I’m still decluttering. This week, I’m working on the linen closet, which has become a catch-all. I’m going to write an article about the linen closet once I’m done, and even post pictures!

I’ve gotten a lot of old paper, cardboard, magazines, and clothes out of the house. I have a long way to go, but I can see the progress when I look around. The house is currently “messy” (thanks to the linen closet project), but not suffocating. The emptier spaces around the mess help show that the mess is temporary.

Today, I gained some organizing stuff (folders and folding storage boxes) and got rid of two boxes of magazines (recycling) and a bag of clothes (Goodwill.) I also worked more on my corner of the living room. I’m trying to spend less than an hour a day on decluttering (so I can make it a daily habit) and about half an hour on declutter/maintenance. I’ve started washing down the bathroom after I’m done getting ready in the morning. With the counters all clear (except for the clock, handsoap, and electric toothbrush), it’s really easy to clean up. I also cleared the edge of the tub so all that’s on there is my current shampoo (I can tend to be a product junkie, but that’s another habit I’m decluttering), DH’s shampoo, and my bodywash. That makes it really easy to clean. Sadly, the bathroom is not done… I still have to do under the sink, but that’s two days’ worth of work and right now I’m just skimming the surface and grabbing the easy stuff.

A really inspiring site I have found is Zen Habits. I spent a while this weekend reading a lot of the archives and I’ve added it to my daily reads for inspiration.

Today, I did not buy anything.

I decluttered the bathroom counter a bit more and cleaned out the medicine cabinet so DH’s supplies could fit in there. I have three tubs of moisturizer I need to use up! It’s crazy!

I also decluttered the magazines in the bathroom. Set aside most of them for recycling.

Tomorrow, I intend to bag up the leather shoes and purses that I can get to easily in my bedroom and take them to Goodwill (or at least get them into the Jeep!) along with the two bags of donation clothes I have waiting in the bedroom.

About a month ago, I started working on clearing certain spaces in my house. I’m usually pretty good at keeping a neat desk at work, so I decided to transfer that to my home. I started with the bathroom counter. I’ve been able to successfully keep it mostly clear for a few weeks now (except when I’m drying my hand-washed hand-knitted socks.) Now, I’m going to work on my area of the living room, which often becomes a mountain of books I’m reading for school. I’m going to completely clear it over the next week and work on keeping it completely clear whenever I am not actually working.

I’m also working on getting stuff out of my house. I have a lot of things to take to Goodwill and the library sale. I should document them in pictures while I am getting them out of the house.

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I’m trying to be a better Messie. Now that I have created enough good, healthy cleaning habits, I’m trying to relax about the rest of the mess. I want my kids to bring their friends over without me having a heart attack. My house will never meet my imaginary standard of how a house is supposed to look, so I need to accept that sometimes, there will be mail on the table, a few dishes in the sink, some books by my chair. I think I need that book. It might help after a steady diet of Anti-Mess books.

What do you think? Is a little bit of messiness a good thing?

(The same technique works for anyone who lives in one room… college students, military members, etc.)

First, set up your zones. Give your worst chores more time, and your easiest chores less time. For example, if your dresser top and bed never get messy, but your floor is a disaster, then make your dresser top and bed a single zone. Some kids choose to make each piece of furniture its own zone. For example, if you have a dresser, a desk, a bed, and a closet, then your zones would be dresser, bed, desk, closet, and floor. If you do your own laundry, then a zone would be laundry. (Check with your parents about the best day to do your laundry.)

Each zone is done once a week, unlike the zones (flylady and organized home) designed for adults. Those zones are bigger, and they’re done for a full week at a time.

A sample week:

Monday: Laundry (if you do your own.) Wash, fold, and put away laundry, wash bedsheets and remake bed. If you don’t have your own laundry baskets, try to get at least two, one for lights and one for darks, and make sure you put your dirty clothes in as soon as you take them off.

Tuesday: Dresser- clean off the top, dust, neaten the drawers, take out clothes that don’t fit or that you won’t wear. Give them to your parents so they can decide what to do with them. (Or share with friends, if you bought the clothes with your own money.)

