Declutter Update Week 2

See my progress in the 31 Day Declutter Challenge and share yours!

31 Day Declutter Challenge

We’re two weeks into the 31 Day Declutter Challenge and hopefully you’re making good progress. Today I’m sharing what I was able to accomplish this week