Conquering the Paper Clutter

Photo by sindesign: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sindesign/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

I still have the decluttering bug, but it's definitely getting harder to find things I'm willing to let go of easily. One thing that should be easy is paper clutter. We all know the rules, right? Keep tax stuff for seven years (or forever), bank documents and statements for one year, bills for one month to one year, etc. So why is my two drawer file bursting at the seams?

I keep way too much paper just in case. Just in case I want to remember how laughingly small my first paycheck was, or just in case I want to know how much electricity cost two years ago, or in case I finally want to input my expenses electronically (hahaha!). Sure, occasionally I do look up something, but most of it is just taking up space.

Recently it finally sunk in that I can easily clear out a few files by switching to electronic statements. This was first suggested by the teller at my credit union and I was appalled. How long would they be available online? Seven years? That's not forever! I must have those records and I know I won't print them out, so no, they couldn't stop mailing them to me. But I finally checked out their online statements and guess what? They're available as PDFs, so I can keep everything electronically, just in case, and finally ditch the paper. Same thing with credit card statements. And if you pay your bills electronically you may have access to even more.

Now that I can safely save my statements electronically, I can stop having paper copies mailed to my home and save a few trees in the process.

So to recap, here are some quick tips to reduce your paper clutter:

• Sign up for electronic statements, bills, etc.
  
• Save your statements electronically
• Once you're sure you have a backup, discard the paper files you no longer need
  

Mini Spruce-Up: Bedroom Edition

Being a stylist is harder than it looks. Yesterday I got out the comforter the boy got me for my birthday and went to work sprucing up the bedroom a bit. Mikko supervised.

As you can see, the bedroom needed a little love.


It took a few tries, but finally I a look I liked.

And it's kitty approved too. I don't know what it is about cats and new things, but they've been laying on the new comforter (and no other part of the bed) since the minute I finished.

Frost is Coming, Are You Ready?

last harvest of 2009

Well, it's officially fall: gloomy, rainy and chilly. And now that the first frost is coming tomorrow night, I can no longer deny that it's the end of a another garden season as well.

If you're a noob like me, I'd like to offer some words of wisdom I learned the hard way: don't take the first frost too lightly. It doesn't take much to turn those green tomatoes, veggies and flowers to mush, so if a frost is coming to your area get ready to cover up your delicates or pick them early.

Picking the almost-ripe produce is a no brainer, but what if frost is headed your way and like me your garden is bursting with green tomatoes or other unripe produce? Don't despair, those green tomatoes need not go to waste. Just pick them and either fry them and enjoy, or wrap them in newspaper and place in a cool, dark spot and they'll still ripen. I haven't tried ripening green tomatoes indoors yet because last year I thought the first frost wouldn't hurt and I lost a LOT of tomatoes, but I'll let you know how it goes this year. I've already got some green lovelies tucked in the basement and waiting, just in case, even though the frost won't hit tonight.

Don't forget about annuals or other flowers either. If you want to cover them go ahead, but if not, cut em and bring em inside to enjoy for a little while longer. Afterall winter is coming and it will be a while before we enjoy them again.

What a Difference a Rearrange Makes!

It always bothered me that there was no room in my kitchen for my cookbooks, because afterall, what better place for cookbooks to live than in the kitchen? But with no pantry, my cabinet space was filled with food, dinnerware and other necessities.

Then, thanks to some online inspiration and a quick rearrange, I found a way to squeeze my cookbooks into the kitchenNow the corner cabinet is more than just display space, it's functional too.

The Garden's Not Done Yet

This hasn't been a good summer for blogging, too much to do too little time, but it's been a great summer for my garden! I didn't want to miss yet another Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, so here's a better-late-than-never trip through my September garden.


Pic details: 1) zinnias*, 2) zinnias*, 3) roses, 4) poppies*, 5) snapdragons* 6) globe amarath* 7) lavender 8) Irish-Eyed Rudbeckia* and 9) nasturiums*.

I especially love that most of these flowers were winter-sown (everything marked with an asterisk). Winter-sowing is a super-easy way to get loads of interesting and cheap plants without having to babysit seedlings.

Want to see more blooms? Visit May Dreams Gardens every month on the 15th to see what's blooming in gardens around the world.

Note to Self, You Can Compost a Lot More!

Thanks to Apartment Therapy's link to this handy list of 75 Things You Can Compost, But Thought You Couldn't on Planet Green, I can start diverting a lot more stuff from the trash to the compost pile. Which is great, because despite composting and recycling, we still produce way, way too much trash. I blame the cats (because I can).

I routinely compost coffee and coffee filters, tea bags, veggie scraps, egg shells and non-weed plant material. But I'm not sure why I never added expired grains, cereal and bread. Also, until the leaves fall I'm low on browns, a need which cardboard can fill nicely. However, I'm not too sure about composting cat food, it's full of meat so I'm afraid it would attract rodents; or used paper towels and tissues, besides being gross what about the bleach and chemicals?

