Life Less Cluttered

4 Four Letter Words

As we near the end of another semester in our declutter small group, I’ve been thinking about simple nuggets of wisdom from everything the ladies and I have discussed over the past 8-10 weeks. Because my approach to decluttering is to break it down to small, simple step, I’ve come up with 4 Four Letter Words to simplify some of the key points in my daily attempts to live life less cluttered.

Time. Work. Plan. Find.

Wash Your Pots

PSA: Wash it while it’s hot!

Sometimes decluttering has nothing to with getting rid of stuff, but rather the habits you keep to maintain the things you have.

One such thing is the dishes. A full sink and dirty pots on the stove in the kitchen equates to piles of laundry on the bed in the bedroom. It’s clutter. We’ll really, it’s mess because mess can be cleaned up and put away. Clutter is where stuff goes to die and serves no purpose, but anyway, lingering mess, like true clutter, will still give you rising anxiety and stress.

The Things We Shed

My exercise bike sits next to a window in my living room. On the mornings I ride, I look outside at the bird house and from time to time see sweet little blue birds coming in and out of the house. I love to watch them.

This morning, however, I noticed the peach tree. The peach tree sits behind the bird house and I noticed that after the barren winter, it’s beginning to rebloom. For whatever reason, I thought about a science lesson we did last year in our botany course.

A Functional Kitchen

This morning in our delcutter small group, we got to talking about counter tops. My kitchen counter tops were actually one of the first places in my home that I tackled when I began to live life less cluttered.

I truly believe that if you love to cook or not, the kitchen may be one of the most used rooms in the house. You hear it on those house flipping shows, “The kitchen sells the house.” There’s good reason why the farmhouse Gather signs aren’t hanging in the bedrooms. The kitchen is a great place to start the declutter journey.

Super Organized

There’s nothing quite as lovely as an organized home. Type A people love it, and if we’re honest, non-type A people love it as well. I don’t know too many people that prefer chaos and mess over tidy and orderly. The difference is that some of us have an easier time of maintaining an organized home than others. I fall somewhere in the middle of super organized and a complete hot mess. I can be either, or some varying degree of either, on any given day. Nonetheless, I prefer a clutter-free home to an organized home. The two are not the same and one does not always equal the other. I mentioned this in my last DIY post. Check it out for some great tips to start decluttering without buying a single thing.

Playing With My Hangers

I laughed when I typed that title. It totally sounds like something hanging out of my nose… …. …. Ok, I’m over it. Of course I’m talking about my clothes hangers. I learned a very important principle early on in my declutter journey. “I shouldn’t consume beyond the confines of my home.” I shouldn’t live beyond my means.

Practical DIY No. 9: Seven Simple Ways to Declutter Without Buying Almost Anything

One thing that drives me a little nuts is the idea that you have to buy organizational tools to declutter. It’s not hard to find pics on the web of perfectly organized pantries with cutesy clear containers of grains and spices, void of manufacturers’ cereal boxes and generic brand pasta cartons. I always wondered where the Pop-Tarts go. Or how about those crazy expensive organizational systems that roll in seemingly free to get that small closet in order on your favorite HGTV show. Yes, those scenarios present beautiful results. I’d love to have cubbies for sorting all-the-things in my house, but I’m a realist and my budget is small. And even more than that, let me scream it to the mountain tops, “You don’t have to buy stuff to start the process of getting rid of stuff!” The thought that you can organize your way out of clutter is flawed. Organize your stuff AFTER you declutter when your home is left with intentional things that you have chosen to use or enjoy.

Carried Away

Last night I had a dream that I was stuck in an elevator. I hopped on quickly to ride up one floor. For a split second I entertained taking the stairs, but that was the same second my feet were moving through the doors I allowed to close behind me. I was in the elevator with a few other people. Of course it came to a stop, stuck just before the doors were to open to the next floor.

2021

I don’t know that I’ve ever been ready to welcome a year more than this year. Can you agree? My 10 day quarantine literally ended on the last day of the year. We’d been in quarantine since December 12, totaling how long it’s taken the virus to run through the whole family. We’re doing well and are very blessed, but 2020 sucked. It’s hard for me to say it because I’m a bright-side, enthusiast, type 7.

Practical DIY No. 8: Turning Anything into a Planter

Ok, not anything, but anything that holds liquid that you may want to drain liquid. I am a terrible green thumb, but I have learned that most pots need drainage holes to prevent overwatering and root rot if you plan to keep a plant alive for an extended period of time. I learned this when I attempted a cutesy windowsill herb garden made with mason jars. All of my plants eventually died from root rot because of improper water drainage. So what do you do if you find a pretty pot on clearance (like I did) and see that it has no holes? Bummer.