The 27 Fling Boogie

I recently wrote about the 27 Fling Boogie, a decluttering method I learned from Flylady.  I have used this method for on and off several years and am so impressed at the effectiveness I wanted to go into a bit more detail.  The real beauty of this method is it is so simple to implement.  It costs nothing but about 10 minutes worth of time and if you keep at it a good chunk of your clutter will be gone in no time.  When it comes to having your house on the market this decluttering technique really does work!

Essentially what you do is grab a plastic shopping bag of small wastebasket and go through a room our your house gathering 27 thing that will be tossed.  What happens is you end up getting caught up in the moment so the bag fills rather quickly.  It ends up being a bit of fun while decluttering.  Once you get to the point you can't find 27 items in a day to toss switch it to finding 27 items for the donation box. 

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010

Decluttering

Decluttering is a normal process for any household but it becomes even more important when trying to sell your house.  Removing clutter serves two purposes in this respect.  First it makes your home look more spacious to the prospective buyer which is always a good thing and second it means less stuff to move if you sell your house.  So either way it is a win:win.  There are several ways of dealing with getting rid of clutter:

• rent a storage unit - I really don't like this idea as there is a tendency to hang on to some things that would be better culled from your belongings.  It also costs $100 or more per month and you end up moving the stuff a couple of times BUT if push comes to shove and you really need to get the clutter out of the house to help it show this can be a viable option.
• three pile system - Separated your clutter into three piles: keep, donate, toss.  It makes it easier to deal with.  Once separated quickly box or bag up the donate and toss piles.  Get them out of the house!  Put away the keep pile.  If you can't find spots for what you want to keep, cull through the pile again.
• 27 Fling Boogie - This is a decluttering method I learned from Flylady.  Using a plastic shopping bag or small waste basket go through and quickly gather 27 items to toss.  Do not stop until you have 27 items in the bag.  Once you have 27 items in the bag, tie the bag and put it into the trash. 
• the one year rule - If you haven't worn an article of clothing or a pair of shoes in the last year chances are very good you aren't going to wear it.  Gather these items and donate them.
• horizontal hotspots - Horizontal surfaces have a natural tendency to gather clutter.  Clear these hotspots daily.
• new in, old out - If you buy or bring a new item into the house, remove an old item you are not using.
• donation box - Place a donation box in an easily accessible place where you will see it daily.  Try to add one item to the donation box daily.  When the box is filled take it to wherever you normally take donations.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010

Cleaning - A Woman's Work is Never Done

The say that a woman's work is never done and in many respects that adage is so true when it comes to cleaning. It honestly never ends! Just when you think you have everything sparkling it's time to start over again. In today's world cleaning is a huge issue and it isn't just for women anymore. In many single parent households men take the role of main homemaker and that included cleaning as well. Now there is a difference between tidying up and cleaning. Homes can be quite neat and tidy but not clean and visa versa. In addition to that homes can be surface clean but not really clean.

The main thing with cleaning is you want neat and tidy with the dirt and grim up and out of your house. In order to do that you want to use methods that trap the dirt so you can discard it. In order to do this you need to wet dust and use a vacuum with good regularly changed filters . Use good eco-friendly cleaners on hard surfaces. Ok so you know how to clean but finding the time is a different matter and lets face most people don't want to spend their entire weekend cleaning. Here are a few of my cleaning tips:

• clean as you go - This really is a very simple method but often overlooked. I got into the habit when cooking of cleaning when doing any prep work which means starting with an empty dishwasher and loading as I use dishes and utensils. When I'm canning I always have a couple of wet bar towels to clean up any spills on the floor. Wiping as you go means no huge clean-up later. At the end of each day when I clean the counter I wipe it down with 50% ethanol. This is an effective germ control while providing that sparkle effect. Cleaning as you go means dirt doesn't have a time to build up.
  
• use small blocks of time - It is surprising how much cleaning you can get done in a 15 minute period. Even more surprising is how much cleaning you can get done in the period of a television commercial. Grab a clean cloth and your eco-friendly cleaner of choice or plug in the vacuum cleaner. When a commercial comes on do as much cleaning as you can during that time period then go back to your program. Now the nice thing about this method is you are consistently getting a bit of exercise as well. Never sit through a commercial if you can do a little tidying or cleaning. If used consistently daily you are always on top of those cleaning jobs. This is especially usefully for tidying and decluttering but is also useful for deeper cleaning.
• keep cleaning cloths and solutions handy - Keeping solutions and cleaning cloths handy allows for easy spot cleaning. During food prep I keep a spray bottle of 50% Ethanol on the counter for wiping any spills from raw meats.
• declutter as you go - Every time you go into a room remove one or more items that doesn't belong there or put something away. Attack those vertical surfaces that are just magnets for clutter. Every time you go by a vertical surface grab something that doesn't belong. Keep 3 boxes - give away, keep, toss and use them. Getting the clutter out of your house makes it a lot easier for cleaning.
  

Garden Gnome
©2006-2009

Spring Cleaning

I grew up in a household where spring cleaning was a must. I could always tell when Mom was gearing up for it too. There would be empty boxes, a couple of large package of garbage bags and buckets with mops, dusters and any other cleaning aid possible. The ladder would be brought out for the windows and the plank brought out for the one attic. I hated that plank! It rested on the stair landing on one side and the attic opening on the other side. To get to it you had to crawl along the plank over the staircase! Worse than that there were mice in that attic. The other attic had mice as well but at least there was no stairwell. Everything was pulled from the attics, dressers, cupboards, cabinets and I do mean everything. She left no stone unturned! Everything had to be gone through for whatever didn't fit or wasn't of use to us for the donation boxes and bags but nothing was ever tossed in the garbage. Well as if that wasn't bad enough then the cleaning began and it was from top to bottom, one end of the house to the other. It just was not a good experience when spring cleaning time came around.

