Cleaning House

In Why we should all be required to move now and then from Blue Skunk Blog. Doug Johnson shares,

“My hope is that all employees, teachers especially, will undertake a similar process - looking at old materials asking...

• When was the last time I used this? Did it work then?
• Does this align to the current curriculum?
• Does this reflect the values of cultural proficiency?
• Can I do this activity or present this resource digitally?

We all of us grow comfortable in our habits, routines, and familiar lessons.”

As it nears the end of the year, I think it is time to clean house. It is time to go through stuff and get rid of the things I no longer use. I am going to make 4 piles: Don’t fit, out of date, broken, sentimental.

Personal: I will go through my multitudes of clothing and if I haven’t worn it in the past year, I’m donating it to Goodwill. I have so many items that no longer fit me and will probably never will.

Professional: If my books are outdated, I’m going to pull them from the shelves. Travel books that are out of date need to go in order to make room for current books. Old lessons that are no longer relevant need to go also. Why in the world am I keeping this old stuff?

Broken: Anything broken that will not be repaired this year needs to be trashed or recycled. It needs to stop taking up room and making me feel guilty. I know that “someday” I might fix it but odds are, I won’t.

Sentimental: If it is sentimental but of no use, I will take a photo of it and upload it to my computer so I can keep a memory of it. (I still have things from students from 30 years ago!)

It is too easy to keep things because I’m comfortable where they are and I don’t want to change.

Do you need to clean house? What plan will you make to help you get organized? Please share.

Decluttering

In Out With the Old? From Sioux's Page, Sioux asks,

“What is something old you'd like to get rid of/you've already gotten rid of? What are you going to replace it with(if anything)?”

I would like to do some major decluttering this year! I would like to get rid of 3 major groups of things that would make a difference in my house.

First, I have a couple of drawers filled with pens, pencils, and markers. I’m sure that half of the pens and markers no longer work. But I never take the time to go through the drawers and get rid of the ones that don’t work. I don’t think it would take that long but I need to make time to do this. Emptying these drawers will give me room for other things.

Next, I have a lot of old clothes that no longer fit me or I no longer like. I guess I keep them in case I either lose weight to fit them or I will suddenly like them again. That is crazy because I don’t think either will happen anytime soon. And probably when I lose weight, they will be so out of style I will look silly wearing them! I have clothes in the attic, in my dresser, and in two closets. I have so many clothes that I think if I wore a different piece every day, I still wouldn’t have worn everything I own. So, I need to sort through my clothes and make a few runs to Goodwill.

Last, I would like to get rid of all the junk that I have. These are little knick-knacks that somehow accumulate and papers that I’m not sure what to do with. Some of the odds and ends serve no purpose other than to make clutter. So I’m going to go through it all and ask the following questions:

1.     Have I needed it in the past year?

2.     Does it make me happy?

If the answer to either question is yes, then I will keep it. If the answer is no, I will either donate it or throw it away.

But I know just wanting to declutter is not good enough for me. I need to have a plan. I am going to try to do this at least once a week. It might take me all year but at the end of the year, I still have to better off than I am now.

What do you need to get rid of? Please share.

Image: '*' 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/89502548@N00/5082533505
Found on flickrcc.net

Clean Up Time

In Take out the trash: get rid of the apps, to do's and activities that clutter your life. from Cool Cat Teacher Blog, Victoria A Davis, Cool Cat Teacher talks about decluttering our lives. She suggests,

“When installing a new app, challenge yourself to always delete one you haven't used lately. Cut the clutter and clear your mind. I always keep one empty spot on the homescreen of my iphone. It makes me feel like I have room for more and it is a signal to myself that I will have margin and leave room for new things in my life…Let's make a commitment today to remove the trash so we can enjoy the circus.”

I've had to do this with my knitting and spinning. Since I've learned to knit and spin yarn, I keep buying yarn and fiber. I decided this year that I was not going to buy any yarn until I used some yarn - one skein must be used for each new skein bought. I am doing the same with my fiber. I must spin one before I buy one. So far, I've stuck to it and actually enjoying what I already have. Some of these are things that I didn't remember having.

