Category: Declutter

My husband and I tackled our walk-in storage closet last weekend. He took the old light-weight floppy dropping shelves out of the basement closet and replaced them with shelves that hold 100lbs on each shelf. My task was to only put things on the new shelves that we wanted to keep and get rid of the rest. The closet had become too jam-packed and it wasn’t as organized as I like it to be. I’ve given away the four old computer towers and old-style Christmas light bulbs using Freecycle. I took the 14” crt monitor and various computer parts to the computer recycling place. I’ve put aside a pile of baby stuff to give to my sister. I have a couple of bags to drop off at a thrift store later this week. There is a separate area for camping stuff, Christmas stuff, and tools. It feels good. I never thought I could get joy from looking at an organized closet.

I just finished a big decluttering and tidying session of my family room and daughter’s rooms with the help of my husband and kids. It feels good. The messy toys and outgrown clothes on the floor had been bothering me for the last couple of weeks. Now I’ve got one bag of Laura’s clothes for donation and one bag for consignment. The firehall nearby has a bin for Canadian Diabetes so I’ll drop it off there tomorrow. Alyssa’s school work from the year is all put on the shelf, to be reviewed over the summer. Her earrings, bracelets and necklaces are all in jewelery drawers. Winter hats & scarves are in the basement, and summer hats are in the coat closet. First stage of Spring decluttering is done! Stage 2 & 3 are my storage closet and paper piles. Eek! Looks like I’ll have to call that Summer decluttering.

If you’d like to declutter your own spaces, it is helpful to have boxes or bags labeled “donate”, “recycle”, “consignment”, “seasonal storage”, and “garbage”. That way if you get interupted half-way through you’ll know what the piles are for and won’t have to do it again. Try to get them out of the house as soon as possible after you decide you aren’t keeping them. If you haven’t used it in a year and it doesn’t bring joy to your life, why are you keeping it? Why not donate it to someone who doesn’t have as much as you do? Decluttering makes you feel good and allows the flow of giving and receiving. I challenge you to spend 15 minutes doing a room today!