Well the end of week #1 is here! 40 Bags in 40 Days project started on Ash Wed. (Feb. 13th) and if you aren't familiar it's a way of "Giving up for Lent" (Clutter!) and a way to refocus on Simple Living, Organizing and reducing the clutter in your home. This is my 3rd year hooking up with Ann Marie at White House Black Shutters and the first two years collectively I purged over 100 bags of clutter from our home.
That might leave you to think that I have a handle on this. Right?! Well, WRONG! I realized this year that I have not tackled the madness and really have barely touched the surface. I have a huge basement that is over-flowing and even worse...Still parts of my home that contains items that are not usable, not loved, and basically....Trash!
So this year I'm hitting hard. Not holding anything back and purging it. Once and for all. We have a small home. 2 bedrooms....3 kids. You get the idea. Simple Living seems to elude me in the piles of stuff. My disorganization costs me time (LOTS of time searching for that ONE thing I want) and money (Just buying it because I can't find it). And I also realized this year that I don't "love" my home. Mostly because my entire home is decorated with "other people's things". things that people have given me, passed down, and collected through the years.
So...I have finally decided to break those emotional ties that bind me and work towards "My home". Before the 40n40 project started though, I confess I started early. I began at the beginning of the year and while I didn't count bags or donate things (YET! They were moved to the basement) I started redoing some problem areas.
Kitchen:
Pretty new Fiesta Ware (Which I LOVE and are Lead Free, the main reason for the replacement!!!!) Replaced all the items that were crammed in the same cabinet. Crazy!
(These are technically still in my home in the basement...but it's progress)
I cleared off my buffet that seemed to ALWAYS collect junk and now it's a usable space for storage of my dry goods. I found these awesome glass jars at Thrift King for $2.00 a piece!
And now Wednesday I started cleaning out the clutter!!!
In the bathroom I found an entire box full of old vitamins and prescriptions. Some expired in 1998! Seriously people...I moved them 3 times. That is madness!
"Bag" #1 down!
Baby Baer's drawers were tackled. I found about 30 pair of infant booties. And umm...She's 2!
these bags aren't "counted" yet because they technically have not left my home either. This is an important part of it for me. While I have cleared it from our living space it still sits in waiting....In the basement. Once it is MOVED from my home then it will be counted.
I tackled under the bathroom sink! And then...under the kitchen sink
And then I also "started" the basement. Which means there are no pictures of progress because all I did was walk through and gather trash.
Total Count for the first (short) week is 8 Bags of Trash! GONE!
Next Week I'm tackling more of the basement. The Linen Closet, My dresser, and hopefully Papa Baer's dresser as well.
Great progress!! I get why you're not counting them until they leave. Our bags are all going into the garage (if applicable) as we're having a garage sale this spring. But recycling/trash and give back/give away or sold stuff will physically leave before then. I don't have a basement, but my office is overflowing with stuff from everywhere else.
ReplyDeleteGood job! Love how organized the drawers look.
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