Challenge: I am tasking myself with going through my entire house and getting rid of everything that we don’t need anymore. I’m also taking this opportunity to repair things that are broken, eliminate annoyances, develop new systems, and just streamline as much as possible. See more posts in the series >>
I’m changing the format for my decluttering project. I started out going through our house one room at a time, but now I’m following the order as suggested in The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. And then at the end, I’ll probably swoop back around to make sure we’ve sufficiently gone through each room.
So next up: Clothes.
Yes, I already got rid of a bunch of clothes a couple of months ago. BUT…
There was another stash of clothes in a closet upstairs I hadn’t gotten to yet. Stuff that was moved there during pregnancy, stuff that was the wrong size, but felt “too nice” to donate, office wear from a previous life.
At this point in my decluttering, all of this was really easy to let go. I found one or two pieces worth keeping, but everything else just went without any resistance, including two pairs of beautiful jeans that I wish still fit. And a few winter coats too. Shoes. Purses. All of it.
From there, I moved to the kids’ clothes. It coincided with the change from winter to spring clothes, and both kids growing out of their current sizes. I went through everything, and let go of a lot of pieces (and also moved some of Elise’s outgrown clothes into storage for Etta).
There are still some kids clothes in storage upstairs that can probably go, but the upstairs is in so much disarray because of the bathroom reno. I can’t even fully open the closet doors right now. Their time will come.
The more things I get rid of, the more things I want to get rid of. It’s addicting. Whereas before, I was carefully going through things with a fine tooth comb, now I see all this junk as a barrier to the streamlined life I’ve caught glimpses of already. And I just want it all gone.
Next up: The books. Be strong, Dan, be strong.
I totally understand the addiction!
Yes! The only thing that is holding me back now is the time required to get things out the door!
I’ve been going through books this week and it turns out that when you don’t have a lot of bookshelves, it seems less necessary to hang onto them. 4 years went by with all these books in storage while we prioritized remodeling projects, and the “library” room is still a long way off. Also I joked with my husband that I am already married and don’t need to keep the pretentious ones anymore.
Yes! The books are just trophies after having read them. I haven’t posted about it yet, but we got rid of so many books. And you’re right about the bookshelf space. We had a big overflow, but now they all fit in the space we have available.
Boy, do I relate!!! I have been decluttering our small house for a while now and it’s so freeing! I even was able to give up a small closet in order to make a reading nook for my kids. Every week I keep a donation bag going, and dropping it off at the salvation army makes me happy.
I love your blog, my niece from Brazil sent me the link.
I’m due for another decluttering update! It really is so freeing! I’ve noticed a big shift, and we still have a bunch to get rid of.