Small Tasks Make A Difference

Yesterday was a productive day, in part because of the motivation of our new community on Facebook, Organized Friends. You are always welcome to join. Notice the Community Tab at the top of the blog? The link will always be there if you are ready to join in our decluttering and organizing efforts.

I felt like my tasks yesterday were small, but they did make a difference.

I shredded receipts from September. I save all month's receipts in an envelope for three months, because that is generally the longest a store will take returns. I used to keep them a full year before I would start shredding. That is a much bigger task. Now I do just one month at a time, generally right near the first of the month. That simple task took me less than five minutes.

I vacuumed a drawer! Sometimes there are just too many crumbs to wipe up with a dish cloth or paper towel. This took me less than a minute to pull out the vacuum, use it and put it back.

Ewww!

I removed items from the top of the fridge. I was hoping to remove all items, but the other two didn't find new homes. That's okay, it is better. A work in progress! Usually it's just chips and popcorn anyway.

Cluttered Fridge Top

Less Cluttered...Better!

I rearranged two kitchen drawers. Yes this is part of clearing off the fridge. But these three related tasks took me less than 15 minutes, maybe less if I didn't have to take pictures! I needed somewhere for the chips to go. I knew the drawers had potential to be a good place for the snacks. I just had other things in them. The basic idea was to move ALL the lunch items to one drawer, thus making room for the chips and popcorn. It worked!

Lunch Drawer: Before

Towel Drawer: Before

It helps that I realized my husband's lunch box is rarely used and could be relocated. I also knew I could relocate some storage bags and water bottles from the lunch drawer. Here's another picture in progress...you know the one where it gets a little messier before it gets better?

Everything on the counter

And of course it did get better! I decided to get rid of three dish cloths, and two water bottles. Less clutter helps keep things better organized. At least at my house. :) Now the after shots:

Lunch Drawer: After

Towel Drawer (and chips): After

I think this new arrangement should work pretty well. The only big problem could be crumbs from chips mixing with clean towels. For now we will try it and see how it goes. I just need to remember that using the vacuum to get the crumbs out only takes ONE minute!!

It took me longer to write this blog post then it did to complete my small tasks yesterday. In all I spent 20, maybe 25 minutes on my projects. That is not bad at all, considering many of us watch a TV show for much longer each day.

My small task for today, is to take the donations I have accumulated in the last month to Goodwill. It's the last day of the year for it to count, if you need the deduction for this year's taxes. 

Have you completed any small tasks recently that have made a difference in your home? Any quick tips, like my vacuuming of a drawer?

I'll announce our January Challenge tomorrow! It's nothing fancy...just a kick off to decluttering our homes.