Unclutter in 10 minutes a day?

I can’t believe it! My kitchen counter has almost NOTHING on it – and it’s been that way since WEDNESDAY!!!

How did this happen? Well, Wednesday afternoon at 4pm, I decided to do something that I never do in the afternoon – watch the Oprah Show. It’s not that the TV isn’t on at 4. It’s always on a 4, but my son usually has control of the TV at that time – and Oprah’s not his thing. Anyway, i turned on the show just in time to watch this guy Peter Walsh clean out someone’s messy house. Actually, he cleaned up a couple of messy houses – and redecorated one. I was so interested that I went to Oprah’s website so I could read more about Peter Walsh and his de-cluttering techniques.

I don’t know how it happened, but I was inspired! I went to my kitchen and spent 10 minutes cleaning stuff off the counter. I threw out a lot of stuff, and found a place to put stuff that didn’t get thrown out. It looked great! And it still does!!

On Thursday, I decided to clean off an old fashioned sewing machine in my foyer that had become a place to dump papers and what not. I threw stuff away, put stuff away. It looked great!! And it still does!!

Yesterday, I decided to attack the area around the TV where a large number of videotapes and DVDs were piled up. I asked my son to take 10 minutes and go through all of the VHS tapes and DVDs and decide which ones he wanted to keep and which ones he didn’t want anymore. In 10 minutes flat, he piled up 53 of his little kid tapes and DVDs and gave me the OK to get rid of them.

I guess I could have set up a yard sale or tried to sell some of them on Ebay, but I wanted them gone!

So. . . . . I sent a quick email to all of my friends, announced that I was getting rid of the tapes and DVDs, and that they would be going to Goodwill the next day unless I heard from someone. 15 minutes later, I got a call from a friend who said she would take them and pass them around her neighborhood. I put them in green garbage bags and took them to her house. She and her neighbors were happy. They got stuff their kids can use. I’m happy. The area around my TV looks very neat and uncluttered!

My kitchen counter is cleaned off and neat! My kitchen table is cleaned off and neat! The foyer in my house is cleaned up and neat! And the area around the TV looks cleaned up and neat, too!! Today when the mail came, I put it on the kitchen table, opened it, threw out the junk mail and put the bills away. I did not leave anything on the table to clutter it up again.

I can’t believe that I actually saw something on TV that is making a difference this quickly – and I didn’t have to send a check or money order for $19.95 plus shipping and handling! Focusing on cleaning something up for 10 minutes is so easy to do! .. . . . . . I wonder how long I can keep this up?

Tomorrow could be more difficult. Tomorrow’s target is the dining room table. The one that is a depository for all kinds of books, bills, papers, and forms. It ’s a big job. . . Can I do it in 10 minutes? I think I can. . . . . .