Adventures In Decluttering

 

I've been a busy girl.  I started my New Year's decluttering project an entire month early and I'm really glad I did because it has been a bigger job than I imagined it would be.  I am doing an entire house declutter, every single nook and cranny.  I decided to begin at the furthest point from my front door and work my way forward so I started upstairs in my bedroom and I've been ruthless.  In the furthest point from my front door sat a BIG procrastination pile - photos and sentimental childhood and high school items and I tackled it like a pro.

 

Now I only have one bin of sentimental stuff and one box of photo albums

I went through all of my art, craft & sewing supplies

and everything got nicely labeled

To begin I printed off a copy of my checklist as a guide and because checking stuff off of a list is somehow very motivating, at least for me anyway.  Once the photos and sentimental stuff was done I went through my closet thinking I probably wouldn't find much since I'd recently decluttered my clothing.  Wrong!  I found stuff.  It always amazes how you can always find something.

 

I emptied a bunch of bins and got rid of that set of plastic drawers

I washed and reused what I could and donated the rest

Once the bedroom was done I went into the second bedroom thinking I wouldn't find much in there either since I'd cleared that room and redone it over the summer.  Wrong again!  I found quite a bit actually, filled an entire bag with donations.  Next was the upstairs bathroom and once again I found stuff.  It took me about a week working in time slots to complete the upstairs of my home and then I headed downstairs to the living room.

 

I shredded a bunch of papers

and washed more containers to reuse

The living room and dining room went really quick and surprisingly so did my kitchen, including the pantry.  I did get rid of a blender, a fondue pot, a skillet and a bunch of little things I didn't use anymore.  In the downstairs bathroom I found a few things too.  So far I had managed to empty out a bunch of storage bins and I took a break to wash them all up so I could reuse them when I went through my sewing and craft supplies.  I even had a friend wrap all of his Christmas gifts at my house with my wrapping supplies so he could help me use some of it up.  That saved him from having to buy anything this year and I still have quite a bit left for next Christmas.

 

I sorted and sorted and sorted

Sewing supplies and fabric were next on my list and I ended up taking everything into my living room to sort through, purge and reorganize.  Then onto my craft supplies which I did the same way.  For a solid week I worked on this until I had it really fine tuned and I filled up another bag with donations.  Once I had made it through the downstairs bedroom I was about 80% of the way done.

 

cleaned and tidied

and finally set up the vintage sewing box I had purchased years ago

The storage closet under the stairs was next and that wasn't too bad either.  I found a few things to get rid of and did some reorganizing in there as well.  Same with the laundry room.  The only space I have left to tackle is my garage but I'm waiting until the weather warms up a bit before I head out there.

 

I even have some empty spaces!  Check out that top shelf!

Bye-bye blender!

I will be filling up the bed of my truck with five bags of donations and a couple of those plastic drawer storage sets plus a couple furniture pieces and taking that load to the animal rescue thrift store not too far from my home.  Right now it is all sitting in my garage waiting for me but my house just got bigger!  Ha, ha, ha.  Then guess what I did?  I printed out a new checklist and on the first of the year, I'm starting over and doing it all again.  I'm curious to see how much I find this next time.