The 'One Thing' project pt. 2

Yesterday I got rid of a stuffed animal from the livingroom and a ball of yarn I'd always intended to knit with and yet...you know how it is.  But this is movvvvving soooo slloooowwlly.  In a moment of genius I decided I would try the 'set a timer' method of decluttering. 

See, how I've been doing this so far is to sort of wander through the house waiting for something to 'speak' to me and tell me it wants to leave.  Then I debate for a bit.  Then I decide whether I'm throwing it away or giving it away, and usually I'm giving it away.  At which point I come up with the perfect person to give it to, except that they're not here right now, so I have to keep it, naturally, until I can get it to them!  And then I walk away.

Clearly this isn't effective at all.  The timer gives me a short burst of concentrated 'getting rid of stuff' time.  Also it combats my biggest problem with clutter - I'm just so tired all of the time.  But even I, the queen of exhaustion, can manage to work solidly for 15 minutes.  And the best part of this is that 15 minutes can be found almost anywhere in the day.

I tried it this morning for the first time.  I chose a top cabinet in the kitchen as my victim and went through it.  I know for a fact that there are jars and jars of preserves up there that have been sitting for years.  Years.  Like, more than I feel comfortable eating after sort of years.  But I've never thrown them away because they're pretty, all lined up up there, and it's throwing away food, which is a sin.

I pulled over a chair and started emptying out the cabinet and as I did I wondered why I had it arranged this way.  All of my 'nice' china cups for when non-existant company comes over were all easily accessible, but if I wanted to reach the honey for Samuel's toast I threatened a cup of toothpicks.  I had Ziploc bags filled with bits and pieces of breast pumps, bottles, sterilizers etc., (none of which I've used for at least 6 months) but I didn't have one complete sippy cup anywhere to be found.  (Eventually I found one, under the cocoa powder).  An idea dawned on me so revolutionary to my way of thinking that I think I shall call it Amy's First Rule of Organization.

Amy's First Rule of Organization:  A family's home should be constantly changing as the needs of the family change.

That cupboard was a mix of 'pre-baby life' and 'immediately post-birth life'.  And neither of those realities is us anymore.  And so I moved the glasses down to the bottom shelf, and I carefully assembled all of the bottles and stored them on the top shelf, beside the containers for pureed food.  And  I decided that the teas I had and almost never used would be up on the second shelf and so on.  And now I'm off to work.