Flying?

R is in Nashville this week. When he asked me to post a lot this week while he's gone, I'm not sure if this is what he had in mind. Ha ha.

I'm not doing Flylady exactly. But I'm going to gather info from the site and do it my own way. Maybe once we move I'll do it more like she suggests. Anyway, I'm also doing it backwards. She wants you to have everything basically clean before you start the decluttering process. Um...I didn't do it like that. I was too eager to do the set-the-timer-for-15-minutes-and-see-how-much-I-can-accomplish thing.

I've identified many, many hotspots in this place. The bookshelf, changing table, my desk, the top of the dresser - anything with a flat surface. The entire kitchen is a hotspot (mainly because it's TINY and not everything has a place to go - not even the food. That's what you get for moving into a place sight-unseen.). My goal here is not to get this place picture-perfect. Since we plan on moving soon, it doesn't seem worth the time/energy to me. My goal is to get it decluttered enough so that when I do get a moment to myself, I can actually think in here, and so that we don't feel like we need to take an entire weekend day to clean it. And then to keep it at that level of cleanliness (ay, there's the rub).

A few weeks ago, I found this table/desk for sale on Craigslist. It had been available for a while, so I offered the guy half price if he hadn't sold it yet, and he hadn't, so I got a pretty decent desk for not a lot of money. Of course it has a giant scratch down the middle of it, but who can see it anyway with all this junk on it?

So I set my timer for 15 minutes and spent 10 of it clearing off just one part and putting it on the dining table. Then I spent the last five minutes (and a few more after that) putting that stuff away or throwing it out. There was nothing to donate there, that's for sure. Mainly what there was to put away were papers we need to keep, toys/V's games, and a few other odds and ends. And I dusted (while V dusted her play kitchen). Here's how it looks now. I never know what to do with wires. Other people seem to know, but I never do. They can sit on the desk, or they can hang down to the floor. Neither option is particularly appealing to me.

The rest of the desk still looks the same, though I will probably put away the big stack of V's books that are sitting on the corner. These books came to us all the way from Oregon and they're fabulous (thanks Rachel!)! They just haven't made their way to bookshelf yet, because we've been reading them all over and over again. V loves her books!

So, what was V doing while I was doing all this? Surely not making another mess ...

Now there is cat food all over the floor in the playroom/office, so we'll be vacuuming later. Sigh. Anyway, I'm thinking it's going to take me three days to completely declutter this desk at 15 minutes a pop. Frightening, isn't it? Then I'll start on something else, maybe the bookshelf. In the meantime, I'm going to shine my sink later today (naptime, I think) and try to keep the toys in their rightful places, instead of all over the living room floor.

But right now I say it's time for watercolors with my girl!

Comments

[Kitt]

I moved last year, and one of my secrets of moving is to pick a less-used space into which all of the (meticulously labeled) boxes go. ALL of them, even if they say Kitchen, Bedroom, etc. Then I unpack from that space, bringing out one box at a time and emptying it.

That way, the new space is completely uncluttered and livable from the get-go.

And here's the thing: It's been a year, and my garage is still half-full of boxes! Granted, much of it is books, but everything else is going to end up on craigslist or at Goodwill, since clearly I don't need it anymore. And my house is way less cluttered.

[Shelli]

Good for you!! The cat food definitely got a good giggle out of me!