The Junk - It Has Served Its Purpose

A couple of months ago I read a book that really helped change my thinking around getting rid of things. In the book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, she turns purging and organizing on its head.While somethings are basic like going through your items other concepts were novel to me and left me feeling excited and hopeful as I continue my journey at tackling the junk in my house. She invites you to tackle by categories and not rooms, which really spoke to me and so far as been working really well. She helps you see what is really essential and what is not. And she tells you the most liberating question to ask yourself when you are going through things, "Has it served its purpose?"

That question, "has it served its purpose?" truly is amazing. I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before but when you start using that in your purging efforts things just seem to start rolling. I think the hardest thing about getting rid of things is thinking of the future of "I might need it someday" or "it still has some wear in it, it would be wasteful to get rid of it" or "so-and-so gave me it, I better keep it in case they ask". The thing is, if we aren't using it right now then it is wasteful. It is dragging our life down and not giving us the happiness that our things should. So if we stop asking ourselves those questions and instead ask ourselves "has it served its purpose" then we will really be getting at the heart of the issue.

One of the first categories that Kondo suggests we tackle is our clothing. That is always a tough one for me. Even though there were clothes that I don't wear anymore, some even from high school, I just couldn't get rid of them. Some items were still in good shape and so I felt I should be wanting to use them, even though I didn't. Sometimes things just aren't our style anymore, even if it was a recent purchase. So this past time when I was going through my clothes, it really was a breeze. When I got to clothes that I didn't really wear anymore but felt weird getting rid of I just asked myself "has it served it's purpose?" Nine times out of ten the answer was yes and I was able to put the clothes in the giveaway bag without a twinge of guilt. That round I was able to get rid of two bags of clothing and accessories and man did that feel good! I kept only what I loved and I was able to pass on clothing to someone who would appreciate it more than I would.

The purpose of your items can be anything. It could be the original happiness you felt when you bought it. That could be its purpose and then you pass it on. (That is a bit consumerist but, sometimes that happens.) Its purpose could be just for a certain period in your life, like maternity clothes, or the concert t-shirts from your youth. When you think of the purpose of the item and the fulfilling of that purpose, it helps give you pause to think about what the point of that object was, and seeing if it still serves a purpose in your current life. Like gifts. Sometimes people give us gifts and we feel obligated to hang on to them because we don't want to offend. The purpose of the gift was to allow the gift giver to feel happy about giving you something. Purpose completed. If that gift is something you love and want in your space, awesome, keep it. If not, well it has already served it's purpose so pass it on.

I used this mantra when I was going through the clothes etc. in the mudroom. And I got it looking pretty good and it is still looking pretty good.

one of my mudroom walls. I got rid of a lot of unnecessary shoes

So, I reccommend reading Kondo's book. It is a pretty fast read. It's not too long. It gets kind of hokey with the whole thanking your things when you put them away and it can get a bit repetitive but, there are some cool ideas in there. If you don't have time to read it, then take this advice... ask yourself "has it served its purpose?" That will be a life altering question for you and your junk.

The Junk: Baby Steps Are Key to Decluttering

Decluttering this year is a big thing for me. I am ready to purge and let go. If you are like me you may feel like you are drowning in stuff. I let things accumulate and accumulate until it is just ridiculous.

I have given myself the deadline of March 31st to have my basement purged. So that means our office, playroom, kitchenette, and garage. Though, our garage is not insulated, so I might wait until spring to do that.

Because there is so much junk the thought of decluttering can see overwhelming and time consuming, but, it doesn't have to be. By organizing things into babysteps you can get things done without feeling over burdened and defeatist.

My friend sent me this link to Home Storage Solutions 101's 15 minute declutter challenge. They give you a calendar for the month and give you a task to complete that day, spending only 15 minutes each day to complete that day's task. January starts with your kitchen.

I like the idea, it allows you to break things into smaller chunks but you are still doing something instead of ignoring the problem, which, let's face it, we all do. Since my kitchen isn't that bad, I'm not following their plan. But, I am taking the principles they are using and applying it to my own situation. Here's what I'm doing.

• Choose a room and divide that room into different sections to tackle.
• Set a timer for 20 minutes and do what you can in that time.
• Complete the first section before moving onto the next section.
• Empty out the section of the room you are working on and put back what you actually want, everything else goes either in the garbage, recycling or give away.

I have been doing this for two weeks now. I give myself a break on the weekends so we can do other chores and fun family things. I didn't do it yesterday as it was a busy day full of errands and then I felt utterly exhausted, so I might set the timer for 30 minutes today instead. And you know what, it is okay if you have to bend the rules a bit for this. The important thing is consistancy. I am amazed how much I have done in so little time. The first section of the office is looking great and I can't wait to tackle the next section.

Do you have decluttering tips you like to use?

12 Days of Decluttering 2014

For the past few years stores in Canada have been taking their cue from the stores in the United States and have been holding Black Friday sales. To me it seems a bit ridiculous, but then that's me. I just don't get why we have to copy things that are done in the U.S. especially since it isn't even a holiday weekend for us in Canada.

Right now, I am trying to limit the things that come into my house, so a sale on things, which is really trying to entice me to spend more and buy more things I don't need, and is merely a good deal, really doesn't thrill me. I guess I could be seen as being the antithesis of Black Friday, and that is o.k. with me.

As I have been thinking of the coming of the Christmas season and all that comes with it I have been thinking of my current junk and my lack of enthusiasm for doing anything with it. With Miss P. still not sleeping through the night I am tired. November is a blah month, where it isn't quite fall but winter hasn't quite set in yet. I find it the month of annoying transition, and I don't feel like doing much. But, Miss V. and Miss G. really want to get the Christmas stuff out and start the whole Christmas season.

Now I like Christmas as much as the next person. I love the music, the decorations, the baking and the lights. What I don't like is when my junk intrudes on the decorations and there is a mix of greenery and junk. It looks so horrible and detracts from the whole spirit of the season.

So with that in mind I have decided to launch the 12 Days of Decluttering and I am hoping you will join me.

What is the 12 Days of Decluttering? Well I'm glad you asked. This is something that shouldn't take a lot of time and add to the stress of the season. It should help you in the celebration of it. Every day for the first 12 days of December you will clean off one shelf, or organize one cupboard, or deal with stuff on one horizontal surface.

I am not asking you do clean out an entire bookshelf or your entire pantry. Just one small shelf. You can do that. This way your pantries will be ready for the baking, your horizontal surfaces will be ready for decorations, and hopefully you will have give away bags to take to your local thrift shop.

I will do my best to document my 12 Days of Decluttering. If you decide to join you can grab the button or leave a comment below. Let me know how you are doing with it. Share pictures of your success. Hopefully this will help all of us get out of this decluttering funk and help us be able to relax more during our Christmas time.

So you have the weekend to come up with your plan and then we start Monday December 1st. Have a great weekend!

THE JUNK - Cleaning Out the Front Closet

 I hate tidying. I would much rather be reading my book or doing something fun with the kids. Yet, I do want a tidy home and often have feelings of being overwhelmed when I look around my house and see the huge task that is decluttering. The yard sale we had in June helped get my declutter juices flowing, but there is still so much to do.

Well, today I did something totally amazing. I cleaned out the bottom of my front closet. Now, I can hear what you are saying. What's the big deal, it's just the bottom section of a closet. But to me it is like reaching the summit of Mount Everest. It is like breaking the glass ceiling of tidying. Let me explain.

We bought our home a little over two years ago. As organized as I tried to be with the move we still inevitably had boxes that we just plunked down in our garage, or front closet. For two years I kept saying, "man we should really clean out that front closet". We would start, but only get half way through and never finish. Or more things would get added to the junk in the closet when we had to do our "emergency clean ups". My husband is the master of making a room look amazingly tidy, but what I am realizing is that really it is not a talent of dealing with the clutter once and for all. It is more a talent of hiding it. So the closets get full and then the junk ends up flowing back into the room and we are back to square one. Messy room, messy closet. But, when I am in a tidying dilemma and guests are on the way over I use his master hiding of junk skills to the max. His talents never cease to amaze me.

before

So with this closet being the home of tidying ups of the past it was getting ridiculous. This week I was feeling so grouchy and crazy about the whole mess of our house etc. that I decided to take the bull by the horns and get rid of the junk in that closet once and for all. I hope seeing the results of this closet, will help give me the motivation for the rest of the house. There are things I want to do in life and being a curator of junk is not one of them. I want to live for myself not for my junk. Now I just need to convince my husband that this closet is a no junk hiding zone. Maybe I should make a sign.

after (and a lot of things in the give away bag and the garbage bag)

So I've done it. I have broken the junk funk, of the front closet at least. Hmmm. What should my next target be?

Do you have a closet or drawer or room in your house that you keep putting off? Why do you put it off? And if you have actually dealt with it did it help with your motivation to keep going?

The Junk - Hosting a Yard Sale

A few weeks ago we had a yard sale. We had collected enough stuff from around the house that we decided it was time to see if we could make some cash. Even some friends of ours donated some items that they didn't want and told us we could keep what we made. Now if that isn't a friend I don't know what is. The weather was rather chilly for June so that might have prevented some people from coming out but on the whole it was a successful day with a steady stream of people, at the end of the day we were $170 richer. That was enough to pay the piano movers to move in a piano the aforementioned friends were giving us (for FREE!). I am sad that my friends were giving their stuff away, because they are moving across the country and we won't get to see them as much. But, I'm happy I was able to sell their stuff! :)

So after slogging through my first (personal) yard sale these are the tips I have.

Tip #1 Set Up Early

Even though we had advertised that we were not going to start our yardsale until 8:00, we made our first sale at 7:50.

My husband and I woke up around 6:00ish and started moving tables out to the drive way getting the stuff out of the boxes and made sure we had good flow and placement of items.

Before the actual day we moved all the stuff we were going to sell into the garage and priced it all. That way all we had to do was open our garage door and move the stuff right out. That little bit of pre-gathering of all stuff for sale helped save us some time and hassle.

So setting up early on the day of is important but so is getting everything ready before hand. It takes an hour or two of time commitment but it is worth it.

me putting the finishing touches on

Tip #2 Price Everything 

While this may sound like a daunting task, especially if you have a lot, just trust me on this. While you may have a sign on the table saying "all books 25 cents" you will be amazed how many people will still come up and ask how much it is. So just hunker down and put a price on it.


For our yard sale I did not go out and buy special stickers or labels. I used a marker and painters tape. I have a lot of painters tape and it is easy to remove off the item once it is sold, so there won't be any residual stickiness.

And know that the price on the item may not be the actual price. While most people, in my experience, wont negotiate some will. So have this be your top price and leave some wiggle room for those who want to negotiate.

The only time that I wouldn't put a price on stuff is if you are having a charity yard sale. I have learned when you are raising money for charity just say "by donation". When they know of the cause they will usually feel more generous and give more then what you would get if you actually had a price on items. Yes, you will get some cheapskates, but they are few and far between and are more than made up for by others. Two months ago my friends and I had a charity yard sale to raise money for our friend's daughter who has a brain tumor and needed financial assistance. By saying by donation we were able to raise over $1000. Not to bad for a yard sale.

Tip #3 Be Ready to Negotiate

Before you start your yard sale you need to decide why you are having it. Are you having it to get rich or are you having it to get rid of junk. If you are having it to get rich you are probably better off to sell some of the bigger items on free sites like kijiji or craig's list or whatever may be in your area. People who go to yard sales are looking for rock bottom prices, at least I am when I go yard saling.

If things are priced too high people will not buy and you won't make any money. Also if you are looking to get rich you probably won't be willing to negotiate and that could mean not as many sales.

If your goal is to get rid of stuff and the extra cash is a bonus be willing to negotiate. At our yard sale I did not try to play hardball. If they offered a price I took it. Most people are reasonable and if they offer a different price than listed it is usually not too far off. Also if people wanted to buy a lot of stuff I would round down to the nearest dollar, or made it a nice round number thus helping the change situation.

To go along with negotiation, at the end of the day make everything 50% off. We did this with an hour to go. This did help motivate some people who were sitting on the fence. This is a great tactic if your goal is to get rid of the stuff. And believe me getting rid of the junk is great!

Tip #4 Make Sure You Have Enough Change

This is the trickiest bit about the yard sale. How much change is too much or too little. You don't want to run out, but then you don't want to be taking it all back to the bank either. We had $160 in change and that seemed to work out perfectly. We had $50 worth of $5,  $50 worth of twoonies (Canada's two dollar coin) $50 worth or loonies (Canada's one dollar coin) and $10 worth of quarters. We had lots of change and we didn't have to run to the bank to get more.

Most people who are seasoned yard salers will make sure they have small bills already so you won't be dealing with too many big bills and so that amount of change be excesive. But I was sure glad I had a lot of change when someone only had a $50 on them and the item they were buying was only $4.

Tip #5 Keep Signs Simple

You can buy signs, but I find them hard to read at times, especially when I am in my car driving by. I made my own signs by using bright pink bristol board (I think it is called poster board to those who are not up with Canadian lingo) and garden shepherd hooks that I got at the dollar store. Using my word processor I made big letters and then cut them out and then made an arrow and cut it out. If you have a cricut machine or something similar you can just use that. I then glued the letters onto my boards and then taped the boards onto the shepherds hooks.

These signs were easy to see were at a higher visual plane than other signs making it easier for potential customers to turn down the street and were cheaper to make than buying actual signs.

I kept the words simple. It simply said "YARD SALE" and then had the arrow pointing the appropriate way to our house. We had them at the main streets and where turns needed to be made. The uniform colour and printing made sure people knew where we were.

I even had matching duct tape on hand, what luck!

Tip #6 Decide What to Do with the Leftovers

No matter how much you might want to think everyone is going to want your junk, you will have things leftover. Decide what you are going to do with it. For us, somethings we were on the fence about. Those we decided to keep. Those items were mainly things that were our kids. Everything else we decided to get rid of. Most of the items went to a secondhand store. Other things like furniture and baby items we put up on kijiji.

If it is important for you to just get rid of the junk put the items directly in your car and take it to a donation centre. Otherwise those items will migrate back into your house negating all the hard work you did to make your house simplified.

Tip #7 Involve Your Kids

Involve your kids in not only contributing some of their stuff to the yard sale, but figure out what they can do to help. My kids are pretty young still, (my oldest is seven). Money is still a weird concept for them especially when making and understanding change. But, I also needed to give them something to do so they wouldn't be watching The Winx Club on YouTube all day. So, we let them have a lemonade stand. They loved it. They drank most of the lemonade themselves but they felt a part of what was going on. They probably would have made more if 1) it was warmer that day and 2) if they weren't distracted by other things and kept abandoning their posts, but when they were their they were quite the entrepreneurs. (People thought they were so cute they would give them money without taking the lemonade. I wished that worked for me!)

the girls at their lemonade stand. it was so chilly we had to find the winter coats

Tip #8 Have Fun

Make this a good experience. Put some fun tunes on, smile and enjoy the time in the sun. There are so many ideas you could do to make this a fun morning; have a friendly competition with your spouse, every hour do a sale, have a special item that if bought they buyer gets to pick another one for free, have your neighbourhood involved etc. You are only limited by your imagination. Think outside the box and have fun!

Reshaping the Year's Goals

So my goals this year were to to have savings for three months of costs and a years worth of food. Man,  it has been tougher to do that then I thought. Repairs have come up that have eaten into the savings that we had saved. Thank goodness we had them. I do not want to use a line of credit again! And as for the food. Either I really suck at being thrifty or food prices have gone up. I budgeted what I thought was a reasonable amount of money to buy the food we need for the month and have some left over to add to the food storage, but it has been slow going. The past two months I don't think I have added anything! It is definitely time to renew my efforts.

But, I think I have discovered new goals that I want to work on as well. That is the great thing about life. We always get a chance to reevaluate where we are and what we want to do differently. While building up savings and food storage is still important to me and I want to do them, I have discovered that my focus is really not on that. My focus has been on clearing out the junk. Both physical and mental junk.

So my new goal for the rest of 2014 is to take control of my house and my head. We are going to go through all the boxes that we still have in the garage (from two years ago!) and get rid of the junk. Organize what we want to keep and get rid of all that doesn't fit. I am excited about this. My husband a bit less so. I am going crazy having to constantly look through boxes for things, to trip over boxes, having junk that we don't need all around us. It affects my mood, my energy levels, and thus it affects the kind of mother and wife that I am, and not in a positive way.

Do you find that? When you are overly cluttered, or not feeling as organized as you would like to be that familial relationships take the toll?

I know this will be a challenge for me but I am ready for it. I am not a naturally neat person, and I hate getting rid of groovy things, but if it is not adding to our happiness, then it really is not serving any purpose and so, has to go. I think that is the question you always have to ask yourself while you are going through your stuff. "Is this adding to my happiness or not". If something is adding to your stress, it has to go. Your health and your relationships are more important than a present that your aunt gave you that you aren't using. I think it might have been Hellen Buttigieg who said this, I can't remember, but whoever said "people give you things to bring you happiness. If it is not get rid of it. They would rather you be happy then hold on to it." (Totally paraphrasing but that is the gist. I am sure they said it way more elegantly then I did.)

The next thing that I want to simplify this year is my electronic time. There are so many distractions in the world. Facebook, pinterest, blogs, news sites YouTube. In today's world you almost feel this urgency that if I don't hear about this or see this on YouTube or whatever, that you have missed out on something great. In reality you can get on just fine without always having to be up on every last thing. I'm not saying you shouldn't be engaged in society, I'm just saying if you miss on little thing, it won't be the end of the world.

There are sometimes when I feel like I have been busy, but then I see what I have accomplished and it isn't much. It is because all my time is really being wasted by computer stuff. And not even useful computer stuff. I want to build a repertoire of healthy recipes. During nap time do I look them up? No, I have been checking email, going on facebook, doing everything but what I really want to do. Then I complain about it. Seriously! what is up with that?! Well it is time to pull in the reigns and evaluate how I'm spending my time. I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to do that. I don't like the idea of rigid schedules but maybe that is what I will need to do. Anyone have tips of how to make the best use of your time?

With distractions, cheap goods and a pull from the world around you it is challenging to simplify. I know, I'm living it now. But I also know that I won't regret going through this simplifying process. I know that it will bring greater harmony to myself and my family. We will be able to spend more quality time together than being worried about the stress of the stuff. I know de-plugging will us make our home a more productive place to be and that personal goals will be able to be better attained. Our focus will be able to be more narrow. It won't be easy but I am ready for the challenge.

THE JUNK 'Tis the Season to get Organized Finally!

before

Well it is starting to look like spring outside. There is still lots of snow. And the temperatures aren't quite as warm as they could be. But, I see grass in my front yard. The sun feels warm. And it is not -30. The temperature is steadily climbing today and is supposed to continue to climb overnight. That makes me super excited, windchill and all.

With all this Spring feeling organizing fever has over come me. Now is the time for me to get organized and I'm really excited about it. It is also frustrating too as the rest of the family hasn't caught it yet. But I'm sure they will and I'm sure we will all be happy about that, right?

after

The first room that I tackled was my older children's room. I had been meaning to do it for awhile but, I'm discovering that a one year old and trying to go through stuff is not a good combination. So things are going a bit slow and that makes me feel ancy and that I'm not going to accomplish anything! Luckily, during the March Break my husband took the day off and took all three kiddos to the museum and I went to town on their room, finishing it off later that week.