I noticed that I do the same thing in the classroom. I collect things and it is hard to get rid of them. After moving to a new classroom, I realized that I had some games with missing pieces or books with missing pages. I needed to get rid of those things. I had many folders full of worksheets that I would no longer use or was so outdated that they were irrelevant. I have no idea why I was saving these things. I had some old history workbooks that were out of date but I had saved them. It was amazing at how much stuff I saved for sentimental reasons. It was time to sort out the outdated, broken, no longer able to use stuff and make room for new things. If I brought something new into the classroom, I would get rid of something I already had. I didn’t have to throw everything away. Instead, I could offer some things to a newer teacher or a church school program.

Then I went on my computer and saw how many files I had that I no longer needed to save! It is amazing how much space they took up. It is not that I needed the space but it is so much easier to find things when there isn’t so much to sort through. Some files were not named properly and were so old that I have no idea why I was saving them. Life is so much easier when I don’t have to sort through so much!

I went through my email inbox and put items I want to save in separate folders. I plan on keeping my inbox down to no more than 10 action items in it. Anything else will be put into a folder.

I went on my Ipad and got rid of some apps that I no longer use. It also gave me more space to put podcasts that I want to listen too. I also organized apps into groups according to use so they would be easier to find. It makes it easier for me to find the things I want too. I decided that if I found a new app, I would try it for a week. If I didn’t use it more than 3 times that week, I would get rid of it.

How do you handle your “clutter” and what advice would you give to others? Please share.

Image: 'the other side of my garage'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21983356@N00/2096545904
Found on flickrcc.net

My Story of Clutter

In Weeding through the Clutter from Janet Given's Blog,  Janet asks,

“What TWANLOVs are stored away in your closet?  Do you know what dreams keep them there?
Do you struggle with clutter? What stories do you tell yourself about your clutter?
How would you feel floating on the ceiling watching your offspring sort through what you’ve left behind for them to sort through?
I’ve told you my story. I invite you to tell me yours. And, if you’d like me to tell you my sure-fire cure for reducing clutter, just let me know. Better yet, tell me yours.”

I am a Clutter Queen!!

We save everything because you never know when you might need it again. It seems like as soon as I get rid of something, a week later, I’m wishing I still had it. Even some of the old clothes styles are back in style! I find things that I can repurpose for something else and then I’m glad I saved it.

My husband is even worse than I am. My husband likes to collect antiques that he buys at yard sales and flea markets because he says that one day it all will be worth money or if we ever need money, he could sell it at least for what he paid for it. In fact, he has some utility bills from before we were married (over 30 years ago) still saved in the attic. I have no idea why he has them but he refuses to get rid of them. I won’t throw them away without his permission because I don’t want him ever to get rid of anything of mine without permission. So, everything stays.

Our attic is so full of junk…I mean treasures that our ceiling is cracking from the weight. Our contractor has advised to take some stuff out of the attic before it caves in on us. Our shed in the backyard is full so we ended up renting a storage room at a self storage building. In fact, it is so stuffed that if we continue to collect things, we may have to rent another room.

I am always joking that if we ever get a divorce (which I don’t ever foresee happening!), he gets the house and all the storage buildings! That way I won’t have to sort through anything. We even laugh that our kids will have the headache of worrying about all of our collections!

When I retired from teaching public school five years ago, I brought everything home in boxes and kept them in my dining room. I thought that someday I would return to the classroom and all of these things were my favorite materials. But I was wrong. Now that I teach on the university level, I realize how many of my materials have gotten out of date or were in danger of wasting away in my dining room. I ended up giving a lot of my children and young adult novels to teachers who were still in the classroom. I also gave away a lot of materials that could still be used in the classroom and threw away all of the out of date things. I took lots of pictures of my favorite items so I could reminisce about them but not have to worry about all the room they took.

I’m getting better at collecting photos and discarding things I no longer need. My mother handknit or sewed many things for me and they no longer fit, are no longer in style, or just don’t feel nice anymore. I took lots of photos of these and donated them to Goodwill.

Do you have a lot of clutter? Please share how you handle this.

Original photo by Pat Hensley