As I mentioned in my last post, I am involved in a 40 day declutter challenge. During this challenge, I am choosing small areas to declutter each day. Slow and steady wins the race, right? Although I have been decluttering many different areas of our home, a corner in our bedroom comes to mind when I think of clutter. Interestingly enough, I have written about organizing in the past, and some of this space was used in that process, so how did it get so cluttered? I focused on organizing, not decluttering!
Somehow jewelery doesn't make it back to it's home, lotions that haven't been used in months still have a home on the shelf, and random items simply get left in this corner.
Before
Somehow jewelery doesn't make it back to it's home, lotions that haven't been used in months still have a home on the shelf, and random items simply get left in this corner.
Before
When I look at this space even in picture form it makes me cringe. It's impossible to find anything but worse, I didn't even know what was in these piles until I took a good dive into it all. This means, I had too much in this space. So, I took everything off of the shelves and on top of the dresser and put it all into boxes. From there I sorted. I just used the floor but some other people use fancy systems. Maybe next time! The two easiest categories were "trash" or "doesn't belong here." It's amazing how many pens, post it notes, and other items that really don't belong in this space appeared here. What's even more interesting is I had no clue they were there! I also made piles on the floor of jewelry, hair accessories, everyday products, etc. The floor was a bit messy at this point, but the shelves were empty, and the tops of the jewelry box and dresser were empty as well. Of course, I took this opportunity to dust off those spaces with some Mrs. Meyer's all purpose cleaner, I love that stuff!
After doing a quick clean, I started to think about logical places for the items that I found to be useful. I decided that items that I use everyday should be stored on the top of my dresser near my mirror. Items I use less often but want to keep (nail polish, lotions etc) should be put on the shelf next to the dresser. I used jars and baskets for organizing. See prior post about this here. Before I started frantically putting items back on the shelf, I decided quickly (with trash can in front of me) if I needed that item. If the answer was no, it went in the trash. If the answer was no, but someone could use it, I put it in a donate box in the room next door. I was amazed at how many old nail polishes, lotions, and similar toiletries I could easily trash just by looking at them.
After doing a quick clean, I started to think about logical places for the items that I found to be useful. I decided that items that I use everyday should be stored on the top of my dresser near my mirror. Items I use less often but want to keep (nail polish, lotions etc) should be put on the shelf next to the dresser. I used jars and baskets for organizing. See prior post about this here. Before I started frantically putting items back on the shelf, I decided quickly (with trash can in front of me) if I needed that item. If the answer was no, it went in the trash. If the answer was no, but someone could use it, I put it in a donate box in the room next door. I was amazed at how many old nail polishes, lotions, and similar toiletries I could easily trash just by looking at them.
Admittedly, I ran into some time constraints since I started this project on a Friday evening before dinner, so I had to keep the piles sitting around for a bit longer than usual.
However, after putting many items in places where they belong, including the trash, this corner is once again clutter-free. My hope is that items that do not live here will not end up here, and if they do, at least now I will be able to see the items and not have to look at piles.
However, after putting many items in places where they belong, including the trash, this corner is once again clutter-free. My hope is that items that do not live here will not end up here, and if they do, at least now I will be able to see the items and not have to look at piles.
What are some ways that you keep easily cluttered spaces decluttered? I'd love to hear your ideas as I journey through decluttering my home.