Project Simplify - Week Five

If you've been keeping track, no, I didn't skip Week Four - it was pantry/fridge declutter time and since we keep up with this pretty regularly I didn't have much to do.  About 1/3 of a kitchen trash bag of freezer burned opened & partially used foods (french fries, chicken nuggets, etc.) that my darling offspring left in the bottom bin of the freezer made it to the trash. I had already reorganized the shelves following a shopping trip the week before.  So before/after photos would have looked identical.  Therefore, no post.

But here we are at Week Five - which was a "choose your own" hot-spot.  And I chose the one thing that has been bothering me the most lately - the excess virtual clutter on my computer! I was just getting way too many gigabytes for one girl and knew I needed to let some go.  The beauty of this kind of clean-up is no mess - nothing to sell, donate, or put out at the curb on Tuesday morning.

I started with my email in-box.  It went from this:

 See how far down that scroll bar is?  I had about four screens worth of "stuff" just sitting in my in-box!

To This - aaaaahhhhhhhh - white space!  As you can tell from the calendar, I did this on Monday.  I'm happy to report I've kept it clean! My in-box still has white space!

After the e-mail folders, I moved to my "C" drive (the internal computer drive).  I try to keep as little personal stuff on this drive as possible because the computer actually belongs to my employer and I have to give it back if I ever leave.  Still, just like with physical "stuff", virtual "stuff" does seem to accumulate where it doesn't belong!

On the "C" drive, specifically "My Documents" I started with 6.5 GB of data in 1296 files, 179 folders.  After some ruthless deleting and transferring my online class files to my external drive, I ended with 4.5 GB of data in 409 files, 140 folders.  I even defragged the drive!

Next stop - Kay.  or "K" drive - my external hard drive. She houses all my photos, digi scrap supplies, online class materials, completed albums and digiscrap layouts.  In other words - my life. Everything important to me.  I use ACDSee to tag and organize all this virtual wonderfulness. But when I lost my first beloved external hard drive  last year, although we were able to recover all the files, all of my tagging and organizing was gone. Gone! Countless hours of work vanished into thin air.

I never had the heart to go back and recreate all that work.  Which also means, I really haven't done much digiscrapping in the last year.  In fact, my last art journal layout coincides with the loss of all that tagging.  So Kay was in dire need of some love and attention. I have spent the last three days tagging with kit name and author and starting to tag with categories. It is a long and tedious process and right now I'm still in digi kits. I haven't even touched photos yet.

I have also been ruthlessly deleting digi products that I know I will not use (I used to download every freebie that came along - kept Kay fat and happy). As a result, Kay has lost some virtual weight, going from 150 GB down to 134 GB. Not bad for a few days work. Wish I lost weight that easily! Where is the button that deletes fat cells???

Final stop on my virtual Spring Cleaning was my Google Reader. With Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers class, my Google Reader subscriptions had soared to well over 200.  I had been slowly deleting throughout the course, but was still at 175 this morning.  After about an hour, I am down to 75 blogs in my reader - which is still 25 more than I usually allow at any given time (I have to keep this in check as my time for blog reading really is limited).  But I've added some great new blogs to my "tribe" folder and will continue to cull what is left in the BFS folder over the next few weeks.

Now cross your fingers that my computer's virtual loss of excess fat will help it gain some energy. The sluggishness of late has been infuriating! :)  What about you? Do you keep your computer on a healthy weight limit? Or does it prefer to be fat and happy?  If you go the "save everything" route, how do you keep it all organized so you can find files when you need them?

Project Simplify - Week Three

The Project Simplify Week Three "Hot Spot" was children's toys and/or clothes.  Since my children are nearly young adults and don't have "toys" (other than the expensive electronic variety) and tackling their clothes is something that can't be done without their cooperation (which I won't attempt during school sessions), I thought I would have to pass on this week.

But I thought about what I could substitute, and decided to attack my own "toys" (scrapbooking supplies).

