Organizing & Small Decor Changes

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

This is a continuation of my decluttering and reorganizing efforts.

I'm so happy that at long last I've been getting to little bits of clutter that doesn't seem to have a permanent home. I should throw it all out but that is not like me, ha ha.  Instead, I stash it and hold on to it.  Now at last I'm going through it, sorting, organizing and disposing of it as needed. I can't tell you how good this makes me feel because these little bits stashed in bags and containers of all kinds is so much visual clutter.  Visual clutter as opposed to hidden clutter, makes me uncomfortable and anxious every time I look it. I don't have hide away places where I can stash everything until I'm ready to deal with it.  That's probably a good thing. I want things 'out' so it's easier to access them and organize whenever I have a few minutes here and there. That time is now.

Tuesday and Wednesday I dealt with clutter in the living room and organized the TV cabinet shelves. I've still got too much 'stuff' housed there but I did get rid of a large bag of books and CDs & I will be getting rid of more. 

I've got a CD player or two and so I can still listen to them. I have a lot of study materials on them so I've kept those that I want to study soon.  Mainly foreign languages and Bible studies. 

Does anyone out there still listen to CDs?

I also continue making small decor changes. Although the changes are small they take so much time to  researching or consider products, order them, assess how they are working out and returning them and reordering as needed. Here are some of the recent changes.

This one is for paper recycling.

Replaced shopping bags with covered bins for recycling containers and papers. I got the new to me Sterlite bin from a woman in the neighborhood. I thrifted a covered Ikea bin which I'm using for containers.

Replaced the blue scatter mats (as in the photo above).  Every time I look at these mats in the entry way and kitchen I cringe a little because the edges are becoming quite frayed and the white-ish gray colour is looking 'dirty' next to the blue.  I like the new, lighter, brighter colours in the new mat and I hope they last for awhile.

Covered chairs with slipcovers to bring cohesion to 2 different chairs in 2 different colours.  First I tried gray.  It was supposed to be a light gray but ended up being quite dark. I returned it for this beige colour which I prefer but problem is the covers aren't quite long enough.

I've ordered a different type to see if it will work.

Replacing old outlet covers with new ones. No amount of washing the grooves made the plate look clean. It's hard to wash the switches. They need to be changes or removed to wash and dry properly. I figure if I am going to remove them or have them removed, they may as well be replaced. Only a few need the switch mechanism changes but this is a low priority.

Old cover

I'm also still dealing with a few items from the recent renovations to the master bedroom and the patio. I have to review the patio work and complete a deficiency form. I've been reviewing it throughout the process and I think they have done what they are able to do. On the other hands, the movers involved in moving my furniture in and out have damaged 2 items of furniture/equipment and it's taking time to deal with because they don't want to pay for replacement. On my part, I don't see why I need to shoulder the majority of replacement costs. Hopefully this will be dealt with before the week is out. I'll be glad to put both of these issues completely to rest!

Last but not least, I'm busy moving things around trying to make things flow better. Of course that makes it easier for us to live here but I'm also expecting a guest. I sure hope I can have her soon because I don't want her to travel on the mountain roads during snowy or stormy weather.

If you're still here, thank you for stopping by. Your visit means a lot. I'd be interested in hearing whether you too are on a downsizing, decluttering and reorganizing mission? Have you jumped on the minimalist bandwagon or are you a maximalist? I would say I fall into the maximalist camp but I am trying very hard to reduce my possessions to live a life of less maintenance of 'stuff' and more freedom. 

One thing I've noticed as I've been taking photos to share about the small household changes here and there, is that the photos reveal the flaws in furniture and interior structures. So this is helpful in figuring out where to make small adjustments and repairs as well as identifying what areas need more cleaning.