Clutter Overload

You may have been wondering where I've been this past week. Well, I've been immersing myself in Zone 1 (the dining room) and it's been hard work. This is a tough zone, a very heavy duty working area of our home, and there is serious Clutter Overload here as you can see. I admit that I've struggled with my newly adopted Home-♥-Loving mantra as it really has felt like a hard slog this week to be honest. I've not exactly been feeling the love. However, although I am nowhere near finishing the job, I've made some good progress.

I had Little Man off school for two days, suffering with vague viral symptoms. Isn't it funny when a child describes their own symptoms? We've been dealing with a "weird tummy", "wibbly legs" and a "heavy head". I know just what he means though, that's exactly how I feel when a virus hits.

He's been unwell with a slight temperature but not dreadfully ill, and actually I've loved having him home. In between extended flat-out bouts of weird-wibbly-heaviness on the sofa, he's been helping me out with Little B, allowing me to crack on and Get Stuff Done. Many piles have been dealt with, and much recycling, sorting, reorgansing and rearranging has taken place. It's taken some doing.

The above photo was taken in the early summer, it's the back end of our dining room. This shelf (along with another small cupboard) holds the Little People's art and craft supplies, and it's always been incredibly hard to keep this area under control. Stuff often spills and tumbles from the shelves onto the floor (often aided by Little B's mischievous hands) and  I've lost count of the many times I've spent scooping up fallen items and shoving them haphazardly back onto the shelves.

Two months ago I purchased this little pine chest of drawers from the second hand shop for £20, and for two months this little chest of drawers sat empty. 

Now it has replaced the open shelving (hooorrrah!) and it's drawers are full of well organised art and craft materials. Gosh it took some sorting!

I went through the huge array of pens, pencils, scissors and brushes and organised them into these jars....

....and Little Man did a great job testing out the colouring pens so we could dispose of the ones that didn't work very well.

Now everything has a logical place to live, and the Little Ones each have a folder to store their art work in.

Much scribbled-on paper was Secretly Recycled.

But some scribbles were just too darn sweet for words and definitely for keeps.

Over on the other side of the room, progress has been slower. The clutter over here is Serious. I've managed to empty, sort, reorganise and repack this one cupboard (gift wrap, greetings cards, ribbon, envelopes, papers, labels, brochures, catalogues), but the other one (which is jammed with yarn and sewing supplies) has yet to be tackled.

And then there's Those Shelves. Man. They send shivers up my spine. Baby steps right?

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ps see you soon with some bright and happy yarn and blanket stuff. Promise x

pps I just remembered these archive entries re The Shelves of Doom...take a look at them way back here and here. Lordy. Where HAS all the stuff come from???!!!!

 

 

Comments

[Elizabeth Bowles]

Hi Lucy, I check your site just about every day, its so beautiful especially your view from your attic and your beach scenes. I love it Libby

[Ruth]

ps my son is now 27 and I still have some of his childhood artwork framed and hung on my wall <3 some 'stuff' you just cant part with :)

[Ruth]

I had got to the point of buying more things to store my stuff in, then accumulating more stuff and of course, needing more storage, ad nauseum! I also have a smallish house and the clutter was out of control :(, sentimental value of things is way out of proportion for most stuff.
My answer has been to go through each room of my house, asking myself 'if I were moving, would I bother to pack this?'. Since I loathe packing/moving, ruthlessness quickly overcomes sentimentality and it has been very effective :).
Thankyou for sharing your home and stories with us :).

[UK Toy Stores]

Yes, it's clutter overload but it's still nice to look at. Maybe what brings it interesting is that there's so much colour at the attic and the room isn't dark.

[Jo]

I have been inspired with your recent post (the one with your ace striped socks and Mary Janes) to get into some home loving too. Why oh why is it such a pain? I even went onto flylady's website and for now I am in the preparation stage (I've made that up) where I am noticing the clutter and psyching myself up for the new regime. Good on you for getting into it. I am impressed and inspired. Off now to hang out the washing that I did last night (a tip I got from you).
p.s. I will be doing a post on this subject and hope it's ok to link back to you.

[Luciane Porto Alegre .]

Querida amiga Lucy do Attic24 ,acho q posso lhe chamar de amiga , pois não consigo ficar um dia sem visitar seu maravilhoso blog colorido . Meu nome é Luciane Porto Alegre e moro na cidade de Porto Alegre no sul do Brasil . Sou mãe como vc e tenho os mesmos interesses . Sou uma legítima dona de casa com muito prazer . Adoro visitar seu blog , sobretudo a alegria com que descreve os trabalhos que cria. Tbm amo crochet , foi por causa dele que conheci seu maravilhoso blog , estou começando agora nesse hobby mas estou adorando . Continue nos agraciando com seus delicados posts . . . Felicidades á vc e a sua encantadora família .

