How are you doing in the 365 Items in 365 Days Declutter Challenge? It's the 350th day of the year today so if you started in January, your target is to have purged 350 items by now. But don't worry if you've just started. Just jump in! Now is the perfect time to declutter with the holidays approaching so you'll be able to have guests over and enjoy time with family and friends.
Today I'll be sharing what I've been decluttering since my last update. It's only been a few weeks, but I've got so many posts planned for the rest of December and I won't be doing very much more decluttering, so I figured I'd do my December update now.
By doing these monthly updates I hope to give you ideas of things you can purge from your home.
Most of what I decluttered this month was holiday-related or seasonal (plus a few other random items of course!). I find there are always holiday items that we don't need, use, or love by the time another year rolls around, so whenever I pull out any holiday bins I'm always able to find some items to purge. Our Christmas bins were no exception! Here's what left our home in December.
Some random items from my kids' closets and our master bedroom closet:
- 1 pillow that we hardly use
- 2 rolls of rubbery shelf liner that I'd planned to use in my kids' drawers but haven't done anything with in several years (time to let that project go!)
- 4 rubbery placemats I took from my parents' home last spring when they were downsizing that I thought I'd use for the same purpose (these can all be purchased down the road at the dollar store if I ever decide to do this little project so why am I storing them still?)
- 1 hanging mesh net for bath toys that we haven't used in years (I kept it thinking I'd use it for stuffed animals, but I like our current system better)
- 1 ceramic bowl and plate set that was given to my son when he was born but we no longer have contact with the person who gave it to us and it has no sentimental meaning to my son and he wanted his shelf space for his own sentimental items. Why had I kept all these things for so long?!
- 6 books from my kids' rooms that they had outgrown (and were finally willing to let go of... yes my son is 10 and that Hooked On... set of books is for 3-5 year olds... have I mentioned he's pretty sentimental?!).
- 1 jacket, 1 skirt, and 1 shirt that my daughter wasn't wearing. The jacket is absolutely adorable, but the zipper is broken and I left it out for months thinking I'd try to fix it or replace it but I never did. She has enough jackets anyway, so we purged this one. The skirt is similar to others she already has, and she wasn't a fan of the colour of the skirt (she's all about her pink and purple!).
- 1 pairs of summer shoes that hurt my feet
- 1 pair of sandals that I didn't wear this year
- 1 hat and 1 pair of mitts that my hubby no longer needed.
- 1 Halloween baking pan we haven't used in several years, 1 Halloween shirt that will be too small for my daughter by next year, and 1 Halloween doorknob cover that we didn't use very much because it falls off the handle frequently.
I had our Christmas decluttering items already packed up and in my trunk before I remembered to take pictures, so I just went out and opened up the bag and laid them out in the trunk. {Just excuse the bins in the background please!} Here are the Christmas items we purged:
- 1 Christmas paper towel holder (now that I have my paper towels on a cabinet door, I don't want to clutter up my counters again!)
- 2 candle holders that I've had for years but I have less surface space in my living room now that we have a new TV and TV stand, so some needed to go
- 2 Christmas magnets (I kept a few of these, but I'm really enjoying having our fridge door clear instead of filled with magnets, so again a few needed to go)
- 1 ornament
- 1 small kids' game
- 1 Christmas tree shaped tin (I've had this for many years and always think this is the year I'll use it again, but I never do since we like to bake very simple recipes during the holidays, so this is the year I'm giving it away)
- 1 set of Christmas potholders (we use oven mitts mostly so these were rarely used)
- 1 purple stocking (this was mine for many years - I loved that it was purple! - but when my parents downsized this spring, they gave their children and grandchildren their stockings and I decided I'd prefer to use the one I had growing up than this one so I gave this one away)
- 1 Disney Christmas singalong book and cassette (we don't have a working cassette player any more and the kids haven't listened to it the last year or 2 anyway - I only kept it last year because I knew we were going to Disney World this past spring and I thought they may want to listen to it after that)
- 1 noisemaker toy (do I need a reason to purge this?!)
- 2 candy cane lip gloss packages
- 1 small Christmas tree (we haven't really found a good place to put this the last few years and it takes up too much space to store for something we don't really use)
- 3 foam craft kits that my kids didn't do last year and likely wouldn't do this year
- 1 Christmas dot-to-dot book that my daughter keeps thinking she'll do but never does
- 1 set of mini ornaments for the small tree
- 1 stocking (this one was for my hubby at my parents' home but he likes his Toronto Maple Leafs stocking better so we donated this one - he's not as sentimentally attached to it as I was to mine)
- 1 Merry Christmas letter banner (somehow we just never get around to putting this up anywhere)
- 1 candy making mold that we haven't used for several years (we've been sticking with the chocolate molds because they are simpler)
All totaled, that makes 48 items decluttered in the last month! Which brings my challenge total to 901 items so far. I was sort of hoping to reach 1000 by the end of the year, but I've been working much more than I thought I'd be, so I haven't had as much time to declutter some of the bins in our basement that still could use a good purge.
But, it feels so great to see those 901 items leave our home! I'll start a new tally in the new year for 2015.
It is so great to be doing this challenge with all of you and sharing our progress together!
I hope my decluttering has inspired you to look around your home with fresh eyes! It's great to declutter before the holidays because you can make room for the new stuff that will be coming into your home. I really noticed a difference last year when we started putting away all the Christmas gifts we'd received!
If you'd like more decluttering tips, check out my post from earlier this week (it has links to lots of decluttering posts - it's a pretty common topic around here!).
In our Facebook group, some members are thinking more now about what they bring into their homes, especially with respect to Christmas gifts. I LOVE that! It's great to know we're not only decluttering what is in our homes now, but we're taking steps to prevent the clutter from coming back.
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. 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? Do you have clutter you want to purge before the holidays? Do you declutter on a daily basis? 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:
