To The Next Level

May 2017 Clutter Support Group

Attendees, Vicki, Gloria, Pam, Nicole, Suzanne, Laurie, Theresa and Ramona

Praises and Challenges
Ramona
1- Project 1- Working on creating envelopes for her receipts and coupons.
2- Ramona realizes that she now needs to schedule time to do her projects.

Eileen's asked Ramona “What can you let go of so that you can plan the time to do your organizing projects?

3- Ramona also has been removing accumulating magazines from her mom's room at the nursing home.

Gloria
1- Still struggling with situational depression because her husband is living in a nursing home.
2- Cleaned out kitchen cabinets and got rid of expired food items.
3- Will send Eileen a picture of her kitchen cabinet for assistance with labeling.

Nicole suggested that she makes a schedule for the week of meals to be prepared to eliminate the waste.

Pam
1- Last month Pam decided to call in some friends to help with the clutter. She was intentional about following through about getting assistance.
2- Two of her friends are assisting her to clear the kitchen.
3- Her dining room will be next which seats 22 people.
4- Her biggest challenge is letting go of things that she enjoyed.
5- She had to do a lot self-talk to get through the process. Pam now feels she might be able to tackle something else in the house
6- With some of the clutter removed , Pam does not have as much anxiety.

Eileen's suggestion - create a maintenance system (how are you going to maintain the space?)

Nicole
1- Took many items to Goodwill- juicer, clothes and old magazines.

Vicki
1- Went through cookbooks and donated to Salvation Army and Sachem Public Library
2- Vicki is also organizing the seasonal change of clothes.
4- Continuing to shred papers and donated toys
5- Taking the time to get rid of junk mail.

Suzanne
1- Donated many items to her sister in-law's church. She doesn't miss a thing because it was for a good and profitable cause.
2- Organizing pantry in her kitchen and realized that she had so many serving trays, and has decided she will keep her favorite serving trays and put the rest aside for the next church sale.

Eileen used the term "the bomb" which is all the stuff that comes out of the closet during the de-clutter process. She suggested begin with a plan. Plan the beginning, middle and end.

Theresa
1- Because Theresa has missed several meetings she finds her bedroom is accumulating stuff again and she is falling back into the same rut again.
2- Items from other siblings has been accumulating in her son's room and she now plans on having a family meeting about tackling the clutter.

Eileen reminded that our items are to be honored and respected. How can you translate this to the rest of the family?

Laurie
1- Her challenge is the mail pile-up. Her mail challenge is to find the time to do the mail.

Eileen suggestion - make a decision on how to handle the mail and using a desktop filing system.

Break

Your Purse , Your Home

Question #1 - Who has the heaviest purse?
The finalists were Theresa, Pam and Laurie.
And the winner is Laurie

Question #2-What is the most unusual item in your purse? The winner is - jeweler's loupe –Suzanne

Eileen discussed how our purse is a reflection of our home. How we take care of our purse is much the same as our home. Do we pill so many items into our purse that we do not know what is in there? Does the clutter weigh us down?
Suzanne then volunteered to empty her pocketbook to re-organize.
Eileen taught about grouping like items together and showed several products that help to better organize our purses