In So Many Words

Why is it I can only seem to focus on one area of my life at a time? I’m not complaining, just noticing this to be true.

I have been on a decluttering kick the last couple of weeks and have made some great progress on a couple of areas (not that you can tell from a quick peek inside my home, but I know it’s happening under the surface).

My son and I have actually been through every single thing in his room and he has given up a ton of stuff that he no longer uses or plays with. The gentleman that picked up his old toy organizer and small trampoline today actually has a three year old son who was born three and a half months early and has a trach, along with some other medical issues. It’s great to know that someone else will be getting a lot of use out of them!

Anyway, I got Michael a new cube organizer shelf with some colorful fabric drawers and helped him display some of the items that are more collections than toys, and he loves it! I love walking in his room and feeling the space. Sorry for the lack of photos – my hubby is really the photographer in the family.

Because of all this time spent on organization, I haven’t been on the computer much the last few days and was greeted with almost 200 blog posts in my Google Reader when I checked in this afternoon! Although there are many I would love to visit and comment on, I’m not sure whether I will make it through them all. I’m hoping to have a bit of time tomorrow to catch up on my blogging, but we’ll see how it goes, I guess.

Michael is loving being back at the same babysitter he had last summer and is continuing to show so much flexibility and organization of thought that Bob & I are blown away almost daily by the things he is coming up with. It is such a wonderful thing, and I am determined to enjoy it as long as it lasts (hopefully forever!)

I’m not actually going to write anything about school; I’m just really excited that the year is almost over.

I did declutter another drawer today, however; I was actually surprised by how little I had left to put in it when I was done. My husband also agreed to get rid of two box fans that have been with us for many, many years and were basically just collecting dust. Baby steps, but feels pretty good!

Michael & I went to see Kung Fu Panda 2 tonight and both loved it. Bob wasn’t feeling too great, so he took a nap and rested a bit while we went over to the theater. We got to see a Cars 2 preview as well, which was pretty neat.

I don’t go to a lot of movies, but I noticed something that seemed odd to me – the screen that came up before each preview said it had been approved for “appropriate audiences.” Didn’t it used to say “all audiences”? Does that mean they can get away with more stuff in the previews now if the film being showed has a higher rating? (Or lower rating, depending on your perspective of the rating system, I guess.)

It feels sort of weird still to have things going so smoothly with Michael. I had two friends call today who are experiencing some difficult situations with their children, and it felt a bit surreal not to be the one who was stressed out and overwhelmed by things. I actually felt sort of guilty that we are doing so well.

I suppose I should feel thankful that things are stable enough here that I am able to offer a listening ear and whatever support I can to others. They have certainly listened to enough of my troubles over the years, for which I am truly grateful.

What a weekend! Did you ever notice that doing something different on Friday night makes the weekend seem longer?

We had a special service at church on Friday night to hear from our pastor’s son, who has just finished his first year at the American Film Institute in Hollywood. He shared some wonderful stories and a great message, but the best part of all was that Michael sat through an entire church service for the first time in his life!

Now, granted, this was with the help of the itouch (at zero volume) and a pen and paper to draw on, but it was an absolutely surreal experience for both me & Bob.

On Saturday, I went into work to do the reports that I usually do on Monday morning, since my boss will be at a funeral and asked if I could do them over the weekend. Bob took Michael to an outreach ministry event, another first, which went very well.

Later on, they went to Hersheypark for a few hours. Michael is now tall enough to ride all the coasters, so he went on the Great Bear for the first time (lots of firsts this weekend!). He called me right afterwards and said it was terrifying but he loved it! They ended up not riding any other coasters because it started raining, but they did get a couple of other rides in before they had to leave.

I got on a bit of a organizing and decluttering kick today and straightened up my bedroom closet. I also brought up the Christmas wrapping paper that had ended up in the basement last year and put it in the closet with the rest of the gift wrapping supplies. I also cleaned out one small drawer and got the big bag of Campbell’s labels prepped to send in – and good thing since the bonus offer ends June 15th!

What did you do this weekend?

I can hardly believe the first month of 2010 is already over! I have definitely decluttered more than 31 things, although I am still working on the daily part of the challenge.

Some of the stuff I got rid of this week:

• Two organizer units that fit over a toilet, both of which were stored under the basement stairs even though I knew we would likely never use them
• All the empty boxes from the Wii games and controllers we got at Christmas, which had been piled up against the kitchen wall but somehow never broken down for the recycling can
• Several old tops that were either too big or too small and were just taking up space in my closet, found as I searched for something to wear since I can’t do laundry right now
• A few other odds and ends from the basement that needed to be either thrown out or passed on to someone else

My back porch has quite a few things on it now, so my goal this week is to post them on Freecycle and move them out as soon as possible. I am also looking forward to decluttering our old clothes dryer and being able to do laundry again very soon!

