Archaeological dig in number two son's bedroom!

My sons are very different. Number one son didn't fall far from the maternal tree - he loves to clear stuff up, tidy and declutter. Number two son tends to shove things into drawers and cupboards, so his room looks tidy on the surface, but a peek inside the nearest cupboard will reveal the truth!

So I was delighted this summer when he said he wanted to clear out 'some stuff' from his room. I think he was a bit taken aback when I arrived in his room with some black sacks, the vacuum cleaner and some cleaning supplies!

Going through his things felt a little like an archaeological dig - layers of artefacts from now (he's 16) back to when he was still in primary school! Including, much to his embarrassment, an S Club 7 CD! That'll teach him to declutter more regularly.

He didn't want pictures of his room on the interwebs, so there are no before or after pictures, but a lovely shot of the pile of cr@p we got rid of. Mostly it was donated, and the remaining was recycled as much as possible.

Happy decluttering!

Lemons x

I'm back - and I've decluttered my make up drawer!

Well, it seems that the Lemons family are finally getting themselves back on an even keel, after some wobbly months. So now I have a little bit more time to inflict my boring old blog on the interwebs!

While I've been away, I've done a few little decluttering jobs that I always mean to do, and don't always get around to. One of them is my make up drawer. I'm not a girl with a lot of make (I'm a natural beauty ..... NOT ha!) and I like everything to be at hand in the shallow drawer in my dressing table.

Here's a before - it gets all grubby and overloaded, as you can see.

And yes, that's all the make up I have. Weep for me ....

I took everything out - boy was there a lot in there!

 

I managed to throw away an old mascara, make up brush and a few lipglosses that I had acquired.














Then I cleaned out the drawer, and washed the little containers. I found these drawer organisers at Lakeland, and they still have similar ones in stock. They are plastic and you can link them together in different configurations. It's a good job they are plastic, as a lipgloss had oozed all over it ...

I put it all back in, organising it more logically this time, and ta da! One organised make up drawer.

Happy decluttering! x

Sorry, guys ....

.. but it's been a difficult and hectic time chez Lemons, and the blog has taken even more of a backseat than it did before.

I'll be taking some time away from the blog for a couple of months, until hopefully the Lemon family are back on a even keel. But I will be back - that's a promise (or a threat!).

In the meantime - happy decluttering!

Lemons x

Just one thing ...

 

 

 

Carlos Porto/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

There are lots of decluttering challenges out there on the internet - '10 things in 10 days', '100 things in a month' etc. But I've found, when I'm losing my decluttering mojo, that 'just one thing' works for me. Just one thing each day that we no longer need removed from the house - whether it's the weird little screw you find in the drawer, the jumper you don't like anymore, the shoes your child grew out of a few months ago - I think most of us can find just one thing that we can declutter, however busy our day. At the end of the week, that's seven things and after a month ... well, you can do the maths!!

Happy decluttering! Lemons x

Ten Minute Tidy : drawers

I love tidying drawers - for one thing, they are beautifully portable. Most drawers will come out of the piece of furniture they are in, so you can plonk yourself somewhere comfortable to sort the contents - in front of the TV with a glass of wine, if you want. And secondly, they don't take long - for a little effort, you can be so much more organised.

I never wanted my blog to tell everyone how neat and organised they can be if only they buy a whole load of expensive 'storage solutions', so while I will add some links to drawer organisers from several UK companies, it's not hard to be creative, and use what you have. It is helpful to have some sort of containerisation going on in your drawers, particularly if you have lots of little bits and bobs, like jewellery, hair accessories etc stored in one drawer.They help you keep like items together (for example, all eyeliners in one place, all lipglosses in another) - divide and conquer is the rule of the day!

But you don't have to rush out and buy anything - you may have some little containers that work very well. Small baskets, plastic boxes like the kind you get from a Chinese takeaway or even sturdy packaging boxes cut down to the same depth - you won't see the printing on the outside if you slot them in snugly. You could always come over all Blue Peter and cover them with sticky backed plastic to get a uniform look, if it really offends you!

Pound shops often have small containers (which obviously cost about a pound!) that work well in drawers - Laura over at I'm an Organizing Junkie shows how well these kind of baskets work for her when she organised her junk drawer. For my make up drawer, which is wide but quite shallow, I found some interlinking drawer organisers at Lakeland which work well for me. Muji also have a gorgeous selection of acrylic boxes which could be used in drawers or small cabinets (like bathroom cabinets) - although I will admit they are quite expensive, particularly if you want a lot of them. The Holding Company has a good range of drawer organisers -  I particularly like their Clutter Buster Drawer Organiser.

