Dear Friends,

Are you relishing in fall and the activities that come along with it? One look at the calendar, and my guess is that your calendar is starting to fill up with Holiday plans just as mine is. If you are not following The FlyLady’s Holiday Missions, I encourage you to do so. It is much easier to get ready in small, baby steps.

This week we are decluttering in the Kitchen.

Here are you missions for the week:

Monday – Clean Out Under the Kitchen Sink

Tuesday - Purge from the Pantry

Wednesday – Shine Your Kitchen Sink

Thursday – Declutter Your Kitchen Countertops

Friday – Sweep and Mop the Kitchen

Set your timers and then take a break when it goes off!

How many of you are living with paper clutter in many areas of your home? This is not the safest way to insulate your home (smile). Paper clutter brings us down. It makes us feel defeated when we see paper, paper, paper all over our homes.

Paper comes into our homes on a daily basis. Paper comes in the mail. Our kids bring paper home. Our spouses bring paper home. We bring paper home. For a digital society, we still process a lot of paper.

How do you stem the tidal wave of paper? You need to set aside 5 to 15 minutes a day to deal with the paper that came into your home that day. You need a good quality paper shredder, and you need to be ruthless. Only hold onto papers that you need for legal purposes, and only hold onto special papers by your children for a short amount of time.

You can display your children’s artwork for a week or so. Then take a picture of it. Then you can share it with a loved one. If you want to hold onto some of their artwork, designate a plastic bin for each child. Only keep the amount of papers that will fit into that bin. If it overflows, you will need to let more go.

From personal experience, I can tell you that the artwork that you are saving for them means more to you than them. They will likely not take it with them when they move out.

What you can do is take pictures of their artwork and make a photo album. You can share their artwork with friends and family members. You can teach your children how to address an envelope and mail it to someone. This teaches your children a life skill, and it also brightens the day of your friend or family member.

When you are sorting piles of paper, resist the urge to make a lot of piles at one time. Most of the time, you will end up re-stacking the piles and having to sort through them again later.

Set up simple files. You will need one for bills to pay. You can put them in order of due date within the folder. You will need files for papers you need for your tax return. You will need permanent files for birth certificates and other legal documents.

When you go through the mail, either trash the paper, shred the paper, or file the paper. Do this daily. Don’t let your mail pile up. Eventually, you end up with a mix of junk mail and important mail if you don’t deal with your mail daily.

Try to handle your incoming papers as few times as possible. Many times your piles of paper do not shrink because you keep handling the same papers over and over again. You delay on making decisions on what to do with the paper, so you just pop it back in the pile to deal with later.

You do not want your legacy to your children to be boxes and boxes of paper. Start today and purge paper. You will start to feel lighter and more peaceful as the piles of paper shrink in your home.

Here’s your recap of the Weekly Zone Missions.

On Monday, spend 15 minutes decluttering cleaning under the kitchen sink. Write down any items that you need to purchase.

On Tuesday, start at the back of the kitchen pantry and toss expired items. Organize what is in the pantry. Write down items that you need to purchase for Holiday Baking.

On Wednesday, spend 15 minutes shining your kitchen sink. If you have extra time, spend a few minutes tossing leftovers from the fridge.

On Thursday, declutter and wipe the kitchen counters. Put away appliances you are not using often.

On Friday, sweep and mop the kitchen. Tag team with your kids if they can sweep for you, and then do a quick mop.

Your Home Blessing for today is to wash the sheets.

Your Zone Mission for Monday is to declutter under the kitchen sink.

My menu plan for Monday is cheeseburger bake.

Have a blessed day!