Random decluttering the stuff question:
Do the Christmas ornaments you set aside for the kiddos from the ornament box count as part of our 2018 in 2018??
I know giving our stuff to the kids is BAD but it is their stuff. Granted, they only see it once a year because we store it the rest of the year.
I sat down this afternoon to write a quick post about the couple of things we decluttered recently and to catch up on reading blogs I follow. I realized it has been about 3 weeks since I wrote a post and even longer since I did any post reading. What have I been doing???? It doesn’t seem like we’ve been busy.
Well, no wonder it seems like we haven’t been home much lately to read blog posts! 3 of the 4 weekends we were gone.
Since we decluttered the stuff from the house, all of those weekend chores have been reduced!
AND NOW WE HAVE TIME TO HAVE FUN!!
On the decluttering front, we removed 6 items from the house. It seems silly to report this BUT we are finally accepting the idea that we are at a decluttering end point and will not count decluttered stuff next year.
Here are a few ways we’ve decreased the inflow of stuff:
Here is the last of the stuff decluttered this month by cleaning off the desk.
14 random pieces of paper
1 cheer cone
3 books
6 computer things
Total for July = 87 more things leaving the house!
I had several coworkers over this morning to prep for the new school year. It is the first time we have done this and I VOLUNTEERED to have everyone meet at our house.
Just so everyone knows – over the last 3 years we have decluttered about 20,000 items from our house (some were from the garage as well.) We rarely had people over before we began decluttering because the chore of “cleaning” for company was overwhelming to us. With so much stuff gone, cleaning is so much easier – I still hate to do it but at least it can get done.
All I had to do to prepare for this was purchase a few snacks and beverages. I also vacuumed and made the bed (the bed fairy was me this morning!!) Everything else has been so easy to maintain that I really didn’t need to do anything extra to prep the house for visitors.
One person commented “I thought you said you had a small house.” I replied that our house is about 1300 square feet (about 120 square meters). [We have 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living room, kitchen/dining/family room. She replied with “Oh, it seems so much larger than that.” Is it because of the decluttering? I’m going with YES!!
Feeling like decluttering the stuff has been worth it!!
Here we are – our first Saturday home since May. Back to the normal routines – laundry, cleaning, shredding, and some decluttering.
This morning we cleared off our desks – 38 random pieces of paper removed! We also got rid of a dress, 2 shirts, 4 hangars, a puzzle, and a water bottle.
Total today is 47 items! We are on a roll today!!
Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!
John decided to declutter his tackle box before we came home. 14 items less made the trip home!!
Why did he keep a 2007 and 2009 (and no other years) expired fishing license all these years? “I don’t know.”
![IMG_4833[1]](https://declutteringthestuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/img_48331.jpg?w=343&h=457)
Not much decluttered since we spent most of the month away from home.
9 items decluttered this month. Here’s a pic of expired coupons.
309 items so far in 2018 – we are getting to the point where we think we are “done” decluttering the big stuff (aka drawers, closets, counters, etc.)
Guess it’s time to go through those “memory’ boxes of pictures, old drawings the girls did, and all that kind of stuff when we get home and before school starts again.
Next post will be the continuation of our vacation! There was some “excitement” while in Wyoming!
So today was a weird decluttering day. I went to put something on the desk shelf and paused to assess the stuff there – usually my decluttering is “I need to declutter some stuff.” I ended up decluttering:
13 old, outdated cd’s for school, 2 pillowcases and 1 summer coverup.
16 items gone today!!
Opened a drawer and found these. How many extra key rings do we really need? I kept 2 just in case and decluttered 30! What is your random decluttering find today?
If you are looking at these 4 items and trying to figure out what they are, here’s the explanation!
![IMG_4557[1]](https://declutteringthestuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/img_45571.jpg?w=280&h=374)
Our old motorhome had a short queen bed. (Essentially a queen width but a full length.) To add 6 inches to the length, I cut a foam sheet into 6 inch pieces and stacked them to be mattress height. I then used an old sheet to cover them. The 3 bundles measure lengthwise the width of a queen bed! Genius right?
When we would make the bed for the night, we would pull the mattress out about 6 inches and place these at the head of the bed. John now had an extra 6 inches so his feet now barely hang over the end. Shorty Barb never has this problem. Now to keep the mattress from sagging at the foot end, this piece of plywood would be pulled out about 6 inches to support the mattress. Again, genius!
The new motorhome has a standard queen mattress. NO MORE MOVING THE MATTRESS! There has to be a Godfather reference in this somehow but I can’t think of one!
Here are 37 more items – all from the back yard.
Grand total is now exactly 100! And here I thought we had more to go!
How are you doing on your 100 Item Decluttering Challenge? Comment below!
23 receipts from Christmas 2017 decluttered! Heck, at this rate, all 100 will be from the desks.
Challenge total = 63 items
How are you doing??
We have decluttered 40 items!!! How is it going for you??
2 pairs of earrings
1 necklace
1 college pin
1 pair of shoes
1 bag of beads to an old shirt
34 random pieces of paper from our desks
We are ready for a new decluttering challenge!
How about 100 items? We should probably set a deadline – how does May 1st sound? That would be 9 days with an average of 11 items per day. I know some of you will do all 100 in one decluttering event and that’s ok. I’m just feeling the need for some accountability on getting rid of some stuff!
Who’s ready to join me in a quick “GET THE STUFF GONE” challenge? Remember that even 1 items is one less item cluttering the place!
February has been a roller coaster of a month for us.
On a more personal note, Barb’s dad passed away suddenly on February 26th. Mom called about 8 am saying he fainted and she had called 911. About 8:20 am while Barb was driving to their house, she got the phone call that he was gone. Just like that our small corner of the world is turned upside down.
These kind of events make you evaluate what’s important – it sure isn’t all the crap you keep in the house, garage, etc. Our decluttering sort of made this a little easier when we helped clean out the garage, closet, and dresser. We did have to remember that not everyone was used to going through stuff and getting rid of it.
We have made a concerted effort over the last 5 years to minimize the use of credit cards. We do have one that earns us mile/points for the airline that transports us to visit kiddo #1. Unfortunately, we don’t use it enough to keep up with our visits. Since we would be paying for the flight and hotel, we have been driving instead of flying to help keep the costs down.
I received an email update today from Credit Karma with the question “did you close an account?” I knew we hadn’t closed anything. When I went to their website and looked at our closed account activity, JC Penney closed us! I know we haven’t used it in about 10 years. I also noticed that Lane Bryant closed recently too!
I went to the credit card pile (that seems much smaller than it did a few years ago) and decluttered those closed account cards! You know they haven’t been used in a while since they still have the stickers on them!
Feeling lighter every time I check off a box!
Decluttering the Stuff 