[Merri]

Thank-you for showing us a real home, all too often all we see on blogs are beautiful display looking homes. My newest mantra is "a clean house shows a wasted life" (from a gift card).

Plus, crocheting is sooo much more fun that cleaning!

[eva]

My system is to take a large plastic garbage bag, steel myself and be RUTHLESS!

[ScoobyDoo]

OMG your clutter look so homey! Is your Other Half a clutterbug, too? If not, he must have the patience of a saint. I'd much rather see clutter that shows a loving home than a room decluttered to within an inch so you daren't sit down in case you make the place look untidy! My method of decluttering is to sort things into piles, and then leave them 'til they start to teeter again. Every so often I'll have a clean up and feel virtuous, but sadly it it doesn't last.

[Bairbre Aine]

I'm inspired to snap a pic or two of my art room. I moved to Virginia three months ago to this very day, and my clutter/lack of organization and reluctance to actually finish setting up my room has me so sad! Your post has inspired me to refocus and get my hands to work! I'll upload before and after photos of my room here on my blog: http://bairbreaine.blogspot.com/
That way I MUST do it. I have met NO ONE here in Virginia, the loneliness is breaking my heart, so maybe some of the ladies here can help motivate me? It's so difficult moving to a new country/state and 'starting over' in a crafting way...Lucy, thanks for sharing your progress. Once again, you are always such a wonderful inspiration! Hugs, A Reluctant, Bairbre Aine

[Julie]

Well done on your progress, you are doing an amazing job.

Hope your little man is fully recovered and back to school with his friends x

[T]

Hello,
Love your blog, I'm new here...
I attempted to "subscribe" but your link is out of order. Do you offer subscriptions? I'm on typepad too and thought I could do a follow on my dashboard, but that is not available either :(.....
If you ever offer an email subscription or typepad follow, please let me know. thanks much!
Oh, love the article, I feel as if I'm not the only one now! I just moved and had to place all my craft supplies in organized bins and such... and I offered a bunch out to a friend who is starting to sew and another whose children are beginning to crochet. Yet, I still have bunches. Well, today is a sewing day for me, :) Gotta Run... Thanks for your lovely blog, it's great!!
Teri
Delightful Whimsy

[Emily]

After reading your blog, I bought Housework Blues. It's really changing my perspective. Thank you for documenting your process...it's really inspiring.

PS...at first glance I thought this post was called "Clutter OverLord" and I thought, "oh dear..." Keep up the great work!!!!!

[Suzi Moon aka Moonie]

What she said!!!! She being "K x". And if I were there with her too.........we'd organize and alphabatise those colorful books. Then we'd sneak up to that famous attic with a cuppa and a cake and a stripey blankey and take a nap after staring out your lovely window view. Sigh........ Thanks so much for being you.

Moonie

[Leanne]

You got me inspired! My husband and I hit the garage this weekend. Even decorated the play house in the back yard for the girls. Really looking forward to seeing your bookshelves after you get through them. Keep it up, it's worth it in the end.

[pbach1]

Clutter? What clutter? Looks wonderful to me . . . Lived in and well-loved.

[Josette]

Keeping it real for all of us eh? My home gets just as cluttered if not "yucky"! I hardly do any crafts too!!

[Terrie]

I have one question. How on earth do you manage to still make your clutter look inviting?! I would love to have a nose on your bookshelves!

[tammy]

I just found your blog a few wks ago and I love it so much that I am starting at the beginning and reading it all. Thanks! You write so well and make me actually feel what you are writing about!

[Edith van der Bol]

Thanks for showing me the way to FLY lady. I am decluttering as well. And I love the end result.
The only thing is that I forget that you have to take babysteps and that I have to stop. I love to think that we are decluttering together.

[Marie]

Remember the Flylady rule... Don't pull out more than you can put back in one hour. Then you don't end up just moving your piles from one place to another! Great job though. You're putting me to Flybaby shame! LOL.

xMx

[Carol]

What colourful clutter, so not just me with a need to do some decluttering, I don't know where all the stuff comes from either. I do try http://smileattheflowers.blogspot.com/2011/10/decluttering.html and I will get there, one day.
Carol xx

[Ana]

I think you should reward yourself for the good work done and then again when you finish with the shelves and so on because it is indeed hard work. I think most of us have the same problem with clutter too.

[Maria Shaikh]

Hiiii Lucy...my clutter is worse than yours, but looking at your pic of the chest of drawers and the neat and tidy look, there may be hope for me!!!! Just tried out the teeny tiny hearts pattern...it turned out adorable. Thanks for the pattern I love it!!
Maria
Pakistan

[Alita]

gran cambio, eh?
el dibujo del motorhome es muy dulce, se nota que tus hijos la pasan muy bien en los paseos, ya que los dibujos representan todos sus deseos.
mucha energía para terminar de acomodar ese lio !:)
saludos Alita