I haven’t decluttered as often this winter because my weekends have often been spent driving to different rinks across Southern BC.
But! Hockey is over now and I had an open day when the kids were home for Spring Break. . . .
I told myself it would be my chore day (which is usually Saturday),
Here is how I approached a chore day:
- Wake up, do some face masks
- Have a little breakfast
- Make a nice coffee and watch CityLine with my daughter while folding some laundry
- Get dressed in ‘work clothes’ and put on house runners. FYI, in Canada we don’t wear shoes in the house so this signals to my brain that it is GO-TIME
- Clean stuff. No agenda or rules, just notice what needs to get done and do it. I find that starting momentum helps me keep it and I don’t make it a big stressful thing or checklist.
One thing I found myself doing was cleaning my spice drawer.
In the Patreon I hope to give you a tour of the kitchen, including what things look like IN the cupboards.
Because a kitchen can look clean and well-ordered….and then you open a spice drawer and it shows my inner trash panda playing fast and loose with organization and diligence in spice containment.
So I decided, I was going to empty the drawer, vacuum it out, and tidy up the spices.
👉🏼 Which turned into also cleaning another cupboard where more spices are kept. (of course)
👉🏼 Which also turned into me giving my kids lessons on why ‘being an adult sometimes sucks…because they expect you to pour things into small containers all the time!‘
Side note: I always avoid decanting things, but then appreciate it after, I am proud of me #wecandohardthings
At the end of it, I decluttered the spice drawer, decluttered all the vitamins, decluttered this ‘cooking cupboard’
And all in all, it took me 40 minutes. Which really is on the longer side for me.
But I will say I wasn’t focussed on it. I took my time, stopping for kid questions, snacking, and to give then life lessons on why we should own a funnel. Sometimes these types of jobs are easier when you allow interruptions from your kids, rather than fight it and feel victimized by it. (Says the recovering Mom Martyr)
I share these recently decluttered with you to help you remember that
1. we can find small pockets of time for decluttering (even if it means kids are along for the ride and therefore the ride is longer, bumpier and you end up with a metaphorical backseat of rogue socks and snack wrappers),
2. it can be rewarding (when I open that drawer I am proud of me), and
3. it is a habit we need to have rather than a one-and-done situation
👩🏻💻 Recently Decluttered is a feature periodically shared in the Simple Saturdays email. You can find the Recently Decluttered Archives here