Life challenge - week 23 - declutter your wardrobe

Decluttering - well I did some this week.  My problem is once I get started I don't want to stop.  Which is good - but bad in a sense that I tend to neglect everything else.  So lucky for me decluttering my wardrobe was at the top of my decluttering list as that was week 23's challenge.  I started with my bedside table - which had undies, bras, socks, long sleeved and short sleeved tops.

Who would have thought you could fit this much into 1 draw?  Each photo is of one of my three draws...

My top draw collected "stuff", so I had to be brutal with that one.  I also got rid of my 6 year old undies - that I bought for after labour with my son...big black knickers!  I was still wearing them which is sad - so they had so say goodbye! So I now have 3 nice and tidy draws.

Next it was onto my handing clothes and top of the walk in robe. I put summer clothes into bags on top of my walk in robe and then had a serious declutter with the rest. I'm not a huge clothes person so didn't have too much - but did manage to get 1 full bag for goodwill. I had some shoes to chuck out too.

Walk in robe - before

Walk in robe - after

Hubby even got into the groove of things and had a tidy out on the weekend and had a full bag for goodwill and just as much for the trash!

I was then in a bit of a decluttering mood - so hit the kids clothes. I have done all their draws and hanging stuff - the only thing I haven't done is the top of their wardrobes....

Then the big one - the toys!!  I knew this would be a big job and was overwhelmed where to start - which was why I put it at the bottom of my decluttering schedule.  But I also knew I would feel better when it was done. Monday arvo, public holiday, hubby offered to take the kids to a playground so I could declutter. Well they were gone for about 2.5 hours - and WOW did I get a lot done!  I'm proud to say I'm happy with the toyroom at the moment.  1 huge bag of trash (luckily it was our trash day today) and various other toys have been hidden in spots around the garage. My aim is to gather all of these up and attempt to sell them - possibly at the baby and kids market that is across the road. But that is another huge job in itself - so for now I'm happy to just have them out of the house. They are in the garage (hidden as last time I stashed old toys there the kids found them and bought them back in!!) and that is the last item on my decluttering schedule.

So wow - when I revisit my decluttering schedule - I've managed to cross of 9 items this week!! 

1. kitchen 4 draws
   
2. my bedside table
3. my hanging clothes
4. top of my walk in robe
5. jewellery box
6. big kitchen tubs and cube areas
7. lounge room book case
8. computer cabinet
9. Savannah's dresser
10. Savannah's clothes in dresser
11. Savannah's built in wardrobe
12. Hunter's clothes
13. Hunter's built in wardrobe
14. kids books
15. kids artwork
16. kids toys
17. garage

My plan is to now keep chipping away at the smaller easier areas, but I'm pleased with my efforts so far.

Life challange - week 22 - declutter

WOW, this is a biggie for me! We moved into our house nearly 2.5 years ago. At the time it was a nice fresh start! We decluttered before we packed, and then some more as we unpacked. Fast forward 2.5 years and oh my gosh...it's found us again!

In week 22 Deb has us looking at decluttering. She makes it clear this isn't going to happen in a week - and could take a year - but chip away at it!

Okay step 1 for me - read the articles on decluttering. I read Deb's articles:

How to declutter, sort and organise in 5 simple steps

Dealing with sentimental clutter

Dealing with memorabilia, collections and heirlooms

10 tips to declutter your bookshelf

I realised I keep many things 'just in case'. I'm conscious of money - and don't want to get rid of something if I'm going to need it in the future and have to pay for it again! I've got work shirts I haven't worn in over a year - but keep them just in case I decide to wear them next year (of course I won't - I've grown bored with them and changed style a bit!). The kids have heaps of toys which they don't play with anymore - but what if they decide the want to again?

I also have some memorabilia. Craft is a biggie for us too. Savannah is at childcare 4 days per week and brings home paintings and pictures on a daily basis! Hunter loves craft and during their play sessions at school, along with at after school care, he is continually making something that just must come home and he must keep! I recently went through my box on top of the fridge with all the pictures in it and kept just the best stuff - but I want to go a bit further and photograph each item and keep only a few.

I visually went through each room and thought about what needs decluttering...I then made a plan and a rough order:

1. kitchen 4 draws
2. my bedside table
3. my hanging clothes
4. top of my walk in robe
5. jewellery box
6. big kitchen tubs and cube areas
7. lounge room book case
8. computer cabinet
9. Savannah's dresser
10. Savannah's clothes in dresser
11. Savannah's built in wardrobe
12. Hunter's clothes
13. Hunter's built in wardrobe
14. kids books
15. kids artwork
16. kids toys
17. garage

The kids toys and garage are huge ones that will take a while, which is why I have left them for last - although if I think about it I will be much happier once the toys are done - and they need to be done before Hunter's birthday in September. I aim to tackle one toy tub at a time.....The garage needs more storage solutions - as identified in my home audit. I'm happy to leave that one until I'm happy with the house.

I started on the kitchen draws yesterday - and they are done.

So now I need to stick to the plan. My aim will be to do one area per week (and I've realised Sunday's are not good decluttering days for me - I'm tired then)...I will need to priorities as one of my top 3 tasks for the day to declutter an area.

Wish me luck!

Home challenge - week 22 - dining room and eating area

In our house we don't have a formal dining room as such. We have the main kitchen table (6 seater), which is in the family room and an larger (8 seater) outdoor table.  We like eating outdoors in summer but lately, despite the cold, we have been eating outside. And the reason for that is our kitchen table looks like this:

If it's really too cold we just push things aside so we can all have a spot to eat. So the challenge to organise the kitchen eating area is timely for me. Eating together as a family is very important to me. It's the one time we get to be together and we say what we are grateful for! I couldn't imagine not having an evening meal together at the dinner table (before we had the kids hubby and I used to eat our dinner on our laps watching TV - not a habit I want to get the kids into!).

Decluttering the table isn't a biggie....hubby and I did a quick run around and in about 5-10 minutes we made it look like this:

Now the big challenge for me is keeping it like this! Our cleaner cleans the table if it's clear - so we tend to clear it up once a fortnight so it can be cleaned properly - but I would like it to stay in this clear state constantly! Now that it's clear again I'm going to give a good crack and keeping it clear!