Declutter & Organize = Save $$$$

I am joining Sarah at ThriftyDecorChick on her January Mission to Declutter & Organize. I am showing you my official pictures of shame here. I love Sarah's blog and am in awe of her home and her talent for decorating.

Life has been so busy since Thanksgiving that I have been unable to keep up. The shoes and mail and Christmas Clearance shopping have all been piling up and I am feeling very overwhelmed. This is what I have been walking into every day when I open my front door. Besides the stress it causes me, I have been praying no one came over.

So I decided to take Sarah's advice. She wrote that last year she went through her house room by room, not moving on until she finished one room at a time. Sarah designated a space in her basement for items she was donating, threw out what needed to be tossed, and cleaned each room as she was finished. I have a very ADD cleaning style. I start in the Living Room and bring papers to the recycling bin, I pass the Kitchen on the way back to the Living Room and then I wash a few dishes, remember I am cleaning the Living Room, and go back there, etc.

This time I brought the recycling bin to the Dining Room - I could not have done it without ya' Gizmo-and I had boxes and bins for what needed to be organized & moved. A box for Christmas Clearance Shopping, Target Toy Clearance shopping, personal items for me and my husband, shoes, and a trash bag.

I sorted everything and put it all away - personal items and shoes in the bedroom, the papers went into a bin to be made into files for the office. I separated the papers into two boxes- filing and things that had to be taken care of immediately. People, I found a bill from 2007!!!! I had already paid it, but it was in a pile for filing that I made over a year ago-see, I was not kidding about my cleaning ADD thing.

Then I cleaned. I used all of the products I won from the
Right@Home Gift Pack Contest. I repurposed some baskets and containers that I had already. I created a space for shoes, and keys, hats & gloves on top of the shoe rack. I plan to buy something else when I find something I like that encloses these things so they cannot be seen. Now I am no longer ashamed and am ready to attack the Living Room tomorrow!

This is going to save me so much time and stress! When things are clean and organized I don't waste time searching for items I need, or worse buying things I cannot find. It helps me focus on saving money other ways and keeps me stress-free. I have space to clip coupons or actually eat at the table! Cleaning is the easy part though, keeping it that way is my real challenge, but just like losing weight or saving money, these are lifestyle changes, and this is something I have to focus on everyday.