The Declutter Diaries is a series of posts I did for a former blog as a glimpse inside a real decluttering project [with occasional editorial comments from my present self]. You can start with Day One here.
I wasn’t quite sure which room I would do today since this zone has 4 rooms in it. The plants in the corner of the living room caught my eye, so that’s where I ended up.
First I decluttered some plants. I can hear you now. “How do you declutter a plant?” Basically, you cut off the long trailing baby plants that are trying to grow from the spider plant, and you tuck up the long vines on the philodendron. [You probably clean up all the dead leaves, too.] By the way, the homeless plant from my bedroom is temporarily lodging with another plant in the corner of the living room. We’ll see how it works out.
Next, the pile on the corner table was (mostly) demolished. That pile tends to be library books and other current reading. It’s also the home of my laptop and peripherals. Of course, papers tend to accumulate there as well. I now have a crate dedicated solely to collecting piles of paper for sorting out and filing later. I do try to throw away any obvious trash.
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[Hmmm….I still seem to have this problem with the papers. I keep collecting piles into boxes, but somehow I never seem to actually go through the boxes. Clearly I need to work on my “pile demolishing.”]
The main challenge in this room was the bookshelf. Crammed with books, toys, and miscellaneous junk, it was not a pretty sight. I spent most of my time cleaning all the shelves off, hauling books up to the attic, taking toys to the basement, and finding homes for the random stuff.
I also thought about what I really want on the shelves rather than just tidying up what was already there. I culled quite a few books and created a shelf dedicated to my Spanish study books which had previously been drifting around in a homeless state. Some shelves are just empty for now until I decide what I really want there. (Wow! Empty shelves!)
[Good job, Past Self. If you are going to bother to completely empty a space, you might as well give some thought as to what you actually want to live there. By the way, don’t get used to those empty shelves!]
[Notes about bookshelves: it’s tempting to cram too much onto a shelf. Big people books are usually wide enough that you can read the title on the spine, so it’s fine if they are taking up the whole shelf. Try to resist the urge to make horizontal piles on the bookshelf (I know, my picture is violating this advice–my shelves just weren’t tall enough on those top shelves!). If you make a pile, you have to dig to get to things.
Little people books are really skinny, and usually oversized. Kids want to see the front of the book, so if they are all lined up on the shelf, kids tend to pull them off to see them = big mess. Honestly, kid books do better in baskets or boxes on the floor. Stand them all up facing forward so that you can flip through them.]
Finally: the closet. I just couldn’t face that today. It is jammed with stuff from floor to ceiling. It is also our arts and craft supply storage. Hauling all of that out would have overwhelmed me, so I guess the living room will just have to take two days (maybe three). That’s what I love about flexible planning.
[Important tip: when you are doing major decluttering projects, pace yourself. It didn’t get like this overnight, so it might take some time to go through everything. Know when you’ve had enough for one day.]
Are your plans flexible in case you get overwhelmed or something just takes longer than expected?