Decluttering the Pantry in 30 Minutes

We have a small pantry in a hallway that holds canned food, bottles, jars and a few bread mixes. It's a little annoying that we always have to crouch down to find anything in the pantry, but it's even more annoying when the pantry is a mess like it has been for the past few years.

Before decluttering

During decluttering

After decluttering

I took 30 minutes one weekend to go through the entire pantry, get rid of a few items, give some food away and even make lunch that day with a few items. Now it's clean and organized by type of food and how often we need an item.

Now what do I do with canned Malaysian rambutan fruit?

Decluttering the Junk Drawer

I don't care how clean or organized your home is...everyone has a junk drawer. Mine happens to be in a small, cherry hallway table that I've had since college. It's a small drawer, but is the catchall for everything that doesn't have a home. So I finally decided to spend an hour on Saturday morning cleaning out this last bastion of disorganization.

 This drawer was filled with random objects like a plastic bag of seeds for my beloved vegetable garden, some small bags of wasp attractant for our wasp traps, incense sticks, a phone answering machine manual, scissors, some light bulbs for outdoor lights, double sided tape, a few tapers, watch batteries, key tags, a flashlight, some cat hairball medicine and a cat hair brush.

Okay, after writing that, I'm starting to laugh. What a random mess!

So the cleaning process was:

1. Dump all the items out and sort them into KEEP and TOSS piles.
2. Put all the smaller items (batteries, seeds) into their own baggies to stop them from rolling around.
3. Keep like with like: the candles are grouped together as well as the pet-related items.
4. Remove as much packaging as possible so that items are easier to get to.
5. Move some items to other locations: the key tags and the wasp attractant went out to the garage and a pair of scissors went into my office.

I then cleaned the drawer with a damp rag and put all the items* I was keeping back into the drawer. The goal was to keep it all in one layer, but as you can see from the photo, the seeds just got placed on top. Oh well, it's almost spring anyway.



* One thing I had a hard time with was my dog's old collar. She passed away about two years ago and I've not had the heart to throw out her collar. I suppose I could give it to a friend's dog, or the humane shelter, but for now, I just need to hang on to it.

Tool Shed Decluttering

We have a small pump house/tool shed in our yard that has a tendency to become a catchall for all our summer projects and items. I decided this fall to clean it from top to bottom and re-organize all the tools and equipment in it. The larger items, like the lawn mower and edger seemed to take up most of the space, but once I found room for everything else, those two items fit in just fine. The key was to utilize the wall space as much as possible with tool racks, a shelf for our above ground pool items and strong hooks for the edger. An old kitchen cabinet works great for smaller tools and items.

BEFORE

 

 

AFTER

 

 

 

 

Decluttering Under the Stairs Storage

In my mother's house is a strange, but rather large cabinet under the stairs. For years it has been neglected and random items like Halloween decorations, Christmas wrapping paper and art projects have been relegated to this dark hole. It's also been the place where my husband likes to store his various beers. There was never any shelving built in the space, so over time it has become cluttered and items are just piled on top of each other. With the holidays coming up, I thought last weekend would be a good time to clean out and organize the cabinet. That meant putting on knee pads and climbing into the dark, cobwebby space. Fun.

I purchased a few plastic shelving packages from Home Depot and began to clean and toss out what was not being used. You can see below what the space used to look like. Don't ask what was going to be done with that huge gourd in the corner.

Below you can see what the space looked like after I tackled it. Since I got rid of so much junk and old boxes, I did not have to utilize the space in the very back of the cabinet. In addition, it only took me about one hour to clean out the space and reorganize it. My cabinet under the stairs project is a good example of what can be accomplished in an afternoon with only about $60 worth of shelving and some knee pads.

 

 Photos by Christina Nellemann

How Clean is Your Cell Phone?

Those handy, little devices go with us everywhere: the car, our coat pockets, the bathroom. Have you ever really considered how dirty that cell phone is when you stick it next to your face? 

I've been re-watching a bunch of the "How Clean is Your House?" shows that ran on the BBC a few years ago. I adore Kim Woodburn and Aggie MacKenzie and their clutter, grime and dirt busting tactics. In addition, after watching a show, I REALLY want to clean and disinfect my entire house.

Then I got to thinking about my cell phone. How often do I really clean the thing and what bacteria and microbes are crawling on my keypad?

According to the site, Keeping It Klean, the average cell phone...

