Kickstart to Clutter Free - Day 10

Yes! Made it to double digits of this Kickstart to Clutter Free challenge! Only four more days to go! Today's task was the laundry room:

Our laundry room is right off the entry area of our home and my main path into our home from the garage.

I love having a laundry room in the house rather than in the garage like we did in our first home. Since this is not an overly large room, I have tried to make good use of the space.

But like most rooms in our home, there is definitely some clutter that needs to go away.

Take this basket of clothes pin for instance. Now there have been times when I have needed to hang laundry to dry, but do I really need a whole basket full of clothes pins? No. I bagged up half of what was in this basket and they are going with me on my next trip to the thrift store to donate.

Once I put away the shirt that was on the back of the door, got the extra laundry soap and stuff off the floor, and cleared off that shelf, the laundry room now looks like this:

And that shelf above the washer and dryer now looks like this:

Now you might be wondering about those papers attached to the front of the cupboard. When my son was in high school, we focused on some life skills and one of those life skills was laundry. He typed up a paper on how to wash different items, like whites, darks, towels, etc.  The paper comes in handy when for some reason my husband needs to do a load of laundry.

And those drawings, they make me smile. So they are definitely staying where they are.

If you are wanting to tackle the clutter in your home, I know you will just love Kathi's eCourse, Kickstart to Clutter Free.  

Next task is the medicine cabinet...

Kickstart to Clutter Free - Day 8

We have made it to the area I have been dreading on this challenge...Day 8 is Kid's Stuff/Sports Equipment/Hobby or Art Supplies.

Kid's Stuff is not a problem because my kids are older and are responsible for their own stuff.

Sports Equipment is not a problem because my kids never really participated in sports.

Which brings us to Hobby or Art Supplies...I think part of the reason I have so much of this type of stuff in my home comes with where we live. When we first moved to this area, the closest big box store was about 30 minutes away. This was before Amazon and internet shopping. So as a homeschool mom, and someone who likes to work on craft projects and do a lot of sewing, I would stock up on items in case we needed them. Who wants to pull out everything for a project just to find out that you need something and the closest store that carries that type of item is over half an hour away?

The other reason I have been dreading this day of the challenge, I tend to consider this room in our home as a dumping area. If something doesn't have a 'place', it gets dumped here. If people are coming over, I can dump clutter from other areas of my home into this room and close the door. And pure laziness of just not finding proper homes for these items with the 'I will find a home for it later' and that later never comes around.

So, here is what I started with...

...yeah, it is kind of a mess. But, with Kathi's help, I knew I could make progress!!

I found a whole bunch of stuff that just needed to be thrown away, and started a pile of stuff to give away. Little by little, things were starting to look better...

Definitely not finished, but so much better!

All of this stuff didn't find its way into my house overnight. And the stuff that doesn't need to stay is not going to leave overnight either.

Kathi's method is working for me. And by dedicating time to work through this challenge, I am learning to keep things in my home that I love and use.

Next up...the family room!

Kickstart to Clutter Free - Day 7

Today marks the halfway mark for me on the Kickstart to Clutter Free challenge!!

For today's area, I had to take a deep breath and just tackle one small area of this larger space...

...the garage. There is stuff out here that is mine, there is stuff out here that belongs to my husband, and there is stuff out here that belongs to my son. I don't believe my daughter has anything out here at all.

Since this is a shared space, I am only taking  responsiblity for tackling my own boxes of clutter. So rather than tackle the whole garage, I decided to focus on the three boxes of completed schoolwork.

Wait a minute...three boxes of completed schoolwork for two children? 

Yep, three boxes...filled! And do you see the date? 2003! Oh boy. This took me a little longer than 15 minutes to go through, but I did find little treasures like this...

And I threw away a whole bunch of paperwork I really didn't need to keep...

When I finished going through all three boxes, there really wasn't much for me to keep. Definitely not three boxes worth!

One thing I am starting to accumulate going through the challenge is a bunch of empty boxes!

So now I have empty spaces where those three boxes lived on the shelves in the garage. Almost makes me want to go out there and do more decluttering...but I think I will wait until the weather is warmer...

In the meantime, be sure to check out Kathi's Kickstart to Clutter Free eCourse to start clearing out clutter in your home!

Kickstart to Clutter Free - Day 6

Moving right along here on Kathi's Kickstart to Clutter Free eCourse...next up: Kitchen Drawers!

I have four main drawers in my kitchen, and yes, they needed a bit of decluttering. My daughter is a big help to me when I am going through this process. We tackled one drawer at a time and took everything out of each drawer. With everything out, it was easier to look at everything and decide what could stay and what needed to go.

I was able to let go of quite a few things I never use, or that I had duplicates of.

Once we finished, the drawers looked like this:

Overall, I ended up removing 41 items from my kitchen drawers, and I sold some of the items to help raise funds for my next Compassion trip!

I have to say, I am really happy with how well this Kickstart to Clutter Free eCourse has been going. Are you ready to join in?

Kickstart to Clutter Free - Day 5

You may have noticed that I am taking my time on this Kickstart to Clutter Free eCourse.  The duration of the course is 14 days, but there are no rules saying you have to complete the course in fourteen consecutive days. 

So, what are we tackling on Day 5? The kitchen cupboards...

At first glance, I was thinking (and you might be thinking), "Hmm, the cupboards aren't too bad." But once I started getting into the one set of cupboards next to my oven, I knew I was in trouble.

I pulled everything out, shelf by shelf, and was so surprised when I found items with dates like this:

Yes, you are seeing that correctly. An unopened box of graham crackers with a best used date of August 2014!!

One thing I am remembering during this course, I am not the only one who lives in this house. But I have to take some responsibility for the things that come into my house. I do 99% of the grocery shopping.  Which means I should be checking the refrigerator and cupboards before I go shopping. Yes, I did throw away opened boxes of things. You know the ones with just a few crumbs at the bottom that nobody ever finishes (still can't figure out why this happens!)

But with better planning on my part, I can avoid dumping this much stuff from my cupboard:

And needless to say, I was able to clear out more than 25 items from my cupboards. After doing a bit of moving some things around, the cupboard next to my oven now looks like this:

There is actually empty space now!

Since going through this one set of cupboards took a bit of time, I may tackle the baking and spice cupboards on another day. But next up will be the kitchen drawers...

Be sure to check into Kathi's Kickstart to Clutter Free eCourse if you are wanting to tackle your clutter for good!