Grab and Toss

OK  I have not gotten rid of anything for 4 days.

So tomorrow since it  will be  a typical Monday. 

I will be running around and not be able to  get much done.

So I am setting a goal for myself.  I am going to go into each room in the house.  

Grab one item and pitch it. 

I will do this  each time I come home from an errand

So I should have at the end of the day...

21 items...

 

1400 for the day...

WOW Today wore me out... Over Christmas,our basement( which had been clean) started to get cluttered. Then  Christmas came and went and all the Christmas decorations whent literally anywhere downstairs we would  find a spot to them  cram into.  We have a nice big room and we couldn't even walk in it. It Honestly looked like an episode of Hoarders.   Because every empty box from  Christmas,  all of the things I had cleaned out from upstairs to store downstairs were all sitting IN THE middle of the floor along with out couch we had carried down to make room for the Christmas tree.  So after 4 1/2 hours I am DONE Thanks to my Wonderful Hubby who pitched in.  I tried to keep track of all of the things that I pitched or  marked donate. I unfortunately lost count around 1400.  so we will just stick with 1400 I know its a slightly LOWER number than what was actually gotten rid of but oh well.  I had a 50 gallon trash bag  full of small items, broken Christmas bulbs, old makeup and perfume samples from where I  use to worked at the mall. ( I QUIT in 2007!) old t-shirts you name it and really I had it down there.  PLUS A TON OF BROKEN TOYS!!! UGH... BUT I AM HAPPY TO SAY THAT MY BASEMENT IS CLEAN,  AND CAN BE USED FOR    PLAYING GAMES AND SUCH. =)    I MEANT TO TAKE A BEFORE PICTURE BUT  WENT DOWNSTAIRS TO START AND FORGOT MY PHONE.... I KNEW IF I CAME BACK UP I WOULD NEVER START.....

While I know I still need to get down and tweak it a little  AND I HAVE ONE ENTIRE CLOSET THAT I DIDN'T GET TO YET.. I AM VERY PLEASED WITH THE DAY. =)

Slow going

Well Its been slow going in getting rid of things here. But I have been doing my 7 a day. Noting MAJOR to report other than I have been throwing small things out.  Old ratty clothes, Junk i had been holding on to.. HOPE  to  do a major overhaul this  week in the  closet downstairs. I started it and didn't get in done enough for my liking. So I am going to hit it a 2nd time. =)

Making a Mess to make progess

                 Why is it when you start digging in to clean things out, you make a BIGGER mess than what you started with?
                 On this Journey I realize why I just "STUFF" so many things in cabinets and closets and  anywhere I cant see it. Then BAM it overwhelms me and it all comes falling out at my feet OR Falls and Hits my in the head. Because I am so afraid that I will need it again or think OH well I can use it for this.... blah blah blah. Its really just an excuse to me  so I don't feel bad for throwing something out I MIGHT  NEED later.
               What is it with so many of us that  Makes us FEAR Throwing things out. Then I got to thinking about my Grandma.  She kept EVERYTHING. She washed and reused Zip lock bags,   reused  Saran Wrap, and  said  you never know when you will need it. She had  syrup bottles ( Back then they were Glass) and saved any jar she got b/c she might be able to use it canning.

               So we grew up keeping things b/c you could reuse it later.   Now I have realized the problem with this  TODAY is things are just mot made as  well and we have become such a disposable society it is just to easy to stick something up and  say" oh where did I put that? oh heck with it I will just get a new one" and guess what you do with THAT ONE?  Same thing and then before you know it you have  a bazillion of the same thing in 20 different places. 

                Ok and MISMATCHED Socks..... now here is a biggie WHY DO WE KEEP THEM??? I am talking about the few you have that is sitting there and has been for MONTHS. You have done all the laundry 4 times and never found the missing one. WHY KEEP IT? I have a bad habit of just throwing it in the dresser drawer with the others. I go to grab a pair and which one do I grab the one that DOESN'T have a match and hasn't for  5 months? Or you rip a sock and the other one is still okay so you keep it b/c what if I rip another sock I would then have a complete pair again.. Ok this is just insane thinking, I need to Get over it and just throw the  mismatched socks away after  doing laundry and realizing I have lost the match somewhere in our travels. and if I ruin one sock throw them both out.

