How are you doing in the 365 Items in 365 Days Declutter Challenge? It's the 90th day of the year today so your target is to have purged 90 items by now. But don't worry if you're behind ... there's still lots of time to declutter!
Our 365 Items in 365 Days Facebook group continues to grow! I'm adding new people daily and many of them are friends of people who are already in the group. That tells me you're not only doing a good job decluttering your homes, you're also encouraging others to declutter theirs!
If you haven't joined yet, click here and ask to join and I'll add you. It's a great way to be encouraged by others who are decluttering and find motivation to continue when you're feeling discouraged.
Today I want to share what I've been decluttering this month, which hopefully will give you some ideas too!
If you read my post The Secret to Maintaining an Organized Food Storage Containers Cabinet, you may remember that I decluttered a month's worth of items from that cabinet alone.
These were cracked or damaged items that I recycled or tossed.
And this was my donate pile.
The total from my plastics cupboard was 37 items purged. And the cabinet is staying much more organized as a result :)
When I decluttered the front of my fridge, I threw away 5 fridge magnets and donated 1. I still have a bag of some of my kids' magnets that I'm holding onto a little longer in case they ask about them. If not, I'll purge them.
I also did a little spontaneous decluttering in my bedroom when I was dusting a few weeks ago. I have a lot of knick knacks, which makes dusting even more of a chore than it needs to be, and makes me even less inclined to do it. I have already been purging our dust-collectors over the last few years, but got a little more ruthless this time.
These are 3 little figurines, 3 Cherished Teddies, and 1 cute candle holder that I donated.
I was holding on to these because most of them were gifts. But I've enjoyed them for many years now and I want our bedroom to be an oasis, so it's time to let someone else enjoy these things.
I also donated 4 picture frames so now I have even less to dust on my bedroom shelves.
Dusting wasn't the only reason I decluttered these frames though. My friend Judy, who is a fellow professional organizer, was over last month and helped me look at our home with fresh eyes. She pointed out that I have a LOT of wedding pictures in our bedroom. They used to be all over the house, but I've gradually been moving them to our bedroom as I've been moving towards a less cluttered look in the rest of the house. I didn't realize how many I had in our bedroom now though. Some were even duplicates!
Sometimes fresh eyes help you see what you really have in your home. Our wedding day was really special, but I don't need so many pictures to remember it. I'm living it every day! So I said goodbye to a few pictures and donated the frames.
Also off my bedroom shelves I threw away a candle set that was collecting dust. And I tossed a plaque I received for 5 years of service at my last job. I ended up being there for 11 years, so the 5-year one was kind of meaningless anyway. Plus, I love my new career as a professional organizer and blogger so I don't need to hang on to mementos from previous jobs.
I got a little Freecycle and donate happy this month and I was so excited to get items out of my house that I didn't take pictures of a lot of them. Here are some other items I decluttered since my February update.
Donated:
- 1extra litter box (barely used and well cleaned)
- 1 storage drawer unit for audio cassettes
- 4 long-sleeved shirts
- 1 sweater
- 1 brand new cute pencil
- 1 set of re-usable ice cubes
- 1 winter cookie tin
- 1 step stool
- 13 books
- 2 mugs
- 1 golf bloopers video
Freecycled:
- 1 chocolate making kit
- 6 more plastic molds for making chocolates
E-waste:
- 2 rechargeable batteries that weren't charging properly
I also finally made a trip to The Beat Goes On and sold 2 DVD's, 2 Wii games, and 9 CD's. They didn't want the other 5 CD's, 2 DVD's, and 1 Wii game so I donated those. That clears up my entertainment-to-sell pile that I've been accumulating over the last few months!
One thing I'm really excited to have decluttered is our breadbox!
That thing took up so much counter space! After a few suggestions from readers on my Decluttered Kitchen Counters post about the breadbox, I rethought our kitchen, and reorganized our fridge, and now we keep all our breads in the fridge instead of the breadbox. I donated it, even though it was only about a year old. And I love the difference it made on my counter!!
And I finally got rid of all those audio cassettes that I mentioned in my January update. I told you last month that I had found someone on Freecycle that was interested in them, but that didn't work out, so I recycled the liners and cases and threw the cassettes in the garbage. That's 98 items out of my home right there!
I'm counting them all individually because they were a lot of effort to declutter. I listened to nearly all of them over the last few months and relived a lot of wonderful memories from high school and university. It was hard to let go of them. But until that point I hadn't listened to them in a LONG time, and we're running out of working cassette players, and I'm working on creating space in our home so we can enjoy the present and the future instead of the past. So it was time. I still have the memories. I don't need the cassettes.
I've mentioned before that my parents have been decluttering in preparation for a move, and I've been extremely careful not to take very many things that they've been giving away. However, we did upgrade a few items in our house and purged (or are in the process of purging) the old items.
We now have:
- a newer futon mattress to replace our old stained and torn one (which went in the garbage)
- a set of newer portable phones to replace our 2 old sets that needed new batteries (I've listed them on Freecycle)
- a cute little cupboard to replace our big old corner desk that we use for our craft supplies (I've listed it on Freecycle)
- an antique cabinet to replace a messy-looking storage shelf (I've listed it on Freecycle)
All totaled, that makes 212 items decluttered this month! Which brings my challenge total to 358 items so far. I'm almost at my 365 items for the year!! But I'll still be decluttering even after I reach that goal... I have a LOT more to go in this house :)
If you're just starting out or you're having trouble decluttering, please don't let my total discourage you... I'm not trying to show off here or anything :) The idea behind me sharing what I'm purging is to show you items that you maybe haven't thought about decluttering (unused plastic containers, dust collecting knick knacks, old memories, etc.), so you can gain control over the clutter in your home!
Keep your vision in mind of what you want your home to look like and then just focus on decluttering one item every day. That way it's not overwhelming.
With it being spring, a lot of people are in a purging mood. Something about the new-ness of spring makes us want to get rid of excess baggage and old stuff. If you're doing some spring cleaning, you should have no problem getting rid of at least one item per day, and probably a lot more!
There are several decluttering and cleaning books in this ebook bundle to get you going too. It's only available for 1 more week, so pick it up before it's gone!
So, that's my decluttering journey this month! I'm so glad you're part of the 365 Items in 365 Days Declutter Challenge and I hope this post gives you some ideas of what you can purge next! If you haven't joined yet... jump in!
Are you ready to declutter?!
Remember to tell others about this challenge. They'll thank you for helping them declutter. And don't forget, I'll be basing the the prize at the end on how many people participated :)
Feel free to grab this button to spread the news if you're a blogger or have a website.
If you need any decluttering ideas to get you started or keep you going, check out my Decluttering/Purging Tips & Ideas board on Pinterest.
Plus my 31 Days of Easy Decluttering series is always in a tab at the top of the page here on the blog.
What did you declutter this month? What are you most excited about purging this spring? Have you joined the 365 in 365 Challenge yet?
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Here are all the posts in the 365 Items in 365 Days series:
