In which I don't do spring cleaning
I have never been able to wait for spring to overhaul the house. To me, the post-holiday doldrums offer the perfect time for pottering. It's too cold to go out and usually dreary to boot. It's the time of year when we feel bloated from too much holiday excess, both inside and out. Our cupboards and closets are groaning from holiday decorations, gifts, miscellanea. It's the absolute best opportunity to meander through the house, taking a drawer or shelf at a time to organize and purge. It feels virtuous to throw things out or fill up bags for donations. (And honestly, after the holidays, it is lovely to have something to feel virtuous about, don't you think?)
In my quest to declutter, I love to read about other people's systems and rules. I'm fascinated by folks who declare they will throw something out every time they bring something new in, and actually stick to it! I am more spontaneous in my purging. I never discard an item just because something new came in, but I will happily get rid of a drawer full of things a week later. (Now that I have started watching HOARDERS it's become even more satisfying to get rid of things.)
Earlier this week, I tore through Throw Out Fifty Things: Clear the Clutter, Find Your Life by Gail Blanke. It was superb. The principle is simple: throw away fifty things in two weeks. The catch is that like items count as ONE. (Which means if you decide to purge a magazine collection, good for you, but those hundreds of pounds of glossy pages that you hauled out to the recycling bin are still only one item.) The beauty of the system is that once you start weeding out the excess clutter, you weed out the bad thinking as well. It is just as much a self-help book as one about organization, and I found myself flagging page after page so I would go back and read certain passages over again. One of my favorites: There is no way it is. There is only the way you say it is. A beautifully succinct reminder that our reality is what we make it. Anyway, if one of your resolutions was to tidy up, this book is a must-have.
In my quest to declutter, I love to read about other people's systems and rules. I'm fascinated by folks who declare they will throw something out every time they bring something new in, and actually stick to it! I am more spontaneous in my purging. I never discard an item just because something new came in, but I will happily get rid of a drawer full of things a week later. (Now that I have started watching HOARDERS it's become even more satisfying to get rid of things.)
Earlier this week, I tore through Throw Out Fifty Things: Clear the Clutter, Find Your Life by Gail Blanke. It was superb. The principle is simple: throw away fifty things in two weeks. The catch is that like items count as ONE. (Which means if you decide to purge a magazine collection, good for you, but those hundreds of pounds of glossy pages that you hauled out to the recycling bin are still only one item.) The beauty of the system is that once you start weeding out the excess clutter, you weed out the bad thinking as well. It is just as much a self-help book as one about organization, and I found myself flagging page after page so I would go back and read certain passages over again. One of my favorites: There is no way it is. There is only the way you say it is. A beautifully succinct reminder that our reality is what we make it. Anyway, if one of your resolutions was to tidy up, this book is a must-have.
Comments
Somehow I missed that it was
Somehow I missed that it was to be done within 2 weeks...
In our house, we subscribe to
In our house, we subscribe to Flylady's "27 fling boogie." And Celia, we did the Great Book Purge this past summer. Not easy, but it was something we really needed to do.Lynn
I'm with you Deanna. This
I'm with you Deanna. This time of year is perfect for cleaning out and organizing. Coincidentally, my husband and I cleaned out the closets in our house last weekend. Love that feeling of a organized, clean house.
Every time I watch an episode
Every time I watch an episode of Hoarders, I get motivated to clear out a closet, a drawer, a cupboard. And there's always that feeling of accomplishment when I get rid of bags and boxes of "stuff."
Since my husband and I moved
Since my husband and I moved every one to two years for seven years, we made an agreement to bring nothing in the house that we did not need to live. Now that we are settled, the habit is ingrained. We still have stuff, but we whittle away at it. I am contemplating A Great Book Purge.