Wednesday's Mission and Zone Work

It's hot here today! Actually, it's only about 68 degrees or so right now, but the sun is shining brightly and we don't have air conditioning, so when I get busy in the house and forget the heat, before I know it, I'm sweaty and hot. Thankfully I'm finished with the greater portion of my housework for the day, so I can do the less physically-active things I have planned later this afternoon.

Kelly's mission for today was to clean all those small countertop appliances. I set my timer for 15 minutes and cleaned my bread maker, electric kettle, coffee maker, stand mixer, and can opener. I also wiped down my tin canisters holding tea and artificial sweetener, and my Tupperware canisters holding brown sugar, flour, and sugar. I spent an extra 15-minute session wiping the outside of my deep freezer and microwave and the top of my fridge (it was nasty up there, but I'm short so I don't see the top of the fridge very often - out of sight, out of mind!) just because I wanted to get them done today and had no reason not to. I want to be efficient in my use of time, not lazy!

I reset my timer for 15 minutes of decluttering and dug into my corner cabinet. This cabinet has a set of those lazy Susan (I cringe!) rotating shelves in it, which are very handy if you remember that you can actually turn the shelves and you don't have to become a contortionist in order to retrieve something from the back of the shelf! It also helps if you don't put a lot of things on the floor of the cabinet, because it's so hard to reach around said shelves to the back. Yep, I had stuff crammed into every possible space in that cabinet! In addition, my older son, who has been away at college for almost a year now, spilled sugar in this cabinet sometime before he left. I have cringed every time I've opened this cabinet, and I open it daily, knowing I needed to get the sugar cleaned up that he missed when he cleaned it up. So I set to work and pulled out all the stuff in there - extra drink pitchers, extra baking pans, the blender, the accessories for the stand mixer and food processor, the revolving cake stand; not to mention the measuring cups that I use every day - they're just handy to have right there where I bake and cook, as this cabinet is just to the left of my stove. I sprayed down the shelves with Formula 409, then took a damp cloth and wiped them clean. Who's the wise guy who designed the grooves into the bottom of those shelves? I'd like to talk to him. After wiping the shelves, I wiped under the bottom one on each side as I could reach. I couldn't figure out how to get the shelves out of the cabinet, or I would have taken them out to get the bottom wiped out really well. Oh, I also vacuumed out the loose sugar, so that's gone, even if the bottom didn't get wiped down completely. Just as I was replacing the last few things my timer beeped, and I was done.

Last item for today: iron the valances and re-hang them. I was hoping they wouldn't need ironing, but they do. I'm off to the ironing board! Have a productive day!

Tuesday's Mission Accomplished

It took me a while today, but I got my planned work in the Zone done. I had an unexpected doctor's appointment this morning, so I had to put off my work till this afternoon. We eat our biggest meal at mid-day, so as soon as that was done, I got to work. I spent 15 minutes washing the windows in the kitchen and taking down the valances from my windows. I will wash those first thing in the morning and put them back up as soon as they're dry. We have a laundry-sharing situation with our downstairs neighbors, so I won't have use of the laundry again till tomorrow morning.

I also cleaned out the bank of drawers to the left of my sink. This is three small drawers and two big pots-and-pans drawers, in which I keep my mixing bowls, colanders, and Tupperware and storage bowls and lids. Kelly's mission for today was to clear out the plastic containers; that's part of the reason I chose these particular drawers.

Each job took 15 minutes, for a total of 30 minutes of cleaning today. Every little bit helps!

Monday's Mission: Complete

I completed Kelly's mission for today in a little over 15 minutes. I wiped down all my counters with Vim cleaner and rinsed them well, and while I had things pulled away from the back of the counters, I went ahead and sprayed my subway-tile backsplash with Windex and wiped them clean with a paper towel.

For my decluttering today, I focused on the cabinet under my sink. I hate under-sink cabinets! To me, they always seem dirty and I'm almost afraid to stick my hand in, sure that there's some kind of creepy-crawly under there. I had been stuffing things under there, various cleaners and rags, dishwashing supplies, trash bags - all willy-nilly with no order to it. I even had an old frying pan down there! I pulled everything out, wiped down the floor of the cabinet with Formula 409 (my favorite all-purpose cleaner) and wiped it out good. Then I put back only the cleaners and trash bags. I do have several different cleaners, but I use them all for one thing or another. Now everything is in order . . . but I still don't want to stick my hand under there! ;) This cabinet took less than 15 minutes.

Under-sink cabinet before . . .

