De-Cluttering

I have a new favorite non-fiction (yes, you read that right) NON-FICTION book, Home Comforts. I try not to write about books until I have finished them, but this one is 874 pages long and not a Harry Potter book, so odds are it's going to take more than 8 days to finish. It covers everything you could ever want to know about keeping a house. I ordered it in time for my trip and flipped straight to the chapter on cleanliness, hoping for some time-saving tips. What I got was a face palm sort of moment when the author shared an anecdote about a chair in her upstairs hallway. She said the chair had remained empty for six months until, one day, she dropped her keys and jacket on it in haste. By the end of the afternoon, her son's iPod and headphones and her husband's sweatshirt were both on the chair. She outlined the idea that when spaces are neat and orderly, people feel compelled to keep it so. But once a spot was "messy," no one hesitates to add to the messiness. This is not rocket science, just a face palm.

This is part of my problem with neatness. We are pretty neat people, but as soon as that spell gets broken, it's like WOOSH. It's all kinds of messy up in here. So today, I set about to clear out everything in the living room that wasn't part of the furniture or the decor. I put it all in baskets and if I didn't know where it went, it stayed there for me to sort out later. Here are my before and afters:

Spot by the door (not sure what else to call this):
This is a constant place of clutter. The Star Wars bags are from our trip (last week) and the blue and white chevron is FROM PRESCHOOL. IN MAY. Right. So I set about decluttering this area first.

Before:

After:

All I did was put away the bags that didn't belong there, straighten the toys and books, and put my keys in my purse. Took three minutes.

Main Living Space:
This space actually looked pretty good to start. A few things out of place, but this is it in its average condition.

Before:

After:

(pardon Sister who is putting the stickers I found on the desk all over her leg)

Desk:
This is the big problem. Nearly all paperwork ends up here (except, of course, the Justin Timberlake concert ticket my husband swears he put here and was nowhere to be found and cost us...well, I'm ashamed to admit the actual dollar amount. A lot.) There isn't really a good system for all of this...it's just mail, cards, cash, notebooks, desk supplies, books, bills and records, and a bunch of random crap. I tried to get Husband to move it upstairs and put the new piano here, but he wants the computer in the common family area, which I get. So the solution has to be keeping it free of junk.

Before:

After:

The picture I didn't post is the basket full of stuff to which I had to say, "Huh. I have no idea where this should go." Husband and I tackled that one together, and I am happy to say we had places for everything by the end (even though most ended up in recycling or trash :).