My island

We get Green Chef delivered once a week. This is four bags of ingredients that I cook. We have the vegetarian plan. 

I cook two large packages of chicken breasts in the crock pot every few weeks. My husband shreds it, packages it in pint bags, and freezes it. 

We add one bag of shredded/cooked chicken to each Green Chef meal.

The kitchen island (above) is my cooking base. 

My cutting board stays on the island. It is used for fruit and veggies only. 

I have a recipe holder on the island that I use every time I cook a Green Chef meal. I use it for my own recipes too.

The other items on my island, wooden lazy Susan and three glass pieces, are beloved and serve a purpose. All four items feel like art to me. But they had to find their place and practical value in order to stay.

They all came close to being decluttered/rehomed because it was extremely hard to find a spot for them where they earned their place every day. The wooden lazy Susan in particular was tough. It is very large.

Here, as a place to store supplies and a way to raise my recipes to eye level, the lazy Susan is vital. Now, I cannot imagine the island without it. 

The three glass pieces (below) are vintage. I happen to love them as a grouping. Together they are an artistic collection and also very practical.  

How can there be any more to cull, as it has been gone through at least once a year, for years?

So, yes, I have decluttered the cupboards/drawers and shelves in my kitchen once a year, for at least five years in a row, and in the last two months, I have done it twice. 

I have gotten rid of a massive amount each and every time. 

This is just a fraction of what went in the last two months -

Some items go because of my arthritis, the Le Creuset pans are now too heavy.

Some items go because of color, I have white trays that are more versatile. I dislike red.

Some items go because of duplication, so many glass baking dishes!

Would anyone look at my kitchen now, today/decluttered, and think “minimalist”? 

Nope.

No one would open a drawer or cupboard or look at my pantry shelves and think anything looked “empty”.

If everything reappeared, that I have gotten rid over over the last five years, it would be a very shocking amount. 

I suppose it could physically be put back in the kitchen, it all came out of the kitchen, but it would have to all be Tetris-ed in to every possible spot. 

Even if just what I have eliminated in the last two months came back, it would be shocking. 

When I started doing the dishes every day, November 2023, it changed my perceptions. 

When everything is clean, every day, how many of each item are needed, reduced, greatly. 

Since my husband puts all the clean stuff away, every day, and because I like everything put in its spot, all the spots have to be easy and obvious. 

I looked at the kitchen more from my husband’s point of view with this clean out. 

As he takes each item out of the dishwasher, is it obvious where it goes? Is it easy to put away? Is it very very tidy? 

I commune with my kitchen, in a very different way, now. My relationship is entirely different. 

I enjoy my kitchen.

My kitchen feels like art, to me now. 

All of this was possible, because I now do the dishes, every day.

I could not keep the kitchen clean, but I could clean out the kitchen

A subtle difference in terms -

Cleaning up the kitchen is doing the dishes and wiping the sink and counters.

Cleaning out the kitchen is a massive exit of items.

I think I have cleaned out the kitchen at least once a year since 2018. Yes, five deep declutters and cleans. 

Recently I cleaned out the kitchen in December 2023 and then turned right around and cleaned it out again in January 2024.  

It is amazing how time changes perceptions of what is needed and what can go. 

I rehome/sell/donate with each clean out. 

A shocking amount goes, with every clean out. 

Sometimes I also buy, a few key things, to make life easier. This might be a flatware organizer or bin, a rice cooker, a casserole pan. Sometimes the clean out shows something is not working and needs replaced.  

I declutter and organize. My husband comes right along behind me and scrubs. It is amazing how dirty cupboards, drawers and shelves can get in a year. 

We do our parts separately. 

I think it starts naturally in November of each year, because all the kids are home for Thanksgiving. I just start working through the kitchen, slowly, a section at a time. 

By January, I am done, and my husband has the ladder out and is scrubbing. His efforts are done in a couple days.

So, since 2018, I have steadily reduced the volume of items in our kitchen. And our kitchen has gotten a deep clean once a year. A consistent, good effort, which paved the way for this year.

In the last two months, I have approached the organization of our kitchen, quite differently. 

Having a clean kitchen, all the time

Just so you know, I am super picky about how a dishwasher is loaded. I am also picky about how things are put away. I suspect I am not unique in these points. 

I now have a three tray dishwasher, things have to go in exact places to wash properly and not retain water. 

I made the mistake, for decades, of thinking of doing the dishes as a project. 

This was a big mistake. I would do a big dishes catch up (as a project) and then it was all messy again in the blink of an eye. 

I have made excuses to plumbers and appliance repairman, for years, about the state of my kitchen. 

It used to be clean a very small percentage of the time. 

