I am really happy
with the fact that I've pared down so much on the items we own. It really does make our life simpler. Purging the house this time around has been a
great exercise to confirm that we haven't gone and filled up our home again
like I had feared could happen. So this
purge is more like maintenance to keep us on track. Love it!
I started with my
bedroom closet as I hadn't done much in there.
I got rid of six shirts, three of them my girls took, one went out to
the garage to become a rag and the other two into the donate pile. I also donated two more pairs of shoes, tossed out a pair of well worn slippers and a pair sandals. I am currently down to six pair of shoes,
plus my sport sandals, two pair of flip flops and two pair of slippers. I pared down the collection of fuzzy socks to my favorite
three pair.
 |
| All my clothing and shoes |
The biggest part of
the closet purge was to take my grandmother's jewelry box out and go through
it. There was nothing of real value in
there, but it was a lot of sentimental stuff.
The girls took what they wanted, I tossed out the broken pieces, donated
a few items and what I kept now fits in a small gift box. My youngest took the jewelry box. Hearts strings tugged, but I feel really good
about it being gone, especially since my daughter is really happy to have the
jewelry box and both are happy to have a few things that belonged to their
great grandmother.
 |
| Still looks like a lot of crap to me, but we do use it all |
The next place I worked
on was the hall closet. I've been
dreading that one and decided to just dive in and tackle it once and for
all. I was able to get rid of 50% of the
crap that was being stored in there. Why
did I keep that stuff? Who knows?! Seemed important at the time.
 |
| Recycle bin |
I filled up half of
our big blue recycling bin with paper and cardboard! I tossed out less than one shopping bag of
trash, relocated a dozen items that didn't belong there in the first
place. Added a handful of items to our
donate pile and took three dead cell phones into work to put in the recycle bin
we have there (pulled the SIM cards first).
I also collected a nice little pile of shreddables (we plan to take care
of our shredding this weekend).
 |
Our donate pile continues to grow
We've actually added a third bag |
The girls have
filled up a bag each of junk from their bedrooms and put a ton of paper (schoolwork
they were ready to part with) into the big blue recycle bin as well. They have also added a few items to the
donate pile which is now growing at the bottom of our stairs. I'll drop that stuff off next week after we
get through a few more places in our home over the weekend.
So that is where we
are at so far. How are things going at
your home?
I have grabbed a handful of things here and there, but I keep bringing in more. Mostly books! I have so many good books that I haven't read yet. I need to discipline myself to start reading them instead of downloading more e books.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean, there are so many good things to read.
DeleteYou've done a good job, love that the girls appreciate their great grandmothers treasures...my purging is a constant thing, I have a bench that holds items to donate, the recycle bin in constant use...this week I offered some stash builder bundles of wool for rug hookers for sale on FB and my blog...enough takes to make a small dent in my stash...daily small steps towards owning less...
ReplyDeleteThat really is the key, isn't it? It took me years to pare down all of our stuff. HUGE job.
DeleteGood for you! I'm finally at the point where decluttering is mostly just maintenance now, like you said. I go through the whole house quickly now.
ReplyDeleteAnd not to sound morbid, but it's nice to know this work won't have to be done when we're gone. I have a neighbor whose parents passed away and she had to go through their entire house - almost a lifetime of stuff! It must've been both heart wrenching and burdensome. Having gone through that, she then did a complete purging of her own house so her son wouldn't have to deal with it later.
I don't think that is morbid at all, it's realistic. And I do think about that too. My kids aren't going to want most of my junk and I really don't want to saddle them with needing to handle it all after I'm gone.
DeleteI just have to chime in here about leaving all of your junk for your loved ones when you pass. My father just spent 4 months last year sorting through my grandparents home when they both died three months apart. It was a horrible time. It was extremely stressful, emotional, physically taxing and left my dad and uncle with feelings of anger, bitterness and hurt. My grandparents of course were from the depression. Kept everything, you know the story. After the family took what we wanted, we had an auction. I and no one else had any idea that they had all this stuff. Quite frankly, it was embarrassing. There were at least 5 TV's that hadn't worked for years, tons and tons of linens, dishes, clothes from 40 years ago and on and on. It was very hard on all of us. And the thing is their house was always tidy and clean. They just shoved stuff upstairs and in closets. The day of the auction changed me in ways I can't explain, Just seeing all that stuff and seeing what my dad went through getting to that day. I came home a changed person and can't stand to keep anything any more. Stuff is Stuff, it really has no lasting value. And by the way, I loved my grandparents more than anything, they were everything to me.
DeleteOnce everyone took what they wanted the remainder of my grandma's home was put into my garage. It tooks me years to work my way through all of it simply because I was so emotional about losing her. It really is hard on those that are left behind. I can't help but think about what I leave for my children to have to deal with. The less the better.
DeleteImpressed! I am trying and it is getting better but I am not there yet! Hope springs eternal!
ReplyDeleteJust keep plugging away at it Anne. :)
DeleteWe have been purging here as well. We took boxes of stuff to our favorite thrift store along with some bigger items too and it felt good to get rid of them. We still have a long way to go, but we are slowly making progress.
ReplyDeleteGood for you Debbie. I still haven't taken my stuff in yet, still collecting.
DeleteSo happy for you, that you have not brought in more. Decluttering sure makes us feel better.. I am going through each closet and drawer in my house. I have not found alot to get rid of, because I just did my decluttering in the spring. I am trying REALLY hard to not add more.ha My goal........if one thing comes in/get rid of one thing.. Will see how this works??/
ReplyDeleteHave a great day.
I've been doing that with my closet. So far I'm ahead with this latest purge, but funny I don't feel compelled to run out and buy anything right now. I still have plenty. Best of luck to you. We can do this! :)
DeleteI think it's great that your house is in trim, shipshape order! And what a great lesson for your daughters to absorb!
ReplyDeletePurging has taken a back seat while I get my kids off to college. I'm looking forward to resuming it once everyone is settled.
I don't want to leave a lot of stuff for my kids to sort through, either. People and experiences are what's important, not things.
I couldn't agree more Sue. People and experiences truly are more important than things.
Delete