Decluttering: Day Two

Several weeks ago, when I had some spare time, I went through the apartment gathering a bunch of papers and mail together and putting it all into two milk crates. I didn't throw them out then because they needed to be shredded. Today was the day I decided to spend some quality time with my shredder. And here is the result, a tall kitchen trash can of envelopes, flyers, etc and an equally tall shredder bin of shredded mail. As part two of this, I got online and set up electronic statements, reducing mail to the house by four statements each month. A LOT of what's in this shredded pile are those statements.
Not that I have so much money that I need four accounts, but there is a savings ($5.00!! WoooHooo!!) that you need to have to get the checking and the small account I have for my grandson, plus the two checking accts for me and my son. I had already done this years ago at my other credit union and we have paperless billing for the utilities and insurance so I don't know why I hadn't already set this bank up like this before now. 

The shredder has also been moved to a spot in the studio, so I can check mail and shred it right away, instead of carrying it into the living areas where it tends to get shuffled from place to place until it is scattered everywhere and I end up with boxes of it to go through.

I also went through my cookbook collection. I have a lot of cookbooks. Some I have had since I was 17 when I moved into my first apartment. Others, I have bought through the years and still others that I have no idea where they came from. I know I never bought them and nobody gives me cookbooks as gifts. Seems like my clutter has been inviting their friends to move in!

Anyhow, I have favorites that I tend to use while the rest sit and gather dust on the shelves, so today I decided that somebody else could have my cookbooks (and their buddies) and boxed up 25 of them.

The Microwave Cooking one on top is one of the mystery cookbooks. Where did that come from? I never use the microwave to cook meals, just for heating up stuff or frozen foods. Weird.
This box has been added to the pile from yesterday for my daughter to take and drop off today. You can see a section of the lampshades in this photo too. Maybe you have a ton of cookbooks that you no longer use in this age of googling a recipe? If so, that might be a good place to begin your own battle against clutter.

While my youngest grandson is here today I will be looking around and deciding what area of the apartment to work on tomorrow. This is actually beginning to be enjoyable. Maybe because I am limiting the time instead of spending all day at it. For whatever reason, I am glad I started. Already seeing a noticeable difference in the kitchen / family room and looking forward to seeing wide open spaces and uncluttered surfaces in the rest of the apartment too as the year progresses.
I will leave you today with a link to another site about living clutter free ORGANIZED HOME I browsed through several pages and will be going back. It has printable checklists and challenges and even tips on keeping your home clutter free.