Today is Day 30 of my 30 Day Clean Out!
Here is what I have been getting rid of:
Day 21: I parted with 10 items from my china cabinet - old towels, girl baby bibs, and a fall sewing pattern I will never use.
Day 22: I cleaned out the drawer in our Breakfast Room table. I threw away 2 broken items, recycled 15 envelopes, expired coupons, and old notes of things to do.
Day 23: We only got rid of 1 item today but it was tough to let go of. Annabeth finally admitted that her glitter pink boots from last year are too small. She put them in the donate box all by herself! I was so glad!
Day 24: I cleaned out the lazy susan in our kitchen. I had gotten a couple of cutesy-kitchen items as gifts and have never opened/used them. I will put them in my gift tote as they could make cute additions to shower gifts in the future. I got rid of a TON of plastic tableware that I had been saving for "someday" which has never come in six years of marriage. I also got rid of a glass decanter that we were gifted for our wedding - this was a particularly inappropriate gift as we do not drink or serve alcohol in. I was glad to finally let go of this "our friends gave it to us, we should keep it" item!
Day 25: Annabeth and I cleaned out the toys in the living room. 10 items went to the trash, 4 to recycling, and I made her pick 1 toy to donate. She chose a baby doll that she really doesn't play with. I was so happy to see everything neatly organized on the shelves again!
Day 26: I put out a bunch of things during our Homeschool Group Halloween Party. People took little notebooks, calendars, and other things that my Momaw had given to us. Anything that was not taken went to recycling.
Day 27: I cleaned out some of Owen's 12 month items that he has outgrown. 4 things went in a bag to return to a friend who loaned them to us.
Day 28: I washed and moved the kids' Halloween outfits out of their drawers. This was 6 things for Annabeth and 5 things for Owen moved out of dressers into the sale tote.
Day 29: Since Annabeth's birthday party and our Homeschool Group Party are over, I cleaned all of the hidden toys out of Owen's room and returned them to the play area. (I like to hide items that are especially noisy or that roll as they could run over crawling babies' fingers) There were 4 toys that Annabeth had not asked about or played with in Owen's room in the last month. They went into the donate box and will go to Goodwill tomorrow. I usually ask her to pick but she always says she wants everything and this felt like a good time to really evaluate what she loves to play with and what could go. We also took 4 boxes and 1 tote of paper to the recycling center.
Day 30: I moved 4 clothing items from my closet to the donate tote. I had a bad habit of holding onto clothes that "I might wear someday..." I had really sorted while expecting Owen during the "nesting" phase but I still had a couple of summer items that needed to go.
Total Items Gone: 334!!
Done!!
The first 10 days were very easy. I had started with a few pretty good ideas on areas that I needed/wanted to clean out. The second set of 10 days were still pretty easy as the kids are growing quickly and it motivated me to really go through their clothing. The last set has been the most difficult, I had to really push myself to get rid of a lot of "I might use this..." or "We may need this..." or "What if I need this in 4 years..." items.
Overall, I am really pleased with the outcome. Although much of the house still looks the same, I know that I have gotten rid of a lot of little things. I can now close storage totes that were overflowing. I can see what is in my drawers. I can find things more easily in our files. And you know what, not once have I missed any of the items that I got rid of.
This has been a great exercise in letting go. I tend to do a big clean towards the end of winter every year as I have been cooped up and need to change my surroudnings and last year was the biggest clean out ever. Something about being pregnant with Owen has made me much less sentimental and while I was pregnant I just kept giving things away and throwing things away! It felt wonderful and really jump started this whole process.
What do you consider junk? What would you give away in your own 30 day clean out?
2 comments:
Reading about your clean-out project inspired me to work on that around here too. I have been getting rid of physical items (going through clothes, craft stuff, papers, etc) and have also been going through pictures that are uploaded on my computer and paring down there. We had way to many, they were disorganized and were taking up a lot of space and so our computer has been going slowly. It is nice to clean out the clutter!
Oh the pictures!! I am ever so thankful for digital pictures and the ability to store and organize them on the computer and/or online. I take SO many pictures and would have really been in trouble 20 years ago when I would have to print them all from film!
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