How are you doing in the 365 Items in 365 Days Declutter Challenge? It's the 86th day of the year today so if you started in January, your target is to have purged 86 items by now. But don't worry if you've just started. Just jump in! It's always a good time to declutter :)
Today I'll be sharing what I've decluttered since my last update in February. By doing these monthly updates I hope to give you ideas of things you can purge from your home!
This was quite a productive month for me for decluttering! Check it out!
Entry Area
You've seen some of my entry area organizing posts this month and as usual, when I organize any area I declutter it first.
Here are some of the items I decluttered from our mail organizer / key holder when I organized my keys:
- 15 key chains and key covers (donated)
- 4 old keys for vehicles and locks we no longer have (garbage)
- 3 broken or very old key chains (garbage)
- 1 really old letter opener that we never use (garbage)
- 2 key tags for gym memberships that I haven't had in several years (garbage)
When I got rid of all the clutter in my mail organizer I was able to purge the actual organizer as well. And I decluttered the wall in our entry so these decorative hooks were donated too.
I also decluttered 3 reusable shopping bags and 1 backpack.
And while I was on a roll with decluttering things in the entry area, I donated this brand new winter coat that my daughter didn't wear this winter (she was given two that were the same size and colour and thought she'd wear this one on really cold days but made do with the other one all winter).
Clothing and Toiletries for the Eva Rothwell Centre
I'm volunteering today at a community resource centre with several other professional organizers and volunteers. We're going to organize their clothing room to make it easier for them to accept and sort donated clothing and simpler for people from the community to find the clothing items they need. {I'm hoping to share some pictures soon!}
In addition to volunteering, I and several of the organizers have been collecting donated items from our clients as well as decluttering our own homes. My trunk and my backseat are stuffed full of items I'm bringing, mostly from clients, friends and family, but some from our home too.
I knew I had excess toiletry items in our linen closet so I decluttered it one evening while my daughter was having a bath.
I was surprised how much I was able to purge:
- 10 travel size bottles of mouthwash
- 3 travel size bottles of conditioner
- 9 travel size bottles of shampoo
- 4 samples of various products
- 4 travel size dental flosses
- 4 soaps
While I was at it, I threw away these expired items:
- 1 almost used-up Sensodyne toothpaste tube (we only use it once in awhile)
- 1 bottle of sunscreen
- 3 sample packs of whitestrips
While I was decluttering the toiletries in the linen closet, I noticed a blanket at the top that we haven't used in a few years. It was mine as a teenager and young adult and I really love it. But it's too big for my daughter's bed and we have a few other extra blankets so I'm going to part with this one. It's a tough one, but I know someone else will love it as much as I did and it's not doing anyone any good up in the top of our linen closet. I also found 4 beach towels in our bedroom that we haven't used in quite awhile so I donated them as well.
I've been pretty ruthless with my clothes the last year or two, but I was still able to declutter a few things from my closet:
- 2 sweaters
- 1 turtleneck
- 1 belt
- 1 sweatshirt
- 1 blazer
- 1 shirt
My hubby did some decluttering of his clothing too. He sometimes has a hard time letting go of his clothes but he did a great job!
He donated:
- 4 pants
- 1 bathing suit
- 1 jacket
- 1 vest
- 4 shirts
- 1 pair of socks
The Eva Rothwell Centre also needs hangers for their clothing room so I found a few extras in our closet:
- 2 hanger extenders (I love using these in small closets, but I haven't used them in mine since I've purged so many of my hanging clothes so I'm donating them - you can find a similar hanger extender here)
- 4 pant hangers
- 2 sturdy cardboard hangers
- 5 plastic hangers
And they also need bins and totes to store clothing. I had a few extras so I'm donating 3 Sterilite bins and 1 Rubbermaid bin. Here they are filled with some of the decluttered items from our home.
Random Decluttering
I like doing random decluttering throughout the month. Here are a few other random decluttered items:
- Our old toaster oven died a few weeks ago and when we replaced it we had to switch a few things around on our kitchen counters. In the process of doing that, I decided to purge our cutting board / hot plate that always sat on our counter beside the stove. {I won't count the toaster oven since I replaced it.}
- I came across an extra messenger bag that we used to use as a laptop bag, but we haven't used it since I bought a new purse with a laptop sleeve in it. Guess I didn't follow the one-in-one-out rule very well at that point :) But this one's gone now!
- When I was getting out a birthday card for someone this month I did a quick declutter of my greeting card bin. I donated 1 greeting card book and 3 packages of thank you cards, and I recycled 5 very old cards.
- 4 Lent items that my kids were given at a kids' program and we didn't use
In addition to the items pictured, I also decluttered:
- 2 pens that didn't work any more (found them inside that messenger bag)
- 4 old bathroom mats (they had been falling apart for quite awhile and after everyone in our family was sick earlier this month, they needed to be washed... and they didn't survive very well so I tossed them and splurged on a few long overdue new ones - I'm only counting 1 of these since I replaced 3 of them.)
My Totals
All totaled, that makes 130 items decluttered this month. That's a total of 170 items so far in 2015. And it feels great to be clearing the excess from our home and giving it to great causes like the Eva Rothwell Centre!
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!
Take a look around your area for charities that can benefit from items in your home that you're not using. It really makes the decluttering process easier when you know someone else in need will be able to use those things that you aren't using.
Come join us if you need some motivation and cheering :) The series is always in a tab at the top of the page here on the blog.
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?!
While you're spring cleaning, take some time to get rid of the stuff you've accumulated over the winter so you can have a fresh start.
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 the other posts from the series below... it seem to write about decluttering a lot :) You can also follow my Decluttering/Purging Tips & Ideas board on Pinterest.
What did you declutter this month? Do you have clutter you want to purge during your spring cleaning? 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:
