​There's a  lot of hoarding going on in the bathroom.
If your family is like mine, the bathroom is one of the most popular rooms in your house. You may be lucky and have a lot of cabinet space and more than 1 bathroom, in which case clutter might not be an issue. But one of the things I've noticed in my clients' homes, no matter how many you have, is a lot of hoarding going on in the bathroom. For an example, I recently helped clean out a client's bathroom in which dozens of new toothbrushes, (the ones given to you from the dentist) and an incredible number of floss and toothpicks were stuffed into a couple of drawers. I've also noticed a multitude of cleaning supplies crammed under the sink, unused makeup packed in overflowing drawers, and excessive amounts of shampoo, conditioner and soap piling up and not just the ones taken from hotel rooms. While it's always a good idea to keep back-up supplies around, in some homes I've seen more spare products than a family will use in the course of a year or more. So to keep your bathroom tidy and neat, clear everything out, and put back in only what you need for the next month. Here's a few suggestions:

• Cleaning supplies: If you have more than three cleaning agents under your bathroom sink, you have too many. I only keep a small spray bottle of vinegar and essential oils in my bathroom. 
• Shampoos and conditioners: you may need to keep a couple of different brands in the shower. But remember, you probably shop every week. Don't store in your bathroom what can be stored in the grocery store until you need it. Use up what you have now, and don't buy anymore until it's close to being gone. Same goes for toothpaste or soap.
• Toothbrushes: One for each family member and a spare is plenty. 
• Makeup: I have seen drawers full of dozens of lipsticks, opened and barely used. Some may never be used again. If you buy makeup, don't like the shade and you know you're never going to use it, give it to a friend or throw it out. Unopened makeup can be donated to your local women's shelter. Then promise yourself not to buy new makeup until you've used what you've got or thrown away what you've got. This my time of the year where I buy new make up and throw away the old.
• Towels and wash rags: If your bathroom cabinets are overflowing with towels, yet there's no room to put away the clean ones, you've got too many. Keep guest and beach towels somewhere else, such as a linen or clothes closet. Throw out the old, un-matching and threadbare ones. Throw them out or use them as cleaning rags. Again, a dozen cleaning rags per household should suffice.
• Toilet paper: Yes, Costco has such a good deal on 36-roll packages. But again, unless you absolutely have the storage space, or a large family, there's no need to buy that much at one time. I have seen toilet paper stored in hallways and entryways for lack of another place. You're only saving a few cents, not worth it!
• First Aid supplies: The bathroom is a natural place to keep the alcohol, peroxide, bandages, etc. They probably aren't used everyday, so if you have little space, I prefer to see these items boxed in a plastic case and put away in a linen closet. Keep the more frequently used items at your fingertips instead. Check expiration dates once a year. 
• Toys: Toys don't belong in the bathtub. You can keep them handy by attaching mesh nets to the shower wall. 
• Electronics: Blow dryers, curling irons, hot rollers and razors that don't work anymore should be thrown in the trash. Ones that do work, and are going to be used, can be kept under the sink, or stored in a basket that's hung on the wall.
• Magazines: We all know what they're there for, and they're fine. But no more than two or three, stored in a magazine rack.

 Now that you've cleaned out the bathroom, vacuumed the drawers, the last step is to clear almost everything off the counter, except for a soap dispenser, and try keeping it that way. Nothing is nicer than a nice clean de-cluttered bathroom...

Your Closet: How to choose what to keep and what to donate? 

My clients sometimes tell me "your house must be perfect". I always answer, I have 2 kids who never put anything away, a full time job and I love to play tennis. So no my house is not always in order and it is far from perfect. However with regular maintenance, it never has to become a problem. 
My closet was an area I hadn't done in a long time and it had progressively become a little too full of clothes that I don't really wear or enjoy and a little too messy. It is not a big closet so it was time for me to throw away and donate.
Every year, at the end of the school year, I go through my kids clothes and take out what's too small and replace with larger sizes. But the task is a lot harder when the items still fit you. So how to choose what to keep, what to donate? 
Discard:
1- Clothing that don't fit anymore, too big or too small..
2- Anything that has the elastic that has stretched.
3- Anything broken or stained needs to be fixed or thrown away.
4- Shoes that hurt your feet or clothes that are uncomfortable to wear.
5- Anything you never wear, and always put back on the hanger when you try them on.
6- Anything that doesn't make you look good or is not flattering.

During the year, when buying new clothes follow the one in, one out rule.  Always get rid of an equal amount of existing clothes so your closet is never too full. Clean out annually. Do one section at a time.
And if you truly want to break the cycle of overstuffed closets confine your shopping to things you need, not just want.
In the end, I got rid of a fair amount of clothes, and threw away a few pairs of shoes. I put my skirts with the hanger backward to see which one I actually wear. If I don't wear them this summer, I never will.
To finish what I started I need the dry cleaner, consignment store and donation center, day 19th. 

