THE ANCIENT FELT TIP PEN

Today as I threw something in the bath room trash I noticed a pink felt tip pen without a lid under the toilet. I seem to remember that it was part of a gift set in combination with  a little cute note pad. I think I got it about 25 years ago. As it was still working it never got thrown out. It probably was never used the first 10 years because it was "too cute" and after that it wasn't used because it wasn't all that useful. What would I need a pink felt tip pen for? But as long as it is working you can't throw it away. Right? Wrong. I saw it. Grabed it. Tossed it. Never paused. Not even tcheck if it was still working. Nor to take a picture of it. You'll just have to take my word for it. 

7 a day: felt tip pen, sweater, 2 toy plastic containers, I am afraid that is only 4

surface of the day. Surface what surface? I really need to focus on that again! I mean I did clean the kitchen counters, but if I count that as the surface of the day on a daily basis things won't ever change around here!

CHAIN REACTION

James and I worked hard today. And you can tell. Needless to day the day is up and their is still plenty left to do. As I was too tired for an organized effort I decided to allow myself to just start with the pile of single socks right in front of me and see where it would take me. I guess the place can't look that great if putting one thing away puts me right in front of the next job. I don't care. The place looks better then it did an hour ago and trust me, I would have never believed this morning that it could look that nice tonight. Encouraged by my success with the puzzle book I threw out a "Toy Story" memory. I spent way to much time trying to mathc back the pieces and sort out theonce that were single. Now the majority is out and gone but I am sure I will have pieces surface every now and then!

7 a day: Toy Story memory

surface of the day: kitchen

MARIE KONDO

What do I know about Marie Kondo? Not much to be honest. I know she is a japanese decluttring specialist and of what I understand you can sum up her philosophy as  follows:

If it doesn't spark joy, out it goes!

I have not read her book, I just got a little summery so far from my friend  Minerva who is totally hooked. She got me to get started, too. 

You are to:

• start with easy first (clothes in her opinion)
• do hard stuff last (emotional stuff like photos)
• thank the stuff you part with for the joy it oncsubcatee brought you
• handle each item individually
• go by categories (clothes, books, etc.)
• get it all out at once
• divide into subcategories if necesarry(e.g.: tops, pants)
• take about 6 months to go through it all

You don't:

• buy new storage containers
• rush through it

So. With that in mind, I went through the first category. Clothes. More to come about that. Minerva introduced me to the concept over the holidays, when I was visiting family. That is why I could only go through it mentally. I started going through my stuff in my head. It was pretty easy. Even without handling it. I just pretended to be picking stuff to get dressed and thought how I felt about putting it on. Way to many tops that didn't spark joy. 2 of the tops even had to stay behind!

surface of the day: boys's clothes transfered to their new room

5 a day: 1 bra, 1 pair of underpants 1 kitchen utensil, a toothbrush, the bumper of a (toy) car,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

My big resolution is to be happier. Happyness is a choice. I am convinved if I learn to be happier, many other things will simply happen. 

• Happy people don't eat because they are stressed. 
• Happy people don't need to be prepared for every tiny thing
• Happy people aren't overwhelmed when they need to leave the house
• Happy people don't mind cleaning up the kitchen.

See. Only great stuff in store for happy people. So today I happily started my new year. And simply got to work.

Surface of the day:kitchen counter

7 a day: 1 pair of shorts, 1 pair of tights, hm. That's only 2 hahaha

PS: What's up with forgetting to post stuff?

MORE EMAILS

I realized yesterday, after I posted that it was not 9932 emails in the deleted items folder but 9932 UNREAD emails. So it must have been quite a few more. The annoying part was that twice emails that I had deleted downloaded again. fortunatley only a little more than 1000. Sigh. Yes. ONE. THOUSAND. MY desire to declutter the whole house has vapoized. Might have to do witht hte fact that I was busy with laundry all day and that the hosue is cleaner than it has been in a long time thank to my housefairy Heather stopping by to use the potty. She has a key to my house and before Christmas she wanted to escape a visitor and help me get ready for my trip. as I left sonner than she thought we joked around that she could come and let ehrself in and clean. Well. Guess what. She did. She was onthe way home and really needed to go so instead of a rest stop sheswung by my house and decided as she was here already to vacuum, mop the floor and clean a bathroom. She had her kids with her and put them to work in the kitchen and the girls's room. She said they all agreed it wasn't bad at alland that I should stop complaining. Well. They did stay out of my hoarded room (didn'T know what to do with it hahahaha) and it was awesome to come home to a sparkling house. She is the only one that can actually get away with that!

