Week #2 Decluttering & Low Spend Challenges with Photos

 I'm taking part in Carla's February Challenges which you can find HERE.

First the Low(No)Spend Challenge.
Feb. 8....$3.50 @grocery store
Feb. 9....$0.00
Feb. 10....$0.00
Feb. 11...$25.96 @grocery store
Feb. 12....$0.00
Feb. 13...$0.00
Feb. 14...?  Hubs and I are going out to eat so I'll fill this in later.


Onward to the Decluttering.
Week 2 was a "Family Space".
I chose the Den.

Before Pictures--
The TV cabinet

 The Den shot from the kitchen for the full cluttered effect.....

Next to my desk.....

My computer desk which is in the Den.....notice the stack of crap on the printer and the bottle of coconut rum on the half wall behind  my desk.....lol

The chair behind the sofa....yes there is a chair under all that....notice the roll of Star Wars Xmas paper next to the chair(Christmas was HOW LONG AGO?!?lol).....

The top of the dog crate behind the sofa.....stuff I never put on eBay in Nov/Dec......and air fresheners I bought in Oct. at the Dollar Store that still are NOT put away.......ugh.....

The stack of newspapers on the ceramic garden seat we keep for the incontinent chihuahua and for wrapping eBay goods for shipping(either or, not for both!lol) with a box of papers that need shredding(about 5 months worth of papers)on top.....

There was a lot of stuff that was just not in the proper place.....

Like this stuff that needed to go back into the garage.....

And these things going to Salvation Army, except the bag which is prize material for giveaways.....

This box & 1/2 of eBay stuff that needs to be sorted and donated or sold.....

Another box of eBay goods to sort through......

And this stack of eBay goods.  They have all been sitting in the den around my desk since Nov.  I need to go watch some episodes of HOARDERS so I can release this crap! ;-)
The little step stool was for the chihuahua so she could get up and off the sofa(we use to keep her bed there).  We had to stop letting her up on the sofa because, though she learned how to climb the steps to her bed she still can't figure out how to climb down them to the floor(either that or she just won't use them to get off the sofa). Yes, she is brain challenged.  She will only jump off the sofa and she is old and she is injuring her legs when she jumps off.  So her bed is on the floor now to keep her safe and the steps are going to Salvation Army and not sitting unused in the den any longer.

And here are the AFTER pics of the room.....

I know the stack of newspapers looks worse now, but I sorted out all the glossy sheets and located the dog towels(for when it's raining/snowing)and the extra dog blanket in one location so it's more organized.

I still have some work to do in this room but it's vastly improved!

For the BONUS Mini Challenge this week, of writing a letter, I composed one to my eldest son at college.....

I picked up 2 bags of his favorite flavor pretzels(last month at Ollie's)and will enclose the note/letter and mail it off this week when I go to mail in daughter's tax return.....ever frugal here, doing errands together.  8-)

That's it for me.
Onward to Week #3 in a day or two.

Sluggy

Decluttering and Organizing Your Life....Start Small

In the past week, while surfing around in Blogland, I've noticed quite a few bloggers are talking about and/or holding "DeCluttering your Home" Events this month or throughout 2010. Organizing Junkie is holding a February Decluttering Challenge HERE and there is this Full Year Declutter Project HERE.
Just google "Declutter Blog" and you'll find enough organizing angst writing to fill your day.

Clutter and decluttering seem to be HOT this year among the mommy &/or frugal blogs.

Clutter is bad.....that we can all agree upon.
Clutter gets in the way of you being your "authentic self".....geez, did I just say that?
So decluttering is always a good idea.
I doubt there are few among us who couldn't use a little decluttering and organizing.
Some of us, on the other hand, could use a FLEET of 1-800 Got Junk? Trucks!

In between racing off to grab another load of Catalina deal-ed goodies at Price Chopper or picking up more almost free stuff at Rite-Aid, I decided to take an hour out this week and declutter/organize something in my house.
But what?......what could I finish in less than an hour??

And then it hit me.....well,literally.....it's on wheels you see and the dog can push it if he jumps up on it's side looking for food.
My junk drawer in the kitchen island!
Small and an overflowing pig sty...perfect!!

First I had to clear the island's top....ugh.....the scope of this job is expanding....

Step One....I dumped it out....

 

Did all that actually fit in that little drawer?

Then I took the drawer out and wiped it down.
Here it is all cleaned up.
Can't I just leave it like this?lol

Next I made 3 piles....a "Will Live in this Drawer" Pile, a "Has to Live Somewhere Else" Pile and a Trash Pile.
Every item was touched once....if I touched it I had to make a decision and put it in one of the piles immediately.  No putting it back and dealing with it later on.
After about 15 minutes I had 3 separate piles and was ready to move on to Step Two.


Step Two involved....
1. Putting the trash pile in the trash.   Gee, that was complicated....lol
2. Putting the stuff that was going back in that Drawer back into the drawer, but NEATLY this time.  I had 2 organizing bins in there already but this time I USED them to organize.
Imagine that....
3. Putting the "Needs to Live Somewhere Else" Pile into a bag so I could walk around the house and relocate each item to it's proper location--the canning jar lids in the garage with the canning supplies, the magnifying glass into my desk drawer, the coupons in the coupon box, etc.

And here is what the Junk Drawer looks like now....ain't it pretty?

February 4th and this is the extent of the organizing I have done for 2010.  I have done some decluttering but organizing?.....this be it.

I'll put more organizing and decluttering on my list after I get the taxes finished.
If you've been putting D & O(that's organizing and decluttering) off, you probably have a BIG job ahead of you.
Take my advice.....start small.  Find some area that is small or break a larger area it down into zones to work on instead of trying to tackle a whole room.  Breaking it down into small jobs gives you more of a sense of accomplishment as you can complete something.  When you have a success behind you, you will feel more positive about moving on to another zone to clean.

How about you?  What have you done in the way of decluttering this year?
Let us know in the comments section.

Sluggy