BEFORE #1 - note the cluttered table top, the albums with post-it notes attached...

BEFORE #2 - and all the "stuff" strewn on the floor.

AFTER.  I really didn't do much purging, having done that several times already.  But I did manage to put everything away and better organize some of the supplies.

Papers and kits that were in the white milk crate were moved into the Cropper Hopper bins. The white milk crate now holds all my various tote bags that I use to carry things to crops.  I added a lot of loose embellishments to the Clip-it-Up.

Of course, the table will be a wreck again the first time I sit down to scrapbook!

Close-up of shelving.  The paper is consolidated and full sheet alphabet stickers have been added to the paper bins.

The fabric covered albums (top right) are my Library of Memories storage binders.  Got rid of the label maker stickers (that didn't stick) and added labeled tags.  Got rid of the sticky notes on my Library of Memories albums (second shelf right) and finally created tags for those.  Also labeled the photo boxes (third and fourth shelves right).

The Iris boxes (left side middle shelves) all contain projects in progress - with all of the various papers, embellishments, letters, etc. set aside for those projects.  As a project is finished, the remaining contents are cycled back into my stash and the box picks up a newer project.
 

My Library of Memories albums.  Aren't those tags cute?!  The paper and sticker letters are the same used for title pages within the albums. I am so happy to have finally done this little project that has been sitting for .... years!

I love the tweaks I've made to this space. Hope to get back in to do some scrapping soon!

Project Simplify Week Two

Warning - this is a photo heavy post!

Project Simplify is a five week decluttering challenge.  You can read all about it and join in from the Project Simiplify link above.  Week Two's Hot Spot is paper clutter!

I have to admit that Paper Clutter is an insidious monster in my household.  It tends to accumulate, multipy, and join with various other sorts of clutter in numerous hot spots throughout my home.  I have yet to find a "system" that works for me to eradicate this evil from my life.  So I keep trying.  Let's look at the worst spots:

The kitchen counter.  This end is the first horizontal surface you come to when entering through the front door. And becomes the dropping point for all manner of mail, school papers, and "stuff" imaginable.

Several members of my household dump stuff here.  I am the only one who ever removes it.

The kitchen desk.  Largely my fault.  When I move stuff off the kitchen counter, this is often where it lands.

The American Eagle bag? Stuff that needs to be shredded.  The bin under the phone - miscellaneous items like the cat brush, nail clippers, paper clips, coin wrappers, library cards.  Just an odd assortment of stuff.

Where you see the black hand bag - it is sitting in an unused "in box" filled with a bunch of other stuff.

The office.  Still in a state of flux as I'm still transitioning into this space.  And in this photo, at it's worst because I just moved a lot of stuff from the kitchen desk that actually belongs in the office based on use.  But my computer desk is almost always a mess with papers.  So much happens here!

The end table by my spot on the sofa. Can you  count at least five things that don't belong?  How about:  the Ace bandage box, the basket of socks belonging to my two youngest daughters (that has managed to reside in this spot for several years now), the camera case hidden in the corner containing a film 35mm camera that we stopped using in the mid-90's, the outdated JCPenney catalogs, the excess books on the table.

These are the areas I tackled this week.

And the results?  See for yourself:

 

  Kitchen Counter BEFORE

  

  Kitchen Counter AFTER



 Kitchen Desk BEFORE. 

Kitchen Desk AFTER.  Purse and stuff moved to closet upstairs. Inbox moved to Office - awaiting a new use or donation.  Stuff in the top two desk drawers also went to the office.  What was in the bin under the phone was sorted (some tossed) and moved to the top desk drawer.  Everyday school supplies were added to the second desk drawer for easy access by the kids.  The bin now holds papers to be shredded.

Newly organized top desk drawer.

Newly organized second desk drawer.

