Thursday 19 January 2012

Today I made a plan

I'm not quite how I did it, but I married a minimalist. I didn't imagine this would be a problem, but I'm somewhat of a hoarder, so it has led to conflicting opinions in how our house should be. I'm also so used to my clutter, that I often don't notice it.

While I know I have too much clutter, I have lacked the intrinsic motivation to actually do something about it. My relationship with my husband and having a daughter who will be mobile in the next few months are motivating factors. I'm finally doing something about it.

I've been trying to do something about it for awhile, getting rid of things here and there, but it's like drops in an ocean. Really, you can't tell by looking at my craft stuff that I gave away a teddy bear kit, all but 4 pairs of straight knitting needles, a knitting needle holder and a supermarket bag of yarn yesterday. I know it's gone, but there is no visible difference.

I've somehow dealt to the cause of it, in that I am no longer bringing things into the house without a purpose. Now I get the task of dealing to all that I've already accumulated, and I'm running out of time to do it in.

So today I made a plan. I have designated a room each week that I will work my way through and de-clutter. My plan is to go through each area, find homes for the things that are staying in that area, put items I'm keeping but don't belong there in the area they belong in, put aside items that are getting donate and put in the rubbish bin what belongs there. I will probably have to go back once I've done them all and make sure that things didn't just get moved somewhere else, but I suspect my husband will keep me on track.

This is my plan:

Jan 16-22
Kitchen: Clean and de-clutter benches, pantry, fridge, cupboards, hutch dresser
Jan 23- 29
Area at top of stairs
Jan 30-Feb 5
Lounge
Feb 6-12
Back bedroom
Feb 13-19
Our bedroom
Feb 20-26
Computer room
Feb 27- Mar 4
Guinevere’s bedroom
Mar 5-11 and Mar 12-18
Large area downstairs
Mar 19-25
Laundry and under the stairs
Mar 26 –April 1
Small room downstairs
April 2-8
Bathroom

I suspect there will be changes as life gets in the way or priorities get shuffled on negotiation with my husband. But this is what I intend to do. Putting it out there helps keep me accountable. 

Wish me luck :)

I'm linking this through to Jules over at Pancakes and French Fries. She has buttons to link it through, but I haven't worked out how to do that yet, still new at this. 

5 comments:

  1. Hi! Stopping by from Jules' WMP. Nice list and how brave that you made it into a schedule. If you want to add the button to your sidebar:

    Save the image (button) to your computer
    Go to Layout
    Click on Add Gadget
    Under Basics scroll down to Add Picture
    Enter location where you saved the image
    Add link to Jules
    Save and done

    Best of luck with your project. Looking forward to some after pictures.

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  2. Just stopped in from Jules' place. I feel the same way only my husband could go either way. But when he's honest, he says things like, "I just feel so confused when there's clutter around me. I really can't think straight." That has been my motivating factor.

    It's great that you got it all down in a schedule form and are ready to tackle it. Good luck. Can't wait to see your progress!

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  3. You are going to feel so great as you mark each of those rooms off your list!

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  4. Aren't lists such a great starting point? Good luck, and I look forward to seeing your progress!

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  5. Stopped by from Jules' site. You're off to a good start just creating a list. In my mind I'm a minimalist, but in practice I'm more of a maximalist. Hopefully, just the act of going through the rooms and organizing the things that you love, find useful and practical will help you move towards a happy middle ground for both you and your hubby.

    ReplyDelete