Clutter Control

After months of staying on top of the clutter in my house, and surprising myself and my husband with my ability to be neat, Christmas came and everything exploded. Even after all the decorations were put away, remnants of the holidays remained: the back room full of presents for the girls that I would bring out, one by one, the advent calendar on the pool table that never got put away with the rest of the decorations, the serving pieces in the dining room. It was a mess. And then, last weekend, I learned that there was going to be a photo shoot at our house. Suddenly, I kicked it into high gear – reorganizing the kitchen and the playroom, picking up the girls bedrooms and the living room and the dining room and every other corner of the house. It took hours and hours, but finally, my house was ready for its closeup. Not a single room was off-limits, so that meant that there were no hidden spaces, with the exception of our itty-bitty laundry room, to hide stuff away. The problem is – and if my husband ever suggests this I vehemently deny it – is that I have a lot of stuff. Also I’m very messy. But really, it’s about all the STUFF. That’s why I was so intrigued by this month’s Real Simple story on conquering clutter. Their solution was much the same as my husband’s. Buy less stuff. Some of it was impractical, in my opinion, but some of it was eye-opening. On the impractical side, how can a medicine cabinet be complete without vitamins, and all of the homeopathic remedies that I use for my girls. And how can my kitchen utensil drawer function without my small microplane grater, for zesting citrus and grating ginger, and my OXO apple slicer/corer, which I use almost every single day. I don’t think I could replace my beloved OXO vegetable peeler with a Y-shaped one. And while I have a whole lot more utensils than they show in the magazine, I don’t have an instant read thermometer (threw out a nonfunctional one a while back and haven’t replaced it) and I’ve never even heard of a fish spatula, but it’s a great idea. And my cleaning closet is out of control. I have so many (all natural, eco-friendly) cleaners that you’d think we ran a hotel. I tend to stock up when I think of it, and then I have to find a place to put it all! The only clutter zone that I seem to have a handle on is my desk. Since I don’t have a desk job, and Kevin handles the bill-paying, my “desk”, which is really just a countertop that’s an extension of the kitchen, holds just the basics: stamps, my return address stamper, some post-its and pens, and a vertical filing system that holds everyday papers and more or less works, when I choose to use it. Sometimes my desk is covered with clean laundry waiting to be folded, and other times it’s covered with toys, but it’s not usually covered with office supplies. : )
So, what are your indispensibles? In your kitchen utensil drawer, your medicine cabinet, your cleaning closet, your home office? Tomorrow, I will share my essentials in every area of my home!