Intention 2014: Declutter and organize

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I've already posted about my intention to live 2014 with… intention.
I have made a list of ways that I'd like to put it to practice, and I'll be sharing some of them here.

Up first is something I actually started a couple of months ago.
Getting a handle on the clutter and creating organization systems that will work for us.
My mom and my sister are both great declutter-ers and organizers, but as many times as they've helped, or tried to, it hasn't stuck.
I think I (we) need to be the ones to figure this out on our own. Someone else's brain doesn't work the way mine does, or Jamie's does, or Max's does. What works for them won't necessarily work for us, so this is something we need to do ourselves. (Note: This does NOT mean that I won't still take up the occasional offer from them to come over and help me clean the kitchen/bathroom. Those offers are still totally welcome!)

We're going to be moving in the next year or so, so I'd really like to get the stuff under control before we do that.
Only keep the things that are here for a reason (and yes, making us happy counts as a reason)

Because purging and organizing isn't something that comes easily to me, I need a little help along the way. I found this daily organzing calendar through Pinterest, and am hoping it will help keep me going throughout the year.

It gives a daily 15 minute task to slowly work through the house and get it decluttered. We do have some bigger projects that won't be covered here; like our 3rd bedroom/office looks like a bomb went off, and we'll just have to get on it and jump in to take care of it.

But I'm hoping the calendar will help me keep making progress throughout the rest of the house. I can do 15 minutes a day, right? If Max can turn brushing his teeth into a 30 minute melodrama, I can spend half that time to get our house a little more organized than it was before.

Before I could even start my year-o-organzing, I had to find a place for the calendar itself. (We have this sheet of galvanized steel mounted to our pantry door, since our stainless fridge isn't magnet friendly) I decluttered the board itself, pulling off some old magnetic poetry that Max hasn't touched in months, putting a couple of his drawings away in my storage for all his papers, and throwing away the expired coupons and stuff that had accumulated.

The manilla envelope there is a landing spot for any and all paperwork related to the teardrop trailer Jamie is building. (I should blog about that, huh?) So now I have my organization schedule, the TransPorter receipts and papers, a coupon Max got at a California Pizza Kitchen birthday party last month, and my magnet from breakfast at the Silver Skillet in Atlanta. (See above where I mention “making me happy” counts as a reason to keep something. Good memories with great friends, represented by that magnet.)

Now, I'm publishing this post on the 6th, but writing it on the 4th. I'm going to go pick four items off my January schedule so that I can get them marked off and catch up to today's date.

Ready? Here we go!