Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Merry Christmas and looking towards the New Year

Well, it looks like I could really be back for good! This feels lovely!

I hope you all (however many are still out there - lol) had a wonderful Christmas! My parents are in town and I've been trying to get work done in the office and spend time with them. Next week is a month end week and I have to do a fair amount of prep work so that the week will go smoothly.

Also, starting next week is a 91 Day Decluttering Challenge on this blog. I found Mary Organizes last year about this time and after reading through her blog a little and reading about the challenge, I signed up. Boy, did I need the challenge!

I moved into my condo in 2002 and there hasn't been a lot moved out over the years, for the most part. In 2011, I moved my bedroom to the smaller bedroom and set up the quilting studio in the larger master bedroom. There was a fair amount of rearranging and organizing, but that was still a few years ago. I figured that I needed something to get the ball rolling for me.

The 91 Day Decluttering Challenge is set up in such a way that you do a little bit each day focusing on one room or section of the house at a time. Last year, I started with the laundry room and got everything organized and felt so much better about the space that it propelled me into the next week and it was a domino effect.

The only problem I had was that I got stalled in my kitchen. And work got in the way at the beginning of each month, as it still does. I spent 3 weeks in the kitchen and had around 9 boxes of items to get out of the house. I found Pampered Chef bakeware that I didn't know I had! That to me was the biggest clue that I was heading in the right direction.

BUT!! Once I was done with the kitchen, it was so easy to move onto other areas of the house a little bit at a time. And I found it easier to keep the decluttered areas clean. Hooray!!

I didn't get the entire house decluttered in the 91 days. Heck, I still have areas to declutter now. But what I did get done was a huge boost! And throughout the year, when I had a few minutes, I worked on a bathroom closet or the bedroom closet or the vanity or a cabinet in the basement. I still need to work on the basement where decorations are and where the home improvement items are. And the quilting studio. I think I have been putting this one off because of the lack of Quilting Mojo. But now that I am feeling the urge to sew and piece, I am also feeling the urge to finish things up and declutter!

All of that to say that if you are so inclined, this is a great program that you can join to get the motivation or the direction to work on your own space! What are you waiting for? :)

4 comments:

Beth said...

Hi Jill! Long time no see...I have been a non blogger too. Remember that kid that was driving me crazy? (youngest son?) He turned 21 on Dec 26th. We all survived! I am thinking of going back to blogging too. I had a friend who was a bit too...um...invested in my life. She is still there but I am hoping I can move forward anyway. Glad to see you back...off to check out that decluttering site! Beth in AZ/bzyqltr

Susan C said...

I recently discovered that decluttering site and want to do it too, except I have 38 years worth of stuff! Hope it will help keep me motivated and accountable. I'm hoping to downsize at some point do it has to get cleared out. Wish me luck!

Teri said...

I feel like it would take me 91 days to do one room! Good luck I may try to join you on a smaller scale

JudyT said...

I'm so glad to see you are back to blogging. I've missed your posts.