Today, I want you to go in your bathroom and throw away all of the bottles and containers that are empty or past their prime. This includes the things in your shower, as well as the things in your medicine cabinets.
Also, go ahead and get rid of any of those body poufs (I’m not sure of the technical term!) that you’ve had for much too long — we’ve had ours for years, and I have to admit it looks pretty seedy!
And just so you know, there’s a reason for the short posts the past few days: I am putting together a complete plan that will help you to take care of your home from top to bottom, every day. It’s based on the Getting Things Done system (which I’ve talked about before but never expounded upon.)
I’m pretty excited about it, and I know it’s going to help you to whip your home into shape. So stay tuned!
Today we’re going to work on de-cluttering your sink area. Now let me tell you one thing — having a bunch of knick knacks on your sink may look cute to you, but it quickly gets grungy and dirty when it’s on the sink. Unless you actually like cleaning little areas with an old toothbrush, I say keep only the essentials. Come to think of it, soap is really the only essential thing. Everything else can be put in the cabinet.
Keep your bathroom sink a sacred area where nothing is allowed to remain, and your efforts will save you time in the long run.
Check it out — www.sjoystudios.com. And PC users, please let me know of any weird glitches (especially in IE). I won’t have access to a PC until tomorrow, but I just couldn’t wait to show you guys the site!
Last week, we made a little progress with the clothing in our closets, and I wanted to take today to tackle some of the other things in there: you know, the junk on the top shelf and the stuff piled on the floor. Set a kitchen timer for 20 or 30 minutes, and when it goes off, you’re done. Remember the rules for deciding if an item needs to be evicted. You can only keep it if it:
- gives you joy
- makes your life easier
- is a necessary part of your home
Anyone else have any de-cluttering secrets?
Since I’ve become a recent fan of StumbleUpon, I’m going to start rounding up my favorite websites of the week. I am astonished to discover that since starting this whole thing on Tuesday, I liked 132 websites/photos/articles and admired 32 of them enough to review them. I would guess I looked at over 1,000 websites based on those numbers. That is madness.
But I found some good stuff. I guess I’ll stick with my top ten favorite finds (in random order).
Whew! I’ll try to figure out a better way to put those reviews up there — I know it’s tedious to click on each one. A few of them are more than a paragraph, though, so I don’t really want to republish them here. Hmm…I’ll think on it.
When I was a kid, I loved rearranging my room. I would rearrange my stuffed animals, my bed, my desk…it was an ongoing project
Today, I want to inspire you to look at your bedroom with fresh eyes. How can you open it up and create a less cluttered space? Remove unnecessary furniture. Put the furniture you love in a position where it can be used more often. I’m not talking a major redesign here. Just make sure that your furniture is in the optimal place for both aesthetic and practical reasons.
Don’t feel like it? Go here for inspiration:
By the way, do you like the title change at the top of this post? I’m going to start marking posts more clearly to help with the site’s organization. Oh yes, and happy Friday!
I’d imagine you’re not the only one in the house who has clothing that needs to be tossed. My daughter has a whole pile of clothes which she’s grown out of. The difference is, I have to save all of her clothes in case of another child. You never know.
That brings me to the age-old question we moms love to ask each other. Are you done? Moms will know what I mean by this question. We love to ask it. And it’s a great question to ask because it can be asked multiple times with appropriate intervals in between the askings. So are you?
We are really iffy on this subject. At first, we wanted at least three kids. The idea of having a large adult family really appeals to me. Having a preschooler, a toddler, and an infant, however, do not. Give me a couple of years, and I might want kids again. But first I need some time to forget the sleep deprivation and diapers.
So anyway, I’d love to hear your feelings on this topic. And oh yeah. Go toss (or box up) someone else’s clothing today. Call it your good deed.
I love to walk around my neighborhood in the winter. I love going to the park in the winter. Pretty much anything having to do with the outdoors is great this time of year.
Am I crazy? Maybe. Have I always felt this way? Certainly not. I have gradually acquired this fondness, and I’ll tell you why: we have the place all to ourselves. My son steps into other people’s yards wanting to grab a stray pine cone, and no one even notices. I can hum and sing, and there’s no one out to bother. It’s a precious time where my non-stop talking toddler can ask questions and wonder (and wander). We love it.
It’s not like we’re doing anything spectacular, but I feel like we are when Nolan says, “We’re going outside?! OutSIDE?!!! YAYYYYYY!!!” and starts his series of victory laps around the house.
Lilah is a little more serene about the whole thing, but she enjoys it nonetheless. Even though I can’t actually see her in the backpack carrier, I know from her sweet babbling that she just can’t believe how lucky she is.
We set out on our journey, and Nolan is determined not to trip. He proceeds to do so several times, but it’s all okay because he just can’t wait to get back up and continue.
And then there’s me, looking decidedly nonchalant in comparison. (I am a little concerned posting this picture that I’m going to end up as a model on Mrs. Fussypants’ Fight the Frump Fridays…and not in a good way.)
I am always so absorbed in the happiness of the moment that I don’t think to take pictures of the grand things we encounter — the now-treasured tiny red ball that Nolan found, the squirrel that ran away, the “lots of plastics and asphalts and sticks everywhere” that we see (I know. Picturesque.) And I really should because these memories are what make all of the frantic “trying to make a living” part worth it.
My sweet friend Jen has just opened Bliss, an Etsy shop selling gorgeous decorator-weight fabrics at very (VERY!) reasonable prices. I am so excited for her. I know it’s going to take off like wildfire. Great job, Jen!
Remember when I previously urged you to take a look at StumbleUpon? Well, I changed my mind. That was bad advice. It is deliciously addictive, and if you’re to get anything done at all, just forget that I ever mentioned it. Proof.
Today, my only goal and objective is to get my laundry folded. In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit to you that yes, I did all of my laundry Monday. Meaning I washed and dried it. But there are currently four loads of laundry piled on the sofa, making the whole house look embarrassingly sloppy. I fault those mentioned in the previous paragraph.
For those of you have led a far more productive week than I, yes we are still in the bedroom. For today, I encourage you go through your clothing and get rid of everything that is unflattering or that you never wear. If you’ve never done this before, this could be an unfathomable task, not quite fitting into my “small things that make a big difference” mantra of 2008.
Therefore, fit in whatever seems reasonable to you. Go through one drawer or one section of the closet. Perhaps we can get a game going. Who can toss the most items of clothing? (And by toss, I mean give away. You know that.) Or possibly even, who can toss the ugliest item?
If you feel overwhelmed with this task, just remember — anything you accomplish today makes your home better than it was yesterday.
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