I'm sure there is a drawer somewhere in this house that needs my attention -

Happy decluttering! x

East, west, home's best ....

'Home is the sailor, home from the sea' (Robert Lewis Stevenson) and home is my little family, from ... Vegas. I know I said here that we were off to Japan, but due to the devastating earthquake and tsunami, our trip was cancelled. We didn't have much time to choose a new destination, so we plumped for Vegas, and we had a good time.

I feel like the worst blogger of all time, as my blog is so sadly neglected, but now we are back I hope to rectify that.

I've been interested in decluttering and home organisation for a very long time - back when I was about 12 I first read Shirley Conran's Down with Superwoman  and knew I'd 'met' a kindred spirit! Since then, I've read a great many books on decluttering and organising, so here's a little list. Most of these are available in my local library, so if you're interested in reading them, you may not even have to buy them and clutter your house with another book!

• Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern. I like Julie's book because she makes you think about what will work for you and your life.
• The Life Laundry : How to De-Junk your Life by Dawna Walters. This book is linked to the BBC series which was on way back. The book has a helpful 'life laundry survey' which will highlight areas that might need some attention.
• Clear your Clutter with Feng Shui by Karen Kingston. Of course, you might think feng shui is a load of hogwash, but this little book made me realise that holding on to stuff can literally make you feel 'weighed down'. Worth a look.
• Clutter's Last Stand : It's Time to De-junk your Life by Don Aslett. An amusing, no-nonsense book.

I hope they help somebody!

Happy decluttering! xx

Why do we have so much clutter?

I thought I'd have a little look into why we all seem to accumulate so much clutter in our homes. From my experience with friends, family and of course myself, there are a number of reasons why we have piles of stuff.

1. A sort of greed - I don't mean that to sound nasty, but a lot of us buy stuff just 'because' - because it's there, because we are constantly looking for new things. And we aren't operating a 'one in, one out' policy, so are just adding to our overstuffed wardrobes, cupboards, attics and garages. I aim for an elegant sufficiency in all things - I am not a collector though, but if you are, you may have lots of one particular thing (I saw a beautiful collection of hatpins on TV the other day). In general I aim to have enough for my needs, but not too much.

2. I might need it some day. Really? Your university papers from two decades ago? A pair of ratty old curtains? I think it's time to be a little bit brave, and believe that there will enough for you in the future, so it's ok to get rid of old and sometimes pretty unusable stuff. Just think, you might need that space it's occupying one day, too.

3. Presents. When I give someone something, I really hope they like it/want it/use it. That's the point of a present, after all! I wouldn't mind at all if someone exchanged/donated/regifted something I gave them that didn't quite hit the mark. However, I know that not all gift givers feel this way. It's hard to know how to deal with this - maybe keep it for a set period, and then discreetly donate it to charity?

4.  It's broken, but I'm going to fix it. If you haven't fixed it for a year, you probably won't! If you think you might, set a deadline by which you have to have it up and running, and if you fail - out it goes. There is a little sub-category here - useless things. Like video tapes when you don't have a video player anymore. Maternity clothes when your youngest is taking their A levels.  Odd socks. You get the picture.

5. It's new, and I've never used/worn it. I wonder why? If you have had it a year or so, you probably aren't going to use it. Unless it was buried under other clutter, and you've only just been  reunited with it. In which case, rejoice, and start using/wearing it.

6. Sentiment. This is a tricky one. I stand by my favourite quote - 'You can't have everything - where would you put it?'. It's going to get harder and harder as the years go by to keep every greetings card your family have ever been sent if you live in a modestly sized home. Keep the very, very special stuff (have a memory box for each person in your household) and pass on the rest. If you can't bear to get rid of it completely, take a photo of it, and keep that, instead. This applies to holiday souvenirs too - I don't buy them, I have photos of my holidays, and my memories, and I find that's enough for me.

7. It's worth something - or might be. Research this. It's possible that your complete video taped series of Fawlty Towers isn't as valuable as you thought. If you love the item, think it's beautiful and it makes your heart sing everytime you see it, whether it's worth nothing or £500, then keep it. But don't keep things you don't like just because they might be worth something.

8. I'm holding on to it for family/friends. They might not want your clutter. I was given bags and bags of 10 year old, stained, poorly stored (musty) baby clothes by 'someone' when I had my elder son. Whilst I did appreciate the thought, none of it was usable, or even to my taste (or current fashion). Your house and all it's storage space is primarily for your family who live in it right now - don't clutter it up with stuff for other people.

Happy decluttering! xx