I was just going to put something away ----and 4 hours later....
 

I have been so happy with the way my sewing area is arranged and the room is inviting without clutter. No, I think this is a long term project in progress, so I will refrain from patting myself of the back at this point.

Well, I was going to go downstairs to sew. I planned to sew while some of the football games were on this afternoon. The Packer-Lion game this evening will require my full and/or undivided attention.

Since I have been following some tips to unclutter, it seemed like a natural thing to do when I decided to put away a paper I had in my hand. That's when I went off on a tangent. Three shelves of the front hallway bookcase were cleared, washed with Murphy Soap, and the contents were sorted. In the process, I discovered several items needed a new home --- giveaways or file 13; some 3-ring notebooks needed to be labeled; and layers of dust were removed. (Contradictory to my mantra that dust is a protective covering!) The project of cleaning all six shelves will be resumed this week when I want to listen to NPR.

We aren't expecting company for the holidays, but it will be good to have that bookcase in order. :-0

Sew I am piecefully following my heart and will go downstairs to quilt. GO PACK GO!

Great job you did today. You can now quilt with a clear concience.

I have been on a cleaning mission all week. Scrubbing walls, polishing furniture, washing everything I can get my hands on and more. A friend stopped by the other night after I had spent 9 hours cleaning the living room (and no - it's not THAT big). I told him if he sat still too long he was probably going to be scrubbed, windexed, polished or laundered. One room that has NOT been touched is the sewing room. And that room is a nightmare. Will probably take me 2-3 days just to straighten it out, finish up a couple of projects so I can toss some stuff and the like before I can even think about cleaning it. I'll be happy if it's just straight after all of this other stuff! Congrats on getting your bookcase sorted. Feels good even if you're exhausted when you're done.

WisWis and NJ Quilter, I did quilt with all happy thoughts - no guilt whatsoever. :-) A hexagonal table topper for fall has been quilted and bound. I tend to believe that I am early for next season, rather than late for this past Thanksgiving....and sometimes actually fool myself. At least the oblong and hexagon toppers are both done! Hubby warmed through our dinner and the dishes are in the dishwasher being scrubbed clean. Tomorrow, I will finish the bookcase. This decluttering business is empowering.....

I spent yesterday redoing all of my kitchen cabinets. I put items, food stuff, in Tupperware vs just storing the empty Tupperware. Emptied a lot of boxes! I just cut off the description from the box and taped it to the outside of the Tupperware. Sure opened up more storage space! And put all of that Tupperware to use. I found a few duplicate boxes of stuff too.

I moved a lot of dishes and cookware to more accessible cabinets. I hate corner base cabinets because they are so awkward to get things out of and put away. No, i don't have a laZy susan...had one...hated it! Spent too much time putting items back on it after I would give it a spin! Takes up too much storage space too. i just stored items that i don't use often in the lower corner cabinet.

I sure enjoyed the football game! If for nothing more that the snow. I am so glad someone else gets side-tracked into doing positive things.

SandyGirl, I use heavy duty cookie sheets with sides to act as trays to slide out from the lower cabinets . I've also used sturdy plastic boxes to store empty mason jars and plastic caps for the same purpose.

Collady, we enjoyed the football game and were glad that our area in the Upper Peninsula was missed by the snow storm.

Everyone, I've finished cleaning the bookcase. I've purged things, labeled notebooks, sorted documents, etc. to lighten the load. Thank goodness I have simplified the system and was able to declutter. Of course, I still have some shoeboxes full of articles that have been saved. The more you do it, the easier it is to declutter. The downside is that when I am decluttering/organizing I am NOT quilting.

