Decluttering 101
Decluttering 101
via. Realsimple.com
Decluttering can be very emotional because so much of what we hold onto has memories attached. It is a physical and emotional effort
Here are some easy, low-stakes items you can declutter with no regrets. When you're ready to get started, gather four plastic bags or cardboard boxes. Label them as: Donate, Recycle, Trash, and Keep. (Be sure you have a place for the items you want to keep).
Try to finish each category in one session and then immediately take out the trash, recycle, and put the donate box in your car or ready for the MVGH store. Put away the items you decided to keep, and you'll feel like an organizing and declutter expert.
Toiletries and Makeup
Check cabinets and drawers: Toss any outdated or empty containers. Toss makeup and perfumes that don't work anymore. Remember, these items do expire!. Donate extra unused and unexpired bath and personal hygiene products to local shelters.
Medications
Check the expiration date on over-the-counter medicines and half-used prescriptions. Follow the guidelines from the Food and Drug Administration for the disposal of the medications or drop them off at Stewart Cottage.
Junk Mail, Newspapers, and Magazines
Add to the recycle bin in the Commons! You can find all the news and articles you might have missed online. You can also go online and unsubscribe from unwanted catalogs and mailing lists.
Cleaning Supplies
Start under the kitchen or bathroom sink or in the laundry area. Toss empty containers, expired products, or those that just didn't perform the way you hoped. If you have accumulated multiple brooms, mops, or dusters, keep only the best one or one for each floor of your home. Recycle where you can.
Expired Food
Pantry shelves: toss expired foods, keep a small bag of long lasting ones for an earthquake. Organize as you go, and donate any items that are still fresh but that your family won't eat to local food pantries. *Then move to the refrigerator and freezer and do the same thing
Drinking Glasses, Water Bottles, and Mugs
Plastic cups, mismatched coffee mugs, and water bottles? Trash, donate or recycle them. If someone is visiting and needs water for the road, I often give them one of my water bottles that they need not return.
Desk Supplies
Start with the supplies. Get rid of pens and markers that have dried up. Use a drawer divider (I often use small boxes from stationary) to separate items like paper clips, notepads, and rubber bands.
Towels and Sheets
Start with one shelf in your linen closet. Separate worn-out towels, sheets, and bedding you no longer use. Fold and organize what's left so that it is easy to see and use. If you're feeling good, move to another shelf! Donate the towels and bedding to a local animal shelter.
Pet Toys and Supplies
Sort through pet toys, leashes, collars, and supplies, and toss damaged items. Separate toys your pet no longer enjoys (or never did) to donate along with unwanted (but still fresh) pet food.
HOT TIP: Know someone new who has just moved into the Grove? Have lunch, coffee or tea with them and ask how they most recently did this successfully.
Wellness Dimension for March: Environmental
Make your environment beautiful and have gratitude for the beauty surrounding you. Look for upcoming events in your ‘Minders.
March 18 and 25 - Keep your body in shape with a Head to Toe workshop with Dianne Whiting. The 18th will have an added benefit of potted bulbs and plants outside the Wellness Center so you can keep your home environment blossoming.
There will be a field trip to the Theodore Payne environmentally conscious garden center in Sun Valley in mid-March. Stay tuned!
Victoria Eaton, Wellness Center