Under-sink cabinet after

Declutter Challenge - Days 16 and 17

As you can tell, I didn't post a Declutter Challenge report yesterday. That's because I wasn't in the house very much yesterday, and what time I was in the house was spent getting ready to leave the house or preparing meals for the people in my house. Or taking a nap. That was late in the afternoon, though. So no decluttering accomplished on Day 16.

Today is Day 17, though, and although I need to do my grocery shopping, I should have a 15-minute slot to stick in some decluttering. I must be running out of places to declutter, because the only place I can think of is that upstairs hall closet. That's good . . . and bad. Good because it means the insides of my house are shaping up. Bad because I don't want to work on that hall closet. But life is not about what I like, so I will work on the hall closet for 15 minutes again today.

How's it going in your home? Let us know what you're doing!

Update: One 15-minute session in that closet got the other side of it reorganized, much to my astonishment! The entire closet still needs something, some bins or something, but I'll have to figure that out. It at least looks better now.

Declutter Challenge - Day 15

Our month is 3/4 finished! Only five more days in the Declutter Challenge. You can't tell much outwardly in my house that I've done anything, but when you start opening cabinets and drawers you can tell a difference. And that brings some calmness into my home, even though it's not visible. Sometime years ago I heard someone say (or read it somewhere) that having things neat, all the way to your drawers and closets, eases your mind and allows you to relax. I can understand that!

Today I finished my small file cabinet. I threw away a bunch of papers that were no longer relevant, and took some theological papers up to my husband's office for him to file in his file cabinet. Now my cabinet is ready for me to either transfer the files over to my desk or credenza cabinet and give this thing away . . . or hang on to it and use it for extra storage. I'm leaning toward getting rid of it and opening up the corner it sits in! We'll see. I'm just now learning this "less is more" thing and it's scary to think of getting rid of something that "I might need" someday.

How are you doing? Just one more week! Let us know what's going on in your home!

Declutter Challenge - Day 14

Today I spent 15 minutes in another file drawer. I cleaned out several file folders of stuff, including some bank statements and insurance statements that are about 5 years old. I'll go shred those bad boys, and be done for today!

I also found a packet of photos we made on one of our last trips to visit my Granny before she passed away. She lived in SC, we lived in TX. She had Alzheimer's for several years before she died, and my uncle and aunt took care of her during that time. She went from being one of the sweetest little Southern ladies you'd ever meet, to being quite the feistiest you'd ever meet! LOL We would get such a kick out of her sometimes, but many times tears would come to my eyes as I realized just what that disease had done to the Granny I had always known. I can see the various moods she's in in the pictures we took. In one, I'm kneeling next to her wheelchair, and she is smiling and happy, just like always. But in another, with my aunt and uncle, she is scowling to beat the band! LOL It was fun to look at my couins' children and see family resemblances. There's no mistaking that a few of them are related - to each other AND to me! Family traits have always fascinated me.

Anyway, I'll close this ramble and let you tell us what you've been accomplishing this week!

Declutter Challenge - Day 13

I apologize for not being here all day! My daughter and I went thrifting (which is not quite the same here as in the US), and then she wanted to go to the mall and see if there were any sales. It not being President's Day in Canada, there weren't very many good sales, but she did get a new Italian charm bracelet to replace the one she lost a few weeks ago. We got a few things at the thrift store too, but the prices weren't anything to get very excited about.

So . . . all that to say I haven't decluttered anything today! I think I will implement the one-in/one-out policy that I've heard organizers talk about. I got a jumper, top, and skirt today, so I will take three pieces of clothing out of my closet before I go to bed tonight. It won't take 15 minutes, but it will accomplish something in my quest to keep the clutter under control.

How'd you do today? Let us know how your decluttering is going!

Declutter Challenge - Day 12

Day 12 has arrived! Another Friday. I like Fridays. Today I will tackle that closet I've been trying to get to for 3 days now. I sure hope all of you are doing better with your decluttering than I've done this week. I've had an attack of the I-don't-wanna's. Leave a comment or a link to let us know how you're doing!

Update: I finally did it! I don't feel like I got much accomplished, but I spent two 15-minute sessions in that hall closet. Enough time to see that I need a plan for that closet! LOL I have in the hall closet: linens, old towels for washing the car, any and all fabric I own, a few craft supplies, candles, home decor, games, and Christmas and other wrapping papers. I have this closet and one utility closet to put these things in, and it's not working very well. I think I'm going to write down the things I have and see what kind of organizing I can do with these two closets. My utility closet is serving as a pantry, too, though. Anyway, I threw away several things out of the hall closet, and put quite a few things in a giveaway bag (going to the thrift store), and put back two shelves' worth of stuff, on one side of the closet. There's a bunch more to do in there.

