Decluttering Craft Supplies and Tools — Things to Think About
First off, I have to be honest and say that I’m not a crafter. My mom is a talented and sought-after artisan quilter and I grew up watching her acquire and stash lots of crafting supplies. Now that she is retired and free to quilt a LOT, the stash has grown 
Many crafters like to have a lot of supplies and tools on hand in order to be well prepared for current and upcoming projects. Many also have a number of unfinished or in progress projects to organize. The key is to balance your crafting inventory with the space available so that you can easily find what you need and spend your time enjoying crafting rather than searching for supplies and tools. Read more
Monday Link Roundup
Today’s Monday Link Roundup centers around hoarding and decluttering. If your home is seriously cluttered, beginning to declutter for 15 minutes per day is the single most effective tweak you can begin today to transform your life.
What do I mean by “seriously cluttered”? If you have areas of your home that cannot be used for their intended purpose, then your life — and your family’s – is being seriously impacted by the clutter. For example, sometimes a family cannot eat at the dining room table because it is covered with stuff. Or a sofa or chair is out of commission because it has a heap of clutter on top. Sometimes people stop using beds, bedrooms or even bathrooms because the clutter has taken over. Is this you? Commit to turning the problem around for just 15 minutes a day — I promise you will be amazed at the results of a little consistent daily focus.
Here are the links: Read more
How to Declutter Your Kitchen – Part II
See Part I of this series for an introduction to kitchen decluttering and some tips for decluttering your food. This post is about decluttering your dishes, kitchen tools, appliances, pots and pans — in other words, the nonfood items in your kitchen.
Most people have accumulated far more houseware items than they need or can use. The more unnecessary stuff you can eliminate from your home, the easier the rest is to care for and the less work it is to keep your home tidy and orderly. Be ruthless about getting rid of what you don’t need and you will be amazed at how peaceful your home will become. Read more
How to Declutter Your Kitchen – Part I
Once you add the Declutter Daily Tweak (15 minutes a day of decluttering) to your routine, sooner or later you’ll be ready to start decluttering your kitchen. It’s best to declutter one room at at time. I suggest starting with the kitchen, which is often the least cluttered room.
Imagine what it will be like when your kitchen is free of clutter. A decluttered kitchen is remarkably easy to keep clean and tidy. You will know what food you have on hand, and you will know that it is all fresh. You won’t worry whether the clutter is hiding any old or spilled food that could be attracting bugs or rodents. With your work spaces cleared and a kitchen stocked with only the fresh food that you need, it’s easy to prepare and cook meals, which is better for your budget and for your health. Read more
Vietnam Veterans of America Will Pick Up Your Donated Items
Do you have a lot of good, useful clothing and other clutter looking for a new home, but no way to drop the clutter off at a deserving charity?
Vietnam Veterans of America is “The only national Vietnam veterans organization congressionally chartered and exclusively dedicated to Vietnam-era veterans and their families.” In order to raise funds, the VVA accepts donations of good used items which they auction off in order to help fund their worthwhile work. Read more
The Top 6 Non-Reasons for Clutter
CNN and Real Simple have published a fantastic article about clutter today. It’s not one of your typical “how to get your not-really-cluttered house a little more uncluttered.” This article really gets to the roots of our rationales for keeping the stuff we don’t love and don’t need. And it provides help with replacing these non-reasons with more useful ways of thinking about clutter. Read more
Anti-Hoarding Strategies from a Hoarding Therapist
Karron Maidment runs UCLA’s intensive treatment program for hoarders. She has written a really interesting article that contains many insights gained from treating hoarders in the program. I’m going to outline some of the article highlights in this post; it’s well worth the time to read the whole article if you are interested in more.
The UCLA treatment program concentrates on helping hoarders with discarding clutter, organizing kept items, preventing incoming clutter and introducing alternative behaviors. Therefore, I’ve boiled down the article’s strategies into these four categories. Read more