Declutter Challenge - Closet Cleanup

Decluttering is one of my personal New Year's Resolutions and because more than a month of 2013 is behind us, I should be able to report some progress.  Well, it's been slow.  However, I do have some encouraging news to report.  Two recent situations resulted in some significant progress in the kids' rooms.

First, Mackenzie announced she no longer has anything to wear.  While most mothers have heard this cry from their 9 year old, in this case, it's true.  I have a very hard time keeping Mackenzie in clothes.  She is somewhat hard to fit, so clothes shopping is not pleasant.  In addition, when I buy her items, she decides after she has worn it once that "it doesn't fit," "it's too long" "it's too short" "it's itchy" or "I don't like it".  ACK!  It is a huge disincentive to shopping.  You can read more about how we addressed that in my recent post "What Not to Wear".  Despite the fact she had nothing to wear, her drawers were overflowing with clothes.

At the same time, I have a friend who called to see if Christian had some clothes he could "hand down."  Yes!  Christian is exactly the opposite of Mackenzie.  She fluctuates in size about twice a year, while he hasn't grown much in 2 years.  That has been changing for him in the last year or so as he is getting taller.  Now, it seems like the pants/jeans I bought a couple of months ago are ready for the flood.  Shirts, however, stick around a LONG time.  So, it was time for a closet clean out for both of them.

I would like to say I used the opportunity to provide my children with an educational experience in purging, but I'm just not that patient, especially because there was some urgency attached with both rooms.  Also, my kids are natural pack rats (I have no idea where that came from - seriously).  So I pulled out some trash bags and went to work.

It took three full trash bags in each room, but I am happy to say they are decluttered and ready for some new clothes.  I didn't take a picture of the "before" because I needed to get it done, but you can see what it looks like when the only clothes that remain are the ones that fit, you like and are not ruined.

This experiences reminds me once again the same lesson I learn every time I declutter - you can't be sentimental or unrealistic ("I know I will use that sometime.")  If you can't or won't use it now, get rid of it.  Space in your home is valuable and you deserve to live in a clean and orderly space.  I think I'm going to stitch that saying and hang it on the wall.

One baby step at a time . . .

cindy

My New Year's Resolution

I said earlier this week that I wasn't revealing my resolution until a little later.  I've been procrastinating a couple of days now, probably because if I post it, it means I will have to do it.  My resolution is not original, but I don't think I've ever made this one.

I want to de-clutter my house.

I think getting rid of so much stuff will help me start to see my home in a new light.  We've been in this house for 10 years and I still like it very much, but after a while it's hard to see through all the stuff and get back to the features I liked when we bought it.  That may sound strange, but I think it's that inability to see past things that have been sitting in the same place for years that keeps me from working on decorating changes.  After 10 years, it might be time to plan for a few changes.

There are so many resources out there, so if you are one of those people who can't imagine where to start, I'll be happy to share some of those resources now and through this year as I find them (I'm always happy to hear about others too).  Here's a few I've found.

Flylady

Marla Cilley (a.k.a. Flylady) is da bomb of de-cluttering, cleaning and organizing your home.  I first found Flylady over ten years ago when my kids were babies, and I became a "Flybaby" follower of Marla.  The best part of +Flylady is that you can take as much as you want.  She has a fun little program to de-clutter your house over time, one room at a time.  If you want more, you can go much much much deeper into cleaning (I mean cleaning), organizing and menu planning.  If you master the Flylady system, you can pretty much do anything!

If you have a profile on Google+ you can check out the new community +Keep It Clean.  It also covers everything from de-cluttering to cleaning to money management, time management and even weight loss.  I'm just there for the de-cluttering part (I can't even wrap my head around doing another one of those worthy goals), but so far there is a nice community going there.

I'm fascinated by how people have come up with so many methods to de-clutter!  They make it downright fun to say goodbye to those things that are taking up your space!  

Joshua Becker and Becoming Minimalist has some great tips and links in 10 Creative Ways to Declutter Your Home.  He also has a great little digital book called "Simplify" that you can find at Amazon for your Kindle.

If decluttering is your 2013 dream, now's the best time of the year to get started.  There are so many links and Facebook groups and articles about this topic.  This is one of the "hottest" resolutions every year, so early January again brings lots of advice.  I'll keep you up to date on how I'm doing.  It won't be fast, but hopefully it will be steady.

cindy