2019 in 2019

Decluttered in 2019 Update

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Can you believe 2019 is over???  We did continue our decluttering journey this year.  Every so often you open a drawer or closet and realize it’s looking “full” and messy.  In straightening things out, some stuff just has to leave!  Here are a few things that we shoved under the bed, in the dresser “junk” jar, the bathroom cabinet, and kitchen drawer.  It sure would be nice to get rid of the “junk” jar – or rename it!

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This year we removed at least 884 items.  Why did I say at least?  We were not as dedicated to the counting aspect this year.  We began the year by saying we weren’t going to count and then felt an overwhelming need to count.  Go figure!

Here is a surprising set of numbers:  Since we began counting in 2014, we have counted and removed 16,951 items from the house!  Since the average house has about 300,000 items, we figure we can work on 2020 items in 2020.

Decluttering Update 12/2019

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I finally decided to start working on decluttering the photos.  The first box held pictures from my aunt.  I think she must have been decluttering for me to end up with them!

I took a picture of each picture I wanted to “keep” – digitally of course.  Put them into a folder temporarily name “photos from the shelf” and renamed each one with the name(s) of the people in them and an approximate date if the date wasn’t on the picture.  Some were easy – me as an infant.  Others were more obscure – grandma in the 1960’s.

46 pictures gone!  plus 6 items from around the house this week.  52 things gone!!

Couldn’t resist – picture of me at age 4 had to go on top!

Christmas Cards “Decluttered”

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I have had Christmas cards in the hall closet now for at least 5 years.  I know this because I’ve not sent them out since before the Great Flood.  They were packed up during the repairs and put back into the closet.

I decided to address those cards today!  Some people will be surprised I did so.

Is it wrong that I was contemplating how many to mark off on my 2019 in 2019 sheet while doing so?  Is it 3 (boxes) or 39 (number of cards used)?

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Decluttering Update

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We decluttered 186 items in July, most items were from the garage so the tow dolly can be parked in it.  This is pretty amazing since we were gone July 1 – July 21.  We are up to 688 items this year!!

So far in August we have decluttered 32 items.  26 of those are recipes from the recipe box that I have NEVER used, many from when we got married 35 years ago!  I also found 2 bottles of stuff that had gone bad when looking for something in the pantry.

Here are some pics of the stuff that left our house.

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May 2019 Decluttering Update

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So with all that has happened, you would think we wouldn’t have time to declutter.  Not only did we declutter 81 items but we went camping one weekend with friends and babysat for a 3 day weekend.

Grandkiddo got to do things with us she NEVER gets to do with parents – watch Finding Dory with Deda, ride in the back of the shopping cart, and pet a bear (granted it was dead at the Wildlife Center)

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Decluttering Update March 2019

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I can’t believe another month has passed!  We’ve been taking little trips and really need to write about those.  This has got to be the best part of a decluttered home!

Cleaning hardly takes any time.  Laundry is now put away when it comes out of the dryer.  (I am guilty of leaving it in the dryer longer than I should!)  This almost seems like it should be a separate post!

On the decluttering front, we removed 28 items in March.  Our 2019 total is now 392 items!!

Some of the stuff removed:  holey shorts, holey tshirt, DVD player, receipts, loofah, calgon (really, when was the last time I took a bath?), empty lotion, candy found under the bed, empty box found under the bed, empty docking station box (from John’s work, why under our bed??),  book (yes, I know I already took a picture of it but it came back!  Why do people return things when you say they don’t have to??), tea strainer, weird spork.

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Declutter the Desk Drawer

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I know I started the filing cabinet BUT I opened the desk drawer for something and decluttering the stuff kicked in.

How many of you have correction film and no typewriter??  Well we don’t any more!

And how many small worthless sharpeners do you have?  We had 5!  Being the person I am, I had to test the three sharpeners I thought I might use (those that catch the shavings).  The scientist in me set up an experiment – sharpen brand new pencils (I have 41 to pick from) and twirled them in the sharpener for 20 turns to compare the effectiveness of each.  Results are shown below.  Conclusion: NONE WORK worth a darn and need to be decluttered.

10 more items gone!!

Declutter the Filing Cabinet

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Here’s a friendly reminder to declutter your filing cabinet!

So I had a few “minutes” to spare today.  Why not declutter something, since I need to catch up to Melinda @ PurpleSlobInRecovery.com

I went to the filing cabinet and decided to tackle a small section of work-related papers.  I pulled out this pile of stuff I hope I never need again!  (Sure hope I don’t change grade levels before I retire!)

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There are 165 double-sided pieces of paper and an unknown number of single-sided.  I think it is probably close to 300 because the single-sided pile is about twice the size of the double-sided stack after sorting.  The double-sided are going into the recycle bin.  The single-sided are going into the scratch paper reuse pile.

165 items gone from our house!!

Declutter the Desktop!

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I cleaned off my desk yesterday and removed 128 pieces of paper and other random stuff – mostly work related!  It just sort of piles up in a corner quietly and stealthily.  Some things in the pile were – gasp – put back where they belong.

I also removed 2 items from the bedroom closet (an old jacket and dress shoes I know I haven’t worn since Labor Day 2008 – our niece’s wedding) and John is getting rid of a raggedy belt.

131 items gone in one afternoon!!  Feeling accomplished!

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Hello 2019!! Here’s a Decluttering Update

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It’s been a while!  We ENJOYED THE HOLIDAY SEASON without the usual craziness of house cleaning!  This is our first weekend home in a month – more on that to follow.

Decluttering update:  in 2018 we removed 548 items from the house.  We aren’t quite ready to get rid of counting – we think it keeps us accountable for the stuff coming into the house and “forces” us to examine what needs to leave.

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On that note, Barb decluttered one shelf of the refrigerator this afternoon.  It is embarrassing to show this pic BUT it needs to be done.  We are pretty certain this stuff has been in there since before Christmas, oh my!  Time to get back into Decluttering the Stuff!!

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