Why is it so hard...

 I'm sure you must feel as if you've been hearing about our new house for months... you're right, you have. Yesterday marked the 17th month since we signed the contract to build our home. I can't hardly believe it's taken this long. And the end is not in sight yet. I don't think it's going to be completed this year. There's not a thing I can do about it. I work mightily at not giving in to disappointment.

But, the good thing is that this time as given me the opportunity to purge, downsize, declutter, face the reality that I'm never going to get to some of the craft projects I thought I'd like to do. Haha

But, why is it so hard to let that stuff go? One reason is because I spent money on it in the first place. I choose to counteract that procrastination by realizing that giving those supplies to someone who will use them is a good use of that money. Another reason is that I keep holding out hope that I'll actually try that craft one day. The reality is that one day hasn't come for years, so why would I keep hoping it will! 

I've been giving my 6-year-old granddaughter a lot of craft supplies. So many, evidently, that she told me this summer to please not give her any for awhile! She uses the supplies she receives and does crafts alot, but even she's wise enough to know when enough is enough. I need to be like her!

I have an aversion to moving stuff that I know I'm not going to need/use. It's a waste of time, money and effort. Now that our house has been extended so many more months I'm seriously going to sort through the craft boxes in storage and be brutal in facing my truth. I am 66 years old and I'm only going to keep the crafts that I actually do. The rest can go to someone who will use and enjoy them. In the past I've donated needleart supplies to the local high school. I may see if the art department wants some of my other supplies.

Either way, I woke up this morning serious about really purging. Hope I keep my intention! 

Ten Percent

 A new year has begun. Time to set new goals, deadlines, and tasks. 

I would like to declare enthusiastically that I have decided to declutter my house by 50%.

Or maybe I could state with confidence that I'm going to pare down my belongings by 25%.

But the reality is that I'm going to (fingers crossed) set a goal of shoveling 10% of stuff out of my house in 2021.

You would think that after the three extra people that lived here in 2020, along with their belongings moved out that I would feel as if my house is empty and roomy. Just the opposite has occurred. I feel like my house just has too much stuff in it.

So I'm starting with the really hard stuff. Books and crafts. In January I hope to reduce my library by 10%. I'm also hoping to reduce my craft supplies, primarily cross-stitch patterns, by 10%.

Will I be successful? Who knows. But I'll give it my best try. I know the day is coming in the next five - ten years when we will be ready to downsize. When that day arrives I don't want to have to face the daunting task of deciding what will move with us and what has to go. So I want to get an early start on it.

And I'm going to get right on it... tomorrow.

Too Much Stuff - Update 1

So I started my project in the far back room of the house - the master bathroom. You wouldn't think a bathroom could need much help, after all, it's not that big of a room. In my case, you'd be wrong.

Our master bathroom is quite large. Quite old. Quite in need of updating. Since that's not currently in the budget I decided to start with what I can change and worry about the cosmetics of the room later.

I chose the master bathroom linen closet as a place to start.

Here's my inspiration from Pinterest:

Here's the before of the linen closet:

It contains towels, paper products, sheets, blankets, some personal products, and humidifiers (yes, we have three of them. It's very dry here in the winter and our out-of-town guests all need humidifiers in their rooms) .

The space between the shelves is narrow and when I don't take time to place items in there precisely (instead choosing to use the much easier "shove it in" method) it quickly becomes a jumble of stuff.

So, I took everything out. Cleaned every shelf. Reorganized and re-prioritized the items that need to be in this space.

Here's the after:

I've found that when the closet is organized and everything has a place I'm more likely to put things away properly instead of stuffing it in there. 

This may seem like a small project to you, but it was a great start for me. It's a space that's been bugging me. It was easily accomplished in a short amount of time and it's inspired me to continue on my way.

Stay tuned as the decluttering gets more ambitious!

Too Much Stuff

I have too much stuff in my house and in the garage. It is driving me crazy. 

I am an extremely organized person so I'm not complaining about clutter. It's all nice and neat and everything is in its place. There's just too much of it.

I constantly work on decluttering my house, but it seems that whatever goes out is immediately replaced by something coming in. Why do I do that??

So today is the day that I make a stand. Today is the day that I start in one corner of the house and work my way to the front door. Reorganizing and decluttering as I go. How long this will take is anybody's guess. But I am determined.

All of you will be my accountability partners. I'll keep you informed of my progress.