Declutter Challenge - Day 11

Ok. A new day, a new challenge. Today I will spend at least one 15-minute session decluttering that hall closet! I should probably take a peek in the boys' room too.

I'll be back later to update, but I'm leaving a Mr. Linky, as always, so that you can share your experiences if you'd like. If you don't want to link to your blog, or you don't have a blog, feel free to leave a comment about what you're doing. I tell ya, I've gotten some great comments from several people about the work they're getting done each day - you go, girls! ;)

Update: Is the day after Valentine's a day off too? Today I got wrapped up in some work I was doing on the computer. Then it was time to cook dinner (my dh likes our main meal around 2 PM; today it was 3:30!). Then I had to shower and get ready for church tonight, including getting the lesson ready for my kids' class. Now here I am, having gotten no decluttering done for the second day in a row. I'm going to have to make it my first priority tomorrow!

Declutter Challenge - Day 10

Day 10 of my personal Declutter Challenge, and I have no desire whatsoever to declutter anything today! ;) I can see I'm going to have to shame myself into it this afternoon. I had an eye appointment this morning, so I was out of the house part of the day. Now I've been home, but I've just been piddling around getting nothing done. So I'll set a goal: I'll work for 15 minutes decluttering my upstairs hall closet. It's just outside the main bathroom, which is the zone for this week. I haven't gotten into my boys' room yet. I'm afraid something might bite me in there! ;) So anyway - the hall closet.

Update: I have to admit defeat today. No decluttering done, not even 15 minutes. I am bushed. I spent my free time today resting and reading a book. I was incredibly lazy. Tomorrow I will jump back in.

What are you doing today?

Declutter Challenge - Day 9

Wow, I'm really late today! My husband and I made our monthly shopping trip this morning, so I didn't get to anything house-related until this afternoon. Even then, I haven't gotten any real cleaning done, although I've put away a month's worth of groceries and rearranged my freezer to accommodate the new supply of frozen food.

I had a hard time making myself do anything on my Declutter Challenge today. But then I thought, what's 15 minutes out of my afternoon? and shamed myself into doing it! LOL So I set the timer and began working on two desk drawers:




It actually took two 15-minute sessions to get these drawers done. The top picture is a file drawer on my desk, which holds my craft booklets and brochures (mostly cross stitch) and the answer keys for my kids' school. These had all been originally standing up like they were in file folders, just without the folders. As you can see (or maybe not), they had all fallen down and I had begun to just toss things in, including some crochet thread that I've piddling with. I went upstairs and got some file folders from my husband's file cabinet and divided all the books into appropriate file folders. The books at the back of the drawer are a stash of "preacher" books my husband found. They're a treasure to him, and this is where he put them, so that's where they're staying for now. They aren't in the way.



The other drawer is just above that file drawer and is kind of an I-need-somewhere-to-put-these-little-things drawer (I guess that would be a junk drawer, wouldn't it?!). There are some card games in there, my stash of sugar-free candy and mints, a few pictures, and a few little odd office supplies that aren't too terribly important, but I like to know where they are when I need them. Here is that drawer restored to order:



How is your decluttering going this week? I hope you'll spend just a few minutes restoring order to some little corner of your home. I feel like I'm "looking well to the ways" of my household when I take the time to make order in all the little corners of my home!

Declutter Challenge - Day 8

I'm a bit late getting this posted today! It was late last night when I was tinkering around with this blog, and I got so aggravated with it that I've been messing around with blogs all day. I did, however, spend about an hour cleaning up and decluttering.

This week is Zone 3 - the main bathroom and one other room, if you follow FlyLady's plan. My daughter cleaned up the bathroom super well on Saturday, so there's not so much to do in there this week (thanks, Beth!), so today I cleaned the light fixture, rearranged some of the decorations (that's not saying much - there's hardly any decorating in there), and decluttered the vanity drawers and cabinets. I threw away things like kids' old batter-powered toothbrushes. Now why would I keep those, when my youngest is 14 and most likely will not get a thrill out of brushing her teeth with a princess toothbrush?! I put a little basket in the drawer where all her hair things are, so she can organize those, and I also put some little things, like dental floss and sink stoppers in containers in the other drawer. Even thought these were little things, it looks better in the drawers, which makes me feel better. Plus I know exactly what's in them now.

While I'm thinking about FlyLady, I didn't go to her site at all last week, and when I did go there on Friday, I scrolled down to the new habit for the month of February: declutter for 15 minutes a day! I didn't know that would be the focus this month when I decided to do my own declutter challenge. Great minds think alike? Or just coincidence? ;)

Here's a Mr. Linky just in case you've posted about your own decluttering and would like to share!

