Decluttering Your Home

A New Year, A Fresh Start. 

That's what lots of people are looking for right now.  Maybe you want to improve your spiritual life.  Maybe you want to make extra money or save more.  Maybe you want to improve your health.  Have you made one of these resolutions?  Have you already broken it?  It's not too late!  I mean it's only January, for God's sake.  I can tell you how to accomplish ALL of these things:  Declutter your home.

Honestly, the idea was overwhelming at first.  We have accumulated what feels like a TON of "stuff" over the years.  (Sound familiar?)  The first couple days I went in each room in the house, including the basement and attic, and found at least one item we no longer needed.  This gave my donation pile a head start. The key is to tackle it a little at a time - and I'm not talking one room at a time, more like one BOX at a time.

I signed up for Facebook reminders to declutter a certain area of my home.  Household Management 101's Declutter 365 Challenge will guide you through 15 minutes of decluttering your home each day, until your home is fully decluttered in 365 days (1 year).   It's a great method - the daily reminders keep your progress in check and even provokes decluttering those little spaces you otherwise would not have thought of. 

Spirit was Renewed
Once I got started taking baby steps, it motivated me to keep going, and I went WAY above and beyond.  It sounds silly, but it was excited.  With decluttering comes organization, and every time I added something to the donation pile, I felt more and more FREE.  It put me in a better mood.  I was less stressed, felt a sense of accomplishment, and felt less CROWDED in the house.  I no longer had to move things we didn't use to get to the things we did use.  My spirit was renewed.  


Made a Little Money and Saved Even More
Yes, it takes time to sort through things but it is soooo worth it in so many ways.  We found some things we could pass on to family and friends, sold a few things, found things we forgot we had, and donated a ton to help other people and to use as a tax deduction.

Here's my donation pile

I found that by taking an inventory and re-organizing, we saved money by getting on track to use up what we had before having to buy more.  The decluttering and organizing did require a little investment, as we purchased shelves and bins, but decreasing the amount of frustration in being able to find what you need was well worth it.  I'd say the investments in bins and shelves were offset by whet we saved by selling a few items, tax deductions for donations, and the business that kept me from recreational shopping.  As I make more space in the house, I DO NOT want to fill it with more stuff, either.

Be sure to consider solutions.  If you are willing to invest a little money, you can find permanent solutions for your "necessary clutter".  For  example, we have a very small entryway, but with 5 people in the house, we have lots of shoes near the door.  We replaced our pile of shoes with this bench, which not only gives everyone a place to sit while putting on their shoes, but also provides shoe storage on the 2 shelves under the bench.  We have found this to be a great solution to our problem.

Entryway Bench with Shoe Storage

Another solution we found was in our living room.  We had an ottoman holding snuggly blankets for watching TV.  However, the ottoman became stained and damaged because the kids used it to sit in - it had become a toy.  It's functionality had changed and was no longer working for us.  At the same time, we were short on seating.  With just a couch and rocking chair in the living room, we could fit our family of five, but whenever guests visited, we didn't have enough seating.  We also needed to contend with a heating vent near the window, so we could not get a large item that would cover it.   Below is what we came up with - so far, it seems to resolve all the issues we were having.

Window Storage Seat

Improving Health
The health benefits of decluttering include keeping you on your feet, as you sort, clean and reorganize various areas in your home.  I also found a renewed sense of confidence and happiness that came with a sense of accomplishment.  I also took some time to organize my exercise area, sorting through equipment I no longer use, and hanging up resistance bands so they are easily accessible instead of in a big jumbled mess.  As I felt good about where I was in the area of decluttering, I was able to start focusing on weight loss again, and had a nice set-up to do it.

Reorganized Exercise Equipment

You will not regret decluttering your home.  Start with the kid's toys they no longer use, clothes that no longer kit you, the bathroom closet, or kitchen cabinets.  No matter what you want to tackle first, just get started.  Do a little at a time and find the motivation to continue.  I decided that this is an ongoing project...I am at a place where I feel the bulk is gone (and what we kept is reorganized) but I still have a "Donation Box" out and add something to it almost every day.  The confidence it has given me has now spilled into other areas of my life and I find motivation to accomplish something every day. 

Pantry Shelves (Before)

 

Pantry Shelves (After)

 

 

Living with MS - A 6-site Injection Schedule for Copaxone 40mg

I know this isn't the best forum for this, since most of my audience does not have Multiple Sclerosis, and those that do may not be on the same meds I am on.  However, I wanted to make this publically available so others can take advantage of it.

For those of you who know me but didn't know this about me, I have Multiple Sclerosis.  It is an autoimmune disease with no cure.  I was diagnosed 10 years ago.

Every year I struggle to find an easier way to track my medication schedule.  There are 7 injection sites for Copaxone, and the 40mg version is 3 times per week.  I have eliminated the abdominals as an injection site for myself, because too much scar tissue from 3 C-sections and a few other surgeries left this area too painful.  So I am left with 6 injection sites, and the medication is 3x per week.  Sounds pretty straight forward, right?  Wrong.

Each of the injection sites is broken down into a number of spots within each area where the medication may be injected.  For example, There are 8 spots on each arm, 6 spots on each hip, 12 spots on each thigh. 

Instead of checking where I did that spot last time and calculating the new location, I wanted to come up with a "schedule" of where to go next.  This would make the injection process more efficient, so I could get it done faster and get on with my life.   So I decided to invest in a little time at the beginning of each year to make the rest of the year easier.

I wanted to share my "schedule" on the off chance that someone out there can use it too...that work is done for you.  Here are the stipulations:

• You must be on Copaxone 40mg (3x per week) or similar medication.
• You must verify that the injection sites for your medication (if other than Copaxone) match the ones I used here.
• You must be skipping 1 injection site from the 7 originals.  I skipped the abdominals.  If you are skipping a different one, feel free to substitute.

In NO WAY am I condoning that you skip an injection site.  If fact, Shared Solutions was not thrilled when I told them I was skipping, but it is simply too painful.

 Lastly, if you don't like my schedule, keep it to yourself.  I don't need to stress of complaints.  I didn't create this for YOU, I created it for ME and decided to share in case it might help someone.

Since I am having trouble posting it to both Blogger and Facebook, you will need to contact me and I will happily send it to you.  It is a 9-page PDF, but covers the entire year.

To all of you who are dealing with MS or any other disease for that matter, I wish you the best in overcoming those obstacles.  For ALL of you out there, Happy New Year!