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Moving Clutter and Trash

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Have you ever noticed that when someone has just moved out of their house the trash waiting for pick-up is a mile high? Have you ever wondered where they were keeping all that trash? Why did they keep it?

My theory is that things get stored out of sight and are forgotten. Even if they are in plain sight they can be forgotten amongst all the other things that are just sitting there. We may be saving it for “someday” when we have time to fix it or clean it up so it can be used again. But when we move we decide it isn’t worth bothering with and throw it away.

The more items we keep because of this thinking the more difficult our move will be. So if you are planning a move soon you may want to start cleaning out all those “someday” things. You old home will be easier to pack up when the time comes. You new home will be easier to unpack if you don’t have to mess with the clutter.

If you are not planning a move then you can still pretend like you are. Go through each room and ask yourself the following questions about all your things.

  • Is this item worth paying good money for to move to a new home?
  • What wouldn’t you take because you don’t like it or use it?
  • Why are you keeping it in your current home?
  • If it isn’t worthy enough to be in a new home what makes it worthy enough for you current home?

You deserve to live in a clean “new” home even if you are not planning on a move. Clear out the clutter and you will feel like you are in a “new” home. Add some new paint or other decorative touches and you’ll have a fresh start in your home.

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

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Being Decluttered Makes Life Easier

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If you read my last post you know that I am going through a health crisis. Since I have spent the last six years as a Flybaby, (Flylady.net) I have been decluttering my home. I now realize how grateful I am to have reached the point of being organized with minimum clutter around.

The past six weeks have played havoc with my mental and physical health leaving routines by the wayside. Since I have reduced my incoming paper clutter what does come in is manageable. The majority of my bills are paid electronically so the few paper bills have been easy to handle on time. With facing a lot of future medical bills my finances are now under control and that will make it easier later.

The biggest advantage I have seen has been in my home. Although I haven’t kept up regular routines of cleaning, the house has still not gotten out of control. Yes, the dust gets thick enough to write your name in it and the beige carpet sometimes is sprouting a layer of black hair (black dog). But I get to them when I can. Without the clutter the dirt isn’t as noticeable. When the toilet bowl starts showing that distinct water line I take a couple of minutes and clean it.

It’s the organization of my home that has kept the clutter build-up at bay. The books, magazines, papers, trash, etc. have been manageable because I have limited the incoming traffic of them. The groceries have a place to go and are put away immediately. Since I don’t have a lot of clothes (only what I will wear and fits) I am forced to keep the laundry up. Either I wear dirty clothes (not good for the mental or physical health) or wash them and put them away. Smaller loads are easier to take care of without getting overwhelmed.

So whenever there is a disruption in your routines due to vacation, back to school, holiday season, home remodeling, health crisis (yours or a loved one), etc. if you have less clutter around it will make your life so much easier to manage. Just think if it is easier during a routine disruption how easy it will be during the regular times.

Time to evict the clutter and take back your home.

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

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Decluttering From a New Perspective

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You may have noticed that I haven’t blogged or sent out a tip newsletter for the past several weeks. It’s not because I have given up on building this blog or my website. I haven’t. Sometimes life takes an unexpected detour and it takes time to adjust.

I have been diagnosed with breast cancer and will be undergoing surgery tomorrow. After that I will have a round of chemotherapy followed by radiation. I’m telling you this because the next 9-10 months of my life will be in upheaval. The doctor calls it a temporary inconvenience. The last time I had a 9 month temporary inconvenience was when I was pregnant with my youngest son. He turns 23 in August. That “inconvenience” had a good end result. With some luck, at the end of this one I will have a clean bill of health and a rebirth of my spirit.

I plan on continuing this blog and my newsletters during this time. I cannot promise that the “Decluttering Tip Newsletter” will come out weekly or the “Organize By The Month News” will be out by the first of the month, but I will do my best. I also plan on writing articles for my website plus e-books on different areas of decluttering and organization.

I have spent the last 25 years reading, researching, and practicing many ideas and systems to keep control of the clutter. It doesn’t come natural for me so it is an ongoing process. It started when I found a book in the store called; “Sidetracked Home Executives” by Pam Young and Peggy Jones. I was a new mother and full time employee back in the early eighties and chaos was beginning to take over my home. Their system helped me keep some control over the growing clutter that came with a growing family. The one downside to their system is that I didn’t have a built in buddy like they did. My sisters, mother, mother-in-law, and most friends were either born organized or didn’t want to admit they had a problem. I had to go it alone.

