The Live It With less inaugural Before and After shot.
This week’s Before and After shot is from fellow blogger, Caitlin from cluttercubed.com
BEFORE
I believe most people (myself included) would have had a Post-Christmas mess and various other mess accumulating in the living room from the holiday period.
AFTER
Caitlin explains : ” I took everything that didn’t belong in the living room to the places where they did belong, and tossed out all the paper and garbage leftover from gift wrapping. I vacuumed and dusted, and put the room back in order.I’d call this superficially clean, instead of thoroughly clean, as there are still some things that don’t really belong, but I could have a guest over now! I am pleased with how it turned out.”
Well done Caitlin, the living room look much less stressful and even your cat Dax looks more relaxed! Thank you for uploading your pictures to the Live It With less Flickr pool. and if you want to get more tips on how to conquer clutter make sure you visit Caitlin’s blog
If you have any before and after shots of decluttered rooms, work spaces, garages, or any other types of areas, even weight loss! I would love for you to share them by uploading to Flickr.
My aim is to feature a before and after each week, so there is a good chance you can be featured on this site too.
Last week I read that Ross from rcThink and Dave from The Minimalist Path, had thrown out the challenge to anyone who dared, to rid yourselves of the unnecessary over the next 30 days
Ross writes,
“From January 15th to February 15th you’re going to be getting rid of one thing every day from your kitchen, closet, computer room, bedroom, car, work. Anywhere that is accumulating clutter and things you don’t need. The purpose here is not to become a minimalist Zen Monk, (if you want to though, give ‘er) but to remove things from our lives that don’t matter.”
The rules of this challenge were quite simple
You have to plan to get rid of something every day of the challenge. You can take the stuff to wherever it’s going to end up, dump/friends/recycling depot/ shelter, once a week if you like. I understand it’s hard to go every single day.
Update your blog/website/doc/wave with things that you’ve thrown away.
Things that can be recycled or donated, have to be. Don’t just throw them in the garbage. People can benefit from used stuff.
Now, as I am already decluttering each day as part of My Big 4, I thought it would be only fair to add a 4th rule to apply to myself, and that is,
4. The item has to be separate from the room that I am currently in the process of decluttering.
Ross has requested that participants report back on their progress, which is what I will be doing here on this blog each week over the next month.
The following are my 7 things for the last week and a brief description about each item and why they don’t matter anymore,
The one thing I like about writing this blog is putting it out there for all to read and then gaining the extra incentive to be true to my word. So I have begun 2010 with announcement of my Big 4 and one of the cornerstones to achieving the Big 4 is to weigh 72kgs (158lbs)
Why?
This figure provides me with a body mass index rating of 24 which is considered healthy.
At the moment I currently fluctuate between overweight and obese and the one and only reason for this is overeating.
Why do we overeat?
Sugar, fat and salt make us want to eat more - Most palatable foods are described by food scientists by food that has the capacity to stimulate us to eat more, and its most of these foods that generally contain sugar, fat, salt or all three.
We eat food that isn’t real – Over the last couple of decades our food is becoming overly processed, this means that as the nutrients are getting sucked out, and the fat, salt and sugar content increases
Fast Food companies want us to – Like every industry, the focus is profit, which requires selling more product. On every corner, fast food joints have deals that require you to eat more for less money, combine this with the stimulation from the processed food, the norm considered these days is to eat huge meals throughout the day.
How can I stop?
Every time I see a glimmer of hope in my eating pattern is becuause I have controlled it to eating 1500 calories per day which is the correct calorie intake for someone of my age, exercise level and daily activity to enable me to lose about a pound a week and have now come to realisation that everyday I must plan my next meal or snack until I have successfully altered my eating habits
So from now on until I reach my goal weight (or however long after) I am sticking like glue to 1500 calories per day.
It will be a controlled eating plan which will include plenty of whole foods and water plus regular exercise from now on.
If I want to be inspired and continue to better myself, I absolutely love seeing and reading about examples from others, especially before and after shots of a success.
I have created this blog to inspire myself and others, and I now give you the chance to do so as well.
How?
I have created a Flickr group so that you can upload your achievements to share with us and from time to time I will pick out some photos to feature on this site and if I find I am getting a good supply, I will incorporate as a weekly feature.
What am I looking for?
Anything really, decluttering a room or a workspace, organizing your garage, detailing your filthy car, organizing your filing cabinet or even a picture of yourself if you have achieved weight loss success.
I have already kicked this off by uploading a before and after shot of my desk area at home and will add more as I declutter my whole house
Below is the before shot of my desk in my study (you can also view a video of the whole room here ). Actually the desk area is not too bad really, although you will notice in the top right mail tray is full with mostly unread junk mail that needs daily attention. Also, there a numerous stationery items that need to be put back after use.
Now, here is the after shot. The desk is now clear and back to how it should be. I have not re shuffled any of the previous stuff. I simply gave each item serious thought. For example, the mail tray was processed until zero which I will continue to do so each day from now on. The stationery and notebooks were placed back were they came from, and a couple of other smaller items were returned back to the owners.
Here is your chance to shine!
Upload your before and afters to the Live It With less Flickr group and include a brief description explaining your success, that way if you get picked everyone will learn about how you achieved your success.
ATTENTION: I will feature the 1st, 5th and 10th person to upload their before and after shot. So get cracking, and hit me with your best shots!
As part of my Big 4 for 2010, I want to declutter the whole house, and I mean really declutter it!
We have recently moved into our 4 bedroom house , and before we shifted our stuff from the old house we had the perfect opportunity to go through everything we had accumulated over the last 5 years and get rid of anything that was no longer needed s0 we could have a fresh start in our new house. However it didn’t really go to plan.
Why?
You see at the time, there was too much going on, we needed to look at new houses on the weekends and I was also in the midst of studying for exams. There was just not enough time to dedicate to a serious sorting. We had good intentions and gave it a good shot, but because else occurring at the same time it meant that half the clutter ended up moving with us. Sound familiar?
So, this time I going with the mantra, “slow and steady wins the race” hence,why I am including decluttering the whole house as part of my yearly goals. By doing it this way it will work best for me as I will be able work around my family and work commitments and I won’t have the pressure of trying to get it done in an unrealistic time frame. Maybe it will take a month, maybe the whole year? At least this way, it’s going to be done properly and once.
Also, as part of Big 4 – declutter the whole house, I will be documenting on video a before and after each room. In this first episode, I draw attention to the fact that clutter is not always visible as hiding away in the drawers, cabinets and boxes are the forgotten areas that need the most attention.
Hope you enjoy it, I enjoyed making it for you
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