August 25-31 declutter

Okay, I may have fallen off the wagon a bit in terms of the decluttering. Since it was the first week of school, it's been a little busy around here! But today I did declutter the fridge, which led me into decluttering my recipes (there were several recipes attached to the fridge). We have several cookbooks in which we rate the recipes we try on a highly scientific scale, ranging from "yuck" to "very good." I also tear out recipes from a magazine I get and save them to try. But the folder I save them in was absolutely bulging, so I went through and discarded recipes that were a little too ambitious, exotic, or expensive for us. We do try to expand our eating possibilities, but I'm trying to be realistic. Also on the chopping block were some recipes in a binder we had saved--ones that were not rated "very good" were out. Since I have so many to choose from anyway, why keep a recipe that was merely good?

I'm pretty happy with my month of decluttering, though, especially in my office. The desks and bookshelves are so beautiful and I actually want to spend time in here now!

August 21-25 declutter

I've fallen a bit behind, but I have decluttered or gotten rid of the following in the past few days:

• old closet doors from our garage
• plywood and 2x4s from our garage
• 2 loads of catalogs from school
• a huge load of books to the used book store
• junk mail and more junk mail!

School starts tomorrow and I'm ready for it. Let 'em come!

August 18, 19, 20 declutter

Can you tell I've started inservice days at school? My posting has slowed a bit. Monday and Tuesday my declutter was junk mail--actually my darling husband went through it. Today I decluttered at school since I was there all day. I had a BIG digital declutter in which I went through my files and deleted a lot of stuff. I also combined lesson plans from previous years into subject areas instead of divided up by year. Makes it a lot easier to find something when looking for it later--I don't have to remember which year I originated the lesson. Also I recycled more junk mail today. I could fulfill my declutter requirement with junk mail pretty much every day if I wanted to...

August 17 declutter

Here it is, today's declutter...I listed this old chair on Freecycle, and someone came and took it away. Woo hoo! Also, I got rid of my travel-size shampoos and extra bath beads from my bathroom declutter a few days ago. And, I'm giving D huge props for cleaning out the garage today. Boy, did it need cleaning. In the process we found a couple more things that will be Freecycle listed as well. I just LOVE getting stuff out of the house.

August 15 and 16 declutter

Yesterday I didn't have much time, so I just tossed a couple of pieces of junk mail in the recycling and called it good. Today I put more stuff in the recycling and I had someone come and pick up these old doorknobs and light switch covers from when we redid our bedroom. It's amazing the kind of stuff people will take!

August 14 declutter

Today's declutter was some stuff in the garage. I listed our old closet doors on Freecycle. One set of old closet doors was picked up last night, and the other two sets are supposed to be picked up tonight. I also took a bunch of plastic bottles that were sitting around (drink bottles and empty windshield washer fluid bottles) and put them in the recycling bin. Then I swept up a little bit. It's not a complete garage overhaul, but it's a start.

Completely unrelated: I am now obsessed with shopping for vintage fashion on a certain online auction site. I haven't bought anything yet, but I have my eye on a few things. Actually, I am in need of a new winter coat, so I do have a search going for vintage wool coats. I've got some time before it gets cold; maybe I'll find a good one before then!

Also completely unrelated: I am vaguely trying to justify watching so much Olympics coverage by working on pictures at the same time. I am pre-cropping them (as in trimming or cutting them into shapes to make them prettier) so that they will be ready for album page layouts. Right now I am working on pictures from D's childhood albums.

August 13 declutter

No picture for this one, because I did a digital declutter today on my home computer. I deleted all the desktop icons that I don't use (pretty much all of them!) and added a few icons I would use. Then I went through the "My Documents" folder and deleted a ton of stuff that I don't need or want any more. D still needs to go through his old stuff on this computer and get rid of it--I'm not sure what he wants to keep, if anything.

The best thing about a digital declutter is that there's no "stuff" to get rid of when you're done. No trash or recycling to take out, nothing to take to the thrift or used book store, it's just gone after I empty the virtual recycling bin!

I may have some more things to add later since I listed a few things on Freecycle yesterday that may be picked up today.

August 12 declutter

This is today's declutter. Above is the before: bins from my bathroom linen closet, overflowing with random stuff, mostly OTC medicines for various and sundry ailments, beauty products, first aid supplies... (really, I just like saying sundry).

Here is the After, still pretty full but reorganized and a lot more manageable. I found some refill razors I didn't even know I had! I did get rid of some old medications and listed all my little travel shampoo/conditioners on Freecycle. I realized that I like my brand of shampoo and I always take it with me anyway, so why collect those little things?

We had a great time in Minnesota this weekend. Pictures are posted on my Shutterfly sharing site, which should be up and running again soon. It seems to be down at the moment. I did not have much of a chance to declutter while we were gone, although I did throw away some trash that was in the car, so I guess that counts. Blech, I'm so tired of being in the car...we put almost 1400 miles on our car this weekend! Luckily we have no more car trips planned until Thanksgiving.

