2024 Organizing & Decluttering Thread

Daily declutter task from My Simpler Life Declutter Calendar:

Empty your fridge and clean it.

We did this completely a couple of weeks ago, and wipe down occasionally so we are good here. But, we have a couple of pieces that need to be replaced so today I will check and see if they are available.

Thank you mich5481 , will go read now. I was up until 3 IIRC, but that’s nothing new for me unfortunately. I hope you ended up getting plenty of sleep!

Thanks, Dewryce!  

I have absolutely no idea what percentage we got rid of.  A lot of what we moved out was DD's (ETA, she still needs to go through all these items next time she's home, and I'm confident she'll donate/pitch even more), which left us with an entire four-shelf bookcase for my crafting items, which were in other parts of the room before, so having them in one space should be very helpful.  

The room looks and feels so much bigger and I couldn't be happier.  They just came in and I told them that consolidating the craft items was a top priority, so they started there, and they soon noticed that the bookcase would be a good home for all of those items, so they started clearing it out.  We didn't really talk strategy -- maybe because it was so obvious that I needed to get rid of a lot of items.    And that was AFTER I had already made the room look much better (decluttering) before they arrived.  

I loved having two of them working with me, and when they come back, the same two will come again.  I figure it took nine man-hours to accomplish what we did, and I know I would have been discouraged for it to have taken me nine hours alone.  Those four extra hands made a big difference!  Not to mention the fact that it might have taken even longer than nine hours if I had belabored any of the decisions on what to keep/pitch/donate.  And knowing myself, I would definitely have drawn it out.

I had purchased the least-expensive package the organizer offered so I could see if I liked their style, how happy I was with their work etc., So I was responsible for taking my items to donate, which was fine.  DH and I just loaded up the car as soon as they left and headed straight to Volunteers of America.  That was the most stressful part for me since I didn't allow myself to go back through the bags of items we had specified for donation.  I just had to trust that I had made good --- albeit FAST -- decisions and that there wasn't anything in the bags that I hadn't agreed to part with.  So far, no regrets.  I even told DD that I had mistakenly donated one of her Percy Jackson books, and she was like, "Mom, you are SO okay with that.  I'm so proud of you!"  

Now on to the kitchen and dining room! 

Since you’re working on organizing your craft space Legacy Girl I thought of you when the link to this showed up in my email today. It’s only about 20 minutes long.

youtu.be/XjcbxKDDIm4?si=iwLUmxUtDdyL27mk

While the Get Organized Summit from last year has passed, I’d be willing to bet they’re going to do another one at some point. These things are usually free to watch for 24 hours when they’re initially held, so it’s worth subscribing to Jennifer Maker so you’ll be notified when the next one comes up. She also has a lot of great ideas for projects, storage, etc. on her website.

Daily declutter task from My Simpler Life Declutter Calendar:

Do a quick pickup of areas you have already decluttered.

What are y’all working on this weekend? We’ve got some areas I/we started but didn’t quite finish so today’s prompt is perfect! This week-end is more finishing some projects like hanging things that’s taking way longer than we expected, and there’s a shelf I want to fix.

I’m not doing fabulous so if we get those and the laundry done I’ll be happy. I’m watching a lot of motivational videos and writing down what they inspire me to do so that when I’m up for it I don’t have to think, just act. I should do more digital decluttering than I have been the past couple of days so I will do that. 

Daily declutter task from My Simpler Life Declutter Calendar:

What situation are you trying to control that you can let go of?

Eeesh. That’ll make you think! I will have to give that some good though.






Have you tried using the calendar on your phone? It can take a bit to get used to, but you always have it with you and you can set reminders for each appointment and I find that super helpful. I normally do one 2 days before in case I completely forgot about it. And one again 2 hours prior prior so I have time to shower and get there. You also have the ability to check your calendar as you make appointments, and get them in there immediately. I use the one on my iPad because I use it much more than my phone and do always have it with me, but there is supposed to be a way to sync them together. I’m actually considering one that my husband (Samsung) and I (Apple) can share.

Thanks linda ! The CGP and Daily Declutter Calendars are syncing up again this week because we’ll be working in bathrooms, master and other.

Thank you for this.

Help! I can not, for the life of me, find iCloud like suggested in the first step. Tried so many different times. I have been all over settings, including in general and storage. I did find iCloud Drive u def storage, but that simply indicates how much space it’s using. Where is your icon located in settings? What is it over or above?

They are still going to be heavy, right?
And not see through?

I recently saw where someone had put wheels on the bottom of old wooden drawers and used them as pull out under bed storage. Personally I would want something with a lid to keep dust out, but maybe that wouldn’t be too hard to add.

Daily declutter task from My Simpler Life Declutter Calendar:

Clear out under the bathroom sink.

I use one of these Sterilite bins under our sinks for cleaning supplies. Super easy to pull it out, a lot cheaper than the metal drawers, and you don’t have to install it. If you like those, they’re great we have tons of them in the kitchen. We were just looking for a cheaper option for the bathrooms. I also use one for all of my hair styling products.

You’re welcome! At least clutter like this doesn’t have emotional ties so is easier to let go of. I hope it goes well for you. I was able to complete decluttering and reorganizing our bathrooms during the last go-round in the daily declutter calendar so this week I’ll be able to concentrate on some of the tasks from The Cleaning Grand Plan that linda posts for us. And I have to say, just knowing that every.single.thing in there is something we want and actually use really lifted a weight from my shoulders I didn’t think was there because they weren’t that bad at all. So energizing to walk in them now!

Thank you and **GypsyGirl** for your help. I completely blanked on my name. I read that, but completely missed it when looking in settings, not sure I ever noticed it, so I just assumed it was applicable to a different version. My eyes just completely skipped over my bolded name right at the top. 

The drawer was done not too long ago. Replenished some of the items from elsewhere. The shelf is open. So, it is set right whenever something ends up on it that does not belong. It lacks true storage. But the easy to maintain factor can not be denied.