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Last year I challenged you each week to purge/declutter a specific item from your home.  There was a great response, so we will be continuing with these declutter challenges.  However for the new readers I want to share with you some of the tasks we have already completed.  If you completed these tasks it’s a great idea to go back over some of them to make sure you are still under control.

Task 1 – Turn coathangers

Task 2 – Soft toys

Task 3 – Organise Coffee Table

Task 4 – Remove 3 bed linens

Task 5 – Remove 5 items from under laundry sink

Task 6 – Little laundry cupboard

Task 7 – The ironing pile

Task 8 – Broom cupboard

Task 9 – Kids colouring books

Task 10 – The freezer

Task 11 – The kids wardrobe

Task 12 – Board games

Task 13 – Nail polish

Task 14 – Birthday candles

Task 15 – Contents of handbag

Task 16 - Expired beauty products

Task 17 - The Bathroom cupboard

Task 18 – Birthday Cards

Task 19 – Unused exercise equipment

Task 20 – Around your kitchen sink

Task 21 – Songs you don’t like on your ipod

Task 22 - Shoes you can’t walk in + {Review} Benjibox  

Task 23 – My suitcase, only the necessities

Task 24 – Odd socks

Task 25 – Handbag collection

Task 26 – Wardrobe Cabinets

Task 27 – One Shelf

Task 28 – Junk Mail

Task 29 – Old Video Tapes

Task 30 – Broken Electrical Equipment 

Task 31 – Play Jewellery 

What items do you need to declultter from your home?  Will you join us on this mission to Declutter your home?

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Decluttering the shower

What do you keep in your shower?  Do you have way too many product bottles?  Do you really use them all?  Today I would like to you to take a look inside your shower, throw away or put into the cupboard what you haven’t used for 2 weeks or more.  If you rarely use it, store it under the bathroom sink to keep your shower clutter free, you will find it easier to clean. 

Handy Shelf

I found this wonderful corner shelf at Big W recently, it suctions onto the wall.  Perfect, as I can keep the shampoo and conditioner off the floor to prevent mould forming.  It’s also at a height easily accessible for the kids. 

Less shampoo and conditioner waste

Do you find the kids squeeze too much shampoo from the bottle, therefore wasting most of it?  Create your own little pump dispensers.  1-2 pumps is all they will need.

What you will need:

• 2 x liquid soap dispensers
• Shampoo and conditioner
• Vinyl craft letters (I used Making Memories glitter letters)
• Product to remove sticker, either:
• De-Solv-it (found at your local supermarket or hardware store)
• Bosisto’s Eucalyptus oil
• Baby or cooking oil
• Nail polish

Instructions:

1. Peel label from soap dispenser
2. Saturate the sticky residue left from sticker using your preferred product, stand for at least 1 min.  Rub off with a cloth or paper towel.
3. Decorate each dispenser differently so kids will know the difference between shampoo and conditioner.
4. Fill dispensers each with shampoo and conditioner, using a funnel if needed.

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• Vacuum Cleaner
• Ironing Board
• Iron
• Clothes hanger for my the ironing
• 2 dusters (I have 2 as my girls help me dust)
• Blinds cleaner
• Mop
• No broom, I don’t use brooms, instead I use a dust buster on a stick (love it, will tell you more about it tomorrow)

What items can you declutter from your broom cupboard?

Mount your brooms, duster and other long handled items onto the wall of your cupboard or on the back of a door.

Great for keeping the vacuum upright and not falling on you when you open the door

Ironing organiser

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Ok, today isn’t Wednesday, but I wanted to still give you a decluttering task this week.  Today let’s remove some items from the little laundry cupboard that holds all our cleaners, chemicals, washing powder etc.  Last year I put a challenge out to readers to remove all old cleaning products they no longer use.  If you are new to the website or haven’t completed this task do so while you are decluttering this cupboard.

Do you have an excess amount of  carpet cleaners, a few bottles of half empty floor cleaner or products you are holding on to but don’t particularly like?  Go through this cupboard and throw out 3 or more things you no longer use and have been sitting there for at least a year untouched.

My list of 3

• I had a few too many microfiber clothes I really didn’t need, I gave them to a friend
• Old shoe polish
• A mouse trap, ok, might jinx myself but we have never had a mouse in this house, and now we have Millee our cat, she should catch it anyway.  Eew makes me queezey just thinking about it.

Here is my cupboard that store the laundry detergent and spot cleaners

Top shelf in the picture below stores carpet cleaner and other items which are not used regularly.  In the white boxes I have spare bulbs in one and shoe items in the other like spare laces, shoe polish, shoe brush etc.

