It is a month since I started my Declutter Diary and I cannot believe that tomorrow will be February! When I started this blog, I set myself the task of not just decluttering my house, but my life - read my first post here.
It sounded pretty big, and it is a challenge. Sorting through a few drawers and straightening your wardrobes is all well and good, but it only makes a real difference in your life if you change your habits as well. Its a bit like going on a diet, if you think about it as a diet, it is only a temporary state and often the pressure you can put on yourself makes it unsustainable.
I have definitely hit a wall at certain points, or intended to do something and then not got round to it for whatever reason. In the past, I would have berated myself for failure, piled on the pressure or done a rush job and then been left feeling dissatisfied.
The big difference I have made this time is just to be a but more forgiving of myself. I have a busy life, sometimes I just want to watch telly or go to the pub. The clutter isn't going anywhere, it can wait. The trick for me has been to keep a vision in mind of what I want to achieve.
When I have made big leaps, I have enjoyed it and allowed myself to be a tad smug about what I have achieved. And more importantly, where I have made progress, I have maintained that area. So, I am pleased to report that I have kept the sitting room immaculate and I have kept my desk clear and my inbox empty.
So, I think tonight I will recline with a small gin and tonic and think about what I want to achieve in February. I may blog about this in a bit, that way you can all keep check on me! I am also going to think about how great it will feel to blog on New Year's Eve when I have got where I want to be. When even the Room of Doom is a sanctuary of calm and organisation....
Onwards and Upwards Friends!
The Declutter Diarist
Showing posts with label starting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label starting. Show all posts
Monday, 31 January 2011
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
My Declutter Playlist
To help me stay motivated I decided to put together a playlist that I can listen to on my iPod Nanp when I am decluttering. It is 30 minutes of music that is upbeat and feel good. When I am putting off getting started and need to feel motivated, I think this will get me into the swing of things.
My Declutter Disco playlist consists of:
Do Your Thing - Basement Jaxx
Should I Stay or Should I Go - The Clash
Don't Stop - Fleetwood Mac
Love Today - Mika
Feeling Good - Nina Simone
Use It Up, Wear It Out - Odyssey
Don't Stop Me Now - Queen
I'm Every Woman - Chaka Khan
What would be on your playlist? The Declutter Diarist
My Declutter Disco playlist consists of:
Do Your Thing - Basement Jaxx
Should I Stay or Should I Go - The Clash
Don't Stop - Fleetwood Mac
Love Today - Mika
Feeling Good - Nina Simone
Use It Up, Wear It Out - Odyssey
Don't Stop Me Now - Queen
I'm Every Woman - Chaka Khan
What would be on your playlist? The Declutter Diarist
Declutter Blitz Update - Look and Chuck
Didn't get chance yesterday to update you all on how my quick blitz went, so here goes!
With the help of Husband we spent two hours basically throwing stuff out. We didn't particularly sort anything or make long term decisions on items - we just Looked and Chucked!
So armed with a big bag each we...
After we had done this throughout the house, Husband vaccumed and dusted and I cleaned the bathroom. The house was pretty orderly and ready for us to go back to work in a fairly relaxed state of mind.
Now don't get me wrong, the house is far from decluttered. I obstinately ignored the pile of 'must take to the charity shop' items under the stairs. I paid no attention to the pile of paperwork that isn't for binning on top of the piano. At the moment, that's where they live. But very soon it will all be emigrating to pastures new.
A good surface clean has made me feel that I have a spring board for a really good sort out. Decluttering can create mess, and if there is mess already there it can be really easy to feel overwhelmed. I also think that surface cleaning means there is less distractions. I don't want to be halfway through sorting out the sideboard and then think, I know, I will just take out the rubbish/put books back/gather up knitting wool. I have done that already.
My quest continues! The Declutter Diarist
With the help of Husband we spent two hours basically throwing stuff out. We didn't particularly sort anything or make long term decisions on items - we just Looked and Chucked!
So armed with a big bag each we...
- Went into a room and shut the door (no distractions!)
- Gathered up any obvious rubbish; recycling in one bag, general waste in the other
- Any small items that were out of place went in the Repatriation Box - read more about this here
- Any big items out of place went into the laundry basket to be replaced
- VERY quickly opened any drawers or cupboards for any obvious rubbish
After we had done this throughout the house, Husband vaccumed and dusted and I cleaned the bathroom. The house was pretty orderly and ready for us to go back to work in a fairly relaxed state of mind.
