Decluttering by Zone

I wish I could say this was my idea, but it was Carolyn's at The Frugalista Files. Since the clutter in my house is almost overwhelming with my current circumstances, I latched onto this idea like a wet cat in a swimming pool.

This is what Carolyn said:

My New Years resolution was to declutter the house. I have divided it into 12 zones. At the beginning of each month I count up the week days and write a list of places to declutter. I get weekends off.

I really didn't divide my house into zones as much as I divided them by rooms. Luckily, since I am a procrastinator, I had assigned the master bathroom to January, and I didn't even start decluttering until 10pm on the 31st since I really didn't think I would find anything that qualified as clutter. I mean we are in this tiny room every day, and it's too small for anything nonessential. Wrong. I found almost a full drawer of creams and ointments we no longer use.

I also have this lotion bottle that has been sitting on the counter for awhile. I could feel and see that it still had lotion in it, but it wouldn't pump out because the tube was about a half inch too short. (I propped the pump part on a tape measure to show how deep it goes into the bottle.) The label on the bottle might say it contains 10% more lotion, but they didn't provide a way to get it out. Turning a bottle with a pump head upside down doesn't work well. Obviously you can't pump anything out when it's upside down, and unscrewing the pump top is messy.

The solution is putting a different lid on it to turn upside down and get that last bit of lotion out. Most of the time, I can't find a lid that fits exactly, but a soda lid fits this bottle exactly. Most frugal people probably do this without even thinking about it, but at one time I would have thrown the bottle and that last 10% of lotion into the trash can. *gasp!* But now I'm reformed.

In February I tackle the master bedroom and since I can see clutter everywhere there, I have divided it into fourths to make it manageable.

Until next time, may you have blessings and a plan of action,
Marti