Tip # 23 – 28 Days of Decluttering

Tip #23 – Limit your cleaning supplies

This seems like too much! I bet this person could reduce this stash to a third and still be able to clean their house respectfully.

I think the 30 Day method would work great on the clean supply closet – don’t you?  When you think about it – how many cleaning supplies do you really need?

Here’s what I propose:

• a good all purpose cleaner that can clean the bathrooms and kitchen
• a toilet cleaner
• a glass cleaner
• a furniture cleaner
• an air freshener
• don’t forget a good supply (not over supply) of cleaning rags.  

What is your favorite cleaning supply?  Do you have one or many?  Share your thoughts below!

~Amy

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Tip #17 – 28 Days of Decluttering

Tip #17 – Throw Pillows

Let’s all pretend that this is my living room!

My family and I have a love/hate relationship with throw pillows.  I love them.  They hate them.  I think they belong on the couch and chairs.  I use them to prop up a book or magazine or maybe my bowl if I’m eating popcorn on the couch while watching TV.  I also use them in the traditional sense – as a pillow if I’m going to take a nap.

My two sons see no use for them and throw them all over the floor whenever they want to sit on the couch or chairs.

So for this tip – What’s my tip?  Get rid of throw pillows?  But – but…..

I can’t get rid of throw pillows, but I can set rules.  Put them back nicely, every time!  Le’ts play a game called “pretend Grandma is coming over.”

How about you – do you have a never-ending battle with throw pillows?

~Amy

Did you know my last blog post was my 200th post?  Did you read it?  It was titled “The New Footloose – My Thoughts“.   And thanks for reading everyone.

Tip #13 – 28 Days of Decluttering

Tip #13 – What to do with all the books. 

Ten points to the person who can name that blue book on the right?

This is the stack of books on my bed-side table.

I think I’ve let this get away from me in hopes that if I see the books I will actually read them.

My office bookshelf

 

And get this – the bottom shelf of this shelving unit in my office are all books I still need to read.

I have a system – I’m just not using it.  The top two shelves are books I’ve read and want to keep. The bottom shelf is for books to read at some point.

Here’s a challenge for myself – – maybe I’ll go move my books from my bed side to the unread shelf and declutter my bed-side table.

How about you – what do you do with your book collection(s)?  Here is an article I found with some really helpful tips!  ‘Not My Precious Books!’ — Pain-Free Ways to Declutter Your Library

~Amy

 

 

Tip #12 – 28 Days of Decluttering

Tip #12 – The reverse hanger tip

I love this idea.  I think I’m going to give it a try.  As the weather is warming up,  and I am sick of the clothes I’ve been wearing for the last six months….I always feel right about now that I want to ditch my whole wardrobe and start fresh in the fall.  OK – whom am I kidding!  I don’t really have a wardrobe – – I have tops and bottoms.  Mostly jeans and sweatshirts.   Maybe a sweater is in there on “dressy” days.

But I read about this tip on Becoming Minimalist.  The reverse hanger trick (actually, they credit Oprah for this trick, a little bit).

Here’s is what is written about it on their site:

Try the Oprah Winfrey Closet Hanger Experiment. While this idea didn’t originate with Oprah, she was the one to help give it notoriety. To identify wardrobe pieces to clear out, hang all your clothes with the hangers in the reverse direction. After you wear an item, return it to the closet with the hanger facing the correct direction. After six months, you’ll have a clear picture of which clothes you can easily discard. This experiment could also be applied to a number of clutter areas in your home (cleaners, toys, linens, tools, hobbies and craft items).

What do you think?  Worth giving it a try?

~Amy

Tip #11 – 28 Days of Decluttering

Tip #11 – The Plastic Containers

UGH – the bane of my existence.  And truly a first world problem, no?  Too many plastic containers, none with matching lids, no way of keeping them organized.   UGH – – make it stop!  

Since my boys (9 and 5) are in charge of unloading the dishwasher; the plastic container drawer and its organization (really disorganization) falls on them.  Really, I can’t expect my nine and five-year old to keep this drawer clean.  I can’t even keep it clean.  So what to do?

Ok – we’re not this bad….

 

 

…but we’re not this tidy either….

 

Honestly, I let them throw everything in there and just I just don’t care how it looks.  As long as I can find a lid that matches in a relatively short amount of time, honestly, I don’t care (much to my mom’s chagrin). Then once or twice a month, we all go through it, match up all lids and containers and start fresh. Anything without a mate, goes into the recycle bin.   It stays organized for a short while then we fall into our old habits again. But it works.  Since we’re working on finding mates on a regular basis, we weed through the old and yucky ones.  What’s that saying – in chaos there is order?  (Did I just make that up?)

What about you – we can’t be the only one who hates those plastic containers.

~Amy