Uncluttered - More things I have decided to clear from my home.

Last week we tackled clothing!  This week it is the kitchen.  I subbed fulltime the week before last which slowed down my progress and then thought I would use the weekend to get a lot done but woke up sick and did not get much done other than a few drawers. This last week, I was still sick so did not get much done.

I have uncluttered my clothes several times in the past but I also know that I have a lot of things I never wear. I have done the flip the hangers and if not worn in six months or a year it goes out the door, and I lost weight, so now I am clearing more clothes, and the why did I keep this I never wear it clearing of clothes. I still have clothes I never wear and it is time to clear more and send them out the door.

When I was working on the bedroom I did clear a drawer of old nightgowns and pajamas that I never wear and those darn socks that lost their mates, but I still have more things I can clear that I never wear. Even though I was sick I did go through several drawers and clear things, and I have some clothes in a pile that I need to try on and decided if I want to keep them or pass them on. I still have a bunch of scarves to go through on the second pass and a couple of more drawers as well as my closet in the other room and my jackets and dresses in the bonus room, which need to be weeded down. I do not wear the dresses very often so know that several of them can go away. The biggest thing will be going through my skorts that are hanging on the doors to the family room and office. I have a bunch of them, but I wear most of them, often.  I do have some that can go and will try them all on when I get to them.

This week due to not being 100% and needing help with regard to reaching some things I did not get as far as I would have liked.  I did go through a pile of cookbooks that were above one of the cabinets and most of them are in the donation pile. I am a vegetarian and do not cook out of a cookbook very often except for when making cookies and such so am sending most of the books full of meat recipes out the door. There are a couple of holiday ones that I am keeping as I like recipes in them and a few that are special ones like The Double Musky Inn Cookbook and my The Little House Cookbook.  I am also keeping a couple of kids cookbooks that I like for that day in the future when I hope to have grandkids as my boys liked making recipes from those two books. I think I have about 60 books going out the door and I have others on another shelf that I already reduced last year, but will do a second round of review on. There is a ton of stuff above the cabinets that I need my husband to pull down for me to go through as I cannot reach it or do not feel safe trying to pull down. I can tell by looking at a lot of it that it needs to go out the door. have already reduced the Tupperware cabinet a couple of times and will go through it again as I know more of it can go away also. I am slowly replacing the majority of my plastics with glass for storage and lunches. The one thing I will keep for sure is the two cup round Glad containers that hubby uses for his yogurt each day.

Most of what is on my counters will stay as it is things we use every day or darn near like the toaster oven, microwave, Vita-Mix, Expresso Machine, and basket for fruit. The one thing I want to move off the counter once I clear the shelving unit next to the counter is the Seal-a-Meal. It does not get used daily, but I certainly use it when I am packing for traveling. I rarely use the oven anymore with just the two of use so do most of my baking in the toaster oven.

I have one cupboard that is hidden that I need to go through though most of it will probably stay there as it is my Noritake china. I do not use it very often but it is special as my mother helped me select it and my father bought it for me when he was stationed overseas. I am thinking I may pull it out and use more of it every day. I have not checked that cupboard since the earthquake in November as am a little afraid to look in there to see if the china or the crystal glasses that came from Ireland are okay.

Today I have decided to try on clothes and to go through a couple of drawers in the kitchen and see what I can delete from them. I know my spice cupboards are good as I went through them a few months ago and cleared out the old stuff and organized the new as we kept buying spices we already had.

Next week will be a new adventure in uncluttering as I believe it is the children's areas and since I do not have children at home I will focus on the family room and office.  I also plan to clear the upstairs linen closet/pantry closet, as the pantry cabinet is not too bad since I go through it at least once if not twice a year, though there are a couple shelves in it that also need to be gone through. I keep finding things that should not be in the places they are and moving them into my husband's room (I have a sewing room and he has a room where he keeps all his art stuff and God knows what) so he can find them a home. In fact, at the moment I am looking at the stud finder that is sitting on my bookshelf in the living room.

I have two boxes of books and a book of odds and ends that need to be moved to the car to be delivered somewhere besides in my house. I will have to get after my hubby to move them out to the garage or the car until he can take them somewhere or I can arrange a pickup. The cookbooks can go to the used bookstore if they will take them or donated somewhere.

Uncluttered Weeks Two and Three

Last week I worked in the living room. I made progress and though I still have more to do I am happy with what I was able to accomplish.  I was able to clear out an entire section and move things to other rooms that needed to be moved and to bag up a bunch of paper for recycle and things for the trash and to donate.

This past week I worked in the bedroom and cleared out a drawer full of old nightgowns and pajamas that I never wear.  I also went through a bunch of socks and deleted those I do not wear and those that the dryer ate their mates long ago. Why I kept them I am not sure, maybe I was thinking their mates would find their way home from wherever they had wandered off to.

I went through a ton of little catch-alls in one corner of my bedroom and discovered that I should own stock in several ink pen companies. I even have refills for pens I do not have unless they are hiding in another room. I am setting them aside until I can check in the family room and office, as there are probably more pens in those rooms and I can see if the refills work for them, if not out the door they go.  I am only keeping the pens that I like and their refills. I am very pen picky when it comes to writing in my journals and have developed a liking for certain pens over the years. Many of these others were ones I was trying out at different times and they are all going Good-Bye!  I will deliver them to the office of the school where I do most of my subbing as I am sure they can put them to good use or share them with the teachers. I know I went through a ton of pens in my many years of teaching full-time. As a retired teacher, I do not use them as often since my primary writing is letters and in my journals. I prefer fun colors like pink, teal, and purple for my journals, so only need to keep a few blue and black ink pens for those occasional official documents I have to complete.