Yes, I know it’s not a real word but it seems like a better way to express “getting rid of all of your junk before the end of the year”.  Declutter is too simple, too neat to express what it actually is.  It sounds like a simple process of just tossing out a box or emptying a room whereas, I need to actually look before I toss..  Anyway, today I’ve decided to declutterize before The New Year.  Nothing extreme, it won’t be reality TV worthy and there won’t be a big reveal but hopefully the house will feel, well, a bit less cluttered by the end.

It started off with The Back Room aka Junk Room where I uncovered a box of newspaper articles and recipes that I’d been saving- since 2009!  See, I’ve inherited a horrible habit of my Mother’s.

“Hi, my name is Stephanie and I’m a recipe and article clipper.”

It’s a totally innocent habit until it takes over and you find a four year old box of newspaper pages full of recipes you’ll never make and articles that you probably don’t need to read anymore.  I would love to be the girl that makes the recipe or takes on the DIY, Make Your Life Better tip from the Weekend Paper- and occasionally I do make things I see in the Sunday paper- Scallops from Christmas last week were straight out of the Sunday Paper.  But there’s a fine line, and like most lines in my life, I don’t just toe it, I take a running leap across it.

My number one DIY lesson, make a list and write it down, don’t save the whole page for one website or restaurant to try.  And where recipes are concerned, I either have to clip, catalog and organize them using the multiple Kikki K folders I have or just throw them out or not rip them out in the first place.  Easier said than done!  But I need to change…..  I’m not sure if there’s a 12-step program for people like me, but I’m ready to change.  I’m a newspaper-clip aholic and it creates CLUTTER!

Today, it stops. I am declutterizationing the house.  (If, that word catches on in 2013, remember you heard it here first)  Goodbye Time Out magazines from 2009, most of the restaurants have shut down now so why are you still here?!  Goodbye Gourmet Traveller Magazine and your complicated recipes and resorts I don’t have the money for!  Goodbye articles I meant to read but still haven’t, 30 things to do before I turn 30, well, too late now so you’re in the bin!

That’s my mission for today!  My resolution for 2013- try not to clutterize in the first place! Easier said than done, because I might make that Apple Cake Recipe in the paper today, and I might want to go to that trendy bar….(rolling eyes at myself), Wish me luck!