get rid of all my clutter

And ended up with two bags of clothes that I gave away.

Next up—the grown up’s clothes.

Packed a big bag for charity. I was absolutely ruthless. Pared an overstuffed dresser down to one drawer of clothes I actually wear, and one drawer of good clothes that almost fit and I’m working on getting to. That leaves 3 empty drawers.

Big decluttering to get ready for the new school year. But I got the kids to do it and just stayed in the room to keep them on track. It took an entire day for each room, but it’s a skill they need to learn.

All the drawers cleaned out, old and small clothes sorted into garbage, charity and give to cousin bags. The kids went through their toy trunks, toy shelves, bookshelves, desks and the floor and got rid of all the toys that are broken, missing pieces or not getting used and sorted them into garbage and charity bins. Reduced the amount of possessions by more than half. Also had the kids reorganize their shelves and desks so that everything has a place to return to when used.

I bribed the kids. Told them they could have 1 M&M for each big toy they got rid of. Debated this in my head quite a bit but decided it would help them stop and think about the value of each thing (is it worth an M&M?). In the end I distributed 39 M&M’s which is only about 2 handfuls but the kids were quite happy with their “earnings”.

Spanned over 3 cupboards. These are the shelves with the spilled spices, spices in bags, baking ingredients, seasonings….if it comes in a small jar, it was in these cupboards. It had become a jumble of knocked over jars.

I got a bunch of small rectangular gladware containers and emptied all the spices into them. Then I wrote the names on then side with a magic marker. Turned out I had multiples of baking powder (3!), yeast, italian spices, pepper, curry…. if I had more of anything than would fit in one container, then tossed.

It’s all stacked nicely and taking up just 3 shelves now. And those aren’t crowded shelves.

2 utensil drawers and the cutlery drawer. The utensil drawers were so full that it’s been a stuggle to put things away and get them closed again.

I threw away everything that we don’t use regularly, or that does something redundant (hello, two different kinds of avacodo knives?). Some of the utensils still had price tags on them.

Got it down to one drawer for my cooling racks and the beaters for my stand and hand mixers; moved the cutlery into the larger utensil drawer to make room for the knives (formerly in a knife block cluttering up the counter); and one skinny drawer with a single layer of spatulas, garlic presses, melon ballers etc. I do keep a cylinder on the counter with all the whisks, flippers and wooden spoons, culled that a little too.

I did throw away a lot of stuff I actually use. I was actually using both avacado knives regularly :) But I just decided I can do without.

Hubby is going to be very bothered by this.

making a committment to myself to do something toward this goal every day. Even if it’s just one small space at a time.

Decluttered the medicines today. Lacking a proper medicine cabinet they’ve all been kept in a kitchen cabinet, and migrated into the pots, pans and baking supplies. Creating quite a disorganized mess. Also had somw in a rubbermade container up high, in a lame attempt to get organized.

Cleared out a stand-alone cupboard. Relocated the first aid kit and all medicines to it. Also discarded a shopping bag full of stale-dated, old prescriptions and children’s medicines that are no longer age appropriate. I do this every six months, so I’m amazed how much I threw away.

Backed it up to our ‘ouse ^{(I’m missing a key, guess)} and just started flinging away all possessions not used in recent memory. I couldn’t even tell you wut most of it was. But it ended up being 150 kg (360 lb) at our waste transfer.

Since none of our non-profits will take toys anymore, I figured it gives us freedom to garbage ‘em all.

If our kids could ‘ave stayed away longer, it would ‘ave been an even bigger declutter. Still more around, but I’m pleased.

It’s amazing how much I can get done in a couple of hours if the kids are out of the house. I went through the kitchen and dining room and threw away everything in sight that isn’t getting used. Sorted out all the paperwork and got that off the buffet.

I threw away all the little things I’d been keeping for some yet to be determined children’s craft project. Got the top of the fridge and microwave cleaned off and then went at all the kids activity books, colouring books, homework, artwork and supplies and whittled them down to only what is useful and only what has a place.

I set the alarm for 5:00 am (gasp, on a saturday!) so I could get cleaning before everyone else got up. Hubby’s computer room was pretty bad. He doesn’t have a head for getting things tidy, he just moves things around. So I got all his crap off the floor, found places for all the computer pieces that were lying around. Reorganized boxes of christmas stuff and found a better way to store them, out of sight. And I went throught the kids playroom and tossed a bunch of old toys. And took a load of scrap lumber to the waste transfer station.

I went in there with a take no prisoners attitude and threw away a whole bunch of toys with missing pieces.