Wednesday: Desk- throw out last year’s school papers, file this year’s in a banker’s type box (or even an old cereal box with the liner removed.) Put pens and pencils in a jar or mug. Keep stuffed animals and other toys off the desk. Tidy up any books you keep on your desk (such as dictionaries.) File personal letters and cards (I use cardboard shoe boxes.) Straighten and dust any bookcases on the same day.

Thursday: Bed- Clean out from under the bed. Put away books and magazines, file papers and letters, throw away trash, put laundry in baskets, put toys where they belong

Friday: Closet- hang up clothes that have fallen from hangers, line up shoes neatly, remove papers, dirty clothes, toys, and trash. Ask your parents what to do about clothes and shoes you have outgrown so you don’t have them cluttering up your closet.

Saturday: Floor- if you keep up with your zones each day and practice minor daily maintenance, the floor should be easy. Put dirty laundry in baskets, throw away trash, file papers, put away toys, put shoes in closet. Vacuum and/or mop.

Some daily tips:

Keep a garbage bag or can in an easy-to-reach place. You can even hang a plastic grocery bag on the door. As soon as you see trash, pick it up and throw it away.

Always put dirty clothes right in their proper baskets as soon as you take them off. If you wear items such as jeans more than once, designate a spot for them and make sure they’re put neatly away.

Try to put away books and toys as soon as you are done using them.

Make your bed as soon as you get up. You can even pull the sheets straight while you’re under the covers, then slide out and smooth them. Voila!

Before you leave your room and right after you come back in, make a quick check for things that are out of place. Just put away one thing, throw away one piece of trash, straighten up one book each time and you’ll have a nice, neat room all the time.

My holiday breaks up into several categories:

Food
Presents
Cleaning
Visiting

An excellent resource for getting ready for Christmas is Organized Christmas. I’ve been trying to follow the plan for several years now and I get better at it every year. It can be a bit overwhelming, but it’s a good glimpse into the life of people who are more organized than I am.

Now is a good time to sit down and think about what you can get done ahead. If you have space in your pantry/ cabinets, you can start buying the canned and dry foods you normally cook for Christmas and Thanksgiving (note, I come from a US Christian perspective, but these tips are easily adaptable for other regions and religions.) Make a list and buy one or two things off the list every time you go shopping. (Be sure to double-check your recipes so you don’t find yourself missing something when the stores are closed.)

Now is also a good time to start collecting presents, if you haven’t already started. I like to have all of my presents bought before we buy the tree (about the second week of December.) If your kids (or spouse) are very snoopy, find alternate places to hide presents, such as in a friend’s storage room or at work. While you’re thinking about presents, consider cutting back a bit. Look at giving more consumables, especially if you’re trying to give presents to someone who already has everything. You can also do gift donations, such as Heifer International.

I like to make presents. Some good ideas of gifts to make include afghans, pot-holders, decorated jars, baking mixes in jars… you can look at Organized Christmas for more ideas.

Pre-Christmas cleaning is very important. Consider that you probably won’t have time for any deep cleaning after Thanksgiving, so try to get your deep cleaning done before then. Consult lists and guides like the ones on Organized Christmas, but if that’s too much for you, modify them for your own needs.

I’ll be using this book as a guide for the plan. I’ll post a review after I’m done reading it. I’ll also post weekly wrap-ups of my impressions as I go through the plan. If you are also doing the plan, please post your impressions in the comments!

Help! I have two dogs that make a mess of my house! They stay outside in the back yard while I’m at work - the problem is when they come in! They are both still puppies, one is 9 months and the other is a year and four months, so they love to play and wrestle and get DIRTY! I wipe them off really well before letting them in the house but they still have residual dirt and mud on their paws and coats. I already tried wood chips in the kennel to help keep the mud down and rotating them between two yards to let the grass grow back, but so far it hasn’t done much to keep the dirt out of the house. I sometimes let them in the basement to dry off before coming inside. We have door mats as well. Any suggestions to help keep the floors and carpets cleaner (at least not dirty brown) and keep me from scrubbing and shampooing all the time????

If you have any ideas, go ahead and post a comment!