Fill'er Up

I had hoped to make some progress in cleaning my office today, but a big program happened today and I was apart of it.  It took up a good part of my day, so I didn't get much cleaning done.

However, I was multitasking at the gas station!  While I was filling up my car, I cleaned up under the passenger side seat.  I tossed a guide book, several activity book pages and a few other pieces of paper.  Had my tank needed more gas, I would have thrown away more stuff!

Conquering the Kitchen

It started with the outside of the fridge.  There were too. many. magnets. There still are, but I threw away a few that held no meaning, and neatened up the rest.  I have a little magnet bucket that can hold a few things.  It was holding a lot of things... some sticks with smiley faces that were brought home from school, movie tickets and gift cards, and membership cards to a few local attractions.  I kept the membership cards up there because it's a nice easy place to remember where they are at.  The movie tickets and cards were moved to a bedroom drawer with the other movie passes we have (we often get movie passes from our jobs), and threw away the sticks.  The fridge isn't as overwhelming now.

I moved to the inside of the fridge.  I HATE to throw away food, but once in a while, leftovers creep to the back of the fridge and are forgotten about.   Sigh.

I was on a roll.  I moved to the drawers beside the fridge.  I tossed a couple of potholders I never use, moved a couple of cloth place mats to the closet where the rest of them are, and threw out a couple plastic straws that no longer fit any of the boys' cups.  I started in on the junk drawer next to those drawers, but didn't finish.  I think I'll have to tackle that another day.

Without Alot of Effort

Today was a good day for getting rid of things I don't need.  I did a minimal amount of housecleaning today but feel good about what I've purged.

I came home from our weekend away with a bunch of children's books.  My Mother-In-Law was going to throw them out and I couldn't let that happen!  We love books.  Although I was particular in what we took home (well, my son took a one or two I wouldn't have taken) we still took home more than what would fit in our bookcase.  So, it was time to clean out the bookcase.  I asked my son if he would like to help me give away some of his books.  I told him we could give them to his day care, so the babies there could enjoy them.  He really liked that idea so he helped me stack up just enough books to empty space for our new books.  I'm surprised he didn't give me a harder time.  It was him who suggested most of the books, and after he turned his back, I put two back on his shelf! I just wasn't ready to part with them!

Our kids' humidifier is broken and has been sitting in my room for about 2 months now.  My husband and I have no idea what is wrong or how to fix it, so into the dumpster it went today.  My hubby also cleaned off most of his bedside table today (remember I said there were sales circulars on it?  This table was a mess!), and although it isn't empty, he did clear it off pretty good. It was mostly filled with things that didn't belong there (like children's books and VHS movies!).  The last things from my bedroom I trashed were some old slipper socks.  I threw away four pair, I think, and I still have three pair left, two singles that I know are around somewhere and received two more pair for Christmas.  One of my son's wanted to make clothes for his stuffed animal, so I gave him a sock to cut up.  It worked great!

We wrapped up the afternoon cleaning spree by throwing away a cookie tin.  I'm thankful for all the Christmas cookies we received, but I don't need another tin in the house.

I feel like I'm back on track from my depressing day yesterday!!

I Hope I'm Not Getting Bad at This Already!

So, I kind of figured I wouldn't blog every day.  I know I'll be going away for weekends, and on vacation.  I don't know what my problem has been this week.  It only takes a minute to come over to my computer and write a few sentences, but I haven't made myself do it. Chasing two kids after working all day might have something to do with it.  I really need to get better at sitting down for that minute because blogging is keeping me accountable for attaining my goal.

I know I've thrown things away this week, however, how intentional it was I don't know.  A couple of times I threw something away and said to myself", "I'll have to remember this for my blog" but now I can't remember what I did.  I don't know what I threw away Wednesday and Thursday.  I do remember that one day I thought I hadn't thrown anything away and I may have found something after that.  Yesterday, I cleaned up a bedside table a bit and threw away some old sales circulars that were hanging around for some unknown reason.

Today was great though!  My husband likes to bring things home from work.  He mostly brings home umbrellas, sunglasses and water bottles.  Oh, the water bottles!  It actually skeeves me out a bit when he brings them home and wants to use them.  They are fine, I suppose, because we put them through the dishwasher so they are clean, and they are made to be reusable, I mean, that is their purpose.  I guess I just need to get over that.  However, whenever my husband finds one at work, he brings it home and it's his new favorite cup (he'll bring one back to work and drink from it while working).  This summer we bought a reusable, refillable cup at Hershey, and now he brings that to work everyday.  His coworkers call it his sippy cup!  Today I was in the cupboard and easily convinced him to throw all the others away that he doesn't use anymore.  There were a couple more up there too, that I got rid of.  This, for me, was awesome!

Tomorrow I am really going to make a conscience effort to get rid of something.  I really want to get back on track!!