The bottom shelf holds my all purpose cleaner, floor cleaner, wipes, air freshener, microfibers clothes etc.

Please let me know….what is your list of 3?

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The De-clutter ’52 Things in 52 weeks’ Challenge

As we have 52 weeks left of this year, I thought it fitting to create a challenge for the year to help you de-clutter your ‘things’.

Rules:

• De-clutter, meaning throw away, give to charity/friend, find a better purpose for.
• Disposing of groups of things =1 item eg.  5 towels or 3 coffee mugs classes as ’1 item/thing’
• Each time you have de-cluttered of something, place your comment here. ( I can’t work out how each reader can create their own running list).  If you can number them even better.  If I can I’ll try and copy and paste them to your original comment.
• Please feel free to go beyond 52 items!!

When adding to your list, press reply to your first list and this will trigger me to update your list for you.

Are you going to join me in the ‘Declutter 52 Things Challenge’??

Good Luck!!

© 2010 The Organised Housewife | All rights reserved - This post The Declutter 52 things challenge is provided for the convenience of The Organised Housewife readers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited.

Heather’s entry:

All done, now on my bench is a fruit bowl, knife block, canisters and the phone.
Liked both pages
Lovin the challenges, I feel like slowing I’m getting my house organized, Thanks

Heather has won a $35 gift voucher from Lucky Trix Creations your choice of item from Tara Lee’s beautiful collection.

Lucky Trix Creations is a handmade hair accessories and jewellery line made by Tara-Lee. Lucky Trix Creations is all things cute, and rockabilly inspired accessories. She loves to do custom orders also so feel free to make a suggestion.

Please pop over to her facebook page Lucky Trix Creations and support a great WAHM (Work At Home Mum).

Thankyou to this years sponsors

I would like to thank all the lovely ladies that have sponsored each weekly challenge this year.  They have all been Aussie WAHM and I am so happy to be able to support each of their businesses and online efforts.  Thankyou to each one of you for donating a wonderful prize for my readers and supporting The Organised Housewife Blog. 

Please visit these wonderful ladies when you have time:

• Kristy - The Learning Ladder- Kristy mcGeechan (Independant Sales Advisor)
• Yvette – Yvette Walker: Independent Phoenix Trader
• Bec – Tupperware
• Danielle – Danielle Shield – Your Kaszazz Consultant
• Bianca – Letter Belle 
• Jenny – Jen’s ENJO
• Deb – Frog Cottage Designs
• Clare – Project Patches
• Elisha – Bright Star Kids Agent Elisha Squire
• Jodie – Two Monkeys Fabric Store
• Tara – Lee – Lucky Trix Creations

Congratulations to all the readers that won a gift for completing their weekly challenges. 

Next years challenges will change day and will be NEW and IMPROVED!!!

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The kitchen bench can be a dumping ground for so many things:

• junk mail
• handbag
• kids ‘things’
• just stuff in general

these items tend to make a home there and never get removed leaving your kitchen looking untidy and cluttered.

THE CHALLENGE:

Let’s remove all this clutter so when you look at your kitchen you feel as though you are on the path to becoming organised.

See HERE for more details on how to organise your kitchen, such as Pantry, Tupperware cupboard and the kitchen drawers.

Supplies needed:

• Laundry Basket
• Cloth
• Hot soapy water

How to declutter your kitchen benchtop:

1. Return all kitchen items such as cutlery, saucepans, mixing bowls into the cupboards.
2. Put kitchen appliances that you don’t use frequently back into the cupboard.
3. Grab the laundry basket and remove all rubbish.  Don’t forget to recycle
4. Empty rubbish into outside bin.
5. Return all other items back to their home.
6. Fill your sink with hot soapy water and give the benches and laundry basket a wipe down.
7. If your feeling very energetic, wipe down your cupboard doors as well.

Create a new home for your junk mail, either goes directly into the trash…or see these ideas HERE.

On my benchtop I have:

• The home phone
• An orchid to help hide ugly electrical cords
• Some christmas decorations

A fruit bowl would usual sit on a kitchen bench, however I put mine on my stovetop.  And a kettle would be a common item to been seen as well, however we don’t drink tea or coffee, so we keep our kettle in the cupboard, to the dismay of my lovely extended family

This is a picture of my benchtop – clutter free.  In the new year I will post on how to handle your paper clutter which is usually the biggest culprit for making a home on the kitchen bench.

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