Now don't get me wrong, the house is far from decluttered. I obstinately ignored the pile of 'must take to the charity shop' items under the stairs. I paid no attention to the pile of paperwork that isn't for binning on top of the piano. At the moment, that's where they live. But very soon it will all be emigrating to pastures new.
A good surface clean has made me feel that I have a spring board for a really good sort out. Decluttering can create mess, and if there is mess already there it can be really easy to feel overwhelmed. I also think that surface cleaning means there is less distractions. I don't want to be halfway through sorting out the sideboard and then think, I know, I will just take out the rubbish/put books back/gather up knitting wool. I have done that already.
My quest continues! The Declutter Diarist
Monday, 3 January 2011
Declutter Blitz
Day Three of the Decluttering commences...
The past couple of days have seen me only attempting small decluttering tasks, one of the reasons for this was we had a friend to stay and I don't think it would have been really fair to have roped him in!
So today is my first full day (well, half day, I am still on holiday!) of decluttering. And I am going to blitz the place!
Basically, my plan is to move from room to room and do a really quick surface clean. I hope this will mean that each room will look presentable and give me a good basis to sort out 'what lies beneath'...
The only room I won't be touching is the Room of Doom. More stuff may be shoved in there, but more about my dirty little secret when I get round to tackling it!
So, I will check back later to let you know how I got on.
On my marks, get set, GO!
The Declutter Diarist
The past couple of days have seen me only attempting small decluttering tasks, one of the reasons for this was we had a friend to stay and I don't think it would have been really fair to have roped him in!
So today is my first full day (well, half day, I am still on holiday!) of decluttering. And I am going to blitz the place!
Basically, my plan is to move from room to room and do a really quick surface clean. I hope this will mean that each room will look presentable and give me a good basis to sort out 'what lies beneath'...
The only room I won't be touching is the Room of Doom. More stuff may be shoved in there, but more about my dirty little secret when I get round to tackling it!
So, I will check back later to let you know how I got on.
On my marks, get set, GO!
The Declutter Diarist
Saturday, 1 January 2011
Hidden Treasure
So, today is Day One of my decluttering task. I have started off with a fairly small task - sorting out my jewellery boxes.
I have a large wooden box with a drawer and two smaller mirrored boxes, and basically everything was just slung in. I don't wear jewellery very often and no wonder really, finding matching earrings or an untangled necklace was just too much like hard work.
Here is a photo of the before, pretty crazy eh?!
There was all sorts in the boxes that didn't fall under the category of jewellery. Things I found included spare buttons that had come with clothes, general rubbish, curler pins and 78p in loose change. If I keep finding that amount of change every time I do a bit of decluttering I could make a small fortune!
It took a couple of hours to go through the boxes, but it was worth it in the end. Earrings have been reunited with their other half, necklaces have been untangled, silver has been cleaned and I have rediscovered items I had completely forgotten that I owned.
I also took the opportunity to get rid of pieces that I know I won't wear in the future. Some will go to the charity shop, other bits were just broken and needed to be thrown away. There is one silver bracelet that I got from a friend that is lovely but just not my taste which I will sell.
One of the downsides of this decluttering is that I have found stuff that I don't have a place for yet, like the spare buttons. Now, I plan to have a sewing box in the future but until then I need to keep these bits together. So I have designated a shoe box as a 'repatriation box'. When I create a place for things, I will check the box to see if there is anything ready to go home.
It felt good to have started the decluttering project, and I am really please with the results. I think that I may not have the right box to keep all of my jewellery in, and if I buy any more I will have to think very carefully about how I will keep it - but that may not be a bad thing, I might stop spending money on bits and bats now I can actually see what I have!
So here are the results, much better I am sure you will agree!
Happy New Year Everyone!
The Declutter Diarist
I have a large wooden box with a drawer and two smaller mirrored boxes, and basically everything was just slung in. I don't wear jewellery very often and no wonder really, finding matching earrings or an untangled necklace was just too much like hard work.
Here is a photo of the before, pretty crazy eh?!
There was all sorts in the boxes that didn't fall under the category of jewellery. Things I found included spare buttons that had come with clothes, general rubbish, curler pins and 78p in loose change. If I keep finding that amount of change every time I do a bit of decluttering I could make a small fortune!
It took a couple of hours to go through the boxes, but it was worth it in the end. Earrings have been reunited with their other half, necklaces have been untangled, silver has been cleaned and I have rediscovered items I had completely forgotten that I owned.
I also took the opportunity to get rid of pieces that I know I won't wear in the future. Some will go to the charity shop, other bits were just broken and needed to be thrown away. There is one silver bracelet that I got from a friend that is lovely but just not my taste which I will sell.