                   I have also found myself jsut to get done with one project sticking things that I dont know what  I want to do with, in  another drawer that I have NOT done yet. Thinking I will deal with it later. Isn't that what got me into this  CLUTTERED house to begin with? I need to tell myself that I will only touch it ONCE. If I dont know what to do with it then I obviously Don't NEED it and should get rid of it.  So as a new rule I can NOT stick ANYTHING ANYWHERE just because I am not SURE. If I  dont know it goes in the trash. 

               What I have realized as I do this Is I LOVE getting things Decluttered.  I love to sit back and look and HAVE space to put things up where they belong and Not have my counters full of things. I love having a bedroom again b/c that was the catchall. I can walk into it and not feel like I want to walk right back out. I have my bedroom back and I am EXCITED. =)   So even  if I feel overwhelmed as I do this, I will keep at it. I will Keep making DISASTERS in my house so  I Can dig this  accumulated junk  out and get rid of it.  I have warned those who stop by My house could be condemned at times when I  am in the middle of a  Throw it all away project. But the END product WILL  be worth it. I just have to KEEP telling myself this.

Totally exhausting day...

Wow I am exhausted after today, and I am sure my Husband is too!  We tackled our bedroom closet, hall closet and  my Husband  even we as far as to clean the dreaded downstairs Laundry room for me. He even put up more shelves for my  stockpile of laundry soap.  =) But Today however tiring  got a lot accomplished.   231 things ( This does not include the Trash we thew out)  left our house today!  I did not realize just how much STUFF we had  gotten stuffed in our closet. It is NOT a walk in and does not even have doors. So it was spilling over and out  into the floor of our bedroom.  I didn't get a before  picture but I did take a DURING picture when I realized I had bitten off more than I could get accomplished before time to pick up my daughter from preschool.   I have to say my Husband has been wonderful!  He is getting right in on the action and   helping me with all of  it. He is even getting rid of  things. This is Definitely a project that is  bring us together  rather than sitting around not talking and  watching TV.  

      This is only HALF of what we had out and were getting rid of!  At this point I was totally Overwhelmed!

 And after getting rid of a Ton of Stuff this is all that is Left in the Closet it looks SOO much better!

I have to say starting to see some major progress  Makes me Soo Happy! I want to have the MAIN BIG STUFF done by next week.  I know thats a LOT but then I can focus on getting the smaller stuff done. =)

Lots of work Little Progress

So Today was a day of Lots of work and Little Progress. Little Progress of getting rid of things that is.  Grand total for today 17 items.  I cleaned up 2 kitchen cabinets and the hall closet MOSTLY Now for cleaning all of those things out I  got rid of very little. BUT these were my food cabinets. As I am all for getting rid of stuff, Lets be real I DO NOT need to throw away perfectly good Food just to reach a number. I have been combining it ALL Downstairs in my STOCKPILE. (Yes I am a Krazy Couponer.)  I found myself always just going down and pulling from it rather than  deal with  looking in the cabinets and closet.  So why not free Up all that space? So I made trips up and down the stairs and  reorganized  things downstairs  So why I didn't throw a Ton of stuff away today I am making tons of Progress.  I am not posting pictures till I am done with it all.  So here is to Combining things that go together and not having it strung all over the house. I am excited to see it done tomorrow. I have stopped for the night to  spend some time with my Wonderful Hubby. He has picked up the slack while I am on this Mad mission. He has been doing the Laundry and the Cooking for the last few days.  I have promised him once I get the Closets and cabinets  done I will slow down. But Now that I am getting a taste of what getting rid of stuff  feels like again. He better just hope I dont move on to his Garage and  his buildings!  =)

Feels good to trash Things!

 Grand total for today...  309 items today. ( My Husband and Daughter Got in on the Action too!!)

                                 The Kitchen Cabinet from   my earlier post now looks like this!

  I am ASHAMED TO POST THIS!!! BUT  Honestly IT got like this in about a 2 week time. Took me 2 hours to Go through it and Clean it out and Decided what to Keep. What to store downstairs and what to TRASH.               So Below is the AFTER picture. =) MUCH MUCH better.

  I also cleaned our one other cabinet but I didn't take pictures of it.  but needless to say you can now open it w/o fear of  things falling on you.