 So as you can see before and after. What a difference. Now the kids actually know where their toys are supposed to go. I finally know where the toys are supposed to go. And the best part. It has been about two weeks now and their room still looks neat! Amazing. It is also amazing what a bag of recycling and give away will do to make a room look nice. My next project is to get the office downstairs looking nice. More pictures of that to come.

What do you do when you get in the organizing mood? Do you have any tips of the trade to make it easier?

THE JUNK - Doing the Pile Shuffle

Last week, since it was March break, I had time to do a bit of organizing around the house. I tidied and cleaned the babies room, as that had become the dumping ground of things we weren't sure what to do with when we were doing a quick clean before guests came over. It was amazing the things that came out of that room. I also had the opportunity to tidy the older girls' room. It was ridiculous, I swear my 7 year old is going to be on the show Hoarders when she gets older. By the way a shout out to makers of all children's movies, you made my job going through their stuff much easier. I thank you.

While I was going through the rooms I made the inevitable piles. Piles of clothes to go through to see if they still fit or not. Piles of stuff to go to different rooms in the house. Piles of papers to file, recycle, or shred. Piles that have been sitting there for months waiting for you to do something about and you just get complacent and don't. Piles, piles everywhere.

In a perfect world there would be a place for everything and everything would be in its place. When we were using something we would put it back in its aforementioned place. Life would be quite peachy. When spouses or children asked where an item was we could tell them with confidence instead of racking our brains retracing its steps and trying to remember the last place you saw it. I call that stuff utopia.

I do not live in stuff utopia. Instead I deal with the pile shuffle. No matter what room you tidy there always seems to be a pile of things that made the great migration out of their spot into a room they do not belong. It seems that tidying is just a shuffle of stuff and that it seems to be a never ending shuffle of stuff. The worst is when you are in the middle of a tidying or organizing project and you can't finish it. You have to leave your piles and hope you get back to them soon, otherwise the stuff in the piles want to have a party and start moving and making new friends in piles that are not their own. Or sometimes you simple don't know where to put the item, or don't have the storage set up to house the item. These items are in pile limbo, being shuffled everywhere.

The worst culprits for the pile shuffle are toys. With three kids ranging from 7 to 1 we have toys for different ages and interests. Some toys I have in their bedroom, others are in the living room, the rest are in the playroom in the basement. Yet without fail, the 5 year old wants to play with the babies toy, or their Barbies in their room need to have a movie party downstairs etc. etc. The worst is when they are playing and then want a snack so they bring their toys into the kitchen put them down while they get a yogurt and then leave them there on the floor for me to step on when I do my cooking stuff. I had to ban toys from the kitchen, and so far, so good.

While, we cannot get rid of the piles altogether as they do come in handy, there are somethings they can do to use them as a help and not a hinderance. Here are some tips I thought of while in the middle of the chaotic pile shuffle.

1. Put piles in baskets. This is super helpful for piles of things that don't belong in that room. It makes transport of these items to their proper home so much easier. It also helps keep the piles contained. They won't become the leaning tower of Pisa and merge with other piles. It also helps break up your cleaning. Once the basket is full you can take a break and walk around returning items to their homes. It is nice to be able to take a break to help you feel refreshed and ready for the next round of organizing.
2. Make sure you actually deal with the pile. I know I have just dumped a pile onto the couch or the dining table and then just left it there. If you don't deal with it immediately the items will disperse, get ripped, wrinkled or lost. I know after a long day of organizing it is the last thing you want to do, but your sanity will thank you later.
3. Be honest. If there is an item that always seems to be in a pile, ask yourself "do you really need that item?" If it so important to you it should have a home, or making it a home should be your top priority. If you don't, maybe you shouldn't have that item. (This does not count for files that are needed for taxes or other necessary things like that. Bite the bullet and get a filing system, seriously.) Also, if there is an items that are always in your bedroom but it's home is really in the living room, perhaps you should change its home to the bedroom. Some battles are worth fighting but where a certain toy or magazine is kept is not worth it. Ask yourself "is this really the best place for this?"
4. Give away piles need to leave immediately. For items that are giveaway it is best to put them directly into the box or bag you are going to take to the donation place. As soon as the tidying is done or the bag is full put that bag into your car or out in the garage so no one is tempted to pull things out. You want those items gone, make it as easy as you can for yourself. We are saving items for a yard sale. We have a dedicated spot for those items. It is in a closet so we cannot easily see what is in there. This makes it easier for those items not to get back into the rooms.
5. Be realistic. Right now I have three young kids. My expectations for what I can get through, organizing wise, is quite low. My 1 year-old is quite fast at emptying baskets, getting rid of piles, finding the quickest way to make the biggest mess. It is a true art really. Don't give yourself a huge pile to sort through unless you know you have the time to do it, without interruptions or "help" from little hands. It will make you feel frustrated if you are constantly not able to get it done. Accept what you can do with your limitations and be happy with that. Also accept that you might need help and do what you can to get that help.

