Clutter Diet - Week 2

As I mentioned last week, I have joined the Clutter Diet for some online coaching in getting problem areas of my house in order.

This weeks task were partially completed, but I did two large unscheduled tasks to make up for it!

The easy ones were buying Hallowe'en candy (I had to do this twice, LOL) and getting a snapshot of my computer in the event of disaster.  The two I didn't do were getting rid of old computers (I located it, but it needs to go to the special waste depot), and getting my credit report (this is easy...it's on my list).

The main task was working on my home office and I got this partially done. The two areas I worked on were the kitchen ledge and the filing cabinet.

Kitchen ledge before: mail, papers, craft supplies, some moon cakes, and all manner of junk gets deposited here.

Kitchen ledge after:  Ahhhhh...

Filing cabinet before:  Note bottle of Chinese rice liquor is sitting just three feet from where it belongs in the liquor cabinet.  There is also a stack of financial and other paperwork, most of which is filed in binders in another room and doesn't belong there.

Filing cabinet after: Ahhh...nice and clear, with just a piece of artwork

But the other two big unscheduled tasks this week were the fridge and the master closet.

The fridge was LONG overdue to be cleaned and we got rid of half a garbage bag of take-out boxes, old rotting sauces and condiments, and moldy leftovers (which we don't normally have, with a teen boy eating them at 10 pm most nights).  The fridge itself was also rather filthy, so it's now gorgeously white, decluttered, and sparkly.

I was able to get Z to focus on the master closet this weekend, as he has been setting up his new office in our recently departed-for-university son's bedroom (sorry, Alex!).  We got rid of 2 bags of clothing that will be donated at the monthly St. Vincent-de-Paul Bundle Sunday coming up next weekend at our parish.  Everything is dusted, spacious, and tidy, with nothing on the floor except for some shoes and the laundry basket.  It's quite a small closet for two people, so tidying it up really makes a difference.

So while I didn't get all my proscribed tasks done, I believe that the decluttering mindset is rippling through the household, and we're getting some other long overdue projects out of the way.

Thanks to the Clutter Diet people for spurring me on to accomplish these large tasks.  It's great to have a resource like that to give you a list and make you accountable.  They have message boards where you can compare notes with other declutterers and get advice from the pros.  I hadn't been able to motivate myself on my own, so the small subscription fee is definitely worth it to me.