Bondage Bustin' Celebration

Let's hear your progress, big or small, with your journey to a clutter-free home.

This weekend I am going to spend some time going through the toy bins in the living room. It shouldn't take me more than 5 minutes. Then my computer hutch need some tender loving care. I will tackle this for about 10 minutes.

I got rid of a grocery sack full of DVD's and toys. Mission accomplished.

I spent Saturday morning and part of the afternoon deep cleaning some areas that have needed it for awhile. I worked on the kitchen clutter spots. I threw things out and if I didn't have space or an immediate place or need for it, things went into our give away/garage sale box. I talked to Chris about some of the de-clutter tips and he informed me that he only had "3" clutter spots in the whole house. HAHA! I set him straight. Just kidding. He is very supportive and we're a great team, so hopefully this will be a team journey for us both.

Good job, Deanne! All that hard work will pay off if you keep it up.

It's funny because Chris has always been the kitchen guy. He tackles that part in the morning if I left something before we go to bed. I guess I'm spoiled that way. I spent about 30 minutes folding and getting winter clothes out of my closet last night. I know that isn't a huge issue right now and there are bigger things I needed to tackle, but I wanted to watch CSI Miami, so I was able to do that while I was de-cluttering. Chris and I both agree the closet is a issue for us both. We hate to get rid of clothes, but at least taking out my winter sweaters and moving them to a shelf made a difference in my side. He'll have to work on his side. He wants to put our winter clothes in a spare closet, but of course, we have to de-clutter that closet first. One thing leads to another, but it's a good thing and something we need to do!

I also have issues with letting go of clothes. There is always those battles in your head related to what you paid for them, and body size fluctuations we go through, and the "I might need it one day" or the "I'll use it for yard work" issue. Now, if I haven't worn it over the season of the year (i.e. winter, summer), it no longer fits, I don't like how it looks on me, it's out of style, or I have something similar that I like better then I make myself let it go. That cleared out my closet pretty fast and really simplified decisions of what to wear, what I needed to buy, and space saving. Now when I buy something new, I go through and see what I can get rid of. I also limit my shoes to what will fit on the shoe organizing tree in our closet.

I got lots of small things done. I bought a few things at target to help me store stuff. I got an inexpensive basket that fits under our coffee table went through all our excess blankets. I only kept as many as fit in the basket, plus the two we keep on the couch all the time. I also stored my winter clothes in a container under the bed.

The best thing I did though was treat my bathroom vanity like the kitchen sink. I clean it every evening, make sure I have put away the things I used that morning. It has been so nice this week to wake up to that clean space!!!!!

-Amanda

amwiggle wrote:
The best thing I did though was treat my bathroom vanity like the kitchen sink. I clean it every evening, make sure I have put away the things I used that morning. It has been so nice this week to wake up to that clean space!!!!!

-Amanda

Great job, Amanda. And you are one step ahead of the game with the bathroom vanity swipe down. That will be one of the stepping stone habits that we will be getting to. There is nothing nicer than walking into a clean bathroom, to no longer have to do marathon bathroom cleanings with extra elbow grease (one of my least favorite things to do), and to know that you don't have to worry if company stops by.

I did it Friday, I tackled the catch all of our house....the dreaded Garage. Since we have moved in this part of the house had taken a beating. Everything seams to migrate to the Garage. I cleaned it out and took 4 boxes to the Goodwill truck. It feels so liberating to go out to the deep freeze and have a clear path and my voice actually echoes in there now..WOW! The Garage and Laundry were my weakest points in our house so to get one of them tackled is just wonderful.

Tina Chapman wrote:I did it Friday, I tackled the catch all of our house....the dreaded Garage. Since we have moved in this part of the house had taken a beating. Everything seams to migrate to the Garage. I cleaned it out and took 4 boxes to the Goodwill truck. It feels so liberating to go out to the deep freeze and have a clear path and my voice actually echoes in there now..WOW! The Garage and Laundry were my weakest points in our house so to get one of them tackled is just wonderful.

I'm so happy that you are experiencing the "freedom" of having those "weakspots" clutter-free. Now to make sure you are developing the systems you need to keep it from getting that bad again - Prayer Points, Bondage Busters as needed, weekly and monthly cleaning schedules (we will get there). Good job, Tina, and thanks for sharing!

I have been holding onto a shelf full of hand-towels in my towel cabinet for ages. You know - just in case I need them or want to turn them into cleaning rags. Well it has been years and I haven't needed them yet so they are GONE. This freed up an entire shelf in my towel cabinet. No more trying to cram the towels (that we do use) in there anymore. They have room to breath and the door will shut all the way.