End Table BEFORE

End Table AFTER. Old catalogs recycled. Camera moved to area where we house other camera equipment. Excess books moved to book shelves or bottom drawer.  And that basket of socks? I took it to the girls' bedroom.  A day later it was back by the end table - like magic. I bided my time.  The next morning,  I took it back upstairs and emptied the contents into a bin in the girls' window seat. I used the emptied basket to hold some of the folded clothing overflow that was sitting on their bedroom floor.  It was a battle of wills. I prevailed.

Office BEFORE.

Office AFTER.  A  lot more happened here than is obvious by looking.  A LOT of sorting and tossing of papers. Some reorganizing of the filing system. All the bills paid and all the filing - DONE! :) 

Office close-up:  My Computer Desk BEFORE.

Office close up:  My Computer Desk AFTER.

The end result?  I now have a copy paper box FULL of documents that need to be shredded, another bag of paper that can simply be recycled. "Stuff" has been moved to where it is actually used and removed from surfaces where possible.  I'm a long way from the minimalist NOTHING on horizontal surfaces, but this is such an improvement for me!  I'm really pleased with the progress I made this week.  How did it go for you?

Project Simplify - Week 1

Project Simplify is a five week decluttering challenge.  Week One started yesterday, so it is not too late to join in.  You can read all about Project Simplify by clicking on either one of the links.

Week One's project is your wardrobe and/or closet.  This is something I had been working on since last Summer, slowly weeding out clothing that I never wear, that no longer fits, is out of style, was a case of buyer's remorse, etc.  Slowly getting my closet down to things I actually wear.  So I had a good head start on this project.

Here is the "before" photo of my side of the closet.  And considering all of the weeding out I had already done, my closet didn't look too bad!

Unfortunately, I didn't realize when I snapped this that half of my sweaters were downstairs hanging in the laundry room.  And I had already pulled a bunch of stuff from the closet before I went and got the sweaters!

And this is the "After Photo" overall view of the closet.  Minus several pair of shoes.  That bag of clothing is summer shorts and pajamas.  That will be reevaluated when summer gets here!

"Before" close up of the clothing, not including the sweaters that were in the laundry room.

"After" close up of the clothing.  Things are sorted by how often I need to get to them.  Right now Winter sweaters are near the front.  When the weather changes, the summer tops come forward and the winter sweaters go to the back of the closet.  In the far back, in bags - my wedding dress and all three girls christening gowns.

I found it very serendipitous that at the time this closet exercise comes up, I am reading this in Simple Abundance:  "Until you make peace with who you are, you'll never be content with what you have." - quote from Doris Mortman.

In fact, the next several days of essays are about how you look, the image you project, and being authentic.  And the tips for implementing the closet exercise on Project Simplify play right into this.  One of the questions was about your best colors - my closet is full of my best colors.  Any guesses what they are? 

I have also learned what colors are not my best colors.  For instance, with work clothes I always thought I needed/wanted variety.  Basic dress colors - black, grey, navy, brown.  But when I pull pants out of my closet to get dressed for work, I always choose black or grey.  On the rare occasions that I've worn navy or brown, I feel really uncomfortable.  And since I am only in the office one or two days a week, I really don't need many choices.  Hence this:

These were the clothes I added to the Goodwill pile today. Dress slacks in navy and brown, a dress jacket in brown, a bunch of blouses I haven't worn in at least two years.  Despite all the paring down I've been doing, I was still able to find more that didn't need to be taking up space in my closet.

A couple of other projects I've done within the last few weeks:

I tossed a lot of makeup that was old or that I didn't use.  This is it now.  All the makeup I own in this one little organizer!

I also pared down my jewelry, getting rid of a lot of costume jewelry that I never wear.  Aside from a couple strands of pearls, this is every necklace I now own... hung on the dresser mirror where I can actually see them and choose from them each day.  The hooks are the Command Hooks by 3M that come off cleanly - the idea was Sarah's - it is how she organizes her jewelry at school!

A close-up of some of the jewelry that survived the cut.  Since many of these have sentimental value, having them displayed this way really makes me HAPPY!