FlyLady Tips: Have You Ever Considered Un-Decorating?

Truly...as hard as it is for a knick-knack nut like me to fathom, 

Less really is more!

 especially when it comes to decorating the kitchen.  That's the one place where we really need room to work. Knick-knacks just get in the way!  It's not that I had a whole lot of decorative objects on the counter, but I what I did have got in the way of rolling out pie crust and assembling casseroles. Something is seriously wrong with this picture!

We're De-Cluttering!

We've been de-cluttering like crazy around here this week. What else would you expect when my friend, Peggy, and I talked of nothing else while driving 17 hours straight to get home from the Colorado tournament to North Houston. We certainly weren't sight-seeing. (No offense to all the natives of New Mexico and Amarillo.) The topic wouldn't have come up but for the fact that Peggy had offered to pay for the 'skiing' part of our trip if I would help her organize her house this summer which led to the de-cluttering discussion...all the way home.

Put Your House on a Diet

For starters, I gave her my little pep talk about putting her house on a diet and encouraged her to please start decluttering  at least 15 minutes a day. Otherwise, we would spend the time decluttering rather than dealing with her organizational problems.  To me, that's at least 75% of most organizational problems anyway.  As it happens, she had already begun that process.  Amazingly, she had heard the talk before--by me as it turned out! We discovered that I was 'that woman' who had given a FlyLady talk in her home school group six years before and had really inspired her!! Talk about ironic. We were so stunned that we couldn't quit laughing...

Un-Decorating...is the Key

Of course, I couldn't wait to get started on my own house when I got home. I have been 'hard at it' for several days now and got my minimalist daughter involved. I was so desperate that I even allowed my hubby, also a minimalist, to make some of the decisions of what to throw out. (That's desperate!) He prefers the 'monastic' style.  In the process of packing up box after box of stuff, which my hubby quickly whisked away (Quick! She might change her mind!), my 19 yr. old daughter made a profound statement...

It's so nice to be un-decorating!

So true!!  I have thought about this concept many a time and used it in my 'Fly Lady' workshops...but the stuff creeps in when I'm not looking. Not only that, but for some reason I just love decorative objects and it totally undermines my efforts to keep things streamlined.

It's time to pare down... 

It's not that we don't decorate--it's that we decorate too much. Most of the people that I help with their organization problems are on the 'severe' side of the problem. They have so much stuff that decorating is out of the question.

Maybe what we remove from a room is as important to good decorating style, as what we put in it...

 I often mentally picture what a house over run with stuff would look like, if you took every last piece of the stuff out of the house.  Even my dad's house, which was so dreary looking, or as one visitor put it to me privately....'a hole in the wall', looked actually pleasant and live-able when everything but the furniture was packed up.

Decorating won't fix a Clutter Problem  

I have found that people with the worst clutter issues, are the ones who spend the most time watching HGTV or spend lots of time reading Better Homes and Gardens magazines. It's almost a form of escape. In no way, am I condemning them, it's just that more decorating won't fix the problem. Interior decorating is an art and a wonderful way to beautify your home, but as I always say "First things First"--Get rid of the excess stuff before you try to 'decorate'. See Marie Killam's Point 6 on 10 ways to save money by creating a focal point.

Being a SHE is No Excuse!

So much of what I share on this topic, is what I've learned the hard way, because it's a problem I constantly battle. I'm a SHE at heart, with 'organized genetics' on the other side of my brain. That makes me either schizophrenic, bi-polar, or just overly ambidextrous--the down side of being a lefty.  I'm not sure which. Either way, being orderly and uncluttered is not easy or natural for me. If I can get rid of stuff, especially pretty stuff that I LOVE with all my heart and soul...then so can YOU! Let's give it a try and aim for some un-decorating this week!  Let me know what you chunked!

If I can get rid of my roosters and ugly blue ceramic condiment holders, then you can get rid of your teddy bear cookie jar, and chili-pepper napkin rings..Is it a bargain?