Decluttering Mania

I have been in a decluttering mode the last few days.  You know how you get comfortable with the way things are but then suddenly one day you look at it all and you can’t take it anymore?  Well, I’ve reached that point… at least for the time being.  Right now I’m attacking working on our office/schoolroom.  The room size is really not that big and yet it is the most used room (outside of the kitchen) in the house. 

But all that is not so bad.  It’s all the papers I accumulate that get me.  Awhile back I bought 6 nifty inbox trays that stack and gave one to each of my children and my husband and then kept one for myself.  When we changed how we do things in the schoolroom, I inherited 2 of them back.  This seemed great at the time but having 3 trays just caused me to collect more papers.   Finally, I stopped separating the papers and would just pile them into the top tray.  Just like this…

Now the last time I humiliated shared with you parts of my house I actually won a contest.  And you know, the organizer bags I won from that have truly been quite nice.

But back to the subject at hand – another messy hot spot (as Flylady would say).  I bought a magazine the other day called Organize and lo and behold there was an article written about cluttered in-boxes.  I thought this contributor had the greatest idea of how to deal with all those articles, magazines, papers that we all want to read but never quite get to.  She said that you should put a date on all your papers of when they must be read by.  If by that date they have not been read, it’s time to toss.  What a revolutionary idea!     (That little tip, written in red, is the main reason I wanted to write this post.  I hope someone benefits!)

Most of the time if someone would just throw the whole lot away I would never even miss it.  So, I’m going through my inbox with determination to find a home for what is in there or TOSS!  Yea!  I love it when I get in these moods; otherwise, I just want to want to hang on to too many things.  When these moods come upon me every so often about once a year but who’s counting I have learned I’d better act quick before I start reasoning.  "Well, what if I need this someday?" or "I paid good money for it.  I just HAVE to use it."  "Someday, when I  have more time I’ll read this." 

As Flylady says, "If it doesn’t make you smile, get rid of it."  I know one thing.  I feel a whole lot lighter after tossing.

Okay, it’s time to get back to that inbox.  I promise, if nothing big should come up,  to have it cleaned out at some point today and a picture posted by tomorrow.

I’ve never done a Mister Linky before but I thought it might be kind of fun.  So what I’m asking for here is ideas on how you cut clutter in your house.  Mindsets you have to have when decluttering.  Pictures of areas you are working on or have worked on.  You get the picture?  ANYTHING about decluttering.     Help me out here folks.  I need some fuel to keep me moving!  And if you don’t want to write a post about it, well, then just leave a comment. 

Copyright 2008 Treasuring the Moments