SOCIAL MEDIA

Friday, January 31, 2020

29 Days of Donations for February

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you had a great week. Today I am sharing an in-depth look at one of my goals for the month of February: decluttering. I spoke about this a little bit on Wednesday, but wanted to go into a little more detail today. 

 Amen to that! 🙌

Over Christmas break my girlfriend Sam and I got to chatting about our goals/resolutions for the new year and I said this year I really wanted to declutter. Sam told me about an article she had recently read about decluttering. She said each day of the month you either donate or throw away the number of items that corresponds to the date. So for example on the 1st, you get rid of 1 item.. on the 2nd, you get rid of 2 items, and so on. By the time you get to the end of the month and are clearing out 27, 28, 29+ items per day you start really decluttering! 

Since Sam told me about this idea, I've been keeping my eyes peeled for stuff around the house I can get rid of. I've been making a mental list but wanted to make an actual list here in case any of you are considering this idea as well. Maybe we can all declutter together and begin 2020 with less stuff and better ways to spend our time than taking care of our unwanted stuff.

Here are some things I plan to get rid of:
-Books I have already read and don't plan to read again
- Jewelry I no longer wear
-  Old furniture/pillows/sheets/etc. For some reason we became pack rats when we moved in to this house. I was looking under the guest room bed the other day and found a bed frame for an old day bed we used to have. We have nowhere in this house to set up that daybed, nor do we plan on setting it up if we ever buy another house. So why am I hanging on to it?? Time to let someone else enjoy it.
- Nail polish bottles that aren't even good anymore
- Socks with holes in them (I mean why wouldn't I just immediately throw these out?!)
- Items in the back of the pantry that have been there forever and we clearly aren't going to eat. I'm pretty sure we have an unused 2 liter of root beer I bought for a party when I was pregnant.. WITH LILY GRACE! She is about to turn 3 in a few months. If we haven't drank the root beer by now, it's time to throw it away!
- Scarves I don't wear anymore
- We have an absurd amount of picture frames. I like to do gallery walls but then switch them up every few years by adding/removing/rearranging items. We have a box of frames that haven't been in a gallery wall for 5+ years and aren't really my style anymore. Someone else might love them! 
- My kids have SO. MANY. CLOTHES in their drawers that no longer fit them
- We need to clean out under the sinks. 
- A ridiculous amount of kid cups, utensils, bowls, plates. We usually run the dishwasher every night, which means we don't need 17 kid cups and 24 spoons. We realistically could be fine with 6 of each utensil since we wash them every night anyway.
By the end of the month we will have 435 fewer things  in our house. It seems like a lot when I look at it typed there right now, but I know if I break it up into smaller chunks and take it one day at a time, it won't be so bad. I'll report back in a month and let you know how it went! 

Today I am linking up with Erika and Andrea for Friday Favorites.

4 comments :

  1. Every year I do a 40 places Lent challenge. For each of Lent I clean out 1 place in my house. I keep a list of the 40 places and mark one area off the list. It could be as small as the junk drawer or 1 cabinet in the kitchen. Or it could be as big as all the hang-up clothes in my closet. By the end of the 40 days, when you arrive at Easter, your mind and house are a lot cleaner :)

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    Replies
    1. Someone else mentioned a similar Lent challenge to me too! What a GREAT idea.

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