Frugal In Florida

It is true. Clutter CAN totally disrupt your life. And I don't just mean PAPER clutter.  I've got issues with clothes. Not necessarily buying them, but a lot of my girlfriends give me their stuff to go through and then I donate. 9 times out of 10, there will be some really CUTE stuff that is just a tad too snug, and I think, ah, I'll lose a couple of pounds, so I stash it in a drawer or hang it in the far corner of the closet. Yeah. Right. See that happening, do you? Not so much. So lately, with the new classes I'm taking for exercise, I am spending WAY too much time trying to find a top that fits comfortably, is appropriate for jumping up and down, and not a complete mess with stains, tears, etc. You know how it is. This morning, I said enough is enough. I pulled everything out of my shirt drawer and tossed them on the bed. Half the stuff isn't even folded any more because I constantly shove stuff around in this drawer. So everything was touched. Picked up,...

Have I ever mentioned how HUBBY is a freaky neat freak? I mean, as in, NO clutter, NO piles, etc. Everything is in it's place. Sometimes, lately, he's been a little absent minded and 'forgets' where he put something. It's comical except that he gets REAL irritated with that as everything has it's place. (I know it's the medication he recently started, and I'm sure I need to say something to him about it, but for now, faintly amusing)... Back to the story ... I, however, can be a total and complete slob. Make piles. Make lists. Put the list on the piles. When the pile gets too tall, that's when I would prefer to deal with it. Which is stupid because it's more work at that point. So when I went to pick up my purse one morning, I must have just had a moment because I stopped, scolded myself and asked, OUT LOUD: Just when did THIS become acceptable? There, on the floor, under the beautiful table, was my purse, the exercise mat, the ...

Or in this case, 30 minutes. What started as a hunt for mayo (seriously) turned in to an utterly disgusted attitude and a cleanout and organinzing of two shelves in the pantry. Yes. It needed to be done. NOW. Before... Salad dressings, 14 bottles BBQ sauc bottles (um, sad considering Hubby MAKES it) Steak sauce (A1) 9 bottles Worchestershire sauce (large bottles) 2 Dales seasoning, low sodium 2 Sesame marinade 2 Chili sauce 2 grey poupon chinese mustard thai peanut sauce baby dills 2 dill chips cherries jams x 4 canned pumpkin 3 bacon bit (costco size bag) various nuts2 nutella magic shell chocolate tea bags 12 boxes (and a ziploc) crystal lite 10 plus ziploc countrytime lemonade crystalite pure fitness 2 coffee 5 plus container filters syrup x 4 pancake mix x 4 plus container nesquik mocha vanilla protein powder x 2 (plus large bag in other kitchen!) chocolate protein powder x 2 Here's how it looks now: AND no mayo or ketchup! And in the...

or even 5 or 15 minutes and tackle a small project. For me, this morning, at 6:45am, it was this drawer. Ummm, yeah. It's a mess. And always rather frustrating when I'm trying to find a quick tail holder, or when I pull out the straightner. 10 minutes later, and this included 2 trips OUT of the room to get the little cups for organizing and wet wipe to wipe out the bottom of drawer AND take pictures ... I threw alot of stuff out. Mostly hair bands that were stretched out, too small, not stretchy enough, etc. The lotions went to the appropriate spot in bathroom (under sink), the nail polish and feet stuff went to the next drawer (threw away 8 bottles of polish). I used the wet wipe to wipe out the drawer when it was empty to get all the hair. Amazing what 10 minutes can do, huh? Go ahead, tackle a small project. Be ruthless! The two little containers? Those are just those little clear plastic Chinet cups that I got for free last summer. No one around here l...