Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Olympic Vacation

The Declutter Club is on an Olympic Vacation in Vancouver.

Back to decluttering soon!

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Quick Chore- Conquering the Recipes

Oops-posted this to the group but not here! Enjoy!

Pick your poison- Hoarders, Biggest Loser, Larry King Live- any favorite show. Grab your recipe disaster and get to it!!

Once again, a video where I chose not to shower. What is up with me? Apparently I need to feel dirty to get to the nitty gritty.


Andie

Week 5- Recap and more kids junk

Week 5: Recap and more kids junk

Quiet Time: List 5 things you would like your children to treasure in 10 years. Is it school work, pride in workmanship, religion, exercise, culture, cleanliness? There is a wide range of things that might be important to you to pass on. I can tell you, no one will say they want their kids to value over eating, a messy house or yelling but when we are stressed out we often pass on the worst of it. Think about how you will teach, be, and portray these treasures. Write another list of how you are going to pass on to your kids these wonderful treasures.

This week I’d like you all to spend some time cleaning up and finishing the last 4 assignments.

1. Go through all the bathrooms. Can you get rid of anything else? Just 10% more? That is 1 in 10 toys, gadgets, gizmos and accessories. Take a look at the walls- are they finished? Do you have a framed picture from somewhere in the house you can put in here? Is there a basket you emptied that could be re-purposed for rolled washcloths? Is there a bathroom sheet you can sew the top of and make a beautiful shower curtain? Take a bubble bath ;-)

2. Enter your master bedroom. Clothes, books, magazines and the like….are they put away? Open all the closets- can you get rid of 10% more? That is just 1 in 10 items. See if you can come up with 1 more bag of donations. Often, when we do an initial purge, we skim off the top, so skim off the top again and repeat until you are left with only the items you use regularly. Take a nap.

3. Take a seat on your sofa and look around. Are you relaxed? Can you breathe easily? Open each drawer, cabinet, storage device and see if just 1 in 10 items can be recycled. Take a look around, can you finish up any little details? Add or subtract a piece of art? Watch a movie.

4. Go in to your kids rooms or spare room, is it still a mess? Are there unfinished projects from last week?
Take a look at your Big Plan List and see if there are any more little jobs that need to go on the list. See if you can put a few projects on to your calendar for the week.

This week, EJ takes you on a tour of his before and after bedroom. My 3 kids share 2 bedrooms. 1 is for Sophia and all the kids’ clothes, and the other is for the 2 boys and all the toys. Trust me, they LOVE it this way. As you look at the video, look at the 3 bins under the bed, and the 3 drawer plastic shelf to the left. This is ALL the toys my kids have. That is IT. All the toys belong there, and they always go back there. Each child has a drawer under the bed (supposedly) and other than that there is no organization. Everything is tossed in the bins in a very speedy manner.


In the after video (just a few minutes later), 5 year old EJ shows you how he easily puts everything away.


In the dresser: 1 drawer for Simon’s PJs and 1 for EJ’s PJs, 1 drawer of yoga mats, 1 drawer of bags, backpacks etc. In the top drawers: 1 empty, 2 misc drawers of videos from Korea.

Review all your rooms and ENJOY what you have accomplished!


And my dirty little secret- the boys’ closet is very deep and fairly useless. It is our dump zone. If someone gives me a bag of toys, hand-me-downs etc they go right in the closet. When I have time, I go through it and make decisions but to maintain my decluttered house I need a spot where things can go in a pinch. Instead of stuff being tucked away here and there, it is only in this one closet and is my only closet that is disgusting.