uncluttering one day and one thing at a time

Sometimes, for me, uncluttering isn't so much about getting rid of things (although that can be a great side effect) but about dealing with something that annoys me. So, this morning, I've just spent a productive 5-10 minutes sorting through my scrap paper pile, and I feel so much more relaxed about it that I did.

As a household with three kids, one of whom is through high school, and the other two still in high school, we've generated a lot of 'unused' paper through the last decade -- mostly half used scrapbooks and note books. We have a shelf that this gets put on, and then any time anyone needs to make notes or doodles, they grab paper out of there. However, there are different 'grades' of such paper, depending on how easy it is to get more/the proportion of it in the stack. And every time I see one of the kids grab some of the coloured construction paper (which means I usually can't read the notes), the heavier card stock, the graph/manuscript/dotted thirds lines paper, I take a moment to go 'don't use that, use the real scrap paper'. And mostly they do, but sometimes they just grab what is on top. And when what is on top is what has just come out of someone's desk drawer, it could be anything.

The sorting was pretty simple. I took the top 15-20cm off the pile (of ~30cm), and then anything I didn't care about that was roughly A4 sized went straight back on. Coloured paper and construction card were put in one pile; all the other 'precious' paper types in another, and scrap that was smaller than A4 was either sorted into a notepad pile or binned. The 'precious' papers have been put at the other end of the shelf (vertically, between existing dividers), and the small note pads have been put on top, so that they can be used first. Random bits of card, covers off scrapbooks, pieces too small, all in the bin.

And now I have a neat and tidy shelf, and I know that if I grab the top piece of paper off the active pile, it will be something I can throw out after I've used it, because it really is scrap.

I dropped the ball on Wednesday*, so starting my twice weekly posts today. Did you unclutter today? If so, what?

I spent an hour or so sorting the random piles of books in my bedroom. Lots are still there, but I binned 3 conference proceedings and some other booklets, put three books on the 'leaving the house' pile, and moved some others to locations where I can start to work out whether I need them or not (need to compare against what I have).

* I'm hoping to make Wednesday and Sunday posts, because those are days when I'm usually on the computer

Today, because a friend dropped in, I rehomed
1. 2 * Moomin DVDs my kids were never going to watch again
2. 24 copies across 8 issues of a magazine I used to be involved in publishing (still four not quite full boxes, but I'll get there)

Today, I'm working on sorting out files that were transferred from the work computer (to be returned ASAP) to my home computer, and I've come across the file in which I used to make my decluttering notes, before tidying them up to post here. I'm guessing that the first part is from December, while the last section had October 30th on it! So, what was I finding to declutter?

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It is apparently … weeks since I last posted here! As well as the following list of decluttered items, I've also spent some time grouping like with like items in some of the cluttered areas, which really helps (me) with working out What Next.

• several rulers – added to the 'spare' stationery box, which is going to be rehomed at the end of the year.
• some biscuit and tea tins. Sadly, rearranging the shelf to fill the holes means that the whole thing still looks untidy.
• old blanket – this has been earmarked to go for quite some time, but I took it with me to the cat haven, and they were happy to have it.
• dead shoe polish – going to have to replace some, but at least the dead ones are gone!
• dead pens – a couple of dozen, which I could not get to work. Still have too many, but have put the ones without lids into active use, and the rest in a drawer.
• clothes – seriously, how are my kids still finding clothes that they have outgrown!
• dance shoes – this isn't really an 'achieved' but more a 'started' – I've dug out the box of unloved shoes, and I'm going to start photographing them to put them on gumtree just as soon as I get a good day with a spare hour.

It has been most of a year that I've been focusing on improving things, and I can report that the front hall and lounge (immediately off from and kind of the same room as the front hall; this is a 1980s Australian open plan house) have been mostly tidy for a month. There are intermittent temporary clutter items, but nothing staying anywhere long enough to get dusty, just there to remind me that they need dealing with!

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30 October -- I handed on some buttons, some yarn and some iron on embroidery transfers [3 different people]. No luck with rehoming costumes - forgot to offer them!

The last week or so I've mostly not been sorting things out at home, because I've been dealing with office detritus, as all of our group moved office, and much paperwork was sorted through (including from people who have been gone a decade. Shared offices.). So much paper -- I think I half filled a secure shredding bin. 

Today though, I took the following to the op-shop

• nearly a dozen bags (shoulder bags, cooler bags, other) which were surplus -- several had been conference 'loot'. 
• a small bag of assorted small toys (specifically given to the op shop that makes up bags of such)
• a bag of 10 or so hardcover books weeded out (about half of what I originally identified -- they sat in the 'outbox' for two weeks, and I discovered that some were favourites of partner, eldest had plans to read one, and that one was an anthology with stories by authors whose work I actively collect). 

I've also identified a few other bits and pieces -- pretty pencils to go to a primary teacher friend to use as prizes; 2 DVDs that my kids are never going to watch; a duplicate of something (I remember finding it, just not what it is!)

I have the goal for February of getting everything out of the front hall that doesn't live there. Which may mean going specifically to visit friends, so as to hand over particular items (and work out what to do with one where the friend and I have lost touch, and they have moved multiple times -- I've been able to track them to a previous location). And of concentrating the clutter in such ways that most of the house is accessible, including doors/windows in which ever room I decide is the dumping ground. 

6th January is our traditional date for packing up the seasonal decorations. This year, I sorted through the boxes of items that hadn't been put out, and made the kids comment on the value of keeping them.

• The stash of pine cones went - this hasn't been used except when I've been in charge of putting out decorations. That was half a (medium sized) box worth of space!
• almost all of the 'artwork' that came home from school/kindy/daycare/etc went in the bin. I kept a few that had photos on, but there was a lot of plastic tat
• several items in poor condition with no sentimental value* went.