Getting it clean took a lot of time. 

It seemed like time (and energy ) was a big factor. 

The biggest impact, for me and for many others, in learning from Dana K White is doing the dishes every day.

I started doing the dishes, every day, in November 2023, and it changed my perception of time.

Dana K White talks and writes about this a lot.

She calls it dishes math. 

Doing the dishes, every day, takes almost no time. 

Doing the dishes, every day, which takes almost no time, means I can wipe the counters/sink/stove every day, which also takes almost no time. 

By no time, I mean 15-20 minutes (total). Which feels like NO TIME. 

At my house, with arthritis, I can load the dishwasher easily. Unloading is harder. 

Several years ago, I was dropping/breaking dishes regularly. I also had rotator cuff surgery in 2020, and had one arm immobilized for months. All our kids and our DIL lived at home for parts/all of the pandemic.

We came out of all of that with me loading the dishwasher and my husband unloading it. 

He keeps up with me, regardless of my pace, without having to be reminded. 

Each time I open the dishwasher, it is magically empty.

Each time he opens it, everything is magically clean. 

It is kitchen magic. 

The biggest magic - every time I walk in my kitchen, it is clean.

Dana K White talks about many things in her books and podcasts

A friend mentioned Dana K White’s podcast to me in passing. 

I listened to a couple recent episodes and a couple episodes from the beginning. 

Then I stopped and read all three books in a row (my last post). 

Then I started with the most recent podcast and worked my way backwards through Dana’s archives. There are just over 400 episodes. I have almost 300 of those finished. 

I started listening in November 2023. I have skipped a few (mostly guests). Her topics do not get old for me. I have learned a lot. I like her podcast style. I like her voice. She keeps me company. 

I have been actively decluttering for five years. But her information changed the way I look at things. 

My five years of effort was solid. I did a good job. But Dana is kicking my efforts up to the next level. 

It is sort of amazing.

Reflecting, five years into actively decluttering. What got us into trouble?

Yes, we have lived in this house a long time, 22+ years. 

We lived in the last house 15 years. 

Only one move in 37 years can cause accumulation problems. 

Other causes, for us, include 

- inability to deal with paper 

- my husband worked from home for years 

- sewing/crafting/books/photos/CD/DVD/genealogy

- truck full arrived at our house after husband’s mother died in 2010

- buying “future gifts” influenced by things “on sale”

- having three kids 

- having a large house 

- being “savers”

I can see all of that, clearly, now. The fall of 2023 marked a big change in my perception. 

I read three books, over the course of a week. They shifted my perceptions to the reality of life in a house with stuff and people - 

The continuum

I am not going back to daily blogging.  

But I am blogging, more, for a while, on a single topic - decluttering. 

If you tune in just on Fridays, there are additional posts you have missed. 

As I sit here, writing, in the winter of 2024, I have sold/rehomed/donated hundreds of things from our house. 

And please note, our house absolutely does not look empty. If by magic everything I have sold reappeared on the driveway, we would be absolutely amazed/horrified at the volume. We would look at that pile and say - where was it all? We could Tetris it back in the house, but we could absolutely not reabsorb it in a nice way. 

We have been in this house for over 22 years. We were in the last house for about 15 years. Our kids range from 26-34. Youngest only remembers this house. 

I had a large garage sale before we left the old house (2002). I had the movers set up beds here in the new house, but put everything else in the garage. After we moved the keepers in the house and put them away, I had a second garage sale, with everything still in the garage (2002). 

As each kid graduated from high school, we sorted through their childhood bedrooms. When they graduated from college, we did the same. Those clean outs were between 2008 and 2022. (Yes, we had kids in college, continuously and overlapping from 2008-2022. Everyone now has their under grad degree and their masters.)

Besides the kids’ bedroom clean outs, we have been through the whole house and garage many times.

I had a year where I systematically took care of ten things a day, every day, to massively clean out and organized our out of control garage. 

My husband and I have reduced/organized/cleaned our attic 4-6 times since 2018. My goal is an empty attic. With each clean out, we are closer.

So my reduction/decluttering has a long, consistent history. 

I am a good organizer. I am a very good declutter-er. 

But for years, even with all this decluttering, we had a very messy house, because we had too much stuff. And because we did not have proper daily and weekly cleaning habits. 

That garage sale, 2018, started the process, in earnest, for me. I mark that as the turning point.

But it was not until the fall of 2023 that real progress was made and I finally understood. 

Decluttering started in earnest May 2018

My decluttering started in earnest, May 2018 with a garage sale. 

It was a massive event timed to coincide with our neighborhood association garage sale weekend. 

