Before we begin on our journey into a decluttered and organized home, I would really like for us to all identify why we are joining this challenge. I think it’s important that we actually think about the purpose of all of the work we are doing. Is it something we are doing because we have nothing better to do with our time? Does it sound like a good idea now, but maybe down the road we’ll fall off the wagon? Or, is there a deeper reason for why you’ve joined the New Year, New Home challenge?

So, I’d like us to post our goal for the challenge and also to post a few reasons why we think we have all this clutter to begin with. I’ll go first…

Goal: I would really like to have a home that is easy to stay on top of with regards to straightening up and cleaning. With the three children that I’ll have by February 2006, it’s important that my family not be bogged down by clutter. It’s also important to me that my children not learn bad habits about keeping things that aren’t necessary and I don’t want them to remember growing up in a house full of stuff. I also need to figure out ways to creatively store things. It’s funny…some people feel better, the more stuff they have. It makes them feel…I don’t know…successful? Wealthy? Stuff really slows me down and makes me depressed, and I want to let go of everything that isn’t absolutely necessary in my home.

What’s Holding Me Back: I think it’s my schedule. By the time I get the kids and get home after work, we start dinner, play while it’s cooking, eat, bathe, read books, sing songs, the kids get put to bed and I go to bed. I need to seriously get rid of everything that isn’t practical and usable so that it’s easier to stay on top of things.

So, what are your goals for the challenge, and what’s holding you back?

I am decluttering because I am tired of feeling like I am being overwhelmed by clutter. I have been decluttering for the last 4 to 6 months and it feels great. Only thing I have a hard time decluttering is clothes. Been doing better on this.

I'm joining because I'm becoming a paper packrat. Since the kids both flew the coop and went off to college I found myself saving every paper that came from their colleges before they left. I know I don't need all these form letters so why am I saving them? I have to get out of the mentality that I might someday need some of these papers, magazines and what not & just purge.

Once it's gone I do think I'll be able to keep up with it.
Thanks for heading this up Amy.:)

I am wanting a house that is easy to maintain and can be ready at a moments notice to have company.

Kellie

My goal this year is to cut my possesions by 1/3 to 1/2. We live in an old farm house and I have it packed to the gills and we also have the barn loft, can house, and shed. If everything moves as we are hoping by about May we will be moving into a new modular home and will not have near the storage space we have now. I also have health problems and it seems I spend all of my time moving things from one place to another and never seem to even come close to being on top of the housework.

I think what has held me back until now is that we went thru some really tough times in our life and had to let the first house we build go back and so it was like, well no one can take my stuff from me. I am now past that and would like to get my life back into some kind of order.

My goal is to be able to find anything at anytime. I am gone from 7Am in the morning until 6:30 every week day, and I hate trying to play "Catch up" on the weekends! I think that if the house was more organized, I wouldn't have to!

My obstacles to organization are DH and FIL!!!:toothy: But I am trying to deal with that. Also, this house is sooo much smaller than our one in PA, so if one thing is out of place, the whole house looks a mess!

I really need to do this...the house is always a mess and the kids are learning this...

I want my house to be ready for company at a moments notice. (My Step Mom is a real neat freak!)

I want to be able to spend the weekends enjoying my kids outside...not inside cleaning.

Why is this a problem....I am lazy...got used to this sort of behavier as a teen... and I spend a lot of time on the computer.

Goal: Organization!! I need to declutter my paper trails so that I am able to find what I am looking for, to keep bills current, to keep my house presentable. I don't like "stuff" out of place. During the week, everything gets out of place and I have to play catch up on the weekends. I want to be able to enjoy the weekends with my family.

What’s Holding Me Back: My work schedule and the boy's extra-curricular events as we are always on the go. There is no time for everything that needs to be done around here. I come home to cook, do a load of laundry, wash dishes, put away dishes, help with homework. Seems like by the time I am done with all that, the day has ended. I get to sit and enjoy time with my family about 1 hour each night. I don't want to lose that hour to clean. I figure that my boy's will be moving on with their own lives before long as one is graduating in May.

AMY, PLEASE HELP ME GET MY HOUSE UNDER CONTROL!!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by AmyBoz
[B]
Goal: I would really like to have a home that is easy to stay on top of with regards to straightening up and cleaning. It’s also important to me that my children not learn bad habits about keeping things that aren’t necessary and I don’t want them to remember growing up in a house full of stuff. I also need to figure out ways to creatively store things. Stuff really slows me down and makes me depressed, and I want to let go of everything that isn’t absolutely necessary in my home.

I feel all of those things to Amy.... I also want to get finally get a handle on the clutter for myself, my son and my dh. Over the past year, I have really made a dent in the clutter and have done especially well in the past few months with the living area of our house.