If you’re looking for some inspiration to get organized, here are a few posts I would recommend:

• Six Keys to Achieving Big Goals at Michael Hyatt’s blog
• 4 Strategies for Organizational Success at Steady Mom
• There’s No I In Team at The Gang’s All Here

How is everyone else doing with their own goals for 2010??

Over the last few days, I have been frustrated each time I think I’ll have some time to sit down and blog. I have missed posting the last few days and had a number of things I wanted to share, but it has just not worked out for me to take the time to do it.

I guess this is where I am having trouble accepting the limits I talked about the other day. Especially when it’s something I really want to do!

So, I’m stealing a few minutes to jot down a few updates:

• Although I have decluttered more than 7 things in the past week, I have to admit it was all in one day and I really got off track the rest of the week. So my nightstand shelf is usable again, but that’s about it. Tomorrow is a new day and I’m going to pick up right where I left off.
• On that note, Suzanne at 365 Days of Decluttering has decided to create new monthly challenges this year, and she posted her first one on the 22nd. The basic challenge is to focus on the room you see when you enter your home and find one thing each day to declutter in that room. Visit her to read more about it.
• Our clothes dryer seems to have died. Although it still get hots, the drum no longer turns. It might be worth trying to fix if either of us was handy enough to do it, but we’re not. Since the machine was originally purchased (by the previous owners of our home) in September 1970, I’m afraid that if we pay someone to come and fix it, something else might just go wrong next week. So right now I have Michael’s halfway dry clothes draped over all the available chairs, and we need to decide if we are shopping for a repairman or a new dryer.
• I am meeting with Michael’s psychologist tomorrow morning to discuss a couple of issues we have been having plus ask her advice about what testing to look for in his school re-evaluation, which is due this year.

So that’s what is going on in my world, and now I’m going to watch the rest of Worst Cooks in America and then go to bed. Night all!

This past week has turned out to be pretty good for me on the decluttering front. I’m only committed to getting rid of one thing each day, so anything more than that is a bonus – and there have been a lot of bonuses this week!

Michael and I went through and organized his toys, getting rid of some that he no longer plays with or that were broken. I also tackled the bathroom cabinet and linen closet, removing all the empty and expired stuff that was just taking up space.

Some other casualties were a unneeded piece that had broken off a small clock in the living room but has just been sitting on the shelf for several weeks and a bunch of empty juice boxes and food wrappers from the backseat of my car.

The biggest project of all was the file box with every piece of paper that has come home from school since the beginning of the year – I went through and found all the items that were important or sentimental and got rid of the rest. The rest of the household papers that I am keeping went downstairs to be filed in the cabinet – hopefully I will get to that next week. At least it’s out of the dining area now.

I recently came across an article on Small Notebook about what motivates or inspires us to declutter. The author shares her top 5 reasons for decluttering, starting with a sense of calm.

I can certainly relate to that as I love the feeling of sitting down in a room that is peaceful and organized. I also love the feeling of being able to find what you need and do the things you want to do without having to clear off a space first!

What motivates you to declutter?

Well, it has been one week since the 365 Days of Decluttering Challenge started, and I’m loving it! If you missed my earlier post and have no idea what I am talking about, the basic idea of the challenge is “to donate, sell or toss one unused item from your home every day for a year.” For more details, you can check out the intro post and the first day post.

Focus Challenge Update

Each month, there will be a focus challenge to help us stay motivated – or to restart us if we lose momentum. For the first month, the challenge was to identify specify areas in our homes that bother us and then to focus our decluttering efforts on those areas for the first week of the month.

I have so many trouble spots that it’s hard to narrow them down. The various flat surfaces like the side table and hutch seem to attract the most papers and other items that don’t belong on them, however, and since they are what people see first when they come into my house, that’s mainly where I looked this week for items that could go.

Here are a few of the items I’ve decluttered:

• Old books from Michael’s bookshelf
• The envelopes from the Christmas cards we received – after I updated any new address info in my files.
• Magazines from November and December (the two subscriptions we have should be ending soon, thus ending that clutter permanently)
• A package of emery boards that was in my Christmas stocking (anyone who has seen the state of my fingernails knows I will never use them!)
• The remnants of my last two stamping projects (I also organized this area and was actually able to sit down and make some cards again!)
• Two sweatshirts that were way past the point of being comfortable

So, How Are You Doing?

If you left a comment before joining in, have you been able to part with some things over the last week? Do you feel good about getting rid of something every day, or does it still seem like too little?

For anyone who hasn’t been doing this and wants to, you can start at any time. There’s nothing more special about any one day, so just jump in whenever you want!