Six years ago I found Flylady and a whole world of SHE’s. I wasn’t alone anymore! With lots of new friends (flybabies), both locally and online, I found the support needed to motivate me to dig even deeper to release the “hard to let go of” clutter. With most of the clutter gone I have been able to pursue my passion of writing and share my knowledge and experience with others.

Since my home is in good shape (not perfect) it has been a lot easier to keep it under control as I deal with the emotional part of my health crisis. However, with this new detour in my life I am finding a new perspective on what is clutter. Many things I thought were important to keep don’t seem so important right now. At the end of my newsletters I sign off with the statement; “To a lighter load along the way.” That has taken on a even deeper meaning. Life is precious, very few “things” are.

If you have read this far, I thank you. This blog will continue to focus on decluttering and organizing. So will my newsletters, articles, and e-books. I will be creating a new blog that will be a diary of my journey through breast cancer treatment. I will let you know when that is started for anyone who might be interested.

To a lighter load along the way.

Janice Scissors

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

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Staying Organized When Chaos Reigns

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Last week was one of those weeks where my plans were thrown out the window and I had to deal with some minor and not so minor emergencies.

First my dishwasher went out on Tuesday morning. The water inlet valve broke so there was water in the bottom of the dishwasher. I shut off the water from under the sink and scooped out the water from inside the dishwasher. I checked it later in the day and the water had filled in again. The shut-off valve under the sink had corroded and continued to let a little water through. The plumber couldn’t come out till the next day so I scooped water out of the dishwasher twice a day so it wouldn’t overflow onto the floor. Minor problem.

Wednesday morning the air conditioner went out. Being that St. Louis can get very hot and humid this time of year, this was a little bit more than a minor inconvenience. So I waited for the plumber to show up to stop the leak and started calling to set up some bids for the A/C replacement. Because the A/C was 20 years old and the furnace was 16 years old I was prepared for this to happen. I just didn’t plan for it the same week the dishwasher broke and my husband was out of town.

Then I had a health issue come up on Thursday evening that I have to deal with. As they say, when it rains, it pours.

Well I now have air conditioning. The plumber had a problem with installing the new dishwasher and will have to return with a part next week. Oh well, my hands work well as a dishwasher. At least it is comfortable in the house now.

As you can see I have been a little too busy to write any posts this week. We all have crazy things happen to us and have to prioritize what we do with our time. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when so many things go haywire at one time. But we have to stop, take a deep breath, and realize it will all work out.

As Annie sings in the play “Annie”; “The sun’ll some out tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar that the tomorrow there’ll be sun!” I always think of this song when things get me down. Here is a recording of the song.

I plan on getting my “Decluttering Tip Newsletter” out tonight and the July issue of “Organize By The Month News” by this coming Sunday. If you haven’t signed up for these newsletters then please do so now. (On the right sidebar) There are lots of links in the Organize newsletter for fun things to do on the Fourth of July. You won’t want to miss this issue.

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

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Mindfulness in the Home

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I was thinking about mindfulness and how it can apply to home organization. So I decided to look up the meaning to see if was a good word choice. The definition depends on whether it’s used in reference to Buddhism or psychology.

The more general meaning of mindfulness is paying attention to what is going on at the current moment of our life. In other words, paying attention on purpose in the present moment without being judgmental. Hard to say, even harder to apply.

Mindfulness is usually referring to our thoughts and learning to control them. When chaos is all around us in the form of clutter then our thoughts are not usually nonjudgmental. They are more about:

  • Who made the mess?
  • How did it get this bad?
  • Why am I the one who always has to clean it up?
  • How did so many things accumulate so fast?
  • Why can’t anyone let go of these things including me?

On and on the negative thoughts swirl around in your head.

Learning to pay attention on purpose to these thoughts can help us learn how to control them. When we are aware that our surroundings are causing these negative thoughts then we have greater freedom to respond instead of react.

Many times we are on auto-pilot as we go through the day. If we do this while cleaning a bathroom or washing the dishes then it is okay because we have created good habits to take care of these necessary jobs. But if we put the mail on the counter to “deal with later”, or leave the snack dishes and games, etc. out in the family room to “deal with in the morning” then we are on auto-pilot in a bad way.

These are the times we need to practice mindfulness. We need to learn to pay attention on purpose in the present moment so we can take care of our environment.

So next time you start building or adding to a hot spot, stop and take a deep breath. Get off auto-pilot for a moment and become aware of your current thoughts.

  • Do you dread dealing with the mail?
  • Are you too tired to clean up the family room before bed?

When you become aware of the thoughts that are causing the bad habit then you can take the steps needed to change it.

Janice

 

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