One of the downsides of this decluttering is that I have found stuff that I don't have a place for yet, like the spare buttons. Now, I plan to have a sewing box in the future but until then I need to keep these bits together. So I have designated a shoe box as a 'repatriation box'. When I create a place for things, I will check the box to see if there is anything ready to go home.
It felt good to have started the decluttering project, and I am really please with the results. I think that I may not have the right box to keep all of my jewellery in, and if I buy any more I will have to think very carefully about how I will keep it - but that may not be a bad thing, I might stop spending money on bits and bats now I can actually see what I have!
So here are the results, much better I am sure you will agree!
Happy New Year Everyone!
Thursday, 30 December 2010
New Beginnings
I have two days left of the way I live my life at the moment.
Sounds pretty big. And maybe it will be, but basically I am talking about getting my act together.
If you were to ask people who know me, they would probably say that I am fairly well organised and tend to get things done. Two problems here - 'fairly' and 'tend'. I create a better illusion than the actual reality. I am far from being able to put my hands on something when I want it, I am not very good at finishing projects and have areas in my house and office that would horrify you. But what's worse is that I have learnt to live like this.
I have wondering for a long time what it would be like if I could find what I wanted when I wanted it, if I was on top of my emails and didn't have half finished projects lying around. I think that it would be lovely.
The biggest barrier to achieving this? Me.
There seems to be so much to do, that I don't know where to start. Its off-putting, it is easier to ignore everything that I think I have to do, rather than just getting on and doing it. But this is also part of the problem, I pile the pressure on with a long to do list - severely demotivating.
For example, my mum came to stay recently and a couple of months before her arrival I decided that it would be great to have the house 'done'. In my mind this included repainting three rooms and 'deep cleaning' the house. Needless to say, I didn't achieve all of this. I did paint two rooms (Husband was pivotal in this) but found myself shoving stuff into the third room in a desperate attempt to tidy hours before mum arrived.
You see, I have kidded myself that I work best under pressure. I have applied this theory since writing essays for university 12 years ago. It isn't true. If it was true I would never think after I had completed something "I wonder what I could have achieved if I had given myself more time?"
I am the Procrastination Queen. The online world is a constant distraction, I will go out of my way to help someone if it means I don't have to iron. But I will iron if it means I don't have to write an email. I have an absurd talent for not doing exactly what needs doing. This journey is going to be about more than sorting out drawers and cupboards, my attitude is going to get decluttered too.
So, this is another attempt (there have been several others) to get into gear. Now, it maybe that it doesn't work out, that committing to blog about my progress adds a new and previously absent layer of pressure.
But I guess there is only one way to find out. Wish me luck!
The Declutter Diarist.
Sounds pretty big. And maybe it will be, but basically I am talking about getting my act together.
If you were to ask people who know me, they would probably say that I am fairly well organised and tend to get things done. Two problems here - 'fairly' and 'tend'. I create a better illusion than the actual reality. I am far from being able to put my hands on something when I want it, I am not very good at finishing projects and have areas in my house and office that would horrify you. But what's worse is that I have learnt to live like this.
I have wondering for a long time what it would be like if I could find what I wanted when I wanted it, if I was on top of my emails and didn't have half finished projects lying around. I think that it would be lovely.
The biggest barrier to achieving this? Me.
There seems to be so much to do, that I don't know where to start. Its off-putting, it is easier to ignore everything that I think I have to do, rather than just getting on and doing it. But this is also part of the problem, I pile the pressure on with a long to do list - severely demotivating.
For example, my mum came to stay recently and a couple of months before her arrival I decided that it would be great to have the house 'done'. In my mind this included repainting three rooms and 'deep cleaning' the house. Needless to say, I didn't achieve all of this. I did paint two rooms (Husband was pivotal in this) but found myself shoving stuff into the third room in a desperate attempt to tidy hours before mum arrived.
You see, I have kidded myself that I work best under pressure. I have applied this theory since writing essays for university 12 years ago. It isn't true. If it was true I would never think after I had completed something "I wonder what I could have achieved if I had given myself more time?"
I am the Procrastination Queen. The online world is a constant distraction, I will go out of my way to help someone if it means I don't have to iron. But I will iron if it means I don't have to write an email. I have an absurd talent for not doing exactly what needs doing. This journey is going to be about more than sorting out drawers and cupboards, my attitude is going to get decluttered too.
So, this is another attempt (there have been several others) to get into gear. Now, it maybe that it doesn't work out, that committing to blog about my progress adds a new and previously absent layer of pressure.
But I guess there is only one way to find out. Wish me luck!
The Declutter Diarist.
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