Simple Mom » homemaking

How Do You Declutter?

Tsh — Thu, 08 May 2008 09:46:21 +0000

There are two schools of thought when it comes to decluttering:

Touch everything only once, and
Declutter in steps, moving piles around until it’s done.

When you touch everything only once, you pick up an item and put it in its rightful place immediately, even if it means going to the other side of the house. Sometimes you can maximize the effectiveness of this method and pick up several items going to the same room, using a basket to take your goods with you. Then you stay in that one room, reshelving everything you brought, and when you’re done, you return to the room you started in and continue on your work.

When you declutter in steps, you essentially make piles. If your dining room table is cleared off, you pile everything together that’s going to your daughter’s room, then the bathroom, and so on and so forth. When all the declutter has been transferred to their appropriate piles, you focus on shrinking the piles until they’re gone. When there are no more piles, your place has been decluttered.

Most home organizing “experts” advocate the Touch Everything Only Once method, but it doesn’t work for me. I get too distracted. If I crate up just a few items for my bedroom, before I know it, I’m perusing the magazine on my nightstand, or I’m organizing the shirts in my wardrobe by sleeve length and color (I’m a bit sick that way – ask my husband or my college roommate). The original room I started in has long been forgotten.

My method is to stay in the messy room and pile its misplaced belongings in one central location, then move on to the next room and add to those original piles. After I’ve gone through the whole house and decluttered, I should have only one big pile for each room. Now all I have to do is empty a pile at a time until it’s gone.

What do you do? Have you even thought about it before? Just wondering if I’m in the minority or the majority here.

I’m off to make some piles.

CURRENT SPONSORS:

Plan to Eat - meal planning made simple.
The Justice Conference - Justice hangs by a thread.
Lil' Soak - Sewing hope with handmade goods.
Treed - A simple, flexible, effective project planning tool.

How Do You Declutter? is a post from Simple Mom

© 2008-2012 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Mom subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplemom.net to let us know. Thanks.

Home Management Notebooks are a great idea.

Tsh — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 07:00:13 +0000

Home Management Notebooks absolutely work for me.

Here’s are quick links to my Home Management Notebook series:

Having a Home Management Notebook is good.
Identity and target your Most Important Tasks.
Consider using a Daily Docket.
Use a Weekly Checklist as your main reference point.
Brainstorm ideas for what else you might need in your Notebook.

I hope you found this series useful. Using a Home Management Notebook isn’t a new idea – chances are, many of you already use one. But if this is new to you and trying one is uncharted territory, here are a few pointers:

• The point of a notebook is to have all your management tools in one place. Include what you need, leave out what you don’t.

• Do what works for you. If you prefer to scribble in pencil on a Moleskine Notebook, then by all means, do that! You could even have it all online using your favorite tools in one location. I’ve thought about doing that myself, but I just can’t handcuff myself to the laptop – I share it with my hubby, and I’m up and around too much during the day. Maybe one day, though.

• It helps me if my notebook looks pretty – know I use it more when I like to look at it. I use scrapbook paper, magazine clippings, and whatever else strikes my fancy to personalize my baby and make it mine.

• If it doesn’t work at first, don’t throw in the towel! Give it more time, or change it up, or take a short break and think about what might work better for you. We all manage our households differently – the point is to do it well, simply, and stress-free.

~~As promised, here is a FREE PDF download of my Daily Docket and Weekly Checklist.~~ Update: All the downloads can be found on the downloads page. I’ve made them a bit more generic, so maybe you’ll find them useful. In fact, I’ve included two Daily Dockets – one is identical to the one I use; the other has two areas with blank titles for you to fill in, in case mine aren’t something you need. You’ll see what I mean when you download it.

And finally, here’s a little more inspiration juice to get you going on a notebook that works for you:

Here’s a basic list of more ideas on what to include.
Organized Home has a few downloads you might like.
DIY Planner has some good ideas using the Getting Things Done system.
And my favorite… a beautiful visual homemaking journal, courtesy of Ann at Holy Experience (follow other links for inspiration!)

CURRENT SPONSORS:

Plan to Eat - meal planning made simple.
The Justice Conference - Justice hangs by a thread.
Lil' Soak - Sewing hope with handmade goods.
Treed - A simple, flexible, effective project planning tool.

Home Management Notebooks are a great idea. is a post from Simple Mom

Weekly Home Management, all at a glance

Tsh — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:00:44 +0000

To use my Daily Docket, I refer to my Weekly Checklist. It provides me with a master plan of what I usually need to get done in a typical week.

Photo by Buddy Stone

Here’s a thumbnail of my list (click to enlarge it):

I know it seems a bit intense, but it really works for me. It helps to not have to remember “on the fly” what needs cleaning – I can just check my master list. And it keeps me accountable for those weekly tasks that I too easily slide under the rug.

Unlike my Daily Docket, I just have one master checklist printed, and I keep it in a clear sleeve in my Home Management Notebook. Under the “other” category, I pencil in items as I remember them, and if I seem to refer to it often enough, it warrants my adding it permanently to the list.

I’d be happy to offer this as a free PDF, but it’s pretty customized to my lifestyle, which has a few quirks (cross-cultural, urban living). I could make a generic checklist of tasks familiar to most households, and include a lot of blank lines for personalization.

Or – you can just make one yourself. This isn’t a revolutionary idea, but it’s super helpful for me. It’s one more thing I include in my notebook!

• Next up in Home Management Notebooks: budgets and menus and calendars, oh my!

CURRENT SPONSORS:

Plan to Eat - meal planning made simple.
The Justice Conference - Justice hangs by a thread.
Lil' Soak - Sewing hope with handmade goods.
Treed - A simple, flexible, effective project planning tool.

Weekly Home Management, all at a glance is a post from Simple Mom