There seems to be two schools of thought about decluttering and organizing, which could really be applied to a wide range of things:

Do a little bit every day

Or

Do everything at once, even if it means not leaving your house for two days.

Overall, I feel I’ve been more successful taking small steps. Most recently I dug up and replanted my garden, and I completed nearly all the work in fifteen to thirty minute spurts. The same has been true for decluttering, especially when I’ve been sorting items to donate. Filling a box with a few unwanted things, or making a small pile of clothes, have made a difference because it’s been adding up and I see the difference.

But I realized over the weekend that the little-bit-daily approach wasn’t going to work in the attic. We didn’t have plans for Sunday and I thought about, and then discarded, the possibility of tackling it in favor of sloth. Then Emma asked that I go into the attic and get her doll bunk bed. Unfortunately, I donated it because she hadn’t played with it in months. She took the news well, but I still felt guilty even though it’s been way more than a year since I gave it away. So I offered her a shelf I had in the attic, which had once been a kitchen cabinet that I’d been able to salvage when we renovated. She accepted it and proceeded to turn it into a three-level bunk bed.

Attic, right side, before.

And so a task presented itself, and I accepted. Giving up the shelf left a lot of random junk. There had been several binders, which I’d already emptied of paper and recycled, and I donated lots of office supplies too. But there was lot of other stuff left over that defied categorization. Anything useful to someone else went into a donation box, the rest to the trash.

Since it was a small section, it didn’t take too long to sort out, and I decided to keep going. My husband is a patient, patient man because he didn’t complain, helped me lug out a few of the heavier items, and took Emma to the movies so I was alone in the house for much of the afternoon.

Attic, left side, before.

I worked from about 10 a.m. till 5:30 or so with one short break for lunch and one short break to run to the grocery store, and I didn’t finish. But I didn’t expect to. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about any kind of home project, whether it’s a fun DIY thing or something challenging like reorganizing a room, it always takes more time than budgeted.

Right side. Still cluttered, but much improved.

At least one of those hours involved sorting through 3 large bags of Emma’s papers and art work. I recycled a lot. I would have recycled way more, but because she still loves art so much, I want her to be able to decide what she wants when she gets older.

This is the left side, with the right side of this photo still in progress.

I filled one big bag with trash, another big one for recycling, and have four more boxes which will go out with tomorrow’s donation.

When I got home from work again today, I spent another hour or so in there. I won’t have any real lengthy block of time again until the weekend, but because I’m on a roll I’m going to try and do a little each day. So I’ve created a sort of hybrid approach for myself: invest a big block of time, get a lot accomplished, and finish in little spurts. The danger is that I’ll let it get away from me, but I feel really motivated to get it finished for good.