August 7 declutter

Today's declutter was a basket that I keep under one of my coffee tables. It was originally to house my cross stitch and crossword puzzle materials, but it got a little out of hand with magazines and other stuff shoved in there:

So I took out all the magazines, recycled most of them, and handily kept the ones that might have good lesson ideas in them! Bonus! After I took the picture below, I added a pencil cup with a couple of pencils and a good eraser, plus a couple of puzzle books that I found in my office. Now I can more easily see and do my puzzles in the living room. Also in the basket is my stretchy band for my hamstring therapy. I'm trying to keep things closer to where I generally use them--it seems to make a better incentive to put them away when I'm done.


We are going to MN for the weekend (attending a wedding) and leaving tomorrow, so I guess the decluttering is going to have to go on hiatus for a couple of days. Maybe I will bring my computer and work on decluttering my electronic files.

August 5 and 6 declutter

Yesterday I was pretty busy with a meeting at school, but I did manage to throw away an old school plan book I had hanging around. Today I cleaned off and decluttered my two desks. Sorry, I only have "after" pics today. One desk had scrapbooking stuff all over it, now put away or organized:

The other had various items on it, some of which belonged there, most of which didn't. Some went in the recycling, some went on D's pile of stuff (which we will be moving back into his office since it's done!!) and some got put away. Once the aforementioned pile of stuff is out of here, I think my office will be pretty darn nice looking! I still have a few drawers I'd like to go through, though.

August 4 declutter

Blogger won't let me upload my picture right now, so you'll have to take my word on this one. I did the "in" basket where we put mail. We glance through and pull out bills to be paid, but then we throw everything else into the basket by the door. Every so often, we go through and recycle or shred as needed. It needles me that our society wastes so much paper on junk mail. I also took care of one piece of junk mail permanently--I called the number on the back of a catalog and asked to be removed from their mailing list. Ironically, this company features many products that are eco-friendly or made from recycled materials. So why aren't they saving paper by not mailing out catalogs?

August 3 declutter

No picture this time, and a small declutter yesterday. I got a new T-shirt, so I picked an old one to go in the pile for charity donation. That's it! Will post later with today's declutter, I haven't decided what to do yet.

August 2 declutter

Today's declutter: my bulletin board. I love bulletin boards for the fact that they are an extremely useful way to keep things that you know you will need later. Also, you can display small things in a non-permanent way. However, my bulletin board had become a disaster, as seen below. Receipts, pictures covered up, stuff hanging off the bottom, just not pretty at all. The receipts went in one of the baskets that I emptied earlier this week while cleaning my bookshelf. Some of the pictures I threw away--they were a bit old, and others I made sure were visible. The two brown envelopes are the wedding invitation and other info for a wedding we will be attending next weekend, so after that, they will be gone as well. My office is slowly getting prettier and more organized! Without further ado, pictures...

Before. Blech!

And after, what a difference!

August 1 declutter

I guess this is the first "official" declutter according to the August declutter challenge. I'm tackling more book clutter...I now have a few more piles of books that are going to the used book store. They were in the rack on the back of my office door as well as on the tables in the living room.

Don't get me wrong, I love books and reading. But I also love to know that things are being useful and not just sitting on a shelf. So if I'm not likely to reread or refer to a book again, I like to put it "back in circulation" so to speak...give someone else a chance to read, enjoy, and pass along. This is a relatively new philosophy for me--I used to snap up any free book I saw and keep books just because they were classics, even if I didn't particularly like them. (Okay, I still do that second part sometimes. I just can't bear to part with a few of those classics, and that's why it's good to keep decluttering and to reevaluate every couple years or so. Over time it does seem easier to part with some things).

Also, the picture: 10 used-to-be photo albums that I listed on Freecycle and that were picked up today. I took all the pictures out, but still had the binders, so I listed them. It's amazing the kind of stuff that people will take if it's free!

In other random unrelated news, I have been getting much more exercise in the past few weeks. I've started swimming laps in my condo's little pool a few days a week--it's really pleasant to be out there by myself in the morning with the birds. I've only seen another person there once, and she was just sitting on the steps reading a book. This morning there was a little frog swimming in the pool. I waved him toward the side and then cupped my hands around him and took him out. He must have hopped away because he was gone a few minutes later.

I'm also working on removing the (ahem) lovely golf-themed border in D's study. Two walls are paper-removed and primed; I will probably paint them tomorrow and then have D move the furniture so that I can do the other two walls. It's easier than trying to empty the room.

Thursday's declutter

So...posting a little late and no pictures this time, but my declutter was twofold yesterday, both book-related. The first was that I took my 6 library books to a book drop, hence removing them from my coffee table. The second was that I took two big bags of books to the used bookstore (remember those big piles from my bookshelves?) and got $16 for them! There are still more books to go, and we'll probably take them once D has gone through his books. I still have a couple more stashes of books to go through as well.