Project De-Clutter: The Kitchen Counter, Part 2

It is late & I am about to head off to bed but I am so excited to show my next Before/After pictures of our kitchen counter as part of my de-cluttering project... and I couldn't wait until tomorrow to share!

Before:

After:

This has been such an exciting project for me - super liberating in a strange way. I've been challenged to really look at things and ask "do we need this"... not really so much "am I using this" as do we NEED it. Can I function in my daily life without it? I dropped off 3 huge bags to a local thrift store on Monday and it felt so good to be done with so much stuff. 

I read an article in Sunset Magazine a while back about a family that lives on the extreme side of minimalism. I am not really looking to go that far but it definitely gives perspective to things. Check it out here if you're interested.

Good night! Off to dream about clean counter tops!

Project: De-clutter

My life is cluttered.

Every counter top has stuff upon stuff just piling up. 

I'm not really sure what all of this stuff is, but I'm pretty sure I don't need it all. 

It is time for Project: De-clutter

Step One:

Toss out anything that hasn't been used, eaten, looked at or thought about in at least 10 days. I bet I will have alot to get rid of!

Step Two: 

Head to Container Store and Ikea and look for ways to organize what is left.

Step Three: 

Enjoy all my new space... by adding new piles of stuff... 

Just kidding!

Project 365

A few people I know are participating in this photo blog called 365 Project. In a nutshell, you take a picture every day for a year & upload it to this site - it's like a regular blog, you can write stuff about the picture, have followers, etc. I am fascinated by it. I think it forces you to find little things in each day - big or small, important or not - and capture it. I love the simplicity of it, but also the deep sentiment that it juxtaposes. (Whoa! Big word alert!) 

Today, I would take a picture of the stack of boxes around my desk at work. Before we left for Christmas break, I worked really hard to clean up my desk and surrounding area... and in a mere 2 weeks I have managed to rebuild quite the box-igloo around my desk; tons and tons of jackets for me to review. 


Yesterday, I would have taken a picture of my dog, Zoey, with Drew's  bright green snot-sucker in her mouth. She stole it and ran off to her bed to hide it. It would have made a pretty funny picture. 


Anyway - I just wanted to share this project because I think it's cool and I think it forces you to stop and look at your life and find something noteworthy in every day. Yay for that.