What is Clutter? 
Just what is considered clutter? The official definition given by the National Association of Professional Organizers is: a large accumulation of possessions that appear to be of useless or limited value. I am sure lots of my electronic cords are just that; useless. 
  
We all have lots of electronics and lots of cords that goes with them. At one point, I had them organized in the different compartments. But as you change your electronics, and get rid of them, your chargers don't necessarily follow, and you end up by having lots of things that you have no idea what it is for. Also everyone in my house looking for their lost cord, start looking in there and so it soon becomes a mess. 
 And before I knew it, I had a bag full of useless cables to donate....yeah!!

What happens when you "fall off the wagon"?
​Can't call it Spring Cleaning without cleaning the fans, right? So that's what I did on Saturday, although I had a very busy day. Tomorrow being Sunday and Mother's day, I have no intention of doing anything at all but enjoying my family. So what happens to my 30 days plan? Well, sometimes life happens... and that's okay.
 So what happens when you "fall off the wagon"? Well you "get back on your horse" (love those idioms) and start again where you left off, whether you're on a diet or trying to go through your to do list. Don't abandon your goal because of one little mishap. Don't feel guilty because you had that piece of cake or because you took a day off when you have work waiting for you. Enjoy it completely! And then get back to work, with renewed energy.

This is another thing I see every day when I take a shower, and tell myself I need to do, but it remains undone because as soon as I step out of the shower, I forget. Till today that is. My bath tub needed caulking and some bleaching. Mildew always seem to get to it. I ended up doing the joints of the floor too and cleaning everything in the bathroom which is why it took me 3 days, 30min a day.
Project Done √
What are the things that you have a hard time doing? We all have things that needs to be done. Things that we don't particularly enjoy doing. However unless we can delegate, it still needs to be done.
When we have a deadline, we eventually get to it, and finish it on that day. But when there's no deadline, that's when it becomes tricky and it can be pretty hard to get started. We procrastinate. Other things all of a sudden become far more important and we tell ourselves all those little lies, that we'll do it later, in a minute, or tomorrow. Unfortunately, the list of things to do only gets longer and longer, and it never gets easier. It might become so overwhelming that it seems impossible to start. Many of my clients call me at that point when they don't think they can deal with their clutter by themselves and they don't know how to get out of the mess they are in. Mostly when they are very unhappy about it and don't know how to start. 
Tips: Some ways to not wait till that point might be to create artificial deadlines. For example, have a dinner party at your house or have a friend come over and all of a sudden you'll find yourself full of energy to get your house back in order. Write tasks you want to accomplish on your calendar and block some time to do it.  Use a friend to be your accountability partner or your Facebook friends and write a post. Plan a reward system for when you finish some of your tasks. Or hire someone to help you and release yourself of the stress and discontentment. 

 My fridge needed cleaning. Although I'm pretty good at doing it regularly, it needed it again. I also needed taking all the old jars and expired things out, and that was overdue. As my fridge was quite empty, this was a good time to start. 30min I should manage, right? Well I'm not finished.....One more drawer, the door and the freezer still needs to be done. But now I can put my groceries away. 
I can finish it tomorrow.
Truth: It took me longer than 30min to go through everything that was in the freezer and finish cleaning the fridge. However I probably won't do the fridge completely again before at least 6 month unless there's a spill.
The harder part is always to start a project. Once it is started with some music to keep going, it usually gets done. I have a small fridge and a family that eats, so it is always a struggle for me to keep the fridge or freezer organized. I have added clear containers from the container store and it makes reaching the back of the fridge easier and kept like things together. Same with the freezer. If you have some more ideas on how to keep your fridge organized, share it!

Well, I didn't post yesterday but I did my 30min of "Spring Cleaning". It was a beautiful Sunday and I decided to work outside. It was a longer project than I realized, so it took me 2 days. I finished it today. I had been wanting to feed my orchids and clean that area for a while, but it never seemed to be the right time. It was too hot, too dark, too sunny, later, any excuses I could find.... But now my orchids are not blooming the way they should. So I cleaned them, added the few I had and fed them. I also added a schedule on my calendar to feed them every week for a while. I know they'll thank me with beautiful flowers... 

Day 2: Okay I've got my list. Now what? Where do I start?
Well, what's the most important or the most urgent? Or just start from the top or whichever one you want to start with. For me it was just a few drawer in the kitchen that needed cleaning. It was just a small task but as my boy came back from college yesterday for a week, it needed to be small and in the kitchen. Make sure that if you wrote organize the desk, you don't start emptying all the drawers at once. Remember we're only doing 30min. Do one thing at a time, one drawer, one part of the closet, etc...
Happy organizing!

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