Picture It: De-Cluttering, Part 2

One stumbling block I hit when trying to organize and de-clutter is what to do with all those items that have real sentimental value, but that I don't use or want to display. Do I just accumulate "stuff" for my entire existence, and leave it all to my kids to sort out (and ditch) when I kick off? Hmmmm....

Then someone suggested, "Take a picture of it. Then pass it on or throw it out." (Actually, to be honest, I've heard this idea from several sources.) What a great solution! I can pull the picture out any time I feel nostalgic, but I no longer have to store the object!

One of the first things to undergo the transformation from 3D entity to 2D memory was my collection of dolls from my own childhood. I had kept them in order to pass them on to my own daughter. ... Then I had four boys.

You might say, "Boys can play with dolls." Yes, they can. But mine don't. A couple of years back, I picked up a Caillou doll (i.e. a boy doll) at a yard sale. Zero interest. Absolutely zero interest from three out of the four boys (the fourth being too young to be interested in such toys; he thinks eating sand is the best activity in the world).

And now my guys have entered that stage where every plaything is crashed, bashed or smashed. I want my dolls to have a better life than that!

So I've opted to pass on my dolls --along with the wardrobe that my grandfather built for their clothes-- to a good friend whose daughter is the same age as our oldest son. She's excited to receive them, and I can imagine that she'll play with them for many years.

It feels good, of course to reduce my hoard, but more to share my treasures with someone who'll appreciate them and to give her the delight of having something lovely. And I'll always have the pictures to remember "my girls" by.

Real Simple: De-Cluttering, Part 1

Alright, I admit it: I'm a sucker for anything that promises to help me conquer the outrageous --and often precarious-- clutter that is found throughout our home.

Real Simple magazine

This time, the June edition of Real Simple magazine caught my eye at our local library. So of course I checked it out.

As usual, my illusions of a quick and final solution to our messiness were soon dispelled. Magazine before and after photos look sooooo much better when you can throw lots of money at your organizational problems. (Or does everyone spend $60 on dividers for a single drawer?)

Nevertheless, I was struck by one part of the cover picture, namely the bottom right corner. A small box... no, a tiny box of matches and a few simple candles.

"Wow," I thought. No great collection of themed or numbered candles, elaborate cake decorations or such. I have a whole drawer full of do-dads like that. But I don't really need all that, do I?

Birthday cakes need candles. But simple candles do the job just as well as the boatload of stuff I have. And I could free up space for tidying away some of that aforementioned clutter. I was inspired...

I didn't actually start with my drawer of candles. But I did gather up a few boxes worth of stuff I've been hanging on to "just in case," for all those occasions that don't --and likely won't-- come to pass. Then I sent those boxes packing!

5 Realistic Ways To Go "Greener": #1 - Clothes

We all know. We know that many items common in most of our houses are bad. Toxic, carcinogenic, brain-frying, bad for us, bad for you, bad for polar bears...

They're everywhere! Phthalates in our toys, food containers and personal care items. Bisphenol-A in baby bottles and canned-food liners. Parabens in our lotions and soaps. The list goes on...

The problem is, for my part, I often find I'm a bit overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the task of identifying and removing these nasties. Plus, I've already confessed to my sometimes-paralyzing "all or nothing" mentality.

So what's a Realistic Mummy to do? For starters, I've had to accept that doing something is okay, and far better than nothing. So here's #1 on my list of not-too-difficult, "green" choices:

#1. Give clothes with experience a second chance
By and large, the garment industry is hard on the environment. The production and transportation of clothes involve a lot of chemicals and petroleum products. And then there's all the off-gassing and what-not once the clothes reach your home. So, go for second-hand, and help cut down on the demand for new clothes and get ones that are already rid of their chemical emissions.

My "to-grow-into" stash...

Second-hand is generally not a problem for younger kids. A friend's daughter is outfitted entirely by thrift stores and she's a real five-year old fashionista!

Our family has a wonderful --and no charge!-- pipeline for clothing for our boys that supplies copious quantities. I sort items that come our way by size/age and store them in labelled totes. (Currently my stash is stored at my in-laws, the long-suffering dears...)

Older children will have a great time seeing how far a clothing allowance will go in second-hand land. (And, hey, a few carefully-chosen brand-new items will ensure a "new to you" wardrobe is right on trend.)

Check out neighbours' yard sales. Spread the word among your friends that you're open to pre-loved togs, and ask them to canvass their friends and relatives. Get to know your local thrift store. Join a Freecycle group in your area.

Yep, clothes with experience --good for your health and for your pocket-book!

Making a Mudroom

A couple of years ago now, we had stairs and an entrance made from our yard into the basement. Like many of you who live in urban centres, we have little front hall to speak of (i.e. if there are more than three coats on the coat hooks, you can't open the door) and our back door opens directly into the kitchen. And although we only had three children at the time, we could see that a plethora of outerwear would soon swamp either area.


I had always envisioned the wall just inside our new basement entrance as a "mudroom" --a place for all the coats and jackets, boots and shoes, hats, scarves and mitts to come to rest. Organized. Out of sight. And not spilling out into the middle of the kitchen floor!


Between conception to execution there was a lot of long-suffering on the part of my in-laws and partner (as is often the case with my "visions"). I'm a scavenger. If something out at the curb catches my eye, I grab it and figure out later if I can use it. And later can be years down the road, during which time the scavenged item is stored at my in-laws. And when I say that "I grab it," what I mean is that I call my partner, give him the location and have him pick it up. Yes, long-suffering indeed.

The bench, painted and ready for action.

Regarding the "mudroom," my scavenging resulted in... well, something that looks like a bench. Hey, it was solid wood (heavy as sin) and just needed a little work. No problem. 


Two years later, a thorough sanding and a couple of coats of Benjamin Moore's Aura paint have given somebody's trash a glorious new life as our bench. (Sorry there are no "before" photos; I wasn't that organized. And I know it looks like I'm plugging a product, but I'll explain my reasons for choosing such a paint in another post...)

They hold everything!

But my new "favourite item" in our house are the hooks. As soon as I laid eyes on them in the Lee Valley hardware catalogue, I knew they were the ones. And they are super. Super-super-duper. Three prongs (for all that stuff) and strong enough to eventually hold backpacks full of books and whatnot. Best yet, they look cool. Love 'em.


I got six of them, one for each member of the family. Now everyone has his own spot to hang his stuff (notice the masculine pronouns there --my things seem to have no trouble staying organized). Even the dog will have her own hook (as soon as I get around to that). 

Ta-da!

A future project (hopefully not two years in the making) is to build some boxes and mount them above the hooks for storage... I'll keep you posted.