Week #3 Wrap up of 40 in 40

Here we are at the end of week #3 in my yearly Lenten project with Ann Marie over at White House Black Shutters . During this week, in our support group (YES! We have a FB support group. It's amazing and very needed) we took a lot of time discussing WHY we save clutter and how to work through the emotional ties that bind us to "stuff". It is my hope that once I complete this project and my basement is livable again that I will never go back to my hoarding ways. Something that has helped me is to imagine the basement as part of my house and not a black hole to throw stuff. If it's not acceptable to "live" with the stuff, it's not acceptable to throw it in the basement for later. I am also trying to have only what I love, keep only what I actually use (not what I "might" use in 2034) and to give myself limits on what I can keep. For example: I can keep the amount of clothing that fits into my drawers. Otherwise I need to make choices and pare down until it DOES fit into the drawers. Same goes with every space in the house and basement.  It was enlightening and helpful. I'm officially half way through the basement cluster and my "living" part of the house is about 80% finished! I also got a very special reward this week (You will see at the end). 

So....Basement progress. Again, not a lot of pretty pictures of fancy things, but here is the before and after. Note I did put away the holiday decorations from both Halloween and Christmas. :) 

Before:

After:

From the Laundry area view:

That pile resting in that corner is my next week's project. Hopefully this entire half of the basement will be completed by next week. I made a trip to Thrift King this week and a TON more trash to the curb. I also cleaned out my car to prepare for our weekend getaway which surprisingly only yielded a half a bag! (Don't worry I filled it up inside the house!)

My reward for completing so much.....An amazing new bed set and matching 1600 thread count Egyptian Cotton Sheets. I also purchased a memory foam mattress topper. It is AMAZING! Completely transformed my ancient mattress into a nice and comfortable bed for sleeping. 

I cleared out 11 bags/boxes to the trash and took 6 bags/boxes to Thrift King. Taking my Total for the Challenge to:

24 Bags of Trash

35 Bags Donated

That's 59 Total Bags for the Challenge so far. I'm pretty impressed with the amount of clutter gone. *Note the Bags are either Garbage Bags or Boxes of items for donation. 

To all my decluttering friends out there: Keep up the good work!!