Remember the less your things go on vacation the less rounding up of them you will have to do. Make their homes a place that makes sense for their use and try to educate others in your home of where they belong, but listen to your families input as well. What might make sense to you, will not always make sense for others. Work together on this.

What do you do to reduce the amount of time you have to do the pile shuffle?

THE JUNK - You Have a Give Away Pile. Now What?

It has been awhile since I have written my junk series. Probably because I am in the midst of dealing with my junk and am trying not to be too hypocritical.  ;-)

So, you have gone through your stuff. You have put all the recycling in recycling and all your garbage into the garbage. Now you are left with all the other stuff that is still useful, just not useful to you at this moment. What do you do? This is a tough question to answer. A lot of this stuff you paid for with hard earned cash. You don't want to simply give it away. Yet sometimes we are so desperate to have it gone, or fear if it doesn't go away that instant it is doomed to be plucked from the giveaway pile and will forever be part of your household.

Here are some ideas.

Take items of good quality/repair to a consignment shop

I do this with my kids clothing that still has a lot of wear left, but my kids just don't want to wear anymore. I am lucky to have a great kids clothing consignment shop just down the street from me. Their store is set up so you get a percentage of what the item sold for. You can either get the money in cash or save it as store credit. Since I buy a lot of my kids clothing there I keep it as store credit. There is nothing as satisfying as walking out of a store with lots of nice clothes and not having to spend an penny on it (ok, a nickel as our penny has gone the way of the dodo).

There are other consignment stores for adult clothes, furniture, or other good quality items. That is the thing with consignment stores. They are more picky about what they take in because they want the item to sell, so, if they turn away your stuff, don't feel bad, it's just not in their niche.

Consignment stores also have different agreements/contracts. Most have a set time they will allow that item to be in the store. And then either you let them dispose of it how they will or you have to go and get it. At the kids consignment store I use, they have the item on their racks for 3 months. After that they slash the price by 50% and have it their for another 3 months. If is still hasn't sold you can come in and get your item or just leave it there (you just won't get a commission for it). I usually just leave my stuff there if it hasn't sold. My mindset if I can get money awesome, if not, well at least it is out of my house!

Host an item swap

This is a great way to get rid of things but still getting something in return. My kids' school just hosted a book, movie and game swap. I got rid of some of the icky children's books I loathe to read, and we got to pick up some that are cool and don't fill me with loathing.

There are many ways you can do a swap. You could make it an item for item thing. So if you bring in three items you can leave with three items. Or you can bring in your items and leave with however many items you want. You can make it for just clothing, or just books, or just toys, or just kitchen gadgets. Or have it be a smorgasbord event.

A church near me has a clothing swap. You bring in a bag of clothes and get a ticket for either a small bag or a big bag depending on what you brought in. This allows you to take that size bag of stuff home for free. If you didn't bring in any items  you can still bring stuff home it just costs you $1 for a small bag or $3 for a big bag.

A swap is great because you can either do it on a small scale with friends, or on a huge community scale. It's up to you, but it is a great way to get new to you stuff, for free.

Yard Sale

This is a great way to get cash for your junk without needing a middleman. Sometimes you can get your whole neighbourhood together and have a neighbourhood yard sale. You will get more people coming by and it is fun to do things with others.

Make sure you do yard sales when the weather is warm and people want to be outside. This might not be a big deal for people who live in climates where it doesn't snow, but here in Canada, please wait until May, it will be too cold otherwise.

When you are putting a yard sale together make sure you have clear prices. This doesn't mean you have to label every single item. You could have signs that say, Books $0.25 or Fill a bag of clothes for $1. When you do this people can prepare their money and won't constantly be asking you "how much". Be prepared for hagglers. At the end of the day you are not having a yard sale to make a million dollars, you just want some compensation for your junk, so make some deals.

Another tip is be ready for the early birds. Hardcore yard salers start combing the streets early, like 7ish early. Sacrifice sleeping in and be ready for them. Have money ready to make change. If possible make your sale a rain or shine event, that way you don't have to plan on spending another Saturday with the yard sale, this could mean hosting it in your garage or putting up some sort of shelter.

Put item on Kijiji or another online sale website

My husband is the king of kijiji. He can sell anything, and have it sold fast. His tips are take lots of pictures of the items from a variety of angles. People want to see what you are offering without having to come see it physically. We get lots of contacts because people can see from the comfort of their own home what exactly we are offering.

Another tip is to make your add interesting. My husband comes up with some of the funniest little lines when making up his add. It takes him an hour to put it together, but it gets results. We have never had to wait longer than half a day to get someone interested in our item and usually it is sold within two days.

I have done all those things now what?

If you have done those things and still have items left over this is when you need to make a decision. What is more important, trying to get money back on these items, or having a house with less clutter and junk? At the end of the day it is your decision. There is no right or wrong answer. Though I will admit, having less clutter and junk around definitely helps my blood pressure go down and I can spend more time with my family than worrying about what to do with items that I don't love.