Teddy Bears and Kitchen Clutter

Teddy bears have faces.  That makes them much harder to throw away.  I just can't put them in a trash can, trash bag, box or any place I know where they will be covered with unwanted things.  When I was younger, I used to imagine my stuffed animals would talk and move around when I wasn't looking.  I imagine you can guess a couple of my favorite movies.  Hmm... a movie about talking toys, perhaps?  I've seen Toy Story 3 100 times and I still cry at the end.  I've even come in at the end of the movie and I STILL cry.  Favorite children's book? The Velveteen Rabbit.  Wouldn't it be great to love a toy to life?  Sigh....

Well, as tough as it was, I threw away a small teddy bear yesterday.  I organized the boys' stuffed animals shelf and tucked a few in some open shelves on the side of the dresser that was attached to the crib at one time.  I was hoping to find some more to get rid of, but amazingly I was able to find homes for all of them (including Buzz and Woody dolls) except for one tiny bear, that I think was a Build A Bear replica that was a McDonald's toy won in an Easter Egg Hunt.  At one time it had a fireman's jacket and hat, but that found it's way to the trash a while ago because I thought the bear was lost.

Today I tackled the clutter on top of the microwave.  I try to keep it clean, but clutter just magically appears on it.  I threw away some Christmas candy, including a Pez dispenser, a fortune cookie and some school papers that were up there.  I filed a recipe, a Thanksgiving place mat made by a boy in school and put away some note pads.  There were some unmade Christmas crafts that were up there too, that I put away until next year. Something splattered up there too, because I cleaned the wall behind the microwave and the bottom of the cabinet above it.  Hopefully this will stay clean a little longer this time around.

Scrapbook Weekend

I love to scrapbook.  I don't get the chance to do it often, but this weekend, I went away and got to scrap from Friday morning to early this morning.  I had some nice "me time", and got 70 pages done! One of the nice things this crop offers, is a flea market table. I took a few things from home that I don't need or use anymore, priced it to sell, and tried to get rid of it to the other scrappers in the room. I had a Sizziz die-cut machine and a letter die set that I bought for over $100 but never used.  I tried to sell it at 2 different yard sales this fall, but apparently they don't go for much any more.  I sold the machine for $5 this weekend and sold the letters for $5 as well.  Not what I wanted, but it didn't come home with me.  I had a few small dies that didn't sell, and I tossed them this morning when cleaning up.  I didn't have a lot to sell, but I was able to get rid of a few things, and through away a few more.  I did bring a couple of things home, but not much.

I also threw away a lot of pictures this weekend.  That made me sad, but I did it.  I need to realize I don't have to scrap EVERY picture I take.  I'm getting better.  A few times I wanted to dig through the trash to keep something I tossed, but I reminded myself that all these pictures are on my computer, so if I really want to use a particular picture for something, I can reprint it.  I did scrap a couple of pages that had more pictures than I needed on it, but they were cute, and for the way I laid out the page, it works.

I created a lot of trash this weekend.  Between the pictures, and sticker packaging and unusable paper scraps, I filled and emptied a small trash bag three times.  I threw away some big stuff directly into a trash can as well.  I was thinking this might cheat as well as my challenge goes, but it's stuff I used up and threw away.  Therefore, I'm counting it! My home embellishment pile is smaller, and smaller piles around the house is what my goal is!

More Office Cleaning

No pretty pictures today, just my lovely words (and seriously, just as I was typing "lovely words" my son said "I love you Mommy"!  Sweetest. Kid. Ever!)

Yesterday I cleaned up a bit more of my office. I  had some boxes and things gathering on my floor, so I looked through it and found new homes for most of it.  The trash can definitely ate an old cookie tin and Easter basket.  There were a few other random things as well.

Today, I cleaned out a bunch of emails.  I know, not really anything I can trip over, but still needed to be done.  Especially because I was reaching my mail box limit.  My email folders are definitely holding items that I really don't need anymore.  Just another thing I'm afraid to get rid of!

I Can Do Better

I'm going to try and blog as close to every day as I can.  I'm hoping that keeps me more accountable to my goal of getting rid of something every day.  However, I've already realized that blogging everyday isn't going to happen.  I already blogged about the weekend in a post yesterday, which means I didn't blog about what I threw out yesterday.  I'm going away this weekend and won't have a computer, so that'll be a weekend I don't blog either.  I'm thinking weekend heaves may be told about in one post at the beginning of the week, and I can see myself getting busy or out of a routine and having to catch up at other times too.  Oh well.  I'm still getting rid of stuff every day, so my goal is still being met!!

So, yesterday... I threw out a lipstick color I didn't like.  Today I went through my make up drawer and threw away a few more items.  I know there are more toiletries I can get rid of, but I'm feeling pretty good about starting there.  I was going through some old pictures, and I found some of people I used to work with years ago and people I don't even know anymore. I pulled those and tossed them.  I KNOW I have plenty more pictures that I can get rid of.  That'll be a chore for another day, but again, I started the process and I feel inspired to do more.

Another big removal today was from my office.  I recycled a whole box of letters that I had too many copies of.  I kept them because I thought I might need them if I did another mailing, but I didn't need that many.  Now the deadline for that request is over so out the letters went.  I found a catalog and a few other papers and posters that I got rid of too.  I found a new home for some old t-shirts too.  Cleaning out my office is going to be a huge undertaking!

