Sunday, September 2, 2012

Valerie's list of things to do: #2 Clear the Clutter

Honesty is the best policy, right? So I am going to be completely honest right now. I have a clutter problem. A big one. A family of 5 has a lot of "stuff" (or if you wanted to use another word for it, that'd probably apply as well).

So in the interest of keeping it honest, here are some of my problem areas.

Notice I said some. There are more. I thought having a bigger house would mean a cleaner one but I was so wrong. It's not even like most of this stuff is here 24/7. It's usually a different mess by tomorrow (not matter what I do), even my husband has commented that "the house is clean when I get home, but by the time I get up, it's a mess!" Why thank you dear, we have 3 tornadoes that help.

Today, rather than cringe at the piles, I'm going to make some changes. I'll report back at the end of the week to see if those changes have helped.

Do you have problem areas in your house? How do you control the clutter?

7 comments:

  1. Our shoes seem to multiply at the door! I created a rule that only one pair of shoes per person can be parked at the front door. The rest of them are to stay in everyone's bedroom closets. It has helped a lot with keeping the chaos to a minimum.

    I also have a problem with mail/keys/cell phones so I created a space with a cheap mail organizer., key holder on the wall and basket for cell phones and one for ink pens. I only keep 3 pens and pencils in the basket. The rest are thrown away. It's like a mini office and helps cut the clutter as soon as I walk in the door!

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    1. I like the idea of a mini office. I feel like we have a million pens but never can find one when we need it! I would like to get a table to put in our entryway (for mail, keys, etc), but then I worry that it'll become yet another "catch all" for junk.

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  2. We're trying to sell our house so we have a 10 min rule. If we can't get it clean in 10 min or less ist's too messy and the whole family has to do a major blitz. It's not a perfect system but we're surviving lol.... I do find that when there's less stuff avaioalbe then we have a bit less of a tornado effect. Best of luck! We're def on this journey to get rid of clutter together!!!

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    1. I like the 10 minute rule! Any job that takes more than 10 mins is overwhelming for kids (AND ME!), so that's a good way to be sure that the messes are cleaned up before they become too overwhelming AND since you want to sell the house it'll mean less to pack ;)

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  3. I am in the process of doing the same thing!!! Glad I'm not alone. :) I have all kinds of problems with clutter and I'm taking it one area at a time. I do like Flylady, though. If you've not heard of her, google her and check it out.

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    1. I have tried the Flylady approach (I even bought her book and I think I still get the emails), I think my biggest problem is sticking with something. It worked well when I actually did it! My biggest obstacle was actually putting away laundry when it was done. I hate that part so I put it off until we're pulling clothes out of the hamper. I have a lot of bad habits to break!

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  4. No, no, no. Bigger houses just mean more clutter. After homeschooling a few years, my house is a disaster. I am slowly, drawer by drawer, working on it though.

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