declutter

Most of the old clothes from my bedroom were sent to goodwill. There’s still more to go through.

The books went to the library. I have to go through my library and do this again.

The wrapping paper was sorted by type and stored in the utility room.

The back downstairs bedroom was de-cluttered and it’s ready for Emma to use.

The Study is next.

There’s a few boxes and bags in the livingroom (again) to go to Goodwill. That’s a good thing! And I’ve still got those books to give away. I’m going to the library tomorrow afternoon to give them my books on pre-pregnancy, birth, baby care, child care, marriage and divorce. I wanted those to go somewhere where they will be used. I tried various agencies nearby for female and baby care specifically for those without insurance or of low income, but no one will respond. So to the library they go. After my vacation, I will pack up the scifi/fantasy stuff and pass that along to Goodwill probably.

The used bookstore that said they would take any book even if they couldn’t sell it, didn’t want them. False advertising! Actually, they’d had to close one of their stores recently and were short of space.

We hit the utility room last week removing about ten large garbage bags worth of garbage. I can see the floor! Johnny also reorganized some of the tools and things. I would never have been able to do this without him.

There is still work to do in that room but for now we can get to the things we need while we’re working on the other rooms.

I’m actually beginning to feel like I’ll be able to have the movie goers group over to my house sometime this year!

Thanks Johnny. I’ve been saying that a lot lately! :)

I’ve taken on the challenge to remove all the books in my ‘give away’ pile from my house before bringing in any new books into my house and that includes Harry Potter 7.

I have about 6 weeks to take all the books to the used bookstore, library or wherever. Otherwise I’ll have to read HP7 on my front lawn (just kidding!).

My livingroom must be downhill of the rest of the house because the clutter flows into it. As I box stuff up to go to goodwill or storage, inevitably it ends up by the front door. So it doesn’t take long before the living room is cluttered again. Saturday, my Katie came over and helped deal with all the boxes. So I have a (relatively) uncluttered livingroom again.

We’re in the middle of clearing the kitchen cabinets to repaint them so there are some boxes left, but I don’t count them as clutter.

Next on the “de-clutter” list is my bedroom.

I completed the personal challenge to clear the livingroom of clutter. The next room on the list is the foyer area (between the livingroom and kitchen).

This weekend coming up is a three day weekend. My daughter is with her dad. I can’t get away because I’m on-call for work. So it’s the perfect weekend to clear some clutter. I’m going to make this a separate goal with a time limit and a punishment. By the end of the weekend I will have sorted all the “stuff” (toys and children’s books) that are sitting by the front door in the living room waiting to go out of the house. I will take any “goodwill” stuff to the closest trailer. I will put anything I want to give to friends and family in the trunk of my car. Anything going to family will be delivered before the end of the day on Monday. Anything going to friends will be delivered by Tuesday evening.

I’ve ordered the labels for the bookcrossing. I’ve got my first 25 books stacked in a pile. I’ve just got to think of 25 places to leave the books! I’m going to start by leaving one at work in the breakroom.

Reading through goals on 43things, I found a reference to this wonderful site: www.bookcrossing.com. I find it such an appealing idea. I have always hated getting rid of my books. That’s part of the reason I have all this clutter! I’m a pack-rat. And although I hate thinking of my books as clutter, some are. I have a stack to give away to a good home, but I can’t seem to find some place that will take them. Giving them to the local library is the best option I have found and that seems almost like sending them to jail! This bookcrossing idea, though, seems so… well, liberating! So I’m going to pick 25 of the books that I think others will enjoy reading/using and distribute them around South Florida during 2007.

I took inventory this morning of all the rooms and the amount of clutter is a bit overwhelming. Mind you, I’ve already taken two U-Haul parcel vans full of stuff to goodwill. I’ve given away a lot of things to friends, and all the unopened toys went into the “Hands on Miami” donation box for Christmas this year. I am still overwhelmed by the amount of stuff waiting to go. I’m going to have to come up with a step-by-step plan, since that is what I’m comfortable with, or this is never going to happen!