But stuff in the compost, means more nutrient rich brown gold for my garden and more flowers for me, like those yummy Zinnias pictured above. It's a win, win.

It's Time to Simplify: 365 Days of Decluttering Challenge

Even the good stuff can be overwhelming when there is too much

My years-long obsession with home and decor blogs seems to be waning a bit. Instead, I've been spending more time at blogs that deal with simple living. Blogs like Small Notebook, Simpler Living and Simple Savvy.

Don't get me wrong, I still visit upteen home and decor blogs, but I'm really interested in feeling less like a hamster on a wheel that's moving way too fast. Up until now though, I've just been looking, but min hus has been feeling more and more crowded. Most of the clutter is hidden, but it's impossible to find anything in many drawers and closets around here. But after looking at the 365 days of decluttering challenge, I thought, even I can do that one.

So here's the deal, I want to get rid of at least one thing a day for the next 365 days. I'll probably be doing this on the weekends, rather than daily, but I'm going to keep a list here. I'm not sure how often I'll post about this, it's got to be fairly boring (for all three of my readers), but we'll see.

I was actually so excited I got started last night and filled a couple grocery sacks full of trash, several things went to recycling and I filled one shopping bag with clothes and things to donate. The boy unwittingly participated yesterday too while he was cleaning the garage and got rid of four tires and rims, seven (yes, SEVEN) bucket-size kitty litter containers, an old plastic table. He put it all out on the curb and it was gone within an hour. Even all seven kitty litter containers, I'm still amazed someone wanted those.

The dearly decluttered:

1. Green plastic patio table
2. White shower curtain that shrunk
3. White O-N dress shirt (too big)
4. Black sandals
5. Red, white and blue knit shirt
6. Red pj pants
7. Blue plaid pj pants (week 1, August 23-29)
   
8. white t-shirt
9. white t-shirt
10. Old space heater (only half-works)
11. Old vacuum
12. Green bag
13. black tote bag
14. linen drawstring bag (week 2, August 30-Sept. 5)
15. black purse
16. Brown sweater
17. Pink sweater
18. Cyndi Lauer tape (it's time to let the casettes go)
19. Smashing Pumpkins tape
20. Toad the Wet Sprocket tape
    
21. Girl's diary (week 3, Sept. 6-12)
22. Unopened pine candle
23. Blue tealight holder
24. Small plastic water bottle
25. Dental tape
26. Martha Stewart Living - June 2009
27. Martha Stewart Living - September 2009
28. Green flower plate (week 4, Sept. 13-20 )
29. Kitty foot massager (lame)
30. Cloth napkins (4)
31. Partylite candleholder
32. Plastic tablecloth
33. Red mug
34. yellow mug
35. blue mug (week 5, Sept. 21-27 )
36. green mug
37. glass candy dish
38. pink plastic cup
39. Book: Smart mobs
40. Book: Knowing Knowledge
41. Book: The Three Theban Plays, Sophocles
42. Votive candles (week 6, Sept. 28-Oct. 4 )
43. Strawberry candle
44. Red bead tealight holder
45. Votive candles
46. IKEA mail holder
47. Cinnamon candle
48. Votive candle holder
49. Precious moments plate (week 7, Oct. 5-11 )
50. New black bra
51. New white bra
52. Unmentionables
53. Unmentionables
54. Brown and black purse (donate)
55. Blue cloth napkins (donate)
56. red shirt (week 8, Oct. 12-18 )
57. blue flowered shirt (donate)
58. orange t-shirt (donate)
59. purple clock (donate)
60. Organic garden magazines (10)
61. headband (trash)
62. round brush I never used (trash)
63. lotion (trash) (week 9, Oct. 19-25)
64. tan capris (donate)
65. Navy blue slacks (donate)
66. Merona black velvet dress (donate)
67. Jessica Howard dress (donate)
68. NYC tan linen slacks (donate)
69. Nine west gray slacks (donate)
70. Apt. 9 white capris (donate) (week 9, Oct. 25 - Nov. 1)
71. White short-sleeve sweater (donate)
72. White sweater (donate)
73. Old navy flower shirt (donate)
74. bottle of nail polish (trash)
75. bottle of nail polish (trash)
    
76. Book: Les Miserables (Half-Price Books)
77. Book: Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination (Half-Price Books) (week 10, Nov. 2 - Nov. 8)
78. Black ODCE bookbag (donate)
79. Coaster (trash)
80. Spatula (donate)
81. Sunglasses (trash)
82. IKEA 2009 catalog (recycle)
83. Pink Eddie Bauer sweater (gave away)
84. Black Eddie Bauer Sweater (gave away) (week 11, Nov. 9 - Nov. 15)
85. Navy blue Eddie Bauer Sweater (gave away)
86.