Decluttering

Cut Clutter With Scissors Newsletter – New Format

/ / 2 Comments

Here is a copy of my new newsletter. It is replacing the other two newsletter I had before. If you are not signed up to receive each week then please do so over on the right sidebar in the blue box. Thanks.

Cut Clutter With Scissors Newsletter – New format
Volume 1, Issue 1
August 3, 2009

Note From Janice I have decided to change my weekly and monthly newsletter to better serve you. I will no longer be writing the monthly “Organize By the Month News” as a separate newsletter. I will incorporate that info into the weekly newsletter.My new newsletter is being called, “Cut Clutter With Scissors Newsletter”. This is what you will see as the title of the email in your inbox. I will still have a decluttering tip each week but also include important dates and websites for upcoming holidays and events. When big holidays are coming I will start including that info several weeks ahead to help you be more organized. I also plan to use my blog for more current information so be sure to check it often. http://organizebythemonth.com
In the near future I will be including a small section called, “Recommendations”. This is where I will write a short review of a book, organizing tool or item, or even a website that I feel can help you declutter and organize your home and life. Most of the time these recommendations will be for things I personally have used and found helpful.
I hope you like the new format of this newsletter. I would love to have your feedback. You can let me know by replying to this newsletter or leaving a comment at my blog, http://organizebythemonth.com.

To a lighter load along the way.
Janice Scissors

In This Issue
1. Note from Janice
2. Decluttering Tip
3. Important Dates and Website links
4. Stay Connected


Decluttering Tip – Back to School With back to school gearing up it’s time to go through all of last year’s clothes and school supplies before you head out to the stores. Although most schools don’t start for several weeks, if you start now with planning and organizing you will be able to take advantage of the “back to school” sales.
Here are some easy suggestions to get you started.
1. School supplies. Dig out all the left-over supplies from last year and take inventory. Once you know what you already have it will be easier to buy only what you need.
a. Grade school age: Go through the left-overs with your child. It will help them learn how to get rid of clutter. Give away any usable/new but outgrown supplies. This could be last year’s fashion notebooks, backpacks, lunch boxes, etc. If your child will reuse them, great! If not, it’s not worth fighting over if you budget allows. If you budget is tight then use this as a lesson for buying neutral items that won’t be outdated one year from now. If your school gives out a supply list be sure to check it against your at home supplies.
b. Older Grades: check your basic supplies such as pens, pencils, notebook paper, spiral notebooks, folders.

2. Clothes: Get rid of any that are too small, torn/stained, or your child won’t wear because it’s out of fashion. Fitting in with the “right” clothes is important to most children’s self-esteem. That doesn’t mean they should have designer brands. Many of the discount stores carry knock-offs of current styles.

Important Dates and Website Links There is not much going on in the way of holidays during the month of August. That’s probably a good thing because most people are getting in their late summer vacations and/or dealing with the mad rush of preparing for back to school.
National Night Out is Tuesday August 4. If you haven’t already heard about it from your trustees (subdivisions/complexes) then you can call your local police department to find out if they know who is setting up an event in your area. Here is the main website that can help you find out a little more information about it.
http://www.nationalnightout.org/nno/

Back to School Information. Above I talked about decluttering last year’s school supplies and clothes in preparation for buying this year’s supplies. Here are several sites with more info to help you with these projects.

Clothes Shopping:
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=1296

http://www.dressingwell.com/backrel.htm

http://kidsfashion.about.com/b/2008/07/15/tips-for-back-to-school-shopping-on-a-budget.htm

School Supplies:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26044914/

Stay Connected
https://cutclutterwithscissors.com (website)
http://organizebythemonth.com (blog)
http://twitter.com/jlscissors
janice@cutclutterwithscissors.com (email)

Cut Clutter With Scissors Newsletter – New Format Read More »

How To Make Room in Your File Drawer

/

This week I went through several files in my file drawer. Here is the pile of papers I decluttered from the draw and put in the recycling bin. It measured over 3 inches. There’s a lot more room in the drawer now!

IMGP0370

Below is this weeks’ newsletter on how I went about decluttering the files that contained warranties, instruction manuals, and other papers on products I own. This project is easy to do while watching TV. Doing a little each night will make a big difference before you know it.

Decluttering Tip Newsletter – Paper Clutter (stuffed file drawers)
Volume 2, Issue 28
July 28, 2009

I’ve been working on my ebook on paper clutter. It should be ready for purchase mid to late August. While doing the research I come across many ideas to help control the paper clutter. One of the main questions that keeps coming up is how to declutter all the papers we store in our file drawers or boxes. If your storage drawers are anything like mine then they may be stuffed to the gills. It is time to declutter them.

I figure I have to walk the walk to be able to help you with the best tips. I decided to start with the file folders containing all the warranties, instructions manuals, and other papers for all the products I own. With separate files for kitchen appliances, outdoor/lawn equipment, small household appliances, toys/game instructions, TV & stereo equipment, and small personal appliances, it took a few days to get through all of them.

I now have a pile of papers almost 3 inches thick to go into the recycling bin. That has opened up a lot of room in my file draw.

IMGP0376

So how did I do it? It’s easy. I worked on the decluttering while watching TV in the evening. These kinds of papers don’t take a lot of concentration or big decision making. If you have been in the habit of filing all the papers that come with a product then you probably have a lot of papers you don’t need to keep.

Follow these steps to a less stuffed file drawer.

1. Tools you will need: scissors, stapler, and a staple puller is helpful if you have one.

2. Take one file folder that contains warranties and instruction manuals for products you own.

3. Pull out all the warranty cards that have never been filled out. I fill out warranties online for major purchases. Your original receipt with date of purchase is usually the only paper your need.