Today, drum roll please, I went through the Christmas decoration, picked out a few rather sentimetal items that the kids made at school, took a picture and asked the makers what to do with them. We threw out 4 and kept 2. Totally unheard of just a year ago. I am a hero. 

7 a day: 7 Christmas decoration, 2 torn items of clothing.

surface of the day: sideboard in the livign room, nativity put away, dusted and redcorated with original items

AVOIDANCE

I have been avoiding the blog. Why? So I would not have to report on my book project. I am afraid that was not the smartest approach, but hey. By now you are probably already guessing that it did not go all that well. You are right. I only got 2/3 of the shelfs sorted and the girls were willing to part with about 15 books. OF those 15 books  I was only willing to part with 2. Now here is were I get to claimit was a succes anyway. I looked at those books for a day and decided to rehome them. 2 people were REALLY excited. One, because she is a foreigner and was excited to have 2 childrens books to learn the language. The other one was excited because with both of them being students their is no money for books and my girls tossed stuff that are considered children's classics, like "Where the Wild Things Are" and "Love You Forever". The third new owner doesn't even know how lucky she is as she hasn't gotten her books yet. 

So after all I think I did well. 

Surface of the day: kitchen counter

7 a day: BOOKS

THE BOOK PROJECT

Okay. I will be honest with you. I thought I picked a really easy project. Matter of fact I thought I could pull it of in just 2 or 3 days and feel like a total hero. Turns out the first 7 days are up and I have done nothing but put 7 books on a shelf. And I am not very happy about the spot I found. It is in my wardrobe and lets face it. Putting something IN FRONT of something else is never a good idea. That is one way to start a hoard. Cramming too much stuff into too little space. And on top of not getting any books out of the house 2 new ones arrived by mail. How can something that looked so easy turn out to be so hard?


7 a day: the usual little things like kid's art and rock but no serious effort ongetting more tangible stuff out

surface of the day: dresser tops in the hall

NEW PROJECT

I have decided that I need to start a new decluttering project. I am just not sure what, and most for all WHEN! Seriously. Taxi Tuesday was as challenging as very with 2 additional appointments. Fortunately one of the rides was canceled, but lets faced it. Logistically I am doing a great job. I know, it is just one day per week, but I have 2 more days with rides for kids and of course there is homework, household, cooking and all kind of other things. Decluttering? Uhm. No. I do a lot better not hanging onto every little thing. And I can tell a difference. But I can tell without a project, a plan, a CHALLENGE and a deadline progress is so small it is not really visible. 

I would love to have "declutter every Saturday challenge" but that is simply not going to happen. The attic is too cold by now, I would hate to bring the stuff down. I know. Excuses, excuses. Books. I think I will declutter books. The kids have 2 huge shelves full of books that nobody ever seems to read. That'S what I'll do! I will go through all our shelves this month. Wish me luck! 

Surface of the day: Are you kidding me? It's TAXI TUESDAY!

7 a day: How d you feel about 5 matches and 2 burnt down candles?

TOSSING THE PIECES!

The nice part about deciding to get rid of something like the puzzle book is having made ONE DECISION that affects MANY PIECES. In this case 289 pieces to be exact. I am afraid only a small part of them have left the house so far. But every time I find one, I just re-experience that feeling of relief. "I do not have to deal with you! You go in the trash!"

Today's loot just doing normal household chores. And I know, there are a lot more to come!

surface of the day: insides of 2 kitchen cabinets

7 a day: well, count for yourself!

DELEGATE

Who says you have to do it all by yourself? Oh. The hoarder in you. Because the little hoarder wants to be in control. Well, tell the little hoarder to hush it and learn to delegate. Nobody says you have to delegate the sorting process. But at least stay out of other people's stuff. If they want to get rid of it, let them.

Delegate taking out the recycling, delegate dropping off things for charity. Delegate selling stuff on eBay. You can even pay a a little commission. I am sure your kids are dying to make a little money. My hope is, that by delegating jobs I will learn to give up control. My ultimate goal is to let James make decisions on stuff in the attic. Okay. Maybe not in this life. HAHAHA!

surface of the day: 1 kitchen cabinet

7 a day: a monkey, puzzle pieces, paper, paper, more paper, homework (don't ask)

THE PUZZLE BOOK

I had a major break through today. A few years back I bought a puzzle book. On the right pages of the book there are puzzles. In this case 6 of them. With 48 pieces each. Usually those pieces stay in quite well. But not with this book. Every time you attempted to turn a page puzzle pieces kept tumbling out. The boys hated the book and refused to use it. I tried to push it, but they simply ignored it. The girls kind of liked it, but the pictures to look at, the puzzles, were always gone. Kind of stupid. I know. Each puzzle had a different colored back side so you could keep them apart more easily. As the puzzle pieces had two layers the eventually started falling apart. As I collected the pieces for the umpteenth time, telling myself that I better glue those backs on, so I could pass the book on, yup, the book that nobody liked, I thought:"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! TOSS IT!!!"

And I did. Felt good!

Surface of the day: 1 dresser top in the hall

7 a day: 4 coloring books, A PUZZLE BOOK, a bucket, a Halloween costume

MAKE IT MAGIC

9:34 am

No, I am not talking about Christmas already. It is just that today is one of those days when I lack the motivation to get started. It just simply sounds like too much. I haven't done my my 10 min in a long time and it feels like it is time to revive it. It worked well when I did it. I can do it. 10 min of work 10 of play. Lets gt started! 

10:27 am

The first 30 min are done. The baby is back in bed, I talked to a friend on the phone, I had breakfast. That sounds okay for an hour, doesn't it. Let's see what I can do in the next hour!

11:27 

40 min taken care of. Washer and dishwasher are running. Kitchen is almost done,I am trying to talk myself into going up to the attic. Well. Maybe once the kitchen is taken care of. 

16:57

I got a total of 2,5 hours done. I cooked, I got Halloween costumes out. I did some yard work. I sorted out a costume that is too small for any of my kids. 

16:58

Picked 8 things off the patio to throw away. My inner "Monk" kicked in and made me find 2 more to make it 10. I will declare myself a hero and put dinner in the oven that I pre-made yesterday.

7 a day, 1 costume, 1 shoe, 8 pieces of trash of the patio, 2 more from the living room, 5 piees of clothing out of my husband's wardrobe

surface of the day: girls' room floor

BERMUDA TRIANGLE

Believe it or not, I have my very personal Bermuda Triangle. The whole house is one stinking Bermuda Triangle. Things have become a lot better but just today,I spent at least 2 hours looking for something that I as willing to bet knew exactly where it was. On the dresser, in the hall. IT was right there. On the dresser, for the last 2 weeks. The second I need it. Gone. Okay. I haven't seen it the last few days I guess. But, can you believe it? It evaporated. And ever person living in the Bermuda triangle claims they have never seen him. So obviously it sucks up memories, too. Downright tiresome. I need it by Monday. It better resurface. 

7 a day: cheap toys, paper, paper, paper

surface of the day: top and 2 drawers of the the dresser it has been sitting on

CHILDREN'S CHORES

Let's face it. A lot of the daily disaster is created by the kids. Why not let them clean it up, too? I have heard from people that my poor children have to work quite hard. Interestingly enough that comment usually comes from moms whose kids are spoiled rotten in my opinion. They call it child labor. I call it raising responsible adults.

If you had asked me 15 years ago if I thought that a 4 year old could unload the dishwasher I would have said:"NO WAY!" Yes way. A 4 year old can unload the dishwasher, and will be proud of being given such a responsibility. Sneaky me rearranged the kitchen so the kids could reach everything easily to set the table. Positive side effect is, they can reach it all, too, when it comes to putting the clean dishes away. I didn't really want them to handle the glasses, so the glasses stayed up high.

When one of the kids had difficulties at school, we talked to a specialist. The topic of household chores came up. She was delighted to hear that our kids had responsibilities. The only thing she would have changed was to teach the kids to take a chair to climb on, so they could put the glasses away. I had mixed emotions about it. I decided we would stay with the "put away what you can reach" rule. 2 weeks later the very kid we had been talking about came to the living room with a proud smile on his face. "Mommy," he said, "I put the glasses away. I got myself a chair and when I climb on the chair I can reach the shelf."

Problem solving skills, self esteem, responsibility. And an empty dishwasher. All in one. Awesome! Now if only I could get them to pick up their toys!

7 a day: enough paper to fill up the recycling. I am not sure where it all comes from. SERIOUSLY!

surface of the day: I attempted a shelf in the livign room and failed miserably. At least I picked out everything that could be thrown away. The rest is homeless stuff and I don't want to deal with it today!a

"CANDLES"

Why on earth would I keep this? Beats me. I really don't know. I guess I was under the impression that one could make his/her own candles out of stumps. Right. Very likely.

NOT! Well. No worries. The stuff is gone. The big achievement is not in throwing it away, the big achievement is in noticing that it is trash and making a mental note, so next time things like that will make it to the trash with out a detour to the attic!

7 a day: candle stumps, a pair of pants, 3 socks, 2 pairs of shoes

surface of the day: no surface, sorry, it's SATURDAY!

I LOST FOCUS

A couple of weeks ago I decided to make the choice of being happy. Yesterday I noticed that I lost focus. For the last week feelings of overwhelm and dread started to wash up my happy little shore again. So today once more, I chose to be happy. I also started taking vitamin B. Last week was crazy, but lets face it. This Monday morning there was less left to do than on after a normal week. So I am doing great. I will not let myself be defeated by minor things.

One of my bigger accomplishments is sorting more game pieces into their original boxes. I am not sure why I dreaded this so  much. Maybe because it is one of those tasks where every time you think you are done one more piece surfaces. But you know what? I don't care. I found the instructions to a game, that I gave to my sister. I scanned it, sent her an email and threw away the instructions! Okay. So it took me 3 days, but I finally did it!

Surface of the day: basket full of random

5 a day:game instructions, kid' art, game pieces

THURSDAY IS THE NEW TUESDAY

How does Taxi-Thursday sound to you? Well it sounds horrible to me. But it looks like it might turn out to be just as terrible as Tuesday with the amount of shuttling kids back and forth. If I am lucky I can work around it still. I feel like I got absolutely nothing done today. The phone rang all morning and I was going all over the place all afternoon and a friend stopped by at night. The laundry I took care of in the morning feels like it got done a week ago. Tomorrow will be crazy, Saturday will be crazy. My life has been crazy for a few weeks and it doesn't sound like it will calm down any time soon. I am not sure how decluttering will go during this time, but I refuse to give up. 

The last few days I did well putting parts of games back in the original box, a task I have avoided for months. I guess if I managed to keep up with maintenance. not forget any of the 27 million appointments on the calendar until the end of the month and get 5 days out of the house every day I will be a happy woman. 

surface of the day: a basket full of ironing

5 a day: uhm. Well. hm. nothing. Tomorrow. I promise!

I READ A WHOLE BOOK

Today I gave myself permission to simply read a book. More or less a whole book. I did start it yesterday. My friend gave it to me yesterday. She got it for herself to read, but gave it to me first, saying:"you'll be done with it a lot faster then I will be." True. But I am already reading a book. And I abandoned that one to read another one I got from a friend last Friday. (Yup. I finished it and returned that one already.) No wonder she ever has time to dig through her stuff you will say. I guess it is a way of decluttering for me. This way, the book is read and returned in less than a week. One more thing off my list. I think it would be easier to just say:"Thank you so much for thinking of me, but I really don't have time for this book right now. I'll get back to you."

Well. The book is read. The 3rd load of laundry is running, the dishwasher was loaded and is read to be loaded again, 2nd load in the dryer, 2 loads folded and one put away. It is not like I was idle. I even got all the kids to do a chore around the house. And got a hold of the repair man for the washer finally. And music lessons sorted out. Most likely I am doing a lot better than I think,it'S just hard for me to give my self credit for the things I do get accomplished. 

Surface of the day: kitchen counter (always a surprise how much stuff ends up there)

7 a day: indoor trash can (Ironic, I know, throwing out a trash can, but the thing was old AND broken) 2 plates

VISITORS

Nothing like a bunch of visitors to get you motivated. I even had nightmares about them coming over. But. The downstairs is clean. At least something. I even spend some time on my miscellaneous drawer in the living room. It's a tiny drawer and it mostly contains cards and other game pieces that lost contact with the mother ship. Not only did I get a lot of it back into the original box, I also found 3 things to throw away I must say just getting started on that drawer helped me feel better. It might be one of my least problems, but it's been on my mind for a while now.

7 a day: 1 pair of shoes, 5 socks, 3 random items from the game pieces drawer

surface of the day: lets count that drawer

BACK TO THE BASICS

I had a hard day. Just overemotional, and a few insensitive people crossing my path telling me I must do this and I must do that. I am sick and tired of it. I feel stupid when they do that. They don't make suggestions. They don't offer solutions. They say:"Katja, you must change your attitude, you must do this, you must do that." 

By 2 pm I was in tears. When I have meltdowns I don't get anything done. And then I feel bad. I finally got myself to drag myself and the little ones to the fair as promised. Now they are all asleep and I decided to go back to the basic. Not 10 magic minutes, no , too demanding. 1 by 1 is the solution for tonight. Immediate success, as even I can put away one thing. Or even 2. 

surface of the day: area by the front door

7 a day: I know the kids need to write and draw and cut to exercise their fine motor skills but why am I the one who has to throw out all those pieces of art?