Spring is a busy time of the year for me and if you've read my gardening blog you would see why. Still despite my childhood spring cleaning trauma, I still spring clean. I still follow a similar way of doing the spring cleaning too. Mom was right, remove the clutter or items you can no longer use first. I made an earlier entry on clutter so here's what I do for spring cleaning. First, I break it down into manageable working units of time focusing on one room at a time since I simply have too many things to do in the spring to spend a week or so just cleaning. Second, since I keep up a regular cleaning routine, I don't find that the big spring cleaning takes as much time inside. Outside is a bit more and then there is the garage. Over the winter it gets piled up with recyclables and anything I've decided is no longer needed in the house. Since the car goes in the garage there is usually a lot of mess on the floor that has to be cleaned out and of course we can't forget the freezer.

Clutter: I use the three box method - keep, toss, donate. I start with the clothes then work my way up. Anything that hasn't been worn or used in the past year goes mainly to donation. The trick is to get the stuff in the appropriate box without thinking. Set a time limit then just go.

Closets: Sorry the only way to deal with closets is remove everything. This pertains to closets being used for storage only. Use the three box method, clean the closet then replace only what you are keeping. At this time you may want to add space saving tips or organizers to make things easier to finds and discourage future clutter.

Cleaning: Unlike my Mom, I have new gadgets to help me so I don't have to lug heavy pails of cleaning solution around and I don't use toxic chemical cleaners. Everything I use to clean our home is on a previous entry. Also unlike Mom, I do not wash every piece of clothing I'm going to donate. It was clean in the drawers and they are going to wash it anyway. I have kept some of the old habits though like working from top to bottom. It makes good sense. Start with the ceilings then work your way down.

Outside: This can be as simple as picking up twigs and broken branches or in my case cleaning the garden beds to prepare them for planting. We tend to get a lot of branches and twigs so even during the winter, if the weather is nice, I'll take a 10 or 15 minute break and pick up whatever I can. It doesn't seem like a lot but it does save from a major having to do it all at once cleaning. Cleaning the garden areas is as simple as removing any rubbish and debris. But this is also the time to look at problem areas or pest problems like mice or spiders. Deal with these problems now.

Garage: Here's our nightmare! We start with the recyclables. During the winter months they pile up because they are in huge bins and bringing the bins back in with winter conditions is difficult for me but I can't leave them out there to blow away either so they pile up. Starting right about now we try to get whatever recyclables out possible. Empty beer cases, while we don't drink it ourselves but I cook with it on occasion, do pile up. We have kids and friends that tend to leave their empties after poker parties despite my warnings they must take them with them. We gather these for one load for our son to take the empties back. The funds goes towards filling his gas tank so everyone is happy. My husband crushes all the cardboard which is taken to a larger recycling drop-off. Once that is done it is time to tackle the clutter. We have three walls of industrial shelving and it holds a lot, too much! What it tends to gather aside of the necessary (Christmas & seasonal storage) things are things we don't need in the house but aren't sure whether we will need it again. We try to pare this down to one shelf. Then it is off to sweeping out the garage.

Spring cleaning is a tradition and one that can easily be worked into most schedules by breaking it down into bite size chunks. Pace yourself. As long as you do 15 minutes per day on the declutter stage followed by the cleaning broke into rooms, it will be more than manageable and your house will be squeaky clean freeing up a lot of time to enjoy those summer rays and that what it's all about.

Image by: Free
Clipart or Photos: www.ace-clipart.com

Garden Gnome
© 2007

Clutter...

Clutter

We've all been there, done that and have the tee-shirt when it comes to clutter. Now why do this do you suppose that it? I have a couple of my own theories. First is really is human nature to keep those things we might find usefule in future even though they have no use for us right at this moment. Second, when the clutter becomes even slightly overwhelming it freezes us. We can't do anything about it even though we want to and know we have to.

Our new mattress was delivered this afternoon and as soon as the ordered washer & dryer arrive they will be delivered within a day or two. Both have spurred me onto a bit of a cleaning frenzy aside of my planned spring cleaning. I post more about that later.

Clutter is insidious and it feeds off itself! My problem areas tend to be horizontal surfaces and the back entrance. Oh before I go further, that little animated graphic was made by me just today so if you would like to know how just post a comment on this reply and I'll make a tutorial. Clutter just happens likely because it is easier to drop something down right there than put it back where it belongs. My personal feeling is that smaller spaces are better for clutter control at least for me. Smaller spaces force me to downsize and question whether I really want a certain purchase. Larger spaces tend to attract clutter because there is more room for more stuff.

I adopted four ideas from FlyLady: shiney sink, the 15 minute daily decluttering, the 27 Fling Boogie and daily hotspot clearing. Even if you do not have a clutter problems all of these will help keep your home ready for guests without worry. One book I recommend not only for home organization but also for other types of organizing is Getting Organized (1991) by Stephanie Winston.

I'll leave you with a little food for thought. Your home is your castle, your escape from the world, your santity ... you owe it to yourself and your family to create the most calming and serene atmosphere, one that is clutter free and filled with love. Of course the smells of good cooking are always appreciated too.

Garden Gnome
© 2007