• can contain germs like Staphylococcus, Micrococcus and Bacillus, and one in six cellular phones is contaminated with fecal matter;
• has more contamination than a toilet, a doorknob and the bottom of a shoe;
• has bacteria on it than can live for more than a week;
• contains tens of thousands of germs on each square inch and these germs can multiply when the phone is warmed up by heavy use or by the warmth from your hands and face.

Gross.

There is hope. However, a daily cleaning regiment is required. This can include using sanitary wipes (check with your phone manufacturer first), a paper towel and rubbing alcohol, and a cotton swab and alcohol for the little nooks and crannies.

Also, this year a group of college students from Utah have invented a cell phone cleaner/charger that uses UV light to clean and disinfect cell phones. The Phone Soap only takes about three minutes to clean a phone, but they can also be left in the cleaner overnight.

All it takes are the word "fecal matter" to get people up and cleaning.

Photo by wine me up

Phasing Out of Facebook

Facebook is on the brink of one of the largest IPO's in history. No one really knows what this will do for the millions of Facebook users and businesses, but we do know that it will make a few people very, very wealthy. Even with all the IPO hubbub, what if you decide you are tired of being part of the largest social media network in the world? How about dumping Facebook for good?

Many users of Facebook have shown their displeasure about the social media network's privacy issues, and according to a PCMag.com poll over 50 percent of Facebook users have considered moving over to Google+ instead.

If you are having a difficult time removing yourself from the most popular social network ever created, then do it in phases. Each phase will help any Facebook addict to slowly quit the pull of status posts, Farmville and the Timeline.

Phase #1

Cut down Facebook time to once or twice a week instead of daily. In addition to this, don't stay logged into Facebook all day. It makes it too tempting to just stop what you're doing and get lost in Facebook-land.

Stop putting your entire life on Facebook. Only post your status once or twice a week and don't let everyone know everything you are doing or every place you are going. 

Stop liking things on Facebook. Don't use your finger or your mouse to vote on what you "Like"; not even for that free pack of gum or entry into a movie ticket contest.


Phase #2

Lurk instead of Like. You can still lurk around Facebook and view other friends' comments, photos, videos, etc., but don't post any status updates or click on any "Like" buttons.

Tell them you are outta here. Contact your closest friends on FB and tell them you are slowly phasing out and give them your Google+ information, Twitter account or email address.

Move your photos over to Google+. The blog, nicomachus.net, has a nice guide on how to move your accumulation of photos from Facebook to Google+.

Phase #3

Delete your account. If this makes you nervous, you can reactivate your Facebook account after 14 days of deleting it. If after 14 days, you are having withdrawals, you can always go back.

Decluttering (Not) Your Office

Do you work in a typical cubicle environment where your gray cube or office is spic and span? What about that empty cube across the hall? You know the one: the employee was laid off or left two years ago and it has become either a storage space or has masses of scattered files that date back to 2003. In your decluttered life, doesn't that cube give you itchy fingers? Don't you just want to tackle that space and make it gray and shiny once again?

This is a rocky position to be in. Your supervisor and other employees could be the types to support your efforts, or they could see you as a busybody that has no business straightening up an area that's not yours. What's the best way to go about it?

1. It helps if you have some seniority. I'm in this position right now where a few offices and cubes down the hall from me are bursting at the seams with remnants of old conferences, un-filed files, awards that were never given to their recipients and employees' children's toys.

As the senior employee, I am using this stance to say "This stuff from 10 years ago was supposed to be filed away, but wasn't. I'll take care of it." I then proceed to use the circular file religiously.

2. Tell instead of ask. I initially asked in a roundabout way if the work was ever going to get done. Nothing came of that. So before even tossing a paperclip, I took some meeting time to mention that I was just taking a few mornings (I come in early) to straighten a few cubicles up. That was received more positively.

3. Announce that it would make the department look a little more professional. We have a new employee coming in soon and I don't want us to look like slobs...except I don't say it like that.

4. Make use of the company's locked recycle bins and shredders. Have a large recycle bin available nearby and make sure the cleaning crew will be emptying out it and the garbage cans each night. 

5. Create a "To Be Filed" box. Don't throw away or recycle everything. That could cause some issues with people who are addicted to printing and filing everything. Items that you are not sure of should go in this box with a dated sticky note on top. Give this filing job to an intern.

6. Show off your work. Once everything is clean and organized, decorate with a small plant or some art and show off your hard work. Tell everyone where they can find things that have been filed and accept some recommendations. The plant or artwork will hopefully deter the department from filling up the cubicle again with office detritus.

Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Beall/Flickr