My next project to arriving at a happy medium of decluttering and quilting! :-)

I am so going to use the "Protective covering" ploy!:thumbup:

I am on a long term adventure of simplifying, minimizing and cleaning. For Thanksgiving I got my upstairs bathroom and the kitchen/dining room done. The living room is partially done. Over the Christmas/New Year break my husband is going to help me with my sewing room. After the New Year, my daughter and her husband are going to gut our downstairs room because they are moving in with us around the end of February. Our first granddaughter is due March 17th and we are thrilled to have them all here with us:)

I am trying to hold off until January to redo my sewing room. I keep wanting to start but need to go slow. I want it to be done this time. I have moved things around often in the last 2 years and want to get the maximum space usage this time. Then I am going to take the whole month and redo. I would paint but my brother put up shelves near the ceiling to hold collections so I don't want to take them down. I have collections of vintage pin cushions I may sell to make more room on the walls and maybe even the shelfs I upscaled to hold them . Not sure yet. New computer desk , smaller , not a corner one. And some file cabinets maybe.

I had one pan to put away and the next thing I knew I had emptied and cleaned and restocked all my kitchen cabinets and have a huge box of stuff to take to the thrift shop. Hope it happens in my bookshelves or sewing/ computer room next. I have been reading about decluttering and need to do more of it.
Did like the football game also though there was some nail biting going on.

Usually when these cleaning tangents hit me its to solve very serious problems like which block pattern to use with this fabric. Thank goodness most of the fabrics tell me --I really hate dusting-- : )

as soon as I finish painting the glass pieces I have been hoarding, I will use that space to properly organize or at lease organize better!

I've found that if I do a simple tidying up of the sewing room after each project, it looks better and I'm happier to be in that space. Of course, I don't bother to dust or sweep. I just pick up the big chunks and keep going!
Joan

The cleaning bug has really been biting! I was able to de-clutter all my kitchen cabinets this week. We are planning to sell our home and I know (hope) that a de-cluttered home will look better and sell faster. This gives me reason to keep going until all spaces are done.

I am going to attack my family room tomorrow morning ... that is where we hang out and my longarm is there too. My husband moved things around in our hobby room when he purchased a large desk for his ham radio collection - I got booted to the other side of the room. We moved a refrigerator out to the garage (from the corner of the family room) and I took over the corner for bookcases full of quilting stuff. That corner now holds Santa's stuff too.

I have a lady coming tomorrow who I used to volunteer with when my kids were little (they are 25 and 29) for some help on a quilt she has started. Would like the area she will be in not be a total disaster!

Of course, all this is between taking my grandson to and from preschool (for some reason he has decided to spend this week at our house - lol) and meet up with friends at the local quilt shop. Having Jayson has put a definite crimp in my Christmas shopping, but I do still have some time left. It was funny that he picked out a pair of PJ's at the store today and was so involved with playing a game on my iPod, he didn't even see me buy them - lol. We pulled into the Costco parking lot and he asked if he could have a hot dog - that little guy ate the whole thing while I could only eat half of mine (he's 4 1/2!)

Maybe after all is said and done, I can move up to the living room where it looks like a cyclone went through it and left a decorated tree! I need to pack up the boxes that I store them in and put them in the spare bedroom until the tree comes down - not packing them back downstairs and out to the shed!

If any of you want to come help me organize ... yep, thought you would say that ... I would rather be quilting.

I usually just start to 'clean up' when I can't figure out exactly what I want/have 'to do'. Does that make sense?

Then when I do figure out what I want/have 'to do' my house will be cleaner and things will be in their place.
Just did it yesterday when I really didn't feel like doing anything. Within an hour, I had the entire house totally picked up and put away, and things were wiped and swiped and tossed out. Spent the evening relaxing with the family and didn't have to worry about the house.

Now if I could just get some Christmas decorations up . . . . . . .

I'm still in the process of the 'decluttering'. Tough to do this time of year! I've got the sewing cabinet about half done with the board project for my fabric (6x10 inch fiberboards for most fabrics, baskets color coded for scraps and fat quarters). I think I have to table this project for a little while to work on our pantry. My 15-y-o daughter thinks it's fine to shift things willy-nilly and now the whole cabinet (five shelves 24 inches deep each) is a huge mess. I'm off to the store to get some of those cookie sheets and plastic shoe boxes to keep the pantry easier to 'pull out and 'slide back' at least for me, if not my daughter! After New Years, back to the sewing stash to get everything ready for a new year of quilting (and crocheting, cross-stitching, scrapbooking, etc - my projects never run out!).