I tell ya, throwing stuff away is easier than I thought and I'm so inspired to do more!  I want to keep going and going!

Weekend Clothes Warrior

Over the weekend I got rid of a lot of clothes - mostly kid clothes.  As you can see from the above picture, my little one cannot complain about having nothing to wear! Besides the benefit of cleaning out the closet and getting rid of some things around the house, I made a little money!

On Friday I received the bag I ordered from ThredUP.  ThredUP is like an online consignment shop for kids clothes.  I filled the bag with some great clothes (probably 1/2 to 3/4 of that tote) and sent it off.  The clothing will be posted on their website and I'll get cash for what is sold!  

On Saturday, I sold another trash bag filled with kids clothes to a woman I've sold to before.  I've met up with her so many times that we have built a little friendship, and now I just give her clothes.  It's been awhile since I've seen her (her grandson is catching up size wise to my son, so I haven't had much), but I was still going to just give her this bag.  She insisted I take money from her, so I made a few unexpected dollars.  The money was actually a blessing because later that day, I needed to buy some emergency clothes for my son and I spent all but a penny that she had given me!

Sunday I donated a bag of my old clothes and a few other items I had from around the house.  It feels good to finally have all that stuff out of the boys' room!

Toys, Toys, Toys!!

I've been pretty good lately about getting rid of some of the kids' toys.  I cleaned out before Christmas anticipating their new arrivals.  The boys even helped me get rid of some of their cars!  We gave them to our friend's son on New Year's Eve.  But after doing Christmas three times, the toy box lid once again wouldn't close.  So, tonight I went through it one more time.

Having the boys around doesn't help a whole lot, but they were willing to let a few things go, especially when I told them the toys were broken.  There were also a few Kid's Meals' toys that I secretly tossed, and honestly, I put some toys in new locations, just because they didn't really belong in the box.  I was thinking we might have a few things to give to friends or donate, but really everything I tossed was cheap or broken.  It still feels good that I get to close the toy box lid though.

The Greeting Cards Have All Been Sent

My Kindergartener received several Christmas cards from his new classmates this year.  I just think it was so  sweet.  OK, sure, it was probably the mom's of all those kids that the cards really came from, but I think it's nice just the same.  When I read the names of the senders to my son, he was excited every time he recognized a name.   He really wanted to send cards out as well, but I just didn't have the time to get special cards (the cards I sent out to family and friends had personal pictures of our family on them, not really appropriate for his class). The thought of him making friends and having his own little life at school, really warms my heart.  That is why I'd like to keep these first Christmas cards that belong to him.

But, it's a year of getting rid of things, so these cards must go.  Even though I've taken down all my other Christmas cards, I've left his hanging up waiting for an idea of what to do with them.  So, I've taken a picture to record the memory, I've written down the names of all the senders, and I'll tuck those away in a scrapbook that I'll be making next week. That way, he'll have a little memory of how kind his classmates were, and I won't have the clutter in my house!

I'm inspired!

I don't usually make New Year's Resolutions.  I used to make a list on my birthday of things I wanted to accomplish in the upcoming year.  I always have a to do list in my planner, both for home and work.  But this year, I'm inspired!  I didn't set out to make any resolutions but I found a few websites yesterday that inspired me.

A friend of mine told me about a couple of websites that inspire her to wake up earlier in the morning to spend time with God and be fully prepared for her kids and her day.  I'm not a huge fan of waking up any earlier than I have to in the mornings, but I'd love to get in some exercise and I should really start my day with God instead of just ending my day with Him.  Then, I was on Pinterest looking at crafts for the kids and saw some be-crafty-for-365-days sites.  I'm a scrapbooker, but knew that creating a new scrapbook layout every day would be unrealistic, and I take enough pictures so I'm not really interested in taking another picture every single day (nor can I think of anything interesting to take a picture of for 365 days).  I was thinking about maybe using something from my craft stash every day, which could be doable, especially   since I have kids that love to craft too.  Then it hit me... I need to get rid of some of my clutter!!

I have way too much stuff.  I feel it's weighing me down.  I have piles and boxes of papers and things that I just either can't get rid of, can't decide what to do with, or just don't have the time to go through.  That's why I made this challenge to myself.  I figure if I just get rid of one thing every day, eventually, it will become easier, I'll feel better, and won't feel so overwhelmed!  I don't have to necessarily make trash.  I'm very happy to recycle, donate and give away, and maybe even repurpose.  I'm excited to take on this project, and I'm sure my husband will be glad to help.  In fact, I'm sure he has a few things he can depart with too!

So, for my first pitch of the challenge....lip moisturizer!  I know, it's small, but I have to start somewhere, right?  I received a couple of new lip balms in my Christmas Stocking, so I threw out all my old ones.  I think I have one or two at work too, so tomorrow, I'll be getting rid of those as well.  

I'm feeling lighter already!