THAT drawer

Not to be confused with THAT boy ;)

Everyone has one.  THAT drawer that you are scared to open.  Scared to put your hand into for fear it might get cut or find something that REALLY doesn't belong.  Am I being a little dramatic?  Maybe.  But it was thanks to my "THAT drawer" that I decided to make a little purchase at Home Goods during my recent visit to St. Louis.

Here's the situation that necessitated an intervention:

A too small utensil holder on the counter which held about five utensils comfortably.

The utensil holder was an IKEA purchase (~$7) for my FIRST apartment, which if you read between the lines means this bad boy has been gracing my counters for about 8 years, so about 75 cents/year. He had put his time in and I believe I had gotten my money's worth out of him.

Enter my new shiny utensil holder from Home Goods!  I purchased it for $11.99 and once I was back in town, it found its new home on my counter.

You know you are getting old when you seriously get excited about making purchases like this one.

I also liked the scale of the new one much more than the old one, but thought it looked a little cramped with the knives on the counter too, so those got moved to another area of the kitchen.  #unclutteredhappiness

So now that the new holder was ready to be filled, I decided to tackle THAT drawer.  Embarrassed to put this online, but hey, I'm sharing this one like it is.

This drawer houses our can openers, measuring cups, baking items, and other "overflow" utensils. Yes that is a knife also just hanging out in the drawer - SCARY. 

On a positive note, this is probably the most prominent area for primary colors in our home.  I don't fall far from the tree when it comes to beiges and related neutrals. 

I emptied out the entire drawer, putting utensils in their new home and everything else across the counter.  I wiped out the drawer and washed anything that looked like it needed it.

I was a little shocked by some of the items in the drawer.  Do we really need FOUR of one utensil?  I agree that there are some things that are nice to have multiples of, but we really don't need four pastry brushes, scratch that, five.  So I downsized unnecessary items and started reorganizing.  Can/bottle/wine openers grouped on the left, random items in the middle and I filled in that last section with the remaining pastry brushes and wooden spoons.

Lovely organization.

I think my helpers were just as excited as I was!  Or not.  Because it was 9:30pm and they wanted to go to bed.  #happeningFridaynight

In the end, I had a small pile of about 10 things that we no longer needed from ONE drawer.  #stillwaitingforLuke'sapprovaltogetridof #Idon'tactuallydomuchcooking #nobodyisshockedbythat

I'm also happy to report that we no longer have stray knives hanging out in the drawer. Nobody was cut in the making of this post either.  Small celebration!

Time for the side-by-side comparisons!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I LOVE the new utensil holder and how much more it can hold while still looking stylish. However, I don't LOVE where the knives found a new home, so it looks like they are leasing the space for now until they can find a new place.

Another thing I didn't LOVE?  The hardwater spots on my utensils.  My mom suggested a vinegar water soak to get rid of the white grossness.  I'm trying it now and will let you know how it goes!

Another "clutter" area tackled.  

Anybody else tackled THAT drawer lately? Or does anybody get just as giddy as I do with new purchases for the home?!  #TJMaxxandHomeGoodsAddictionAnonymous  

Linking up to New Years Organizing Revolution! 

Save the Dates: Birthdays and anniversaries that is!

At this point many of you will think I've lost it - you are probably correct.  This is what happens when I have had too many cups of coffee and "Today's Hits Radio" blaring from Pandora.  The motivation is slowly starting to wear off, but the Dance Party will be ongoing until my caffeine wears off! #eventhedogsaredancing

So a few days ago I wrote this post on Paying It Forward throughout the year and prior to that this post about how I'm approaching the New Year.  With those posts in mind, I have taken time today to catch up on a few things I've been wanting to do for weeks to years (yes, I said years) that will hopefully help me accomplish a few of those things.   One my ideas was a one-stop-shop for important dates!

I had mentioned that I think sending cards or messages is a fantastic, yet simple way to show someone you care.  However, and it may just be me, if Facebook doesn't tell me, I often don't know.  Update: Facebook is not always right either! Enter somebody who is not on Facebook and I have NO clue.  So I decided to put all of the important dates in an easy to use document.  I've seen similar approaches online, but wanted to create my own so it was stream-lined, straightforward, and editable for future additions to the family!  I started with my family on my mom's side so I could give you all an example:

I made a document in simple document in word with the months of the year, then filled in the columns with the date of the month and the person(s) name(s).  If just one person is listed, it's his or her Birthday!  With two names, it's an Anniversary and I included the date of the year the couple was married if I knew it so I knew if it was going to be a "milestone" year! Pretty simple huh? You are welcome for not including birthday years :)

I like that I can use this document as a one-stop shop for what cards I want/need to buy so I won't be running out last minute. I also used this document this morning to add the dates to my Google calendar, which has the option to have the event repeat every year so I only have to enter them once - yes please! So for less than 30 minutes of transferring the dates, these are on my calendar for years to come.  I consider that a time-saving situation!

