Tuesday 19 October 2010

Clutter Control

Well, my friend is back from America, and, being the good friend I am, I've suggested staying at home to get over the jet lag instead of coming over to inspect my tidying! She probably knew I'd never get it done in time but I think she appreciates that I've made an effort at least and there is improvement.  To help increase the level improvement, she bought me back this book - 10 minute Clutter Control Room by Room.  



I'm still reading the introductory chapters about what my clutter says about me, and general tips to decluttering, but I'm then going to attempt using it on a room to see if it works.  Most of it makes sense to me, and there's some good ideas on how to make tidying a game (although as Ian is upstairs in bed ill, I think I'll let him off having to play).  But some things I just don't get (and maybe this is where my clutter problem comes from!)  How can I throw away all my letters? I love receiving mail and so I keep it all - sometimes to remind me to reply, but mainly just because - is that wrong?  If someone takes the time to write to me - who am I to throw that out? Obviously, I'm not talking about typed letters here - maybe that's what this tip in the book is referring to - I understand that I can throw those away, and I do.  What do you think?

I decided to walk through the house and find something to chuck - the book says find 10 things, but it's the first night so I figured baby steps were acceptable.  I found a whole bag of word fridge magnets that I acquired from my student days.  They've been on the top of my fridge for a while now - mainly because I think I prefer the uncluttered look of the fridge door this way, and I'm past writing silly things with them too.  And yet they've still lived for 17 months on top of the fridge! Why?! So... off to the charity shop they go.  


While I was removing them from the top of the fridge, I wondered about the rest of the stuff on the top of the fridge too - and I decided it annoyed me, but I'm at a loss as to what to do with it.  On top of the fridge is kitchen roll, tissues and toilet roll.  Where do you keep these things in your homes? (I should point out the fridge is next to the bathroom, so it's not all that weird having toilet roll there).  It just looks messy - I'm happy with the convenience of it, and the proximity to the desired end points of each item, but how can I make it look nicer?


I suppose just the fact that I'm wondering these things is a good sign! Right - back to reading my book I go - I promise I'll get back to food soon! 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I always feel bad when trying to work out what to do with Christmas cards 'n' stuff. I feel I have to chuck 'em out (bar a few special ones), because if I keep every card every Christmas, I'll bury myself alive... but it is sad, too!

PocketGenius said...

There is loads of space on the wall above your fridge. Install some cabinets there to keep the paper products. Tidy and out of sight, but still convenient proximity. We keep our paper product supplies in the cupboard under the stairs.

Lisa said...

I keep the special cards in a box. The rest of the Christmas cards are recycled into gift tags by means of fancy edged scissors, a hole punch, and festive coloured string. Cut out the pretty bits on the front with no writing on the back, punch hole in convenient place, thread string. Then put the written-on bit in the recycling with a clear conscience!

Carrie said...

I'm considering putting together some scrapbooks so I can browse through things like old christmas cards easier than getting out all my old shoe boxes. My mum used to take all of the christmas card pictures, chop them into about 4 or 5 pieces (more when we got older) and used them for a game at our birthday parties - every group got a bag of pieces and you had to go around and swap pieces to try and complete your cards. We also had games involving the letters off smarties tubes - my mum was pretty resourceful!