Things within easy reach

Leave.

On my side table in the sitting room:
Cup of coffee
Pens, pencils and highlighter
Tissues
Crossword solver
Newspaper
Kindle and stylus
Spare Kindle
Good Housekeeping magazine
TV remote
Clemency Bourton-Hill's book Year of Wonder for my daily dose of classical music
Robert Graves' book The Greek Myths which I bought for £1 at the doctors last week
Phone
Remote to turn the gas fire on
Radio Times

Must declutter, but they're all essential!

I don't have anything near an armchair because I don't sit in an armchair. However, my kettle, teabags and cups are all right near each other in the kitchen so I can make a cup of tea without moving my feet.

Except for the milk which comes out of the fridge, but it's only a small kitchen anyway.

We need three remotes to control our television, humax box and sound bar, and also have one for DVD. Our daughters helpfully got us a box to keep them all in, but we really need one on wheels, as it sits in the centre of the table between us, just out of reach for both of us.
Having described this, I've realised I should do something about it.

In passing, why are all remote controls black? It would be so much easier to pick the right one if they were different colours.

I keep all my bits and pieces in a round wicker basket just beside my armchair.
Everything I need in there. Also a lot of stuff I don't need.

Remote control always resting on chair arm. Need it to turn of sound of the annoying ads on t.v. Also, a place mat to put my cup of tea on.

Good topic! I have a glass of water, empty mug, pile of magazines, phone, glasses, 2 paperbacks, and a knitting pattern. DH has two empty mugs, glasses, lots of paperwork, headphones and a table lamp. We have a table each and every time he puts something on mine, I give it back!

This is my clutter:
knitting bag,
tissues
cardigan (in case the temperature drops!)
newspaper
magazine
tablet

Husband's clutter
remote contnrol
teacup
mobile phone
glasses (2 pairs)
tissues
house phone

The other sad thing is that the magazine with the TV programmes in it lies on a table near the window. One of us asks the question "What's on tonight?". Then we both look at the magazine which is about 5 steps from where we sit and big sighs from us both - who is going to get up and get that magazine?

I get 10,000 steps in most days looking for my reading glasses! Obviously, this is a gross exaggeration but you get the picture ? I don't lose them deliberately to get me out of the chair. I just put them down and then have to look for them.

I’m 65, have just got off a ladder having painted a window frame. Don’t think I’m ready for the cosy setting yet!

I've always had my 'stuff' to hand. Late DH used to call it my nest. I feel comfortable and cosy when surrounded by my bits & pieces. My bed is now the same; a bit like an office . And, yes I am lazy but I always have been!

hazel311259 Wed 07-Feb-18 11:03:13
You have asked how having the remote helps my OH to doze? It's quite simple, he asks me if there is anything in particular I want to watch, then takes the remote, changes the channels a few times, then finds something he wants to watch (but keeps hold of the remote in case he wants to try something else). The next thing I hear is very gentle, regular breathing, his eyes are closed and he is still clutching the remote. It works every time!

iIhave my handbag at the side of the settee where i sit, my knitting bag on the floor and the newspaper or the tv mag sits on the cushion beside me and my knitting or crocheting that i am actually working on is lying on top of said paper or mag along with a pattern.The remote controls for tv and virgin box are there too and on the little table beside me is a bottle of water and usually a cup of tea or coffee. I think i must look like a 'clutterbug' to anyone entering the room. Do i care?Not a hoot!!!!

I think I'll show this thread to DH who is meticulously tidy and puts away anything I leave about. He thinks I'm dreadfully untiday but reading these comments shows me Im not too bad . I usually just have a couple of pairs of glasses , my IPhone, book and the Radio Times near my chair. Oh, and the remote control. He keeps putting the last two items away which defeats tge object of having them really!

00mam00 I try hard to be minimalistic but I love your table!
Are you a Natural History professor??
Your table makes me think Indiana Jones

Reading all the posts about your clutter and what you have on your table next to your chair , I think it all sounds homely and comforting, I think that rooms with no books, knitting iPads etc don't look like a home , I have my weekly magazine, pens , 2pairs of glasses , one for reading /knitting and a pair for watching telly, a nail file , 3 books I will get round to reading, and the daily paper , it's my clutter that makes me feel happy,

W11girl, this is neither a competition or an either or. I'm markedly older than you and manage to do both quite successfully. I enjoy the success of renovation with the regular seat at the end of all chores.

Having everything to hand sounds very sensible to me, getting out of the comfy chair is hard work.

me
iPad & stand
iPhone
Handcream
Nail oil
Nail file
Notebook
Pen
Calculator
Small tray
Half bar dark chocolate
Bottle water
DH
Nothing!

Good grief, after reading all of this I now realise I am normal. I thought I was the only one, now I know I'm not.

I am normal too but I don't have any skeletons by my chair though!
Since DH has become pretty much chair bound over this last year we have resorted to a basket beside each of our armchairs with pretty much the same selection of things as everyone else.

In the interests of having everything much tidier I have been trying to find the kind of side table which one of my American friends has. It is a 3 drawer chest with the top drawer containing a recharging station for all things technological. It has an extendable table on the very top so that you can put out more than just a couple of cups and biscuits and just under the table top there is a very shallow pull out tray which holds pens, pencils and other small useful objects. I can find similar available in USA on the internet but apart from wanting to support British businesses the shipping costs make it prohibitively expensive. Unless any of you know where I can get one in UK?

We used to laugh about my late mother in laws piles beside her chair, she used to call it Paddy’s Market!
Now we both find we have Paddys Markets of our own beside us!!

Gosh, I think I'm very lazy, but all I usually have is remotes and tissues if I've got a cold (too often lately). iPad as a rule only if Dh is watching some programme I'm not interested in.
My laziness consists (among other things too numerous to mention) far more of still being in dressing gown at 10 am - and furthermore no longer even being embarrassed if I have to answer the door in it.

Nanny mc geek it all makes sense now ?

I have 3 hotspots (as Flylady.com dubs them). I shouldn’t be online, I should be tackling one. I sit by a large coffee table which has a jumble of books, pens, notebooks, essential scraps of paper, junk mail and other things. The sideboard and hall table are similar. When I’ve tidied for expected visitors I clear a surface into a carrier bag (easy to sort later) which I hide and

sometimes forget.
I’d better go ... ?