An idea for a 'simplify your life' challenge

I think I've been decluttering my entire life. I almost always have a pile for Goodwill. I have one right now that contains some books and clothes.
 
Does one big 'ol yard sale we are putting things aside for count? Obviously when the weather warms up!
 
I am all for de-cluttering but ....I am so lazy, and, anyway, my wife is too sentimental. I always thought that the best way to have a neat and orderly home is to have very few things.
 
It's amazing the crap that I have bought over the years and stuck into a cupboard never to resurface until we are on the move.

I'm in the process of doing a big declutter and my mantra is one I heard from a psychologist on Hoarders. That is how would I feel if the thing in question was not in my life. 99.9% of the time I go who would care. I think with regards to clothing and more expensive items a bit of guilt is involved knowing the cost involved.
 
There was a good question I read on another site too:

"Would I buy this again?"

Can we call it something like Simplifying Saturday?
Minimalist Monday?
Tidy Tuesday?
Freeing Friday?
 
DW subscribes to some lady called "Flylady"....she's all about removing clutter...........but it seems to be taking awhile for DW to get indoctrinated..........:)
 
When I was clearing out our house to sell, I would turn on the daily episode of "Clean Sweep" to help keep me motivated. So every day for an hour, I would get a drawer or two or shelf or whatever cleaned out while listening to folks being counseled about their clutter. It made it more entertaining!

Audrey
 
I like 'Simplifying Saturday'. I'll start a thread by that title this weekend.

In the mean time, start thinking about what your first week's 'contribution' will be - maybe even take a photo to upload if you're really into the spirit.
 
I like "Simplifying Saturday". I will get busy around here particularly if we get more snow today and tomorrow and I take comp time from work to hibernate.
 
Maurice said:
I like 'Simplifying Saturday'. I'll start a thread by that title this weekend.

In the mean time, start thinking about what your first week's 'contribution' will be - maybe even take a photo to upload if you're really into the spirit.
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Great idea. And perfect timing for me, as I have been thinking along these lines anyway for former w*rk clothes and hardcopy books. :D
There is a local church that does rummage sales constantly, so I have a repository for my giveaways. I'm not even going to bother writing down what I give away. Too much hassle.
 
First week's contribution went out today. To wit:

2 chair cushions for a chair we no longer have
One large empty duffle bag
One knee brace
One fanny pack
One bag of kids' craft supplies (to our preschool, about 15 items total)
One bag of canned goods nearing the end of their shelf life (two months before the expiration date we pull them and give them to the food bank)
Six demitasse spoons

So what, that's 25 items already, not counting the individual cans of food. I'm on a roll!
 
Yesterday: one 1997 Ford F250 4x4 longbed truck, given to a friend's daughter. Adios.
 
Urchina, you inspired me! I have so much de-cluttering yet to do. Tonight I found:

6 bottles of various kinds of hair goop or skin goop too old to use
2 pairs of contact lenses from 2004 that didn't work out
12 bottles of contact lense solutions of various kinds and sizes.
2 coffee makers
1 mixer (bowl missing)
20 pairs old socks and knee-highs, 1 shoelace
1 freebie visor with my agency's logo

That's 7 types of things, or 44+ things. I am already happier - - I straightened up one of my lower kitchen cabinets in the process, and it actually has some room in it now.
 
Gave a set of 1920 Encyclopedias, a box of about 60 paperbacks and six sad irons to the local thrift store.
 
I threw out a few old curling irons , an old hairdryer , several bottles of old suntan lotion and shampoo . I also sold a dress I wore to a wedding on ebay and I sold two JJill sweaters that I bought and did not like .
 
I donated a pair of dress shoes yesterday - Today I'm putting my woodchipper, old radial arm saw and car dollies on craig's list
 
I inherited a small house from my aunt last year and just started the process of getting rid of some of her old clothes yesterday. And cleaning out old papers etc... Yesterday I found some old letters from family members dated 1941-1947. Pretty amazing. In one letter, one of my great aunt's wrote about how well their chickens were producing eggs. Pretty amazing stuff.:D I won't be throwing any of this away.
 
Wow, everyone's doing so well - and it's not even Saturday!

I got rid of a bunch of old work clothes that I never did like anyway - about 20 items. Also 2 bags of books ~ 30 of them.
 
Love this idea! We recently moved, and I have been building a sell/give away pile out in the sun room. I will look for the Saturday thread!
 
Great idea! I first thought "hey, maybe I will pariticipate as a lurker on this project." I then realized a bit of commitment would help---so I will commit to one non-trivial item per week. As you can see from this--getting rid of "stuff" is not my strong suit! ....and I do have a basement and attic that back up this statement!
 
Ok, I did all of mine at the end of last year. Here is my trash pile:
 

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Last week, I went through and pulled out a small pile of bulky sweaters that are just too big for me. They are currently sitting on the bed in my spare bedroom. I have 2 more drawers to go through and then off they all go to the church rummage sale.
I'll get those drawers done by Saturday easily. :D
 
getting rid of spouses' belongings certainly counts, and counts double if you do it without permission!
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Don't tell anyone, but here's how to do it: Take the belonging and hide it. If she doesn't notice it's absence after two years, you throw it away.
 
TromboneAl said:
Don't tell anyone, but here's how to do it: Take the belonging and hide it. If she doesn't notice it's absence after two years, you throw it away.
Click to expand...

And meanwhile you have two years' worth of spouses unneeded stuff hidden all over the house at all times? :LOL: Not that I have a solution to this, mind you!

Frank and I live in different houses, as you all know, and one of the interesting things to me is to see the things that he wants to keep. They sure aren't things that I would decide to keep but that is fine because I don't live there.

I have known him through several moves, and it seems to me that he does much of his culling of possessions when he moves. I do that when I move too, but not to the degree that he does IMO. Often I look at things and wonder why I didn't get rid of them several moves back. That is why culling and re-culling is such a reasonable thing for me to do prior to our move north in a year or two.
 
Yesterday's contribution was I threw out 2 pairs of my shoes and donated another 2 pairs to charity.

DH threw a coupleof shirts in the trash as they had holes and donated a pair of pants, a pair of tracksuit pants and a t-shirt to charity.

I also cleaned out the bathroom cabinet in the master suite. Managed to throw out a bag of crap from there to the trash.
 
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