Have you ever had a day when you finally notice how cluttered your house is? You open your closet and a couple of shoe boxes fall on you. Or you struggle to open the junk drawer in your kitchen. Maybe you’re looking for stamps in your desk and come across what feels like a billion pens.
Clutter is so frustrating!
It makes you wonder why you have so much stuff to begin with. For a second you may ponder ditching it all and taking up the minimalist lifestyle. Never fear, there is a sweet spot between too much stuff and owning next to nothing.
It’s my pleasure to introduce you to one of my favorite books:
Throw Out 50 ThingsIf you’re looking for a book with a detailed guide on how to organize, move along because this isn’t the book for you. However, if you want to de-clutter by means of letting things go, then BINGO, this book will help you do it.
The premise of the book is right there in the title, and that might sound easy until you get right down to it and realize all the rooms in your house to go through.
Bedroom – Bathroom – Kitchen – Living Room – Dining Room – Attic – Garage
Since I live in an apartment, I don’t have that many rooms, but let me share with you a space that I worked on. The linen closet. I don’t have that many linens, it’s just me and my husband, so we also store medicine, bath and beauty products in there.
BEFORE:
Ouch, that hurts to look at. The sad part is that it looked even worse in person. There were so many lotions and unused/expired bath products. I couldn’t find the Aleve even though it was right up front, it was cluttered with the rest of the medicines. My favorite part was my hotel stash, I had four freezer bags full of them! Shampoo, conditioner, hand soap and body wash. If that wasn’t a cry for help, then surely saving a bunch of prescription bottles was.
Are you ready to see the results of the purge?
AFTER:
Unbelievable, am I right? Where did everything go? Short answer, the trash. I took nearly everything out, looked it over, and decided if I’d use it in the next year, could I donate it, or was it better to be trashed? The answer was almost always trash. I had to confer with my husband on a few things, but he was surprised how quickly I slashed through this project. Also, there were two heavy trash bags to take out.
Let’s look at a smaller project.
I recently set up a vanity for myself. I don’t use much make-up (Google vanity and look and the images that come up, they can get HUGE), and the small space works perfectly. Except that it took no time at all to get cluttered.
BEFORE:
Ugh, I don’t even want to talk about this mess. Seriously though, those socks were there for more than a few days. Gross, I know.
AFTER:
Now this is something I can talk about! The mirrored base was free from a friend and sitting in the back of a shelf in the kitchen, it looks glam on the vanity. My favorite cereal bowl is chipped, so instead of tossing it, I’m using it as a catch-all. Only my daily necessities are on the vanity and the rest are in the closet.
The best part of clearing all that clutter is that you find what you really need, what matters, and discover that without extra stuff, there’s more room for life.
Throw Out 50 Things is written by Gail Blanke. Every time I read this book it inspires me to clear out a different part of my house. My advice is to start small. Instead of the whole kitchen, just tackle the refrigerator. That could mean getting the rotten and expired food out. Or you could even throw out old magnets for restaurants that went out of business.
Get cracking! You don’t have to wait until the weekend to start getting rid of that clutter.
-Kristina Wise
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