Clutter, Be Gone!

Please tell me you have some... somewhere in your house.  Clutter, that is.

I read a book many years ago called The Messies Manual ~ The Procrastinator's Guide to Good Housekeeping by Sandra Felton.  I learned that mostly, I am not a "Messy," but I AM a Procrastinator!  (for sure, for sure!)

There were two things I took away from that book.

ONE.

Who said I have to be the one to save twist-ties from bread FOR THE WHOLE WORLD? Who said it's ME that everyone will come to when they need a rubber-band?  (Do you save every one from the newspaper, the broccoli, and the celery?)  Who said it has to be US, huh?  Who?  What if someone asks me for a rubber-band, and I don't have one?  What then?  I'll admit these things come in handy, and it's easy to get in the habit of hoarding them.  But the world won't end if I don't have one or the other.  Period.

Here's what we do around here.  I have a mason jar under the sink where I store rubber-bands.  I do not let it overflow.  Ever.

And about those twist-ties?  I save some.  They do come in handy.  We also have a jar under the sink for these.  I never let this one overflow either.  (This makes me remember that once upon a time I had a nifty ROLL of twist-ties that had a cool cutting device on it that snapped the tie off at whatever desired length.  It was compact, and very handy.  While I had that, I never felt compelled to SAVE twist-ties since I had that entire roll on-hand. NOTE TO SELF: look for another one of those!)

Drawer space is at a premium around here, and I can't let little things like rubber-bands and twist-ties take up a whole drawer in my house, you know?

TWO.

When tidying up, start at one corner of your room, and do a sweep clockwise around the room (or counter-clockwise if you're so inclined - ha!).  I do this in my kitchen several times a day.  As I've mentioned before,  I live in my kitchen.  It is command-central in our home, and therefore, I like it to be in order.  That said, it's not always perfect.  Far from it.  But, at least I have a quick go-to plan for tidying up!

My counterspace is very limited, but I've been working on de-cluttering.  Here's one section that I have managed to keep tidy.  Oh sure, things accumulate here during the day, but I have one thing motivating me to keep it clean -- actually THREE things.

1. That two-tiered basket -- a Christmas gift from my parents, and a great space saver.  I love it.
2. The sweet little chair full of bowlies ornament from Mary Engelbreit -- a Christmas gift from my sister, Jill and her family.
3. The JOYful snowman from my friend, Marie.  The snowman isn't specifically Christmas decor, and so he's staying around a while!

All these pretty things motivate me to keep that space cleared off -- because, look how nice it looks when there's not a lot of clutter!  So far, this is my coffee-making, decorative area of my kitchen counter.It's possible that will change when I read the correct way to organize my cupboards, but I'm up for the challenge!

I'm still making sure my purpose is identified for each area, and today, I'm moving on to the other two little areas of counter space in my kitchen.

So what's your go-to plan for tidying up the kitchen?

What motivates you to keep an area clutter-free?

WEEK ONE MISSION: kitchen counter tops and sink