Now, all of the decorations fit into two boxes! Mostly what went on display were the items I've been buying each year at the Oxfam shop (pretty, and they usually have items that can be identified as Solstice, rather than specifically for religious ceremonies). Many that didn't go on display came from my childhood, and while tatty, you can't get decorations like that any more. My guess is that when the kids leave home, we'll do a split of the decorations, and then I'll have to decide whether I want to keep those for the nostalgia, or whether they are too tatty, and throw them out.  

[there has also been quite a lot of movement of Stuff! from other parts of the house. The 16 yo and the 12 yo have both managed to come up with a washing basket full of unloved toys and bits; the 16 yo has also managed about the same volume of outgrown clothes. The front hall now has a teetering mound of Stuff! to go elsewhere, although I've had some luck with passing it on to visiting friends]

* there are a number of quite tatty ones I can't bring myself to throw out -- these are the type that were thread wrapped around a ball, and they went fuzzy quite easily. I also can't bring myself to throw out the tinsel, even though I hate it and it mostly doesn't get put out. That is for No Good Reason at All. Maybe next year. 

 I can't believe it has been most of a month since I've done one of these posts! I've been taking reasonable volumes of Stuff! to the op-shop, and rehoming some with friends as well. 

Today's haul to the op-shop (it should have been yesterday's, but I got so caught up in the conversation with youngest that I missed the correct freeway entry, and was nearly in our street when I remembered) included several tablecloths we are never going to use again, an assortment of salad bowls that have been replaced by 4 matching ones that stack (these were identified as 'to go' months ago, but got put in the wrong place), a bag of kids board games, a 'build your own' wooden aeroplane kit, several cookbooks, single bed sheets that didn't have matching sheets/quilt covers, and more of youngest's clothes. 

In previous weeks, I've found a home for:  the replaced food processor; one of my irons and my friend's unused iron; two dozen books, including the previously identified Bobbsey Twins books, craft how-tos, more cookbooks, and outdated science texts; toys (*3); and two carry bags. 

And I've taken to my 'collection' of dead sheets, shredding 3 (and half a quilt cover) into 1" strips, and starting to crochet them up into rag rugs. I've had a semi-request for a dog toy made in the same way, with the understanding that the two dogs in question will destroy the toy, so I'll shred at least one more of the sheets. And while I was in the middle of doing that, a visiting friend lamented that they had misplaced the dead white sheet that they were going to use for craft, and dug one out and sent it home with her. 

In terms of storage - this sums to two sections of the box shelves being emptied and things moved from temporary homes into permanent ones, all the cookbooks fitting on their new shelf rather than being scattered across four different locations, and a shelf of the temporary bookshelf cleared for all of three days until I started locating other books in even more temporary locations (such as on the floor beside the bed) and moved them in there. 

Oh, and eldest brought a box in from the garage, and I was able to deal with everything in it, so I'm making progress on the 'get the garage sorted so I can put the car in there in the summer' project!

 This is a belated post, covering last weekend, and mid-week.

It occurred to me that one of the areas I don't clear out regularly enough is the freezer (both the little one inside, and the free standing one in the garage). So, last weekend, I did a pass through the small freezer, and identified a handful of things that need using up in the little one. Ends of loaves (which the kids *claim* they eat) went in the chooks. Other than that, there were 3 (now 2) containers of cooking bananas, and 3 (now 2) containers of guava. I've made one batch of guava paste (like jam, but only a little water and sugar, so it doesn't gel, but it does spread nicely), and one batch of fried banana. Next set of tasks on this are to make another batch of guava paste, which should get through the rest, make more fried banana, and then start moving things that need using up to the inside freezer. 

Today's focus area was the front hall/foyer. For Quite Some Time, we have had an overflowing brick and board shoe shelf, with an overflow shelf beside it, and two boxes and a large basket underneath it. This have been solved by a) buying three new boards in order to restructure the shelf and b) going through the large basket of hats and the box of swimming gear, and deciding to rehome large amounts of hats, house socks, and assorted items that have been stashed on the top shelf. Also, the moving of the swimming gear to the linen cupboard (we no longer run out the door to swimming twice a week with mere minutes for grabbing everything). The large basket, in poor nick, will become a chook nesting basket. 6+ hats, outgrown swim gear, and various items which have not been returned to owner because owner has vanished have been put in two plastic bags to go to the op shop on the way home on Tuesday. There is now more space in the front hall!

Also sorted
- a large bowl of assorted small things. ~ 1/4 each to bin, rehome (op shop), put away by kids, and 'deal with it when I have some oomph'. 
- papers - either filed or binned
- craft projects - two items (poor condition; not readily reusable) binned rather than repurposed. 

All in all, a successful day, but I'm knackered!

 Despite the fact that we have sequentially gone through their clothes in recent months (season by season), the kids have managed to find *more* outgrown clothes to rehome. At least we seem to be running out of winter clothes in this category.

And in the last week, I have continued the purge of paper. My 'really can't deal with that' pile is about 1.5cm thick, and I have filled our little bin (say, 10L) about five times. In addition, I found a box of old convention books, did the legal deposit thing (because there didn't appear to be copies in the state archive, even though I thought I had done this already), made sure the relevant community archive had copies, and ditched the rest. One box-o-stuff completely gone! And I have been completely ruthless with old newsletters and community magazines. If none of the family feature, and I can't find something else that makes me smile in nostalgia as I flick through, out it goes (the one thing that really made me nostalgic was a Student Guild Elections book which featured two people who later became Guild President, and one person how is a current federal politician. They were *so young*)