I will say that I think part of my frustration is that there's five of us living in the house right now. My daughter and her two kids moved in on February 1st and will be here probably until the beginning of December as their house is being built. So a large portion of stuff in the house right now is theirs, not ours. 

As I work through this stuff, I'll include some decluttering tips for inspiration.

Here I go!

It's the Little Things in Life...

... like having the under sink area in
the kitchen organized!

I recently decided to use some refrigerator organizers for under the sink stuff. I'm very pleased with the result! Now if we can just keep it this way...

Update: The Year of the Purge

You may recall that my motto for this year is "the year of the purge". As with most things, I started out doing great with purging my things, but as Spring continued into Summer I lost momentum.

In order to motivate myself I decided to keep track of the number of items I purged in July. It was motivating! I purged 104 items in July, Woohoo!

Now before I pat myself on the back too much, let's have a reality check. It seems like a large number, but it's not a lot of stuff. I still have plenty. And I'm sure plenty of what I have could stand to leave my house.

I did come up with a good method to use in purging decor items; I take a picture of it and text it to the females in my family. Whoever responds first wanting it, gets it. If no one wants it, into the Goodwill box it goes.

My niece was the "winner" for this item

The hardest thing for me to purge is craft items. Particularly my cross stitch patterns. The cold reality is that I really do have more patterns than I'll live to stitch. I accept that. What's difficult is choosing which patterns I want to spend my time stitching. Ugh. Fortunately, Jessica and Janel are both stitchers, so I'm in the habit of going through my patterns about three times a year and then giving them the opportunity to take the ones I don't want. The problem has been that in years past, I take back the ones they don't want. Hmm, you can see how that's not a good thing! This year, when I gave them the patterns to go through, I told them to take the ones they don't want to Goodwill or pass on to someone else. That way they don't come back into my house.

Purging, decluttering, organizing, whatever you call it, it can be a challenge. However, the reward is that your house will feel lighter, your mind will feel clearer, and you CAN buy new stuff without feeling guilty! haha

Decluttering

I don't know if it's my age. Or maybe the circumstances of my life right now. Or maybe it's just an urge to do Fall cleaning. Whatever it is, I am on a tear to declutter my life.

I'm extremely organized and I declutter my house on a very regular basis. But right now I feel as if the walls are closing in on me and every inch of my home is occupied by something. It is driving me nuts.

So, I decided to declutter. I started with cookbooks. I have a cookbook collection that I love, but I rarely try new recipes from any of the books. The biggest culprit is the Gooseberry Patch Cookbooks. The bright colors, drawings of comfort foods, and fun titles draw me in and I have purchased waaaay too many of them over the years. I'm working my way through each book, pulling out the recipes I think I want to try and putting the rest of the book in the Goodwill box.

I also have cookbooks from Costco and Sam's Club that I have never used. They are next on my list.

At the same time I'm tackling my Christmas books. I have a very large collection of Christmas books and buy more each year. I have a few favorite authors, and I'm definitely keeping those. But I also have some that I only read once and never picked up again. I'm reading them now and if they're not exactly my style, or don't hold my interest, I'm putting them into the Goodwill box.

(oh my gosh, how funny! as I wrote this last sentence an email popped up telling me of a Goodwill grand opening near me!)

I know these are small steps, but I'm hoping that I feel so great after this that I tackle my craft items.

Stay tuned...

Only 188 Days 'Til Christmas!

Yes, I can hear all those moans and groans out there. Yes, I know it's June. Yes, I know summer officially begins today. Yes, I know that it's 112 degrees here in the desert. Yes, I know we're not even to the 4th of July. Your point is?

Christmas. There, I said it. Christmas is coming. Hobby Lobby has a limited amount of Christmas ornaments and ribbons displayed on their shelves. I have received my annual Christmas cross-stitch book in the mail. I have pre-ordered my Hallmark KOC ornaments and will be picking them up the second weekend in July.

And yes: I HAVE BEGUN CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!

Many of you may think I'm crazy. But let me assure you there is a method to my madness. I want to enjoy a stress-free month of celebrating the holidays in December. To that end, I am totally ready for Christmas by Thanksgiving. Every year. For the past 15 years.

And you can be ready too. Check out my Christmas blog and click on the tab for "Stress-free Christmas Countdown List" at the top. I will be sharing my tips for having a stress-free Christmas. And they are guaranteed to work!