Days Five to Eight of the 12 Days of Decluttering Challenge

Well, the weekend was busy and it was hard to get in everything, but I made it. How about you?

On day five of the challenge I decluttered the mudroom chest of drawers. This is a catchall for crap things that are in your hands when you get in the door and you want to put down somewhere. It drives me insane! Is it too much to ask for a nice welcoming entrance when I get in from wrestling with a Miss P. while I am picking up the other two from school. I just want my house to look pretty! Okay, enough moaning.

before

The end result looks great. Now I just need to maintain it and makes sure the rest of the family doesn't keep using it as their personal dumping ground. I am looking forward to next year when I might actually be able to decorate the top of the chest with some cool kind of Christmasy vignette.

after

On day six, I dusted the tops of the cabinets in the main bathroom. I know this isn't nescessarily decluttering, but man were they ever dusty. I am pretty good at keeping what I see dust free but if it is out of my range of sight, well, the dust just doesn't enter into my consciousness. So, while it was not decluttering of stuff, I was definitely decluttering the air of my house, one dust mite at a time.

On days seven and eight I did something I have been wanting to do for months, and just never did. I finally dealt with the totes full of clothes that the girls have outgrown. Now, I want to be a thrifty person. While we live comfortably and have our needs met, we aren't rolling in the dough. I have been really good about keeping girls old clothes and using hand-me-downs from friends and all that stuff. But I was starting to feel overwhelmed with clothes. With Miss V. being 7 and Miss P still 1 there are a lot of different sizes that are floating around our home. As well, Miss G. doesn't always want to wear what Miss V. did because Miss G. has a very particular aesthetic she goes for, while Miss V. is happy in anything. I could go on and on about the headache that is the hand-me-down story in my house.

I think the biggest thing right now is Miss P. has a very different body type than the other girls. While none of my kids have been what you would call chunky, Miss P. is a rail. She is skinny but lengthy. If pants don't have the adjustable waistbands or aren't the leggings, the waist is either too big or the inseam too short. So, I am having to buy her new stuff anyways, so why keep the old stuff.

So day seven was moving all the totes out of Miss P.'s room (that was where they were stored) clearing the horizontal floor space of her room, and man what a difference. Day eight was all about the going through the clothes. I threw out all the clothes that were so horribly stained that it is a wonder I actually kept them. All the nicer clothes that didn't look super worn I put in a box that I am going to take to the consignment shop tomorrow and the rest I put into bags to go to the thrift store. I did keep some clothes, like the next size up of shirts for Miss P. and a few sleepers and things that we would want to use if we had a baby number four. But, I went from 5 totes down to 1 and I think that it pretty amazing. Man, does it ever feel good to have that done!

If you are doing the challenge we are in the home stretch. If you haven't started, it's not too late. This is something you can do anytime. I might do it in the New Year.