Whats standing in my way? : Oh, where do I begin. I have always had a problem with clutter and keeping things. I would just move it to one place or another. Dh has really helped me in this department, since we have been married, I have made a large improvement in my problem. My dh says I have a sickness and he is probably right, my mom says I keep everything disorganized in my life because I am scared of having everything in order. They are both probably right.... since having ds, though my thinking has really changed. I want to keep a clean house and not have so much junk. We could use the extra money and there is no reason to keep all this stuff.

My goal for the challenge is to get rid of clutter. We moved from a 4 bedroom house in TN to a 1 bedroom cabin with sleeping loft. I have a shed 1/2 full of stuff that I want to do something with and a school bus 3/4 full of stuff that still needs unloaded. I want to get down to what will fit in the house and very little else. I'm being held back only by myself cause I hate to throw anything away. (I moved over 20+ years worth of magazines cause they just had to go!!) I have since started going thru and throwing them away but I still need a push and be held accountable.

My goal is to have a clean, organized house. I want a place for everything. Conquering the paper piles continues to be a problem. When I get the mail, I immediately toss out as much as I can. I also have a good filing system for bills. What I need to work on is either tossing out the stuff that I think is useful, but I don't need right away or finding a place to organize it.

Another big goal is decluttering all my stuff; my clothes are my second problem. I must force myself to just get rid of clothes I don't wear even if I can fit into them.

Overall, if I could have less stuff, then my life would be much simplier. "Less is more" is my motto for the year.

I tend to spend too much time on the computer...the minutes really add up. So, I'm going to set my kitchen timer for 10 minutes at a time and work up to 30 minutes at a time to just focus on picking up stuff.

Conquering the clutter has to be a daily habit, the weekend warrior, just isn't working.

Goal: To get rid of all the stuff I don't need to have a clutter free and more organized house. I'll be buying a new home within the next year and I don't want to move all of the clothes and other items with me.

What's holding me back: TIME! I'm single and I have 3 very active dogs who need lots of exercise. I am currently working 60 hours a week and when I get home I just want to go to bed. My overtime will end the next couple of weeks, so I'll have more time to organize and declutter.

Goal: I want to simplify my life. I don't want to be controlled by clutter or things with a "history". I want a harmonious environment that brings me peace. This is my sanctuary from the craziness of the outside world and I deserve a restful home.

What is holding me back? ME I am a procrastinator, perfectionist--she. It's all or nothing baby!
Graci

Goal: to be able to find stuff! I have so much stuff I don't use that it's taking up the space I need for the things I would use if I could find them! Well, maybe.

Obstacle: I get distracted very easily and find it hard to stay on task. I usually have 3 - 5 projects going on at any one time. It's very difficult to finish anything.

I have gotten much of the downstairs de-cluttered and organized. I just have the hall closet and sewing room to go. I've been doing really good at maintaining the "clean" rooms. I need dh to hang up my mirror and coat hooks on the back porch and to finish hanging the kitchen cabinets so I can rearrange a little in there. I also need to replace the little shelf I was using for a shoe rack since I sat on it and broke it!

I would love to be not surrounded by as much *stuff*, I am dreadful for hoarding useless things I dont need or think I may use * one day* . I am aiming to have a clutter free house that will keep itself in some kind of order so I can spend less time doing housework and more time for just living life!
My downfall is my concentration - I get easily distracted and find it hard to focus on one task before skipping on to the next:bang:

I got rid of a lot of stuff last year but still have way too much stuff. I would love to be able to have a clean house and invite people on a moment's notice, have more free time with family, more time to be able to take care of myself and more free time for myself. All this clutter makes me depressed and then I don't want to do any thing. It's holding me down.

What's holding me back? I find it hard to get rid of stuff that I don't need anymore because I think I might need it someday.

GOAL: For many years now, I have always expressed to others how I love the look of my kitchen cabinets, or should I say, the way the inside of the cabinets look with all my dishes organized.... Then I would comment on how I did not understand how I could be soooo picky about how the dishes looked, but could not figure out how the rest of my house is always such a mess... Then my MIL nailed it on the head.. In the cabinets everything has a place.. I have made it a priority that certain things go in certain areas of the cabinet and nothing else can be in that spot... I want my house to look like the inside of my kitchen cabinets... I want everything to have a place and where I can find everything easily... I want a very simplified and clutter free home and life..

WHAT IS HOLDING ME BACK??? I have four dkids aged 2-11.. The two year old just likes to make messes, and the three older ones don't think it is fair to clean up after themselves, and then I have a DH who thinks I should clean up after everyone including him... I am also the biggest packrat in my family.. I seem to get everyones cast offs....

