My Plan for Conquering Clutter Going Forward

Conquering Clutter

So, you know that last month, I did a 30-day home makeover challenge which led to some major decluttering in my apartment. I am so grateful for that experience and am determined not to build up another 8 years worth of clutter!

I am going to share several pieces of my no-clutter plan, but in this post, I just want to focus on one idea that I found so helpful as I was trying to create order last month.

Baskets

I cannot believe how much better a collection of stuff looks when it is inside a pretty basket. So what I did was get rid of everything I felt I could let go of, and then I'd take what was left and find a basket for it. I did that over and over again in space after space in my apartment and it worked!

So I am sold on baskets as a solution! If you'd like to read more about how you can use baskets to conquer clutter or get more organized, read this post at Organizing Made Fun.

Have a wonderful day!

Jeanine

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Home Makeover Challenge: Week Four

"In those especially crazy seasons, when I’m decluttering like a mad woman and my house is a complete mess, restoring order and prettiness to at least part of the house lets me feel more at peace so I can take a deep breath and keep on going." ~Melissa Michaels, TheInspiredRoom.net

Boy, does that describe the craziness I have been experiencing this month! And we also were finishing up our homeschool year.

The Vision for Your Home

"If you've been following along you're probably a heck of a lot more clear on your vision - which is everything. Having a clear vision of your style and functional needs allows you to build a home over time without wasting money on things that don't work." ~Baiyina Hughley, Home Makeover Challenge

You know, she's right. During these past few weeks, I have definitely become more clear about my vision for my home. And I would have thought I was clear before, if you'd asked me. So this challenge has really helped me clarify what I want for my home.

Natural Country Coastal Style

I have always known that my home decorating style is natural, country and rustic. But I have come to realize that it also needs to have coastal influence and spirituality. And I am not averse to touches of bohemian whimsy (LOL).

And now that I have done so much decluttering, a plan is beginning to come together for the home decorating changes I intend to make. I'm actually getting excited about it!

What about you? Do you have a clear vision for your home?

Have a wonderful day!

Jeanine

 
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My Trip to Home Goods this Weekend!

Home Decorating Field Trip

Now that my home is a lot more clutter free than it used to be, I got the urge to look around at ways I might decorate better. Home decorating is fun but can be a challenge, and I guess with all the clutter, I wasn't very motivated to bother.

But today, I was ready to look around! I love the newly-decluttered look in my entryway, but that makes me want to make the very most of it since it's the first thing we see when we come home.

More than I Bargained for

So I went to Home Goods ostensibly to look at tables I might want to buy when my budget permits. I found a whole lot more. In fact, one of the baskets I saw wouldn't let me leave without it. :)

But I also did a lot of intention-setting for what I want to bring home when I can.

(found on Home Goods Pinterest board)

I saw a clock with a coral starfish and other ocean-y accents. I think it will be perfect for my entryway wall.

And then I saw a beautiful picture of a rocky ocean that drew me in and made me fall in love. It reminds me of the goddess. It will be perfect for my landing!

What about the Basket?

I used the basket for my abundance layout. I like the table where I placed it, but wished there was a way to have it there without it being immediately obvious when walking in to the room.

So I put the abundance crystal layout in the basket...

Have you been inspired to do any home decorating lately?

Have a wonderful weekend!

Jeanine



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Home Makeover Challenge: Week Three

Home Makeover Challenge: Week Three...

This week is the one I have been waiting for, because it's singular focus is decorating. Yay! But...

I was a little disappointed with the advice. I don't think it's a fit for me. Some of it works, and I was doing it already, like not having your furniture up against the walls, and creating conversational spaces.

But the suggestions for creating height I am less sure about. I do want curtains because my natural, rustic, no-curtains look is not quite stylish. But the current style of having curtains that pool on the floor and are higher than the windows is probably not going to work for me.

What about you? I know for some it creates exactly the look they are going for, and I support that. But I don't think I want to do that. To each her own, right?

So this week, I cleared more bedroom clutter & worked on the magical corner of the room. How are you doing with the challenge?

Have a wonderful day!

Jeanine

 
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Home Makeover Challenge: Week Two

Home Makeover Challenge: Week Two...

"This week is all about creating the best layout for your room. There's more than one way to lay out your home. Plus you'll learn how this creative problem solving will reveal the true 'needs' of your home."

So that was the goal. But I had already made the change with my sofa table during week one. So what I did with this week was work on my bedroom and closet. But I still have major work to do on both so I don't have a picture to show you.

I will say this, though. When I started this morning, I couldn't walk all the way to the back of my closet, and now I can. :)

Have a wonderful day!

Jeanine

 
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Home Makeover Challenge: Week One

The Home Makeover Challenge Begins

The 30-day home makeover challenge started this past weekend, but after answering the questions about what my vision would be for my home, I kinda put off the whole decluttering thing. I just couldn't face it at first.

You're supposed to pick one room, unless you have a great room and want to do a living room/dining room combination, which is what I chose. And then I avoided it, LOL.

But finally, today, I dove in and am quite pleased with my progress.

Let the Decluttering Begin

Here's what it looked like as I started separating the "I want to keep its" from the "got to gos." My landing is the temporary holding space for all that must leave, but there's no way I'm taking a picture of that. This is what I'm keeping.

The strategy: clear the space, and separate into what you don't want anymore, and what you do want to keep but might need a new home for, and then take a look at your newly-cleared space.

One change I made was to move that sofa table where it is in that picture so I can have a desk. Yay! No more work or homeschooling at the dining room table.

 

Have a wonderful day!

Jeanine



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Home Makeover Challenge

I'm back!

