Tag Archives: declutter

The No-Clutter Zone

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Take a really close look at that picture below. Can you tell what it is? Any guesses?

table

A kitchen table? That’s correct! Now, where might you find a kitchen table as clutter-free a this? Only in a stage home? Yah, that’s exactly what I thought, too. UNTIL, I declared our kitchen table a NO-CLUTTER ZONE. So, that kitchen table in the picture, that CLEAN kitchen table, that CLUTTER-FREE kitchen table, that would be MY kitchen table! Guess how long it’s been that way? One day? Nope. Two days? Nope. One week? Nope, not even just one week, but SEVERAL weeks. I honestly can’t believe it.

For the past year plus, I’ve been on a quest to declutter our home. I’m going at a snail’s pace, but, hey, at least I’m moving forward, right?! Anyway, one article or book or something I read suggested to start small and declare one space in your home a no-clutter zone. We chose our kitchen table as our starting point.

Because our kitchen is a no-clutter zone, nothing can be placed on the table that doesn’t belong. If you bring mail into the house, it needs dealt with right then and there (or placed somewhere else in the house, preferably the mail pile…Don’t get me started on the mail pile. Sigh. This is another area I need to work on!). If you use your laptop on the kitchen table, when you are finished, the laptop goes back to its home on the desk. If you bring home groceries and unload them on the kitchen table, the groceries do not stay there for days, they get put away (preferably) immediately. You get the idea. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, stays on the kitchen table! It’s genius ;).

Now, on to declare the next no-clutter zone!

What will be your no-clutter zone?

Declutter Mission

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Home HandbookI’m on a mission to declutter this year. We have way too much stuff for our space. Actually, we have way too much stuff, period. There’s no need for it. Why are THINGS so important to me? In the end, my things aren’t going to matter anyway.

Instead of a New Year’s Resolution, our pastor encouraged us to pick a word to serve as our theme for the year. I chose the word surrender, as in surrendering to Christ and His plans for my life. I really want to live a life for Him, but it’s just so dang difficult! Why??? Grrr.

Anyway, I think letting go of many of my material things is part of surrendering my life to Christ. My focus should be on the eternal, not the temporal.

“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:2).

While doing some searching online, I stumbled upon Your Simple Home Handbook by Elsie Chandler. It has really good suggestions for decluttering, even though I probably won’t declutter quite to the extent suggested. I’m starting with baby steps! We’ll see how it goes. So far, all I’ve semi-decluttered is my closet. Pretty slow pace, huh?

What declutter plans have worked for you?