Decluttering, meet reorganising

I set my decluttering sights on this (the shelf with the ugly paper piles of pretty kid artwork).  This is highly visible clutter - seen all the way from the dining room through the kitchen.

I have been reducing toys so my big plastic box of "surprise" toys is nearly empty.  We have enough hidden nooks full of great toys. I moved the best art into that box, kept a few for artistic wrapping paper, and the rest generated some heat and entertainment in the fire last night. 

I really enjoyed looking through all that art and will enjoy the memories for years to come. But I'm happy for them to be in a closet instead of in full view.

Much better!  I'm now thinking hard about what objects deserve to be stored so visibly.  Might we be heading toward a shelf disappearance a la the infamous cube shelves?

Success inspires success

I love my son's student desk, but it doesn't get used much due to regular snowfalls of paper clutter.  I already learned not to store things in the tempting empty spot underneath because it is hard to get to.  After failing to enlist some shorter people to help me retrieve crayons from underneath, I finally took some time to plan.  Clutter is always going to fall off the desk, but the desk can be somewhere easier.

Another after shot is reborn as a before:

 

 And after quite a bit of grunt work...

Both Alex and I can get to his desk, Nadia has her own space, and when things fall into the corner by the window, I can easily reach them.

Best of all...

Build it, and they will come....