Decluttering is contagious!

All these things flying out of the house at record speed has been noticed and appreciated by my husband. The biggest help has been social media site that gets the big stuff out FAST.

There is an area beside the garage that acts as a parking spot for crap. And this weekend the hubby tackled it. Admitting there were some project machines he didn't actually event want to finish. The biggest one is a lump of metal called a greens mower. Not only did he reclaim that space but I got him $25 for it! The dump run of other miscellaneous bits cost $8 so he's still in the black for that decluttering session!

I finally drove my trunk full of random small items to the thrift shop too.

My sister has also noticed.

This last week she posted and sold several lots of costume jewellery, toys, shoes, CDs and DVDs and even a few big pieces of furniture! I went with her to drop off a load to the thrift shop too. Her house looks waaaaaaaaay better with those few bold decisions. She is happy with the results.

You have to really appreciate the emotional toll some of these decisions take. Each item had its worth. It was brought in on purpose, it had a valuable history (either real or potential). The furniture and toys had real and wonderful memories attached! I am very proud of her.

I don't have any photos of my sister's items, but I can show you the things I have released from my own house.

Weird machine cleared out

Somebody bought this comfy chair... hopefully they have time to use it because I didn't!

bike rack that fit on a car we sold 5 years ago!

Don't worry there are hundreds MORE apples still on the tree, I just thought I would share with the neighbourhood

Live and Learn

The first rule of decluttering is to not buy any storage aids until after the purge.

Last month I bought a small dresser for my closet. Today I cleared it out, posted it and sold it all in record time. Not only did removing it clear out the space, but I feel victorious that it sold so very quickly (and for $10 more than I paid for it)

This morning as I was getting dressed I realized that I didn't actually need it since my closet purge was so successful!! 

Our relationship was short and sweet. Thanks for the month of service little dresser! 

Feeling Good About It

It's been a good weekend for decluttering and organizing. I have found even more "okay but not great" clothing. Yay!

Yesterday I tacked the linen closet. I found a lot of twin sized bedding. Comforters, duvet covers and 6 twin sized fitted sheets. Since we only have one twin bed now, and nights of bed wetting is a distant memory, I kept the three sheets in best condition and a winter weight and summer weight comforter and 2 covers. The rest I posted on a free stuff page on FB and they were snapped up within the hour!

The linen closet also holds my household hardware stash. I re-sorted and streamlined the collection, and found tons of light bulbs we will never use that still are perfectly functional.... FB free page took them away in record time be a very grateful person.

Today I tackled my room. I wanted to clean under my bed.... Dust bunnies gone wild! A bin with the one spare queen sheet set, my sewing box and a small bin of favorite books were easy to deal with. The most annoying item was the old foam mattress that we use for sleepovers, it is not ripped, but also by no means pristine. Time to see if someone else appreciates it more. I gave an accurate description on the same FB page and it was gone before dinner! (Hey it's better than the floor for somebody!)

I felt inspired and pulled the hope chest that my stepdad made for me about 30 years ago out from the crawlspace, cleaned it up and put it at the foot of my bed. It was seriously abused as my boys' toy chest, but it actually looks okay. I also pulled up my off season clothes (except outerwear) I stashed my off season clothes in the chest with a bag of aromatic cedar chips. It feels great to have that old chest back in use! 

Less in the crawlspace, less in my house! A goooooood weekend!