Over the weekend I dived into the book Throw Out Fifty Things – Clear the Clutter and Find Your Life by Gail Blanke. It is not so much about minimalism as it is about taking the beginning steps to decluttering. The idea is to have the concrete goal of getting rid of fifty things in all the main rooms of your house. Items of the same type count as one… so 5 pairs of shoes is only one item in your overall fifty.
I started reading it on Saturday morning and by noon I was knee deep in decluttering my bedroom , which is the first room mentioned in the book. Our closet was still full of boxes I never bothered to unpack, clothes I haven’t worn because I don’t like them, and full of kids clothing and possessions. Someone, who shall remain nameless, likes to make only one stop when putting away clean laundry and thus my walk-in closet is the catch all for everybody’s stuff. It took about 3-4 hours to completely clean that room. I ended up with 4 large boxes of giveaway stuff and all the dust bunnies were swept away, even the ones under my bed. And of course I had some serious “talks” with my kids about things like rotting banana peels thrown under there. No more eating in mom’s bed is a new rule.
I really thought we were very “decluttered” after two moves but I still had quite a bit of old clothing I no longer wear. My youngest son and my daughter had lots of clothes they have outgrown, and sorry but toys abandoned in the back of my closet weren’t being missed, so out they went. After the bedroom you follow the author threw other rooms until you have your fifty. I have held off on finishing because my trunk is full of stuff I have to donate and I want to get rid of that first. But afterwards I will tackle those rooms with gusto. The author also recommends the process be about two weeks in length.
The last chapters are all about clearing out the mental clutter and it has lots of good advice for that too. By far my favorite thing about this book though is the personal stories told about decluttering, they were quite funny. There are also green tips sprinkled throughout for how to recycle many of the items you may donate.
Anyone else feeling that itch to spring clean even though it is still winter?
I have been “spring” cleaning all year. I can never get rid of enough!! I can’t wait to get my hands on this book!
Totally adding this to my book list. I have been in a “spring cleaning” mood for the last couple of weeks. I have thrown out cheap/broken toys, stuffed bags and boxes full of stuff for Goodwill, and tried to figure out how to get rid of even more. My husband spotted me glancing around the garage recently when taking out the trash and asked me if I was looking for more stuff to throw away – I was. Thanks for the book recommendation!
I LOVE the thought of de-cluttering. Unfortunately, we are so buried in snow up here in MA that I have not been able to accomplish much since the holidays — too busy digging the house itself out.
Does anyone know where I can bring an old computer to have the hard drive erased? We’ve had ours stashed in my son’s closet for years. It has all of our old tax information on it, so I really want to make sure that’s gone before I hand it over to someone. Sorry if that sounds distrustful!
Yes! I love to declutter! It feels so great to look around and see all the fresh, clean NOTHING!
If you like this idea, you might also like a great website called Fly Lady http://www.flylady.com She motivates you everyday with little missions that never take more than 15 minutes. A little adds up!
Great post! I told my husband at the beginning of the year that this was going to be the year of reduce reduce reduce. I started in the linen closet last week. It felt sooo good to take out all the many sets of sheets that haven’t been used in…well I wont say how long along with the extra junk I put in there to get out of the way. Reading your post has inspired me even more :)
My office is what I would love to tackle right now. So many things to purge.
Inspiring! I’ve been slowly decluttering since this spring, I’ve gone through each room in our house once – and need to go through again! I had set aside a bunch of “maybe” things, and I’ve thought about them, not thought about them, and have made decisions to get rid of most of it. The hardest part is the craft area, some of those items I’ve been holding on to for over 20 years! (embroidery project, I’m thinking of you!)
This is a great reminder to de-clutter! Especially when our children grow so fast. I was going through clothes today and I was sad to have to donate some things because both of my children have out-grown them, however they will help another child, and that feels good :)
Thanks for the post!
Thanks for the book recommendation. I need to declutter my house desperately. Every time I get started I seem to amke a bigger mess.
Another shout out for flylady.com. Make decluttering part of your regular routine in life. Its great!
I don’t think I can afford to declutter things in my room. They all have been memorable to me, but I’ll surely try reading the book, thanks for sharing about it.