Dealing With Clutter In An Effort To Simplify

Simplify.  Everything.

That’s my goal for 2013.  To that end, here’s what I have done – so far.

Using an old nightstand, I created a charging-station for our cell phones, iPads and Kindles.  Basically, I drilled two holes through the back of the nightstand and then snaked the charging-cords through those holes.  Now, we can plug in our devices, place them in the nightstand drawers, and they are hidden from view.  Less clutter – plus we always know where our devices are!  The charging-cords are plugged in to a power-strip and can be turned on or off with the flick of a single switch.

I moved my filing cabinet from our bedroom closet into our laundry room closet.  This accomplished two things:  With the filing cabinet out of the way, I have much more room for hanging clothes, and with the cabinet in the laundry room closet, it’s easier to access.  (In my bedroom closet, access was blocked by luggage.)  We do not have a home office, so the cabinet resides in a closet.

With the help of my super-organized wife, we sorted through both of our dressers and our closet – and managed to rid ourselves of unneeded and unwanted clothing.  Tomorrow, I will donate several bags of clothing to a local shelter.  Most of the clothing that we are getting rid of came from our dressers.  It’s amazing how many t-shirts and shorts accumulate.

I spent some time sorting through various stacks of paperwork.  Generally, I do a good job of filing or tossing, but there are times when things pile up.  I went through Christmas cards, kids’ schoolwork, a few receipts, some out-of-date coupons.  It took a while, but I am now, 100% caught up, with all paperwork in its proper place.

Our kids received scooters for Christmas.  With their help, we reorganized our garage, making space for the new scooters, finding spots for their bikes, and organizing their sports equipment.

I like tools.  I have a couple of large toolboxes, out in my shed, but when I work on small projects in the house – like hanging a picture – it’s not always convenient to lug a large toolbox from the shed to the house.  I had a small toolbox, given to me as a gift several years ago, that was empty.  I rinsed it out in the sink, allowed it to dry, and then created an in-the-house toolbox, with a small hammer, a couple of screwdrivers, a flashlight, and other assorted tools.  Now, when it’s project time, I can use the small toolbox, finish the project, and put the tools away.  This keeps me from stuffing tools in the kitchen junk drawer, too.

In our laundry room, we have a large storage cabinet.  It’s roughly six feet high, four feet wide, and two feet deep.  For a couple of years, it served as a pseudo-closet in our old house for our youngest daughter.  Now that she has her own room, we use it for storing laundry supplies, batteries, light bulbs, etc.  Today, I drilled a small hall in the back of the cabinet, snaked a power adapter through the hole, and created another charging-station.  This one is for charging the batteries for our electric leaf-blower and charging our handheld vacuum.  I am also charging a battery-powered lantern.

These are a few of the things that I have done to de-clutter our home and simplify our lives.  Less stuff is more freedom!