Now I need to set time aside to do this for the rest of my family and friends, and would like to include add in general dates as well (i.e. Mother's Day in May), but I think that will have to be a gradual process!

Another something new?  Here's the link to download your own! #Ihavenoideaifthisisgoingtowork 

Download Non-Personalized "Important Dates" Google Doc Here 

Operation Declutter: Receipts, Junk Mail, Magazines, and Books (+ Fabric!)

So it's 2013. Whoops!  Looks like "Operation Declutter 2012" is now "Operation Declutter 2013." Creative new name, huh? It takes time to come up with these things!

Today's focus is once again on the paper clutter.

RECEIPTS:

I tackled the receipt side of things yesterday.  After the holidays the number of receipts in my purse/wallet/basket in the entry way/etc seem to have taken over any spare space available.  Not to mention, I found even more receipts in my filing cabinet, in a spare storage box, in some old purses I was getting rid of... #Ihavereceiptproblem #morelikeashoppingproblem

http://www.quickenblog.com/paper-trail-why-you-should-hold-onto-receipts-2012-08-09/

My receipt situation was no where near this picture, but I wanted to get on top of it so it NEVER gets this bad! Some quick receipt management tips:

• Buy a paper shredder. These usually go on sale during tax season!
• Major purchases that may require the receipt for warranty should be kept (think appliances and electronics).
• Receipts for tax purposes should have a set location to be filed right away. 
• Compare receipts vs credit card bills.  If you are one of these people, pick a date every week/month to compare, then shred the receipt.  If you aren't one of these people ::me:: set a date to go through receipts (i.e. every Sunday, or every Sunday of the month depending your receipt volume).  
• Setup consistent locations for receipts.  This was one of my problems leading to receipts in odd locations and impossible to find if I needed them. Now I have a basket on my console table for the sole purpose of holding coupons and receipts.

My system? Sort through receipts when I have time and categorize: to shred,  to return, and long-term storage.  Long-term get scanned for a digital copy, then usually filed away or shredded if not needed for warranty/taxes/etc. #haveImentionedIlovemyscanner?

MAGAZINES:

I looked ALL over the house for any magazines - end tables, nightstands, coffee tables, desktops - and found all of these:

Dramatic much Reader's Digest? Wasn't exactly an impressive article, but not important.  #Notgoingthere #Noventingfromme

The pile of magazines looked like this from another angle:

 And in complete honesty, ranged in dates up to two years ago. #dogfoundoneofthemagazinesinthecar #Haven'tgottenflatabsorslimdownedfast

If the magazine was more than two years old, it went to my mom or sister so they could read it if they wanted and then recycle.  The magazines less than two years old made me feel a little like I was cheating on the "decluttering" standpoint since I downloaded the magazines I had yet to read to my IPad.  Most magazines offer a free electronic copy with a paid subscription.  This resulted in me having electronic access to my magazines while traveling recently, which as an added bonus resulted in a lighter carry-on bag!  The rest of the magazines went to my mom or sister again for their enjoyment!  I can still enjoy the magazines, my mom and sister can enjoy the magazines, and I don't have the paper clutter all over my house!  #winwinwin

BOOKS:

When my mom and sister were here helping me clear my closet, they also helped me decide what to do with some of my old textbooks.  Since we refer to my Aunt Alisa as "Doc" she inherited all of my old textbooks in a little impromptu white elephant gift at Christmas!  We also brought fiction books for my family members to take and enjoy at their leisure.  

Sidenote: We gave my Aunt Amy a white elephant gift of all of our old fabric scraps that we had so she  could use them in her quilting business.  Another win-win situation where something we no longer needed could be put to good use!  And when I say she can utilize any size of fabric scraps, I'm not kidding!  Here's her set-up when she stayed at our place: 

And inside that box of treasures? THOUSANDS of fabric squares and rectangles perfectly measured and cut by hand!

So to say she appreciated the fabric scraps was an understatement I believe!  But I digress...

