HELP! My embarassing clutter photo....*DECLUTTERED!*

**dz_blonde_girl** · 08-04-2003, 10:22 AM

Hopefully this will brighten someone's day, knowing that someone else has piles worse than theirs.................

There is one corner in my home that is completely out of control! Does anyone have any helpful ideas? I plan on tackling this Friday.

The bookshelf in the lower left hand corner is essentially useless since dd enjoys taking everything off of it. She likes to sit there and play when Mommy is using the computer.

The shelves: I have another place for the nursing books, there are 6 up there right now. Some of those boxes and probably 1/2 of that paper pile can be pitched. I need one place for my craft stuff, some of it is up there, some in the bedroom and some in the garage. I can maybe make room in a cabinet under the aquarium.

The compute desk is hopeless......I have no idea. I had to take all of the pens, tape, etc out of the drawer under the monitor because dd likes to play with them. I do have a CD holder that I can put some of the software disks in, it's like a binder.

There's a fax machine under the basket in the corner. I will be using the fax several times a week now for work. I was going to use the basket to keep (and limit) the papers I think I need to keep.

What do you all think? I know it's bad .....

**dz_blonde_girl** · 08-04-2003, 10:26 AM

lol, I still have a winter scene on my desktop! Don't you LOVE the dark paneling? We have dark brown carpet too!

**Mom23boys** · 08-04-2003, 10:49 AM

Karen, I bet I could show you some pics that look like that or worse. I have a counter that seems to catch everything.

Good luck with the decluttering!! You can do it.

**isaacsmommy** · 08-04-2003, 11:02 AM

Karen,

Good luck cleaning up - just remember, baby steps. I have a few areas in my home that look pretty terrible too (I think we all do)!

**heavensent_7** · 08-04-2003, 11:03 AM

Well Karen ~ You know I should be a professional organizer!

(there really should be a smiley that laughs harder than this ROFL!)

BUT I am always full of good ideas (I just can't seem to actually implement them!)

You have to keep constantly on top of it all (that's my downfall

)

And I've noticed that the de-cluttering I WANT to do costs money

- So I'm interested to hear what others say.

Anyway IF you have time (and some money) You can paint the panelling white (I did that in my living room ~ do you remember? It looks much better)

Go through it all a bit at a time and THROW AWAY everything you can and then get (here's the money bit) magazine files to put everything on the shelf upright and tidy, tins or something similar to tidy all the pencils etc. Or see-through labeled boxes?

That sort of thing.

Another thing ~ Don't listen too closely to me ~ My house is in the biggest mess ever!

I'm truly thinking of you ~ Good Luck!

**isaacsmommy** · 08-04-2003, 11:07 AM

Magazine files don't need to be costly - use old cereal boxes. You can recover them if you'd like, but it's not necessary - just makes them look nicer.

**dz_blonde_girl** · 08-04-2003, 11:41 AM

OK! A couple of great ideas! Cereal boxes for the papers, and I can make pencil/pen/scissors holders out of aluminum cans! I'll check the Dollar Store to see if I can find some pretty contact paper or wrapping paper to cover them with!

Keep 'em coming ......... maybe we can all get our computer desks in order!

**homesteadmamma** · 08-04-2003, 03:50 PM

Okay, first things first. Lets take this in baby steps, in 15 minute increments.

Start with one shelf. Go through absolutely everything on that shelf. Have a couple of boxes. Mark on them, keep & file, keep and the last box throw out. Be ruthless when you go through this. Most papers don't need to be kept unless they are important papers or receipts. Thats your first step, it has to be done before you try doing anything.

From there, decide what you want on that one shelf. If its craft items you want to put on that shelf, then nothing else goes there. If its books, then nothing else goes on that shelf, be it paper, craft items, toys, etc.

For pencils, pens, etc., go through everyone of them. I do this periodically. Many probably are broken, don't have ink in them, or are even short. Throw them out!!! If you have a short pencil throw it out. I know, everyone will say not frugal. Too bad, you won't use it anyways. You can use a mayonaisse jar, a soup can, whatever and cover it with a small piece of wrapping paper, wallpaper or even decoupage pretty cards you've been keeping on there. Have a couple of jars/cans - one for pencils and one for pens. From here on in all pencils go in that jar/can and all pens in its container!!! Again you don't even have to go to the $$ store to purchase something to decorate with. Look around your home and use what you already have. Do you have a printer, print off something from the net and then just tape it to your container. FREE!!

Craft supples - go through those ruthlessly as well. Who needs all the craft items they have when half the time you don't do that craft. Every couple of months, I go through my material for quilting. I often send some to friends or throw out tiny pieces that have accumalated that I would probably never use again. Choose a couple of crafts you do often and keep the stuff for that, the rest get rid of.

Find a small filing cabinet. You can pick them up quite cheaply at Walmart. If you can't afford one, get a couple of small boxes and file your important papers and receipts in them. I find shoe boxes are terrific for that. I now have a filing cabinet, but before I got a couple of envelopes, marked on them the date and what they were for (for instance, telephone) and would put everything pertaining to phone bills, receipts, etc in the envelope. I'd stand the envelope up and put cardboard between each envelope in the shoebox. A perfect filing cabinet at no cost!! You can even use free envelopes, the ones you get in the mail with cc applications (they don't cost a penny).

Hope this helps.

**Mom23boys** · 08-04-2003, 03:51 PM

Wendy~good idea about the cereal boxes. I had totally forgot about using them before to organize the boys books. I used contact paper and wrapped them and filed them away. You can also use tempra paint on the box to decorate with Karen.

**Katybird** · 08-04-2003, 11:17 PM

I love the idea about the cereal boxes, and the others are great too. Thanks Ladies!

**dz_blonde_girl** · 08-05-2003, 09:26 AM

I don't think I'll have too much trouble throwing papers out. I do have some room in my filing cabinet too. I could go through that and throw out all the books for things we don't have any more though

.

I started file folders for each of my kid's keepsakes.

I CAN do this!

Many of my craft supplies are kid's stuff. The neices and nephews would be very disappointed if they didn't have a big box of "decorating" stuff.

**homesteadmamma** · 08-05-2003, 09:56 AM

With the craft items that are for your nieces and nephews. I would purchase a couple of plastic containers (you can pick those up at the $$ store for very little) and mark on them craft supplies. Keep all the craft supplies in those that are specific to your nieces and nephews.

When them come to visit, they use only whats in the containers and everything has to be put back. Its a teaching lesson. It starts to teach them at a young age how to be organized. Organization has to be learnt, it doesn't just come to us in most cases.

I love containers - so much can be put in them, you can stack them and they always look neat.

We have a policy in our home, when something goes in a container, something has to go out and be gone.

You might wonder why I'm such a stickler for decluttering. First I have 4 packrats in my family. Dh (you should see his workshop, but thats his space), my oldest dd, my dil and my youngest dd. Second, and the most important, because it brings you peace of mind and changes everything around you when you don't have clutter.

**dz_blonde_girl** · 08-14-2003, 08:36 AM

I did it!

I got all the crap off the little shelves of the computer desk and made room for my paper, the bottom shelf is for all the coupons tht I print to keep them off the desktop!

I made the pendil tins out of formula cans!

I put some of dd's toys on the shelf. I can toss them up there for a quick pick up if needed!

Look! A fax machine!

I still have some stuff to go through. I want to pretty up a basket for the tape, glue and other stuff. The drawer is still empty. I may put a few old magazines in there for dd to find.