Declutter Challenge - Day 7

Good morning! It's the last day this week for my personal Declutter Challenge. Today I plan to declutter and reorganize my coffee- and tea-making cupboard. There are more things in there than just tea and coffee, but that is its primary use. I've been finding several smaller items that I'd like to containerize to make their use and storage a little more practical, so I might make a trip to the dollar store this afternoon to buy some baskets. My biggest problem is knowing exactly how many and what size. Maybe I should take a look through my freshly organized cabinets before I go and make a list of what I need. What a novel idea! LOL I may also re-organize what I call my Tupperware cabinet, although there's not much Tupperware left in it. It doesn't need decluttering, but over time it gets messy and could use straightening. I'll be back later today to report on my progress.

Thanks to all of you who have commented and/or sent e-mails, letting me know that you've been encouraged to do some decluttering yourself. It blesses my heart to know that I've been an encouragement to someone! Every little bit of accomplishment is important and blesses you and your family! I'll continue to leave a Mr. Linky box below each post so you can share your success with us if you've blogged about it.

Update: I got both cabinets cleared out and reorganized. I took out all our little boxes of tea and put them in a pretty basket on the counter. Then I put all the coffee stuff together, next to the hot chocolate and Crystal Light-type drink containers. I also got a little basket to put the few medications in that we keep downstairs next to the sink, and put it in the cabinet in easy reach.

I did go to the dollar store for some containers. I got a long flat basket for the longer cooking utensils, to replace the two shoe boxes I had them in. I need one more small, narrow basket for that drawer, to put small gadgets in. Right now they're in a Tupperware container. The extra baskets I'll put away till I find exactly where to use them.

I didn't get any extra work done in the Zone today. I had another low blood sugar episode, so I ended up sleeping part of the day. I'm going to have to get this stuff under control!

Have a great weekend! I'm looking forward to next week. I'll have to think about what to declutter next week. The kitchen was easy, because it had lots of spaces needing attention!

Declutter Challenge - Day 6

Day 6, and I'm still in the kitchen. Today I plan to declutter the cabinet under my sink. Ugh. That's where we keep the bucket for recycling and all my cleaning products. It gets ugly in there. If I have time, I'll also clear out the cabinet above and to the right of the sink, where we keep all our coffee- and tea-making stuff. It's a little disorganized too. If you'd like to join me and you want to tell us about it, sign the Mr. Linky below.

Update: I got the area under the kitchen sink decluttered (my son even took out the recycling without being asked!), but I didn't get to the coffee and tea cabinet. I am just plain old tired. I'm type 2 diabetic, and I've been battling low blood sugars every day this week, due to my medicine working so well. When I have a low, it wipes me out. So I just did the most pressing things in the kitchen - including cooking the meals and helping to clean up - and called it a day for the kitchen. My Zone job I chose to do today was to clean the drip pans and rings on the stove. I hate cleaning those things, so I put it off till they are horrible looking and I have to do it. I think, for the next 4 weeks (till kitchen zone again) I'm going to wash them once a week and see if that makes a difference (duh!). I'm still in the process of mapping out what I need to do weekly and what to do monthly. It's all because of my mile-wide lazy streak; I don't like following a schedule, so I put things off, and then they are screaming for attention. When will I learn?

Declutter Challenge - Day 5 and Zone

I'm combining two posts into one. I'm already finished with my housework for the day!

I spent a good deal of time in the kitchen this morning. I washed the dishes, which is becoming more common now that one of my children is basically out of the house many days of the week. He finds odd jobs to keep him busy, and he has been hired by a temp agency in WA, just across the border, to do some factory work, which should start next week. So after too many years to count, I don't have three kitchen helpers, and I'm taking up the slack. Plus my daughter is sick this week with the flu, so she's not able to do her work either. Boy, am I sidetracked! What I was going to say is that, after I washed the dishes, I decided to go ahead and finish my work in the kitchen instead of having to come back to it. My declutter challenge for today was to clear out my baking cabinet. This is where I keep all my baking supplies. It's right next to the stove, so it's easy to grab what I need. It took me closer to 30 minutes to get this cabinet squared away. One thing that I changed was to "containerize" my spices and smaller baking supplies. I already had most of the spices together in a couple of containers, but every time I bake, I get out the salt, baking powder, and baking soda - three containers to take out and put back every time. So today I put those three items together in one basket - get out and put away in one motion! Plus it looks neater in the cabinet. You can see it on the left of the bottom shelf. I learned this concept from Laura at I'm An Organizing Junkie! Thanks, Laura! I think it will be a step-saver for me! Here's the before and after on my cabinet (I also put all my chocolate squares, chocolate chips, etc. together in one container, on the top shelf):




Next, the Zone cleaning for this week is in the kitchen. Today I wiped down all the fronts of the cabinets, fridge, and stove. There were some pretty serious splops around my kitchen, but they've all been contained and we are now splop-free! ;) That took about 20-25 minutes, since I was doing a thorough job. I also cleaned out my fridge this morning. And now I'm done. And tired.