We did a preview sale on Wednesday night. We were open all day Thursday and Friday. My husband ran it solo on Saturday, middle and I had an out-of-town event. 

May of 2018 was middle’s last month of teaching, we were liquidating most of her classroom supplies at the garage sale. 

She taught half days during the two years she finished her masters in order to secure her teaching license. She now works full time in autism, but retains her teaching license.

May is a good time to sell classroom items. New teachers, graduating in May, are planning their August classrooms.

We also sold a lot of college dorm items. Youngest was in college at that time, she had what she needed. We sold the leftovers from oldest and middle. We sold leftover childhood things. We sold household things. We had an enormous number of books. 

We have a three car garage and a large driveway. It was very organized and clean. It was a massive sale. 

We advertised well, we drew a big crowd. We had very steady business. We sold a ton. We had a lot leftover. 

Those leftovers were the start of the answer for me in decluttering. 

I set the leftovers up, like a mini garage sale in the single bay of our 3 car garage. I posted each item individually or in bundles on Facebook Marketplace.  

When someone was interested in a particular item, I would simply say - there is more if you want to come look. They did. 

When the volume dwindled, I stopped inviting people to look at the physical piles. Instead I referenced them to the other items I had listed on Facebook Marketplace and started doing porch pick ups.

I realized very quickly that the best thing I could do to increase sales was to list more items. And the easiest way to turn single sales into a box of items was to always reference people to the rest of the things I had listed. 

I like listing things. I like the messaging. I really like the process. 

I actively continue decluttering and listing items for sale. This has been a continuous, focused effort from May 2018 to present. 

Because I started with a garage sale, I continue to use garage sale prices. I bundle like items together when it makes sense. Sometimes I have a higher priced item, usually I have $1-$5 items or bundles.

Although sometimes I sell items for exactly what I paid originally, this is rare. Most of the time, I price low so items sell very quickly. I put things directly into the hands of people who need/want them, I make a small but steady amount of money. It is nice to always have cash on hand.

Most importantly, this process motivates me to keep decluttering. I like the process. 

When the pandemic rolled around and garage sales were banned and resale shops closed, my porch sales were very active. It was a unique moment in time when demand was very high. I was home. My husband was home. All the kids were home at various stages. We cleaned out steadily, I sold steadily, still very low prices.

I learned, from day one, to block anyone who causes problems. 

I created canned notes so I can respond easily and quickly. My process is very organized.

Except for lockdown, I learned to donate things that did not sell, at regular intervals, so I did not end up with large piles. 

I am very organized. I store my for sale items in cardboard boxes, so at any point, I can donate the whole collection. These donations happen organically. If the pile gets too big, I donate. If we are going out of town for a couple weeks, I donate and start fresh when we return. 

When I donate enmasse, I remove everything from Facebook Marketplace at the same time. It is simple.

It is all very analytical to me. I feel very smart and productive. This process has changed my house and my life for the better. 

If I could not figure out the mechanics, or was frustrated by the process, or my piles accumulated instead of leaving, then I would skip the selling part and just donate. I have three locally run resale shops that I like. One supports a local church, the others support local charities. All three are close to my house.

Large scale decluttering

As I mentioned, I have a long history of decluttering and organizing. 

And while this may not be a popular point, my opinion needs everything needs gone through at least once a year. Other areas need work a few times a year.

Now I know - Some areas need daily attention. 

Sometimes the answer to keeping an area clean and clutter free is to get rid of everything. 

The roll top desk in the kitchen is a good example. Here, our house, it was never used as a desk. It was an absolutely clutter magnet. 

I have tried other things in that spot that have also been clutter magnets. 

The spot could haven been left empty/bare, after the desk was rehomed, but instead we tried something else. 

This loveseat is very comfortable. It was previously in our bedroom with a matching chair. 

So far the loveseat is working well, here in the kitchen. 

The chair remains in our bedroom, I can move it easily to vacuum. The bedroom looks less crowded. There was room for both the chair and the loveseat in our bedroom, but it looks better with just the chair. 

Realtors suggest removing one piece of furniture from every room when you are selling your house. This is a good example of that being true. (We are not selling. We are not moving.)

I can vacuum under the loveseat, here on laminate/non-carpeting in the kitchen, easily with the hose attachment each week. 

Because the loveseat is upholstered in light fabric. I cannot stand for anything at all to be set on it. People can sit on it. Stuff cannot. 

If someone sets an object on it, alarm bells go off on my head. I am immediately saying - move it! So the loveseat is absolutely not a clutter magnet. 

Large pieces of furniture were rehomed

Youngest moved in the spring of 2022, taking large furniture with her. This included a roll top desk and chair, a 3/4 antique bed, an antique dresser, two sets of shelves. 