4. Pull out all papers for products you no longer own. If you haven’t gone through your files for a while you will probably find a few. I know I did.

5. Look at each instruction/owners manual. Most are in several languages, one part English, another part Spanish, and possibly more languages. Tear or cut out the languages you don’t use. This is were a staple puller comes in handy along with the scissors. Once you have separated the papers then staple the ones in the language you are keeping and recycle to rest.

6. If you want to eliminate even more papers you could just keep the information on the model you have and contact information. Most manuals can be found on the product’s website. Check first before you get rid of the information on how to use the product and the trouble shooting page. These are the main pages you may need at some point.

If you have any other ideas on how to declutter these kinds of papers please leave a comment.

Please feel free to forward this entire blog post to friends and family that may benefit from this tip.

Also, if you are going on vacation soon and are traveling by car with children you will want to check out my blog post : http://organizebythemonth.com/?p=236
I have a lot of websites listed for car travel games. Plan ahead to keep boredom from ruining your trip.

To a lighter load along the way.

Janice Scissors
https://cutclutterwithscissors.com
http://twitter.com/jlscissors

How To Make Room in Your File Drawer Read More »

Do You Feel Guilty For NOT Shopping?

/

Most of us have been cutting back on our shopping because of the economy. Plus if you have been following my blog and newsletters (you can sign up on the sidebar) you are probably trying to cut some of the clutter out of your life.

But the stores are always tempting us with “fantastic” sales. We are told that a healthy economy is one where people are spending. So are we hurting the economy because we are cutting back on shopping? Do you feel guilty because of this?

In the past we would justify a spending spree because we felt we deserved the items. This was especially true if we were feeling down or were upset about something. Shopping helped fill the emptiness, at least for a short time. Soon many of those items became clutter. But we were helping the economy stay strong.

Once you start decluttering you will find you won’t need to fill the emptiness with things. You won’t want to bring the clutter back into your home. But now we may feel a pang of guilt for not helping the economy. Will this become the new excuse to buy things we really don’t need or want?

What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know.

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

Do You Feel Guilty For NOT Shopping? Read More »

Craft Area Clutter

/

Here is a copy of this week’s newsletter. Crafting is a popular hobby but one that can create a lot of clutter if it isn’t organized and controlled. Below is one way to organize your projects.

Decluttering Tips – Craft Area
Volume 2, Issue 25

An area lots of people have problems with clutter is the craft room. It could be a whole room or the corner of a bedroom closet. Either way, if you work on more than one project at a time, like most people I know, you need a way to keep it organized.
One easy way is to use zip-lock plastic bags and/or plastic containers. Small projects like needlepoint or cross stitch work well in plastic bags. Keep all the supplies and instructions for each project in a separate bag. Larger projects such as quilting or clothes sewing work well in the plastic containers. I’ve even used the 2 gallon size plastic zip-lock bags for clothes and home decoration projects. You can also use the jumbo zip-lock bags for the larger projects. They are easy to store under the bed or on a shelf.

Any craft projects that have sharp or bulky items such as jewelry making/beading, painting, scrapbooking, or other papercrafting projects are best stored in plastic containers. Be sure to put only the supplies you need for a particular project in to one box. That will make it easy to take out and work on it, then put it away when you are done.

Keep another box or basket handy that has the general tools you use for multiple projects. These might include scissors, pin cushion, thimbles, tape measure, and other general purpose items.

When you want to work on a project just grab your bag or box and the general tools basket. Go sit down and enjoy! When you are finished pack up your project and general tool basket and put them away until next time.

If you have a different way of dealing with the clutter in your craft area I would love to hear about it. Please leave a comment to share your ideas.

To a lighter load along the way.

Janice Scissors
https://cutclutterwithscissors.com
http://twitter.com/jlscissors

Craft Area Clutter Read More »

Summer Clutter

/

Before I talk about summer clutter I want to first apologize to anyone who may have sent me a comment during the last couple of months that didn’t get posted here. It seems that all comments ended up in the spam folder and I forgot to check them. After 15 days the blog company (WordPress) automatically deletes the spam so any legitimate comments before that time are lost. I’ll be checking the spam folder daily so please feel free to leave a comment or share an idea or suggestion. Thanks.

Now, to get to the summer clutter.

Today I was going through the Target weekly ad and noticed some items that are destined to become clutter. First there was the ad for the ingredients for s’mores. I love roasted marshmallows squeezed between crisp graham crackers with melted Hershey bars oozing out. What caught my attention in this ad was the 4-pk s’more skewers. What happened to the wire hangers or long handled BBQ fork? Unless you have s’mores several days a week why would you take up the drawer space to store such a specialized item?

On the next page I saw an item called a Bubble Generator. It’s a battery operated bubble blower. What happen to the small bottle of soap solution with the bubble blowing wand? When my boys were small they loved to go outside and blow bubbles. They would see who could blow the most bubbles or the biggest ones. There is no challenge with a toy doing all the work.

On another page I did see an item that was not clutter when my children were young. It is the Wham-O Slip ‘N Slide. They spent hours in the summer heat running, giggling, sliding, and cooling off with that toy. It was also an easy toy to pack away when they were through with it for the day. Just roll it up. That was a good thing because if it was left on the grass too long you ended up with a large brown area in the middle of the yard (it happened a few times).

Sometimes the specialize tools and toys can actually take the fun out of the activity instead of adding to it. If they are not fun over the long haul they sit on the shelf and become clutter.

Do you have summer items that have become clutter? Please share your story in the comment section. (I promise I will check for legitimate comments daily.) By sharing our experiences we can all learn to avoid adding clutter to our homes.

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

Summer Clutter Read More »