where I keep such things. I was practicing my hard-learned Container Concept. Go me. But evidently, in the moment when … [Read more...]