Middle moved, November 2022, taking several large pieces of furniture with her including another roll top desk, two book shelves, an antique dresser and chair from her old room, our old kitchen table, and a night stand.

I mentioned that our elliptical was gifted to our next door neighbor, spring 2023. 

Also in the fall 2023, we gifted a recliner and a large kitchen table to friends. 

December 2023, we gifted a (third) roll top desk to very close friends of youngest. We love rolltop desks, but at our house, it was a clutter magnet.

Yes, we had three roll top desks. One was a family piece, two were gifted by the neighbor who helped repair our original roll top. Youngest now has the original. Middle has the second, which she restored. Youngest’s friends now have the third. 

So all told, many (very large) pieces of furniture were removed from our house steadily over the last two years. 

This is a new stage of my decluttering process, large items. 

I started decluttering, in earnest, May 2018. Hundreds of small things have gone, in the last 5+ years. 

That process continues. I have a system.

A word about fabric stashes

In approximately 1994 I heard a quilter from southern Indiana speak about maintaining a clutter free sewing room. 

Her technique is simple. She only buys supplies for a specific project. She completes the project. She gives away/donates her leftovers. 

I write, today, about her in present tense, like she is still in her sewing room. That is how I picture her. In reality, that was almost 30 years ago. I am now turning 63. She might have been that age or even older when she spoke. 

What she said did not sink into my brain until 2023. 

I now get it. 

In fact, I understand it so well, now, that I could write hundreds of words on this topic. I could speak and explain it well. But most quilters, hearing or reading my words, absolutely would not get it. 

Quilters think they need a large fabric stash. They are always accumulating fabric (patterns, supplies). They make jokes about whoever dies with the most fabric wins. They refer to fabric as “eye candy”. It is a very specific lifestyle. 

I no longer buy something (fabric, notions, patterns) because I like them or they are on sale. “On sale” used to be a big trap.

No matter how beautiful or unique a fabric is now, when I get ready to do a specific project, I will be able to find beautiful and unique fabric. It will probably even be on sale. Or, it is very likely I have something that will work, already in my stash. 

I gather for a specific project. I complete that project. I do one of several things with the leftovers. I sell/donate or I make a second project or even a third, and then, I sell/donate the leftovers. 

When I gather for a project, buying is the last step. I look carefully through my fabric for what I need. My quilter friend looks through her fabric. Sometimes, between us, I do not have to purchase anything extra. If I do need to buy, I try to buy exactly what I need, only.

During the pandemic I made and gifted aprons and masks with odds and ends of fabric from my stash. I used up an enormous amount of fabric. 

As I mentioned, I recently made microwave cozies, from those same odds and ends of fabric. I am currently making cozies and then will donate the leftovers.  

I made cherry pit bags for my yoga instructors, with my existing stash of flannel, and then gifted the leftover flannel to someone who makes charity quilts. 

Summer/fall 2023, I made a series of quilts, with the fabric rolling from one to the next. I am still sewing quilts, mostly with fabric from my stash, only buying what I absolutely need to finish.

I sold my excess rulers and patterns. I sold my very large button bin to a button club. I sold/gifted all my cross stitch supplies including all my embroidery floss. I gifted fabric and kits to quilter friends, things I am no longer capable of sewing. Either free or for very low prices.

I changed my quilting/sewing life style. I try very hard to use up what I have. I try to buy as little as possible. 

If I get through all my fabric stash, sew up or sell/gift all my supplies, and have nothing left, I will be quite thrilled. That is my goal. 

I would love to be the person who has no fabric stash, buys for a specific project, completes the project, sells/gifts the leftovers. 

Sewing project - microwave bowls

We usually make something for all the autism therapists in middle’s pod at work. Last Christmas (2023) we made microwave bowl cozies.

The liner is thick, 100% cotton batting, leftovers from my quilt edges. So free to me and uses up batting scraps that might otherwise end up in the garbage. 

The 100% cotton covers are leftover fabric from my own projects, also free. 

So this project made fun and practical gifts, with no expense, just time. 

It used up a lot of materials from my studio. I cheer, mightily, as I use up scraps and empty fabric bins.

The instructions are here -

https://youtu.be/4B7ykUhIl24

Please note, I did an advanced trial run to figure out changes to the directions, here they are -

I only use one layer of batting.  The YouTube instructions call for two layers. 

I boiled water, put it in a bowl,  and then microwaved the boiled water for two minutes. The bowl was too hot to touch with bare hands. Seriously hot, hotter than a normal microwave bowl would be. It was my test.  One layer of batting protected perfectly. 

