
On that note, like I've said before, step one was clearing clutter from every room in the house. Wanna hear something completely unbelievable???? So far John and I have donated (we haven't really thrown much away) 16 kitchen garbage bags full of stuff to the Good Will!!! UNBELIEVABLE that we've been living with 16 bags of things we don't need. Now, I feel I need to justify myself here because when I mentioned this to some friends, out of the corner of my eye I caught them giving each other looks that said "How does she have 16 bags of stuff to give away-she must be a messy, dirty, pack rat." Nope guys-sorry to disappoint you. I am not a pack rat at all. I am not a keeper. Every few months I go through things and purge to my heart's content. Our house-if you've seen it-while messy is not overwhelmed with clutter and pack-rattedness. No way. I am not a compulsive shopper. In fact, I consider myself on the low end of normal. I see something I like, I might buy it-like a normal person. I see stuff and think "that would look nice here" or "that would solve this storage problem here" I don't just buy stuff to buy it. I'm careful with money and careful with my purchases. Still, I have 16 bags of things to donate. And here's an idea of what that stuff is-
-Table cloths that don't fit my table anymore, and I can't use because kids will be pulling on them for the next 3+ years but I kept them in case I needed them for a special occasion.
-Beads I bought for my doula business, which I don't do anymore, never used, but kept in case Anne wanted them when she was 5 years old.
-Books (LOTS of books-2 moving boxes worth) that either haven't read in a long time, never will reread, or never will get to reading but kept, "just in case".
-Kitchen gadgets and gifts I've never used but kept because they were gifts and again "maybe some day". We have more than enough mugs and glasses-lots of these went because frankly 2 adults don't need 30 mugs.
-Christmas decorations I haven't used in years, but got thrown into the box and forgotten about.
See, I'm not a packrat-just a normal person who has let clutter build up.
Anyway, that's the cleaning update. I am so happy I've found this book a system that's worked for us so far and more importantly that I've actually done something about this mess and clutter.
I'm also disappointed in the unhelpfullness of the Oprah emails. Great job on the decluttering! Doesn't it feel amazing to pack up all that stuff?! Once I have a couple of bags packed up I get really compulsive about it and constantly am looking through the house to see what I can get rid of next. I find that it also helps me when shopping because I ask myself if the item will end up in a Goodwill bag in a few months. My next project is to turn all of Mike's clothes hangers a different way and when I wash a shirt and hang it back up, I'll switch the direction. After the winter season, anything left on a hanger facing the "odd" way will be donated. Shh. Don't tell him.
ReplyDeleteYay for you!!
I've got a snow day from work today, and I'll be decluttering!!!!
ReplyDeleteput all those books on paperbackswap and trade them for some vegetarian cookbooks! just be sure to use the link on my site so I get credit for it. :) way to go on the de-cluttering though . that's very impressive!
ReplyDelete