Clutter and Cuddling on the Couch!

Nothing is better than cuddling with your daughter on the couch!

This evening, I had the honor of cuddling with my daughter and watching some high quality TV.  What?  Kevin watching TV when he promotes less TV?  What is the world coming to?

OK, high quality TV is a bit of an oxymoron term but we did have a great time watching the TV show called CLEAN HOUSE on the Style network.  We enjoy this show because it motivates our whole family into cleaning, organizing, and recycling (donating) unused items.  Sure, I’m sitting on the couch cuddling (and not cleaning) however we are discussing the nature of clutter and how to combat it.

Do we have problems in our house with clutter?  Yes, we do.  My garage isn’t too clean.  Underneath the stairs is a storage area and I just discovered it is getting full of clutter (some of that stuff is the kids, not mine).  Our bedroom is fairly clean but the closest does need help.  Perhaps I should get rid of that T-Shirt from 1993.

I fully admit that I need to get rid of stuff.  I have the misguided notion that I need to keep things for tax reasons.  So I have a lot of files and folders for my business in my office.  I carry that over into my personal life but I’m not as organized as I’d like to be in my personal life as I should be.  A better filing system would help to decrease the clutter around the house.

Don’t get the impression that we are hoarders and that our house is just crazy dirty and full of clutter.  We aren’t as nearly as bad as the folks featured on CLEAN HOUSE and no where close to the folks on the show HOARDERS.  Our living room, kitchen, and dining areas are fine.  We are able to use our dining room table for every meal.  We throw out old food in our fridge.  Our kitchen counters are 75% clutter free.  One section does have family paperwork (i.e. clutter) that needs help.  The family room downstairs is the kids’ big playroom and the hobby room both need help.  The problem areas tend to be the “dumping ground” from the other areas of the house.  It is kind of like all of the trash from the Seattle area getting sent off to poorer parts of Washington State.  That might be a good reason why the other areas of the house look good.

However, to be honest, the hobby room does have a great deal of stuff we don’t use.  We have a weight set, a train set, a desk, some shelving, and bins full of Halloween and Christmas decorations.  Heck, we have a very nice elliptical trainer in our family room now one uses.  It is time to start working out with this stuff or sell it on Craigslist.

One tip that I heard and should use (but don’t):

Imagine everything is a pint of ice cream.  When you get that new object, pile of mail, etc. think of it has a pint of ice cream and that you need to take care of it before it melts.  Put it away and take care of it before the piles of clutter accumulate.

 At least I use that above tip for my groceries…..

If you’d like more tips, I’d suggest: http://blog.neatandsimple.com/2009/02/my-top-10-tips.html

 As always, you are more than welcome to leave your comments.