I use a heavy duty sewing machine needle made for sewing through denim. I tried a needle used for leather, it broke immediately.

10” cut squares made a good sized cozy for these 2 cup anchor hocking bowls (Walmart has the best price if you are gifting bowls too, we did not). 

12” cut squares made a good size for larger bowl and freezer meals.

We gifted one of each size, a pair, to each person. 

We packaged them in cellophane (that I had). I cheered as we used up lots of cellophane, packaging these gifts. 

The big studio clean out

I have fairly severe arthritis. It impacts my hands, neck, and back. It occurred to me that an empty sewing table would allow the table to hold most of the weight of quilts as I sew. 

I have a room that I use as my studio. In that room is a large closet with my sewing machines. 

The first step, in this process, was to gift our elliptical to our next door neighbor. They provided the manpower. This happened spring 2023.

It can be hard to get rid of big items. It can be hard psychologically, it can be hard physically. I do well gifting things to neighbors/friends. But if no one had wanted this elliptical, I would have listed it for sale at a very low price, and had strangers come take it. 

This was a gym quality elliptical purchased in 2012. My husband used it for years, but at some point, a few years ago, it bothered my husband’s knees, he could no longer use it. I wanted to use it, but hated it. I really hated the space it took up in my crowded studio. 

Between the eliptical removal (spring 2023) and the early fall 2023 clean out, the main section of my studio was much improved. 

I sew in a very large closet, under our stairwell, in the studio. I like being tucked in this space. My sewing machine stayed in the same location. The serger moved to a second table. 

My husband did all the moving and cleaning. I sorted and reorganized, and gathered donations on the kitchen table. We did this all in one go, on a Saturday, fall 2023. 

Before -

After -

Included in the pile (below) are other/non-sewing items, from other parts of the house. I rehomed items, I listed items for sale, I donated items. In about a week and a half, all of this was gone. 

Another thing to go was the rolltop desk in the background of this photo, future post.

Boards and Spreads (on sale until 1/23/24)

I have NO magazine subscriptions and almost never buy a magazine.

My hair salon has a good selection, I read a few articles while I am there, every seven weeks.

I am rarely in a grocery these days, I use curbside. So I do not see magazine displays. 

However this week, I put in a special order at Kroger, specifically to get packages of pre cut parchment paper. 

I use parchment paper nearly every day, mostly to roast vegetables, in the same jelly roll pan, so I do not have to wash it. Tearing off a roll is really hard on my hands. 

The Kroger closest to my house, where I order, alerted me they were out of stock. 

So I stopped at a different Kroger, after yoga on Monday morning, and went inside. 

I was in luck, I stocked up with four boxes. 

I passed this in the display rack at check out -

I flipped through and it was absolutely lovely. 

Since I never buy them, $14.99 seemed like a lot for a magazine, but $14.99 does not seem like a lot for a cookbook. 

I bought it. 

At home, I skimmed it, greatly appreciating the photography. Great idea lists for various types of boards. I could add items to a curbside order easily for a holiday/weekend board.

It is now in the drawer with my recipe cards, recipe binders and cookbooks. 

I am keeping it on top my stack of binders, so I remember I have it. 

The above magazine, which I plan to use as a how-to-cookbook, has great examples with lots of ideas. 

If you are looking for free examples, I admire Tracy Benjamin’s boards very much -https://www.shutterbean.com/2023/my-everyday-life-week-47-12/

She has a detailed how-to post, here -https://www.shutterbean.com/2017/how-to-make-an-epic-cheeseboard-with-trader-joes-items/

If you like to look at Tracy’s photos, you may have noticed she looks different. The story is here - https://www.shutterbean.com/2023/shutterbean-weight-loss/

The fifth quilt, which is the fourth 9-patch

I refer to this as the donut quilt. One 9-patch block makes the donut, the alternate 9-patch block makes the donut hole. 

The donut quilt is Youngest’s Xmas present this year.

Here is the inspiration photo from the Internet -

I love using up scrap fabric. I dug through my own scraps for this quilt. A quilter friend dug through her scraps. This is our combined pile, sorted by color -

Does my sewing table (below) look very clean to you? Stay tuned for a future post. 

Note the light blue donut block fabric that I chose to be in high contrast with the donut hole fabric. The consistent dark blue fabric in the donut hole creates consistency in the quilt. I think of this as “giving the eye somewhere to go”.

Youngest figured the block placement in excel, we still layed the quilt out to double check.

In this photo, there is still one more row to add, and the quilt is in two pieces. I make one half, press it. Make the other half, press it. See the two halves together and press the last seam. This easier to handle that way. I put a safety pin in the upper left block of each half to keep track.