This spring we are going to have a yard sale. I have a closet in the basement where I have been putting various items we want to get rid of. My husband and I have decided that as soon as the yard sale is done we are gathering all the items that haven't sold and donating them to charity. For us having less clutter is the answer for us.

THE JUNK - Time Waster No More!

Though this might not deal with de-cluttering a space per se, a planner is an essential tool to de-clutter our time and prioritize where are energies will be focused.

I am really good at organizing big life events. Vacations, camping trips, birthday parties, baby blessings, are all planned to the exacting detail. My own day to day life... well that is a different story. A whole week can go by and I don't do any of the projects I wanted to do. I then get frustrated that they aren't done and that I have wasted a weeks worth of time. The old saying, "out of sight, out of mind" definitely applies to me. As well, let's admit it. It is much easier to sit and be lazy than to have to actually move and tackle a mountain of work.

Well, my planner has changed that. I am still not perfect at using it, it is only useful if I know where it is, but I do get a lot of things accomplished when I actually use it. Even just seeing the cover is a reminder to me to get off my duff and do something. It is my one stop shop for helping me feel organized, well organized with my time, remember don't open up any of my closets.

Planners are not a one fit all type of tool. There are so many on the market that you have to find one that really fits you and your lifestyle. A planner can be a purchased book, a high tech gadget, or a simple piece of paper outlining your day. It can be divided into hours, days, weeks etc. It can have spots to put your goals, or addresses or notes, or just simply be for organizing your time. The combinations seem endless.

I prefer something tangible that I do not have to rely on my computer for, so a purchased book planner is the one for me. Since I am not super busy everyday. and don't want to feel compelled to do household items at a certain time, I do not need a planner that divides my day up by the hour. So, I get a planner with a week spreading over two pages. It is nice to see a week at a glance.

The planner I use is called the Polestar Family Calendar. My mom started using them over twenty years ago and every Christmas she gives me my own copy and I love it! Each week starts with Monday and then each day is divided into three columns entitled family appointments, meals/kitchen, home. There is also a places in the margins for a to do list and a to buy list. These make it easy to plan meals and household tasks, especially since the shopping list is right there. There is also a month at a glance at the beginning of each month, which makes it nice for writing goals for the month and things around the house that need to get done that month. (I am not getting any kind of compensation from polestar calendars. I just really love their product!) 

A planner is good for people who are not list people. Just schedule things into your day. It is not a list, just appointments with yourself.

So, whether you like planners or not, they can be a useful tool to organize your thoughts and make your dreams into realities. It is essential to find a planner that fits you and your thought process, but for me the Polestar Family Calendar fits the bill. It helps me organize my life and and helps me know that I do have things to do and not just empty swaths of time. A planner is a wonderful tool that helps me live my simple life. 

The Junk - Clothing

I don't know about you but clothes seems to always be an issue in our house. I just can't seem to get a handle on it. Laundry getting in the hamper is not usually an issue, unless my girls decide under the bed is better than the hamper. The problem is once the clothes are washed and folded, they just don't seem to want to back in the drawers from whence they came. So they end up as piles on the floor that get knocked over and mixed up.

Then, there are the outgrown clothes. Since I have all girls I save all the still nice looking clothes to pass down the line. So, I have totes with labels of different sizes, which house the said sized clothes. Not a problem. The step that seems to be crazy is I will wash the clothes that need to be stored, and somehow instead of ending up in the tote, the end up back in the drawers. And then, I get to deal with them all over again. It seems to be a vicious cycle.

I am still coming up with a sure fire method to this clothing madness. There are some tips that have helped me. Here they are.

1. Minimize the amount of clothes

We live in a time where clothes are fairly cheap. I can buy shirts and pants for $4. As well, they are making kids clothing so darn cute that you want to buy everything you see to make your child the cutest ever.

Another problem, is that many of us don't know how many articles of clothing our children actually need, so we keep buying because we figure that they need it. My brother in-law sat down and made a list of the bare minimum his kids needed to get through the week/seasons. I have tweaked the list a little to better suit my children, but it is nice to have a starting point. The following list is for girls, but it will give you an idea of what you need and should be fairly easy to change to make it work for boys.

• 1 Snow Suit
• 1 Spring/Fall Jacket
• 1 Rain Coat
• 1 pair Winter Boots
• 1 pair Rain Boots
• 4 Shoes/Sandals (this include running shoes, and dress shoes)
• 2 Winter Hats
• 2 Mittens
• 2 Summer Hats
• 2 Bathing Suits
• 1 pair Sunglasses
• 7 T-shirts
• 2 Sweaters
• 7 Long sleeved shirts
• 1 Nice White Shirt
• 5 Pants
• 4 Skirts/Dresses
• 5 Shorts/Capris
• 8 Socks
• 8 Underwear
• 3 Tights
• 3 Warm Pyjamas
• 3 Cool Pyjamas

This doesn't mean that you can't have more clothing, but hopefully this will help you avoid buying clothes unnecessarily.