And I am going to participate in a 30-day home makeover challenge. Maybe you'd like to join me?

I found out about it in one of my Facebook groups and signed up for it immediately! I have SO much clutter I can hardly stand it, and I'm hoping this challenge will be just what I need to finally deal with it.

Not that I haven't ever done anything about it before now. But by golly, it comes back!!! :)

And I'm tired of not feeling at home in my home. So I'll be sharing my experiences here and hope you'll share yours, as well. Click here to find out more: 30-day home makeover.

Have a wonderful day!

Jeanine



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Conquering Clutter: An Hour at a Time

Only Work for an Hour

Stick to your plan for only working an hour or whatever amount of time you have scheduled so you will trust yourself to do it next time. You can get your kids to watch the clock!

Seeing it all sparkle and come to life is incredibly rewarding and that may inspire you to keep going now that everything looks so much better.

I have gotten caught in that trap, myself, and what was supposed to be a few minutes of straightening up turns into three hours of wearing myself out. Which feels wonderful once you are doing but almost guarantees that you will not do that again for a long time!

And remember, this unplanned marathon habit is part of the problem!

Bonus Tip: Reward Yourself

Plan a reward for yourself every time you carry out this new plan successfully. Do not break the bank doing it but make sure you have something to look forward to as your reward for all that hard work.

That anticipated reward is part of what will motivate you to do it again the next day or the next week it is on the schedule. And part of the reward could happen before or during the work, like playing your favorite music or eating a pancake breakfast before you begin.

This new plan solves the problem that the old plan could not resolve: it does not tie up all of your time, it will not leave you exhausted, it makes it possible to trust yourself to keep going until it is all done (eventually) and best of all, it gets rid of your clutter!

Homework

An hour this weekend, that's not a lot, is it? And then, you can have a reward. Let me know how it works out!

Have a wonderful autumn day!

Jeanine


Celebrating Home
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Conquering Clutter: Clean While You Clear

Clean While You Clear

Part of the hassle of clearing clutter is the surprise cleaning that pops up! You wanted to move all that stuff out of the way but did you also want to vacuum the floor underneath and wipe down the counter and dust everything nearby?

Have cleaning supplies available, so that as you move things around, you won't have to go get something to wipe down the area you have just uncovered. And that way, you will not lose momentum and you lessen the hassle of adding cleaning to the mix.

You could even designate that task. You could be the dynamo who gets it all into the box and out of the way and one of your children could walk in your wake and clean up the mess you have uncovered.

Homework

This weekend, try getting the kids in on the act! That always makes it so much easier when I do it. Let me know if it works.

Have a wonderful autumn day!

Jeanine


Celebrating Home
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Conquering Clutter: Throw It All Away!

In the last two clutter posts, I suggested that you plan your drudge work and limit the time you allocate for it so you never get overwhelmed as you do it and always know you have a plan for getting back to it. I also suggested choosing one room at a time.

Throw Away as Much as You Can

In that room you are tackling, place a garbage bag or two and some boxes for separating out what to keep and what to store as you clear away the clutter.

Throw away as much as you are willing to let go of and put a date on what you decide to store. That date should be no more than six months later and whatever is in that box should be thrown away if it does not get used in that time.

Homework

This weekend, take a look around in one of your rooms and throw away as much as you can stand to let go of, and for the stuff you insist on keeping, but know you should throw out, put it in a box. After a week or more of not really seeing it, it may loosen its hold on you.

Have a wonderful autumn day!

Jeanine


Celebrating Home
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Conquering Clutter: One Room at a Time

Work on One Room at a Time

I suggest working on whole rooms at a time, and perhaps getting help with each room. In most families, even if they are all cleaning at the same time, they are doing it in different rooms.

You vacuum the living room, I'll mop the floor in the kitchen. And while it is true that you cover more ground that way, it feels more overwhelming because each person has to work alone and has a larger area to work on each time.

Wouldn't it be easier to conquer each room if you only had to do a section at a time, were not doing it alone and only had to work for an hour?

Homework

Pick out one room and give it a try this weekend. Let me know how it goes!

Have a wonderful autumn day!

Jeanine


Celebrating Home
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Conquering Clutter ~ Planned Sprinting

Do You Hate Cleaning As Much As I Do?

If you are the kind of person who hates to clean, and tidy up, but you also love the way your house looks when it is clean, you might live with a great deal of tension just beneath the radar, and not understand why it is there. You get a glimpse of the stress your clutter causes when something forces you to take a good long look at it, and perhaps, at that point, you feel overwhelmed.

Because you know that once you start, you are not going to want to stop until it is all done. If bursts of activity followed by long periods of letting the tension build and basically, doing nothing, is an unacknowledged system you have got going, it must work for you.

But if it worked as well as you want, you would not be reading this post!

What to Try, Instead

Planned Sprinting

What I mean by that is that, rather than waiting for unplanned marathons of cleaning and clutter-clearing, you could plan briefs sprints. Set aside an hour a day or an hour a week and during that time, work full out at whatever task you have set, whether that is cleaning a drawer or a room.

The reason you will be willing to stop before it is all done despite the discomfort of knowing it does not look at good as it could is that you will trust yourself to the same thing tomorrow or next week. And the week after that one.

I believe that part of the reason you use that unplanned marathon system is that once you recognize a willingness to work on your clutter, you feel compelled to do as much as you can while the mood has struck because you have no idea when it will happen again. If you knew you could count on yourself to come back next week and do it, cleaning until you drop would not appeal to you as much.

Tune in for another clutter-clearing tip next week on Friday (just in time to try it out on the weekend)

Have a wonderful autumn day!

Jeanine


Celebrating Home
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