So we have been at this for 3 complete months.  On Jan. 1st, I never thought we would reach 2015!  So here are the numbers:

House = 2312

Garage = 2029

TOTAL = 4341 (We hit our 4030 goal!) with 18 trips to Goodwill

Barbie etc = 2201

TOTAL = 6542 

Items removed in March – 3150

So now let me explain the Barbie etc entry above.  Our children are now 25 and 28.  They had a plethora of Barbie stuff and Happy Meal type toys in boxes in the garage.  Out of curiosity, I counted each one of those items before removing them.  It is disgusting to realize they had over 2200 items.  I counted 39 Barbie dolls, 253 Barbie shoes, 316 Barbie clothing items, and 1266 Barbie house accessories – you know, things like beds, chairs, kitchens, vehicles, plates, food, tiny silverware, etc.

All of the non Barbie small items will be taken to work for the community Holiday Food Drive.  The kids can sift through them and pick some out for stocking stuffers when they prepare stocking for the community children.

Out of curiosity (I guess I’m weird like that), I counted how many books had been donated so far.  We’ve donated 960 books so far.  This count doesn’t include all the free “professional not for sale” copies we recycled.  Scary part is there are still 15-20 boxes of books in the garage on the shelves.

The hardest part of this so far has been the time factor.  It feels like all we’ve done for 3 months is declutter in our spare time.  We realize that this is a necessary part in the move to a simpler, minimal lifestyle.  The garage looks so much better but the house doesn’t seem any different to me yet.  I’m on Spring Break this week and would love to do something other than declutter – I know the sooner we get a bulk of the stuff out, the sooner we can do things we love!

NEW GOAL = 6045!   Hubby thinks all the Barbie stuff should count and our new goal should be 8060.  This is still up for debate!  Hubby thinks we can do 10,000 this year – I’m not sure!

Thank you Nourishing Minimalism for the challenge!

Barb