Dejunking

OK I'm going to concentrate my decluttering efforts on two rooms between now and Christmas:  my bedroom and the family room.

Here are the top three spots in each room which need some attention plus all the embarrassing details:

FAMILY ROOM

1.  Mantel -- We have every kid-sculpture known to man on the mantle.  It's sentimental but soooo not attractive and is dusty!  I believe I'll put them all on the kitchen table, call in the kids, and have everyone take theirs to their rooms.  Also to go:  the coasters (I can only assume I put them up out of the way of a baby several years ago, LOL), the empty picture frame, the garden gnome statue which would look cuter elsewhere, and some computer paraphanalia.  Agh.  --  YAY!  This is done.  Took about 5-10 minutes.  :)  Sooo much better, and we can hang our stockings now.

2.  Top of the Computer Cabinet -- This one blows up fast!  Things which can stay but need editing and organizing:  bill basket, office supplies, empty basket for computer parts (see a theme here?!).  Things which must go:  large basket of random cables for various electronics, random other junk.  I think I'll have my husband go through the cables and pick out any which we use regularly.  (I can't tell the difference.)  I'll then label them with masking tape and a sharpie so I can.  :)  The others, I'll box up and put in the basement storage room w/ an expiration date -- if we haven't used them by then, they'll be recycled at Best Buy's electronics recycling.  This was awful.  But gratifying.  I took our bill-pay "basket" which was something like a TON of paperwork and went through it.  I filed all paid bills from 2010 by month in an accordion folder.  I filed all medical paperwork in another accordion folder.  I made a "to file" folder for the stuff I just couldn't deal with yet.  I made a very small "to act" folder which is now on the paper pile.  Education paperwork is in the file drawer awaiting, you guessed it, another accordion folder.  :P  All that's left in the bill-pay basket now is a few current bills.  I'll have to tackle those manana.  Also, I put about 8" of paperwork in the to shred/to burn pile and a good 10-12" in the discard pile.  I have to get these statements online.  This paperwork is killing me!  Mostly because I sat hunched over on the floor sorting, and I'm wayyy tooo old to do that.  :)

The rest of the top of the computer cabinet?  Ha.  That is a story for a different day.  I did get the better half to agree to stashing all the miscellaneous cables in a sort of cable-purgatory in the storage room.  At least they won't be in plain sight on the computer cabinet anymore.  Too tired to carry them downstairs right now though...

Pfffft.

3.  Area in Front of Built-Ins -- Oh the shame of a messy house.  OK there are papers here that need going through -- not sure what the heck they are but most can likely go straight to discarding.  There's a box of play-doh tools and toys which needs a home.  Let's see -- how often used?  Hmmm.  I would say less than once a month (only because I hate cleaning it up!)... that means it would normally go to basement storage but it's cold for play-doh -- probably will put in the top of a closet?  Or in a very remote cupboard near the fam rm/kitchen?  Then there are two baskets of video-game stuff.  This is tricky -- both are starting to overflow.  Both are mostly filled with boxes from the cartridges and disks though which never get kept in them.  I'd pitch the boxes but we might sell them at Gamestop if they stop playing them -- so... I'll box up the empty cartridge boxes and put them in storage.  That should free up usable room in the baskets.  Hopefully I can relocate them somewhere more convenient after awhile -- but for now, they're ok as is.




My Messy Room:

I think instead of areas, I need to deal with categories first:

Clothing:  This is out of control.  I have too many, apparently.  I only wear some.  I need to fix my closet doors (they stick), fix my dresser drawer (the front fell off), and then go through my closet.  I edited out the dresser not long ago -- although it's time to pack away the summer stuff, huh?  :)  Dirty clothes need washing. 

Papers.  Yes, these got transferred in here during Thanksgiving.  They need to go pronto.  Each kid has a memory box -- not very full, quite empty really.  These can go downstairs to storage.  Problem for the future:  clear out the storage room.  Other papers need to be quickly gone through. 

Elsewheres:  I need to grab a basket and throw in it everything that doesn't belong in my room but has migrated there.  Think: preschooler's toys he drags in while I am getting ready in the morning.  :)  And assorted other junk.  When the basket is full, I will play the sorting game on the couch and have everyone take stuff to their rooms.