If you're decluttering with me and you blog about it, link to your post on the Mr. Linky below.

Declutter Challenge - Day 4

It's Day 4 of my month-long personal Declutter Challenge! Today I plan to declutter the cabinet that holds all of our snack foods, cereals, and cooking ingredients. I have a pantry established in a closet, where I keep unopened boxes and canned goods, but once we open a package, I keep it in the kitchen cabinet. Over time, this cabinet gets in a mess, and it's time to tackle that mess today! This week I'm working mainly in the kitchen because it's the zone for this week. If I have a bit of extra time, I'll still work on those file drawers in the credenza; I don't want to leave them entirely alone now that I've gotten started on them. So join me if you can. I'll leave a Mr. Linky if you'd like to leave a link to your post about what you decluttered today.

Update: Snack cabinet is now neatly arranged where we can actually find a snack! Before and after, which I finally got to download to my computer:

Declutter Challenge - Day 3

What a weekend we had! We got everything ready for our church 2nd anniversary service, and it was great - you can read about it here, if you're interested. Today begins the cleanup at home. Ugh! Busy weekends make for busy Mondays!

In addition to simply getting all the little fires put out, I will stick to my Declutter Challenge by spending 15 minutes clearing out the cabinet where I keep all the plates, cups, flatware, etc., for church functions. After this weekend, we have more to add to it, and it's a mess from my rooting through it Saturday to see what we needed to buy. Plus this week's zone is the kitchen, and that's where that cabinet is located!

Update: The cabinet is now decluttered and re-organized, and it took just a little bit longer than 15 minutes - maybe 20? I had to empty that big bag you see in the bottom right corner and fit the stuff in there into the cabinet along with the other stuff already there. The blue you see is a pile of plastic table covers, which I put into a zip-up plastic bag that new sheets came in at Christmas. Finally, you see the finished product - all the plates, bowls, cups, napkins together, with plastic cutlery in the box under the plates.


Feel free to join in if you have some decluttering to do. Here's a Mr. Linky to share what you've accomplished today!

Declutter Challenge - Day 2

Good morning! My declutter goal for today is to continue working on the credenza. It has 4 regular-size desk drawers and 2 file-size drawers in addition to the middle section that I decluttered yesterday. The file drawers need the most attention, but I'll work on all of them. Hopefully I'll get at least one drawer done during my 15-minute challenge. I hope you'll join in sometime during the month! I'll be back later today to report on what I accomplished this morning.

Update: It took a while to get here today. Right after I wrote the paragraph above, I received an unexpected phone call - not unusual in a ministry family - which threw the rest of my day off. That call was followed by another, then another . . . and I had grocery shopping to do! Grocery shopping is now done, things have settled down, I've eaten supper, and finally spent my 15-minutes challenge on the file drawer in which I keep my Sunday school materials. Some of the books and visual aids were just thrown in while some were in folders. Now they're all in folders in the order that they occur in the Bible, along with a few seasonal and missionary lessons in their own folders. I feel better having everything corralled in one place, and where I can easily add to my materials in the future.

Declutter Challenge - Day 1

It's February 1st, Day 1 of my personal Declutter Challenge! Since I'm on Pacific time and I don't get on the computer till after 9:00 a.m. - which is after lunch for some of you - I'll just post my plans for decluttering for the day, then post an update after I get it done. If you'd like to participate in any or all the days, feel free to leave a link on the Mr. Linky that will be attached to each post.

Today I plan to begin decluttering my credenza. This thing is packed full of stuff. Necessary stuff, but it's hardly accessible to me in the condition it's in right now. So that's 15 minutes planned for my credenza sometime today. See you when it's done!

Updated: I got the main area of the credenza emptied and several things put back in in the allotted 15 minutes. I spent about 10 more minutes putting away things that belonged somewhere else in the house and throwing away all the phone books and catalogs that had gathered in there. I found a couple of old books under there, too, and I spent a few minutes looking on Ebay to see if any similar books were being sold - no go. I am literally shocked that it took such a short amount of time to sort through all the stuff that was under there and get it put away or thrown away. I was sure it would take much longer, several days' worth of 15-minute sessions.