I hope that I can get a house that is "company ready" all the time.. Maybe not sterile, but clean enough that I don't have to be in a panic everytime I hear someone is on their way to my house. I would also like to make sure that my children are learning the right way of keeping organized and clean.. I hope that my children learn that being tidy is a good thing, not a huge chore.... LOL.. I am going into this full on. So bring on the challenges, Amy... And a big THANKS for doing this for all of us...

Well, my house isn't too cluttered. I've been in cluttered houses.
But I do have a goal to organize my kitchen and pantry so I can store and cook more efficiently.
I'm always running around looking for ingredients.

I'd like to purge of items that haven't been looked at or touched in a while. Store items that will be saved.

Gotta start with my Christmas tree. :reindeer:

Goal: a organized and decluttered home. All unnecessary stuff is OUTTTA Here!



How i got this way and what is holding me back is with 10 soon to be 11 people in a 4 bedroom house the amount of clutter is OVERWHELMING...... Not to mention we moved into my grandmother;s house with her 20+ years of accumulated junk. I am a packrat, papersaver, procrastinator, easily distracted SAHM/Student who is being drven crazy by the clutter.

I want to de-clutter because the chaos this clutter creates drives me insane.

I do truely want to live a simple life, but materialism and the great goodwill bargains have sabotaged me in the past.

I was born to packrats, and I became one. I want a home that's comfortable and relaxing, and I know that this won't happen until I get a handle on my surroundings.

A new year, a new home, a new me.

Originally posted by frugalfanny
Well, my house isn't too cluttered. I've been in cluttered houses.
But I do have a goal to organize my kitchen and pantry so I can store and cook more efficiently.
I'm always running around looking for ingredients.

I'd like to purge of items that haven't been looked at or touched in a while. Store items that will be saved.

Gotta start with my Christmas tree. :reindeer:

Just wanted everyone to know that I took my tree down and organized all my christmas items. (reported earlier, somewhere)

Today I cleaned, organized and purged my kitchen cabinets. :hurray:

I took before and after photos and I'm trying to download them- but something happened to my USB cord. I'll report back on that.
:bang:

The job took me from 7a- 1p and I have an aching back- well spent.

What I did:
^ I made an inventory list if each stock item and how much I have of it. 6 notepages long!!
^ I took out items that should be in the pantry and put them in the pantry. That freed up a LOT of space!
^ I catagorizied my cabinets. Cooking and baking area- near where I cook and bake. Duh! You'd think I'd know that. But things got out of hand.
^ Coffee/tea near the coffee maker and teapots. hhmmm
^ non-perishables above the stove. Learned that here in FV.
^ old pukey stuff in the trash. Pretty much what was above the stove. lol
^ good stuff sealed tightly in the airtight canisters I found shoved in the back of the cabinets. grrr.
^ spices/herbs near the cooking center
^ baking spices separate from cooking spices
^ poisonous flea stuff- in a ziplock bag, away from food stuff. (and actually ziplocked.) No babies around here- but the stuff freaks me out.
^ washed down the inside. Fortunately, I didn't have to replace the paper. It was recently done. That means I made the mess in my cabinets- fairly recently. LOL (that was during spendthrift- I'm a changed woman)
^ put things back where they were suppose to be. glue to the craft room, pictures to the photo box, recipes to the recipe book.
^ cleaned the top of my refridgerator. I hate anything on it - even dust!
^ combined duplicate containers into one. They're duplicate because we couldn't find the original already opened package. :toothy:

Lost things I found:
^ crystal glassware I've been looking for. Just in time- I'm having a dinner party. Would have preferred it during the holidays!
^ Serving containers. Party!
^ my cookie cutters. I thought DD2 threw them out.
^ GC for free tuition for golf lessons! WHOW!! lost that a few years ago. I wonder if it's still good.
^ my 'chopper'
^ my grinder
^ various covers to tupperware-like containers.
^ some unopened food stuff that is still good. Bought without thought. Expensive stuff from the yuppy store at quadruple the price. I wouldn't even use it. I'm returning them. I'll let you know the amount I get for it.
^ lots of ideas for meals.
^ a sense of well-being knowing that my food is now safe and accounted for. Running a home is a business and businesses take inventory and use up their supplies.

I'm patting myself on the back.

I can't wait for hubby to get home! He loves the new me!!

WOW! You should be patting yourself on the back! What was hubby's reaction?

Here to report in.
DH and 3kids LOVED the new arrangement. (see previous post)
I made several meals in the kitchen thus far and it is soooooo much more efficient. I'm not running all around, jumping on the counter, searching for the something- I thought had.
Only to have to run to the store and get it. Then find it later.

The only thing they mentioned was "we have to go into the pantry to get even a can of soup?"
"Yes, if it's stored there- you get it there. No more stuffing things in the cabinets just becuase you don't feel like going into the pantry."

