Handling Clutter, Part Three

Now you can get a bunch of stuff for your stuff--buy those baskets, bins, etc.--  organizational ideas do help. Put it some where--a box, a bin, a trunk and then it looks organized. My basket with my hair flowers in the guest bathroom pictured below illustrates the problem that can arise from excess containers. You have to solve the problem of what is in the box, bin and trunk. Now my hair flowers are in a drawer cleaned out in the guest bathroom.

Two years ago, before the crash with a DUI driver and the therapy after that, I was writing about clutter on this blog and even wrote a rap about it here where two lines are:

Get it out and take a peek

We know it will take more than just a week.

At that time I was reading Flylady's Kitchen Sink Reflections and Clutter's Last Stand. So this campaign to get organized has a real history, folks. I was derailed physically and discouraged I would be able tackle our home before my husband's Alzheimer's gets worse. I went back to my chiropractor and am on track for solving carpel tunnel problems. My interview with Dolores on the last post inspired me all week.

My day started at 7 AM today with Weight Watchers where their scale showed I lost 4/10 of a pound last week. I spend the rest of Saturday on the house. As you may recall from last Saturday,  I am going through the process in Mindy Starns Clark's book, The House That Cleans Itself, and she took a year with her house. It will take more than a week. Fortunately DH finally decided to mow the front lawn while I worked. (I had treatened to hire someone to mow it, but he said NO and did come through today.)

At 11:30 AM I put an easy chicken  recipe from Pinterest  for dinner  in the crockpot.  My link for Pinterest is at the bottom right and I put it under Healthy Food.  I used light broth and healthy soup and another brand of stuffing. The smells permeated the house while I worked on areas one and two. HBZ area one is essentially done and here is the report.

After Guest Bathroom

Before Guest Bathroom

Stations in Cupbards in Baskets

 As you see quite an improvement at the right! Mrs. Clark advocates stations and so I used my white wicker baskets for stations stored in the cupboards in the guest bathroom: I have first aid and cleaning under the sink, dental care, hair curlers, cold medine and aspirin, and other medicine all in their own containers/stations ready to be taken out when needed. The cleaning bin is where I need it for the bathrooms. She also tells you to evaluate every possession you have. Stuff eats time. . . Do you really want to keep wasting yours on stuff? (p. 100) A lot of unnecessary items were thrown away. "Hotel like", as she says, and I loved having that counter to fold my towels.

How is this helping my Alzheimer's husband?  In the master bathroom, the products that he uses are under his sink along with a basket of towels--and nothing else. I can easily see what is needed. He couldn't find eye glass lense cleaners, and being so disorganized, I bought more. Now we have four boxes you might be able to see at the left.  I can go into this cupboard and easlily see if he needs more Efferdent or Sea Bond for his false teeth. This bathroom should not confuse him in the future.

The master shower was redone several years ago and it is large and easy to get into. Hubby can use a shower chair and a hand held  Price Pfister Multi-Function Shower System with Adjustable Slide Bar when needed in the future by himself or with someone helping him.  I washed the cowboy design curtains I had made (can't remember when I had done that before in the eleven years we have lived here). I stopped at not cleaning the tile in the shower because of my carpel tunnel hands and wrists. I will have someone else clean it. Maybe hubby will--which product below should he use for our hard water?



Tilex, Clean Shower, Lysol Tub and Tile



Night Time When I Finished Last Saturday



When I started on the bathrooms a week ago,  I had a digression--it just seemed right that I organize the medicine. I found all the medicine in four places in the house and put it on the dining room table where it sat most of the week while I worked ourside the house five days. Here is a picture where I finally cleared the dining room table today. Beyond you see area 2, the den, which will take a lot of time--trust me. It illustrates a principle for Mrs. Clark's book.

Anthing in your home that's likely to get messy looking over time should be placed outside the Sight Zone (p. 143).  

You see right into the messy den, so that's why is is the second priority for the house --  the needy Sight Zone where you would notice clutter. It may take a while for me to accomplish this den reorganization, but having our bathrooms organized, I am able to keep it clean.  I feel so good about this accomplishment using Mrs. Clark's pointers.



The crockpot chicken dinner will be ready in a half hour and it is time for me to make our salad.