DE-CLUTTERING TIME AGAIN!

In preparation for the Fall de-cluttering class I'm leading, I've been getting a head start.  After all, I can't teach what I don't do!  Starting with the Stamping Tower, I took out 4 bags of giveaways and 2 bags of garbage.

It was so inspiring to get that done, that the next place I did was the laundry room.  There were 4 overhead cabinets filled with "stuff" and 3 added  floor cabinets of more stuff.  That purge yielded 6 -- yes 6!-- large garbage bags of stuff, including some items on top of the wall cabinets that were there when we moved in 26 years ago!  I found things that were duplicates and triplicates because they had been pushed to the back and forgotten.  Thankfully, we finally found someone who is now repainting the room for us, which involved removal of foil wallpaper, installing new faucets and adding a shutoff valve in the basement just for the laundry room.  He's also putting in a new floor.  When the room is done, it will be minus 2 of the the 3 extra cabinets so that it stays neater.

Finally, last week I cleaned out the linen closet and gave away another 6 bags of extra sheets and assorted table cloths,  plus one giant bag of items for garbage pickup.  I kept 2 of each size tablecloth and 2 sets of sheets for each bed.

Here's a tip from my daughter who is on her way to becoming a certified home organizer:  Store bed linens in the closet or a drawer of the room where they will be used instead of the linen closet.  Same with guest room towels.  Other towels can be stored in the bathroom where they are used either in a basket or a wall rack like those found in hotel rooms.  The saved linen closet space can then be used for bulky seasonal items.

If you'd like to follow along on the weekly challenges of my class, the first challenge (next Tuesday) will be to de-clutter paperwork, magazines, catalogs etc. and establish a file drawer (or two.)