I’d love to be able to celebrate with and encourage each other in this. If you’re participating and have posted about the challenge (or post about it sometime in the next week), please link your post to the inlinkz list below. Whether you’ve posted or not, leave a comment and let me know how it’s going!

This challenge was inspired by Suzanne Sergis at 365 Days of Decluttering Challenge and Taking Care of You. The concept and the monthly focus challenges are being used with her permission. If you use the badge, please link it to her intro post.

What a great response to my decluttering challenge! I’m so excited to see where this will take me, and all who are joining in, over the next year. While I’m sure there will be times I get motivated and really clear stuff out, the best part is that I am only “required” to get rid of one thing every day. How’s that for a goal that is measurable and achievable?

Yesterday, Michael and I actually went through all of his existing books and decided which ones to pass on to his younger cousins. We were blessed with three bags of books from his older cousins last week, and we needed to make room on his bookshelf. I was so impressed with how easy it was for him to go through the pile and determine “keep” or “give” for each one.

There were only a couple that he wasn’t sure about, so I suggested we keep them for now. We have two big bags to pass on, and everything we kept fits in the space we have. Plus, there are new stories to read at bedtime (Mama was getting really tired of the old ones!)

Today, I opened the rest of the Christmas cards that had come and been piling up. We usually hang onto them because we love having the update letters and photos, but I did check all the addresses against my files and then throw away the envelopes.

It is easy to look around and get overwhelmed with all there is to do to keep this house running and organized, but I am choosing instead to be thankful for the things that I have and more importantly for the family I have to share them with!

How is your year starting off?

I’m so ready to get started on this decluttering challenge and make it a routine in my daily life. And I’m even more excited about those of you who have decided to join me. Together we can do it!

The Basic Outline

Simply put, the 365 Days of Decluttering Challenge is a commitment to “donate, sell or toss one unused item from your home every day for a year.”

I’m sure logistical questions will come up as the year progresses, but my plan as of now is to designate a spot in my house to collect the items to be donated and then drop them off to charity or post them on Freecycle once I have a box full. If I find items worth selling, I will post them on Craigslist and donate them later if they don’t sell. Obviously, things that are being tossed will go into the trash immediately.

Focus Challenges

This part isn’t required to participate in the challenge, but Suzanne had created a series of mini challenges to serve as a reminder to the participants that they weren’t doing it alone. Each one focuses on a specific area or type of clutter. I asked her for permission to use them during my own challenge, and she graciously agreed.

Focus Challenge, Month 1 (click the link to read the full, original challenge)

Think of 7 areas or such that bother you (for example: a drawer/closet; a flat surface that always has stuff put on it, your desk at home or work, etc.) For the next week, the focus challenge is to look in one area each day for your declutter item of the day.

If this seems too difficult, or you don’t have that many areas which bother you, you could just focus on one area and remove one piece of clutter from that area each day for a week. The main point is that we are getting rid of the extra stuff!

Time to Get Started

Now go find one thing in your house to throw away, give away or sell. And then do the same thing tomorrow and the next day!

I will be putting up a MckLinky in a week (on January 8th) so we can all report on how the decluttering is going and encourage each other to stay motivated. I can’t wait to hear how it goes!

I have made some significant progress in decluttering my home this year – after years of moaning and groaning about it without taking any action. It has been a wonderful thing, but as I look around, I realize there is a lot more to be done, and I’m also finding that it can be difficult to keep the decluttered areas from becoming messy again.

So when I discovered the 365 Days of Decluttering Challenge, I was very intrigued. The basic idea of the challenge is “to donate, sell or toss one unused item from your home every day for a year.”

My first thought was – one thing? That’s not very much, how will that help? But then I thought about how much of a difference 365 things would make by the time a year is up. Of course, there will be days where I get motivated and do more than that, but I love the idea that I can make a difference by removing just one unused, unneeded or unloved thing from my life each day. And that by doing it every day, I am creating a routine that will become an automatic mindset.

Suzanne Sergis, who started the challenge and also blogs at Taking Care of You, even created monthly focus challenges to help inspire and motivate people as they go through the year. For her original year of decluttering, she had declared one day of the month as an anniversary and posted a focus challenge on that day.

My Plan

I have decided to take this challenge for myself and start on January 1st (And why not? It’s the classic day to start something new, after all.) Anyone want to join me?

My plan is to post the focus challenge on the 1st of each month and then put up a MckLinky a week later so we can report on how we did and encourage each other to stay motivated. I may post at other times throughout the month about how it’s going or what I’m learning through the process as well.

So, who’s with me? Leave me a comment and let me know if you’d like to join me so we can encourage each other over the coming year.

Links to the Monthly Focus Challenges:

January 1 – Month 1 Focus Challenge