Survey #243—Full Response from Patti
| Pronouns | She/her |
|---|---|
| If you shop in thrift stores, resale shops, charity stores, pawn shops, or other sources of second-hand goods, what kinds of things do you look for? Are there any categories of items that you would ONLY buy used? Any categories of items that you would NEVER buy used? | I don't have the patience to shop in second hand stores. |
| If you’ve ever completed a major decluttering project, have you experienced re-cluttering anxiety afterwards? Please describe your experience and how you’ve tried to manage this feeling. | Yes. I've had things start to pile up again. In these situations, I think my "re-cluttering anxiety" comes in stages. At first, I feel energized and motivated to take care of those items right away, to keep the space clear. However, if I don't tackle it promptly, clutter starts to accumulate. The longer the "re-cluttering" occurs, the more I begin to not "see" the clutter again. |
| How often do you deep-clean your kitchen, going above and beyond whatever daily or several-time-a-week routines you maintain? | At least once a month |
| What routines or habits have been useful to ensure that your kitchen is always clean? | I have a mandatory closing routine, where I clear and clean the counters and stove, and run the dishwasher. If there are large pots or pans from cooking, I hand-wash those. My goal is to have the sink and counters clear and clean when my husband and I come down in the morning. My closing routine is made easier if I keep up with the kitchen throughout the day! |
| Here’s your chance to ask Gayle and Ed any question you’re curious about. It need not be related to this survey’s topic(s). If we think that your question—and our answer—might be useful or instructive to The Clutter Fairy Weekly audience, we’ll share them in an upcoming episode. | Kitchen question: Our house was built in the 1950s, and the kitchen was renovated by a previous owner, so it has fairly ample storage space. However, it does not have a pantry. I like to cook and bake, so I generally use most everything I have on a regular basis. I have organized several bottom cabinets for categorizing pantry ingredients. They work pretty well because they either have built-in pull out drawers inside the cabinet or they are large drawers which just pull out. However, I have a few problem spots. The most annoying is a 3-shelf fairly slim upper cabinet that I use for baking ingredients, which is cluttered and difficult to use. I have a variety of baking ingredients packed in there, with items stacked on top of each other. I often have to pull a bunch of things out to get to what I need, and then put the puzzle back together when I'm done! I like the location of this cabinet, because it's right between the stovetop and wall oven, and right above my stand mixer. I probably need some inserts, or relocate some of those items to a different drawer or cabinet. There are some other problems spots in our kitchen, too, all related to the fact that we don't have a pantry. Do you have tips and tricks for using cabinets, pull out drawers, or other spots to help those of us that don't have a pantry in our kitchen? Thank you! |
| Future topics | I'm just getting started with your broadcasts, so you may have already thoroughly covered this, but my ongoing clutter issues usually live in my home office/craft room and guest room. These two rooms become the "dumping grounds" for other items in the house, and get terribly cluttered with a lot of miscellaneous items. The clutter in these two rooms seem connected to each other, because its such a jumbled mix of stuff with no clear categories for many items, or too many categories. Things get moved back and forth between these two rooms. When we have guests come stay, it makes my office worse, because I have move things into the office to make the guest room presentable. I've jammed things in the closets in both of these rooms, and often have items tumbling out onto the floor or stacked around the perimeter of the room. I've made progress on the guest room several times recently, but then guests come, and I have to push everything I've been working on back into my office or into both closets. After guests leave, the overflow items just get moved back into the guest room. These two rooms are my "doom rooms." It's overwhelming and exhausting! My office is always the worst of the two rooms, containing way too much stuff, including many piles of things around on the floor. Thanks for considering any piece of this topic you think others might find helpful! |
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