2. Don't store totes in children's room

Part of my clothing in tote problem is that sometimes the totes are in the girls' closets. It is nice to have them close to where they will be needed, but at the same time, you can open them and not close them properly, or you might just place the clothes on top instead of putting them actually in the tote, or the kids are napping and you don't want to disturb them so you end up not putting the clothes in the totes at all.

It is much easier to keep the totes in the garage or other storage area that is independent of the children's room. That way they are still easy to access, but they are not dependent on the rooms being unoccupied. Also you will actually lift the lid and put the clothes in the tote as you don't want clothes randomly floating around with power tools.

3. Help children put away clothes or at least be in the room with them

You may not have to do this with older children, or teenagers, but with younger children it is essential. I know that my 6 year old can open the drawers of her dresser herself and that she knows which drawer each different item goes in. But, if she had a choice between putting her clothes away and playing with her toys or coming up with a cool game with her sister, well I think we all know what she will do.

By being in the room you can encourage, help if needed, and make sure they haven't missed anything, before the playing starts. You may think that there are other household chores you could be doing at that moment, since it seems redundant to be sitting there but, if you don't want to have to deal with THE JUNK that is clothing, it is worth the five minutes.

So hopefully some of these tips will help you tackle THE JUNK of clothing. I am still working on other ways to keep the clothing at bay. If you have any tips or insights let me know!

The Junk - Loot bags

Kids seem to come with a lot of junk. Everywhere you turn kids get more and more junky toys and crafts. Restaurants, community activities, school, and the notorious party loot bag. Oh how I loath the loot bag. Tiny plastic craziness.

Now don't get me wrong. I love bringing joy to children with a loot bag but, the cheapy stuff from the dollar store that breaks, doesn't work well and just plain sucks... NO THANKS! (I love the dollar store for many other things.)

It was refreshing to me when my daughter came home from a birthday party with a tomato plant seedling. The party was held in mid-march and the seedling was an inch or so high. My daughter watered it faithfully. She made sure it had enough sunlight and, when the time was right, planted it into a bigger container for the summer. She watched in anticipation as her plant continued to grow and thrive. She squealed with delight when the yellow flowers appeared and was in awe when she saw the green tomatoes start to ripen.

This simple loot bag idea kept giving and giving. It showed thoughtfulness, as the birthday parent would have had to start the seeds in advance of the party, and it taught their own child about gardening and seeds. Super awesome! My daughter was thrilled with the plant and didn't come home asking, "where are the toys?"

My last loot bag was homemade play dough and chocolate. (Two of my children have birthdays in late April. Hello Easter candy sales!) Both items are consumable and will not add to "the junk". (If the play dough was not wanted it can be put in the compost or a green bin as it is homemade.)

So this is my plea. Say no to the itsy bitsy toys of plastic. They may look cute but they really suck. Kids love them, parents don't. They add to the clutter of our homes and the clutter of the earth, as they are most likely to end up in the landfill. Quality is much better than the quantity of toys. Give loot bags that will give an experience. Though the tomatoes are gone, the memory of the plant is still there, and my daughter is already planning our garden for next spring.

The Junk - A Series

Some people get drawn to the simple life because it promises a life of less stress, less clutter and more meaning. There is not excess. Things are bought with a purpose in mind. Things are kept because they serve a purpose.

Right now I feel like I am drowning in clutter. Perhaps drowning is a bit over the top. You will not find our house on a hoarders episode. However, the clutter that is around the house makes me feel stressed and not happy. If your belongings are not adding to your happiness, then what is the point of them. (I am talking about the extra things that you don't really need, not about the stove or sink, those are necessities and if they are not bringing you happiness then that is another issue all together.)

For me, I don't want to go completely minimalist. I just want less junk in the house. I want what is in my house to have a purpose and be beautiful. If I want to sew things at my sewing machine I don't want to have to move piles in order to do it. I don't want to have to move things around to set the table for dinner. When it gets to that point you are not happy. The stuff is becoming a barrier for you to be able to do the things that interest you and that you enjoy. If you have to move stuff out of the way to sew are you likely going to sew? I am guessing the answer is, no.

Over the next few weeks I will have a series of blogs that relate to "the junk". It will deal with things that create clutter or is clutter. The posts will commiserate with you as well as give you hints on what to do or how to manage things differently.

I came to this idea, because I am ready to pare down and get rid of the stuff that is preventing me from doing what I would love to do. Before I was giving myself excuses, "you just had a baby" or "wait until you have money for more organizing materials" or "I don't know where to begin". Well no more. My husband and I had a powwow session and decided that we need to be adults and just do it. Make the goals have the follow through and just do it. So we are doing it.

I am by no means an expert, but hopefully by writing my experience as I go through my stuff it will help you as well. It will definitely help motivate me.

So de-clutter "the junk" from your life. What tips do you have? Is there a room in your house you are loathe to go through?