Other than that- it's kudos to Mom. And Mom rules!

Great job!

My goal is to simplify even more and be ready for a major downsizing in 2007. I want to be able to be able to clean every room in 15 mins. or less.

What's holding me back: I'm not an organized person and find it very difficult to get organized.

Why I am joining the challenge? I love a clean, neat house. I need to find a balance between neat and not sterile..kwim?
My goal is to be organized yet have a few "things" to give our home a warm and welcoming atmosphere.
I hate clutter, it wears me down and stresses me out.
My three girls notice a happier mom when things are in order not in choas!

Good luck to everyone, in reaching your goals.

Today I have spent the day organizing. Well really- making an organization book for my household.
It will tell me what and where everything is:

Sections:
- personalized grocery price list (great idea from FV!!)
- things I want to make/do (don't you hate it when you think of all these wonderful ideas and then forget all about them?)
- gifts I want to make and their instructions (instructions help!)
- gift lists (great idea from FV)
- what's in my gift closet (gift closet challenge)
- fabric stash organizer (nice link from FV)
- pantry list (super idea from FV)
- freezer list (another super idea from FV)
- meal menus to use stockpile (lots of ideas printed right from here)
- recipes to try
- working budget (lots of support from FV). sort of like my siggy
- account numbers (in the event of my death, my passwords are locked up elsewhere)
- what is stored in each Christmas box (did that list prior to closing down Christmas.)
- what is stored in the attic (It is frigid up there!)
- what is stored in the basement (found lots of yard sale and consignment stuff!)
- what is stored in the shed
- Sewing room list (haven't gotten to that room yet- so page is blank)

I'll ask dh if he'd like to include is workshop in this book.

Wow! I'm impressed. Makes me feel like my accomplishments are small in comparison but here they are anyway...
I've walked my dog for 45 min. or more every day for almost a week. Good for the dog and me.
I've made my bed every morning as soon as I got out of the shower.
I've washed a load of clothes every morning and another every night so I can hang the in the basement and dry them instead of having to run the dryer. My attempt at lowering our bills.
I've invested at least 1 hour a day to working on projects I've got going around the house.

My goal is to cut the contents of this house by 1/4 - 1/3 too. I am doing this in preparation for a move.

What holds me back? I get distracted. I'm not able to priortize what's important and what isn't. I lose focus easily. I'm a packrat.

Jean

woooo... My house is so clean and organized...hate to brag.. but here I go.
I had a party tonight.. 10 people. . and it took only a few hours to tidy, vacuum and wipe to make the house presentable. We got to read for half the day because we were so organized!!

probably could have been presentable without it- too, but it's stuff I would have noticed and made me feel uncomfortable.

Even my husband commented on it. He said... sure is a good thing that we are clean and organized people as this task would have taken all day!!

Frugalfanny, you're doing great! You've really motivated me. I'm on again - off again with organization. I have a binder I use for home organization, but it's not near as comprehensive as yours. I think I'll add some stuff to it, thanks to your list!

My recent activities? Last night when I discovered this board I got all excited and checked some of the links to other declutttering websites. That motivated me to make a start...with the computer desk. It took me half an hour to deep clean it, and I'm still not done. Purged files in the file drawer and cleared off the top...that's it.

Dh and dd#2 have a lot of loose floppies and cds they need to clean up and put away. I gave them the lecture. Also I want them to go through the computer manuals. I don't think they've been purged in the 10 years and 2 computers we've gone through.

This morning I was motivated to 'catch-up' with you all. I did a deep clean of the front entryway area. Had dh and dd#2 go through their stuff and tell me what fits and what doesn't and what they want to keep. Ended up with a big black garbage bag of stuff for goodwill, and a couple of small garbage bags of garbage.

Also took down Christmas, which created a lot of room in the house. Went through the boxes of Christmas decos and threw some stuff out. Talked to dh about getting a small artificial tree next year and really cutting back on stuff. We'll see.

Showed dh a list I'd made last year of the furniture I'd like to keep and what I'd like to get rid of. He's in agreement about getting rid of the piano and redoing the sewing unit. We're looking at options for the TV. We really need to get rid of massive amounts of furniture AND the stuff that's stored on it. The latter will be my main focus this year.

While I'm in the mood, I'm also doing laundry.LOL

Jean

My goal is to have a company-ready house (even if we don't get a lot of company). As well, with DH being in the army, moving is a part of our life. The less stuff we have to move, the better!

What is stopping me: my 2 kids are packrats--they keep every little piece of paper, broken toys, etc. I try to keep them on top of it, but they don't really like that idea! I'm also a disorganized person, and get distracted fairly easily, so I start one task, and end up doing something else. I really have to learn to stick to one thing at a time!! :laugh: