Entry Closet

A (poorly panorama-ed) photo of my progress in decluttering my entry closet... I'll be doing some additional work to figure out how to most efficiently store my winter scarves and purses.

Week 3 Done List

Bones:

• Vacuumed, dusted, and mopped.
• Cleaned my entrance (although there still is more to do here)
• Started thinking about how to accomplish my needed repairs (and made one of them, too!)

Breath:

• Decluttered my entrance (again, still a little to do here) but I did get rid of the old mattress that has been cluttering my entrance for over a month!
• Ordered a landing strip (due to be delivered tomorrow!)
  
• Decided not to renew my magazine subscriptions (the internet is a suitable substitute)

Heart:

• Thought about cool and warm rooms
• Thought about the 80/20 rule (will post more on this later)

Head:

• Uh oh, nothing to put here this week. I was out of town on business this week, so no home cooked meals or housewarming invitations yet. But given that I was in another state for much of the week, I feel great about what I have accomplished.
  

Repair Number One

I made my first repair this weekend (well despite my best intentions, my friend did most of the work and I watched). When I installed my murphy bed three years ago I had to remove the trim between the floor and the walls. Until today I never repaired the few inches of trim on each side of the murphy bed cabinet. Which also means I was storing the long lengths of trim this whole time too. Now it's all repaired and I've disposed of the extra trim. Ahh, the sense of accomplishment...

Week 2 Done List

I'm a little behind this week but here's my done list so far:

Bones:
Cleaned kitchen/Threw away old food
Using a brita filter (pitcher)

Breath:
Cleared space for an outbox
Put lots of stuff in the outbox!

Heart:
Bought fresh flowers (put the ones from last week in the bathroom, they still have some life in them!)
Style: organic modern

Head:
Cooked a couple of meals at home.

Ideas for Greening the Cure

I've been thinking about ways to keep my Cure green. I've come up with some ideas, but would love to hear some other suggestions.

Reducing Waste

• Donating/Selling the contents of my Outbox.
• Craigslist.
  
• Freecycle.
• I just learned that my local animal shelter will take my old ratty towels.
  
• Recycling items that nobody will want.
  

Lightening my Demand for New Resources

• Buying used.
  
• Buying products made of recycled materials.
• Really asking myself whether I need something before bringing it into my home.
  

Indoor Air Quality/Toxins

• Not allowing toxic items into my home.
  
• I recently bought a new mattress and did a lot of research to make sure that I was getting one that wouldn't release Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC's). (I settled on a natural latex mattress.)
  
• I'm currently trying to find a rug pad that won't off-gas toxic fumes.

Supporting Local Economies

• I'll be cooking my homemade meals for during the cure with produce from a local farm (I joined the CSA, Community Supported Agriculture, this year.)

Starting in on Week 2

Week 2 includes a very thorough cleaning of the kitchen. I have a lot of stuff in my kitchen. Way too much stuff.

This evening I had some extra time so I removed EVERYTHING from the pantry, cleaned it all, and then selectively put things back in. The first image shows the mess in a portion of my pantry before I started this evening. The second photo is of the items from my pantry that I will be moving to my outbox. The third picture is my pantry after I cleaned it. I still think my pantry could make more efficient use of space, but this is certainly a start. Later this week I'll tackle the rest of the kitchen.

Week One: Done List

Here are my accomplishments for week one of the Cure (Deep Treatment):

Bones:
Made a list of repairs (see previous post)
Cleaned the floors

Breath:
Removed tea kettle from my apartment (gave it away). No matter how hard I try to clean it, it always looks dirty and since it sits on top of my stove that's no good. I can easily use my saucepans to boil water.

Heart:
Bought fresh flowers from the farmer's market

Head:
Sat for ten minutes in my hallway.
Earth friendly cleaning products: I didn't do any additional research on these, as currently I use baking soda and vinegar for just about everything, and I am very pleased with the results.