JUNK MAIL:

This is something I should have been doing all along: not setting the junk mail down inside the house.  We rarely use anything out of the coupon mailers we get, simply because they are coupons to places we never go!  Therefore, junk mail now goes STRAIGHT to the recycle bin or trash!  

After going through these categories, I can honestly say we have one filing cabinet and Luke's drawer left that I haven't touched, but otherwise, all of the paper products in our home have an assigned space!  It is so nice not moving piles of paper, or seeing mounds of receipts.  It's been quite the way to start the New Year!  

Next on the list?  Kitchen clutter!  I bought a new utensil caddy when I was at my sister's that I plan on putting to good use!  

What have you decluttered at your house?  Feel free to leave a comment - no really - you can leave a comment!  #notsurethecommentingfunctionisworking  #provemewrong!

Disclaimer: I am no financial expert nor do I claim to be one.  Shred important documents at your own risk!  It's pretty permanent!

Operation Declutter 2012: Class Notes

After 4 years of undergraduate and 4 years of graduate school, plus a year as an Extern, the amount of "class notes" I've accumulated is RIDICULOUS.  This picture was taken a couple of years ago, so imagine all those binders, plus several more that I accumulated over the next few years, all brimming with class notes.

Since I rarely ever go back to the class notes (because I have no idea where anything is in the binders), they have sat on the bookshelves since the class ended. 

However, I knew there were things inside those binders that could one day be useful, so I decided to take the time over this "break" to finally do something about the situation (and no not the Jersey Shore "Situation").  Enter my new best friend:  

Its a Fujitsu Scan Snap 1300i.  My sister and I actually did a little research to find a scanner that would work well to decrease our "paper clutter situation" but didn't cost an arm and a leg (we decided to split the cost of the scanner).  It scans about 12 pages per minute (12 ppm), and scans both sides at the same time (duplexes), is Mac AND PC compatible (a must for Heather and I to share) and has an option to make the document you just scanned searchable (OCR).  This was all foreign language to me a few weeks ago. #notreallyasnerdyasIthoughtIwas #I'manerdwhoamIkidding

Update: The scanner does do color scans, and you can alter the quality of the scan to save on file size.  I saved all of the files on my computer and barely noticed a dent in my available space.  The scanner can hold 10-20 sheets of paper at a time, but there is an option to "continue scanning" after the current scan is done, so each PDF can be up to 1000 pages long.  There is a more expensive version of this scanner that has the capability to feed up to 50 pages, but the scanner costs ~$190 more, so we decided price overweighed convenience for our purposes.  Additionally, the 12 ppm is NOT with duplex considerations, so it actually can scan 24 ppm.   The only issues I had with the scanner were usually because I missed a staple so it misfed.  It shows the last page saved so you can be sure you aren't missing any pages being scanned and restart the scanning process at the appropriate location.  This scanner also has the capability to scan pictures at high resolution, but I haven't utilized that option yet.  

So we bought the scanner from Amazon and I used my Discover card to get free one-day shipping!  I took it out of the box, and after a few hours I had already scanned what I needed and was ready to get rid of this: 

It was a few binders worth, but I was addicted. #rehabforscanneraddiction

So I set up shop at our kitchen table and scanned/sorted away!

I brought every single binder I owned upstairs.

I had to remove staples and post-its from the notes to get them to be "scannable" so I created a little pile in a dish to keep all the staples and post-its corralled.

And before long, my pile had turned to this:

Holy paper. My pile of filled binders was slowly starting to get smaller...

...with Bentley keeping guard.  The good news was I already had a bag of binders to get rid of!

 A few days later with some free time dedicated to sorting and I accomplished this:

I did NOT scan all of these papers, but maybe a 1/4 or less.  There were definitely things that I did not need and couldn't believe I kept this long.  It was time.

Plus I now had a few (dozen) binders to get rid of.  This isn't even all of them!

And I'm not the only one who is happy about getting rid of some clutter! #furkidaddiction

We bundled up the paper into paper bags for recycling and dropped them off at the recycling center.  One part of clutter off of the list and now the scanner goes to Heather for a bit!  It was a great idea to split the cost since we don't both need the scanner sitting at our houses.  #Scannersharedcustody

With one type of clutter gone, it's time to tackle the next!  I'm thinking some of the "clothing clutter" is up next.

What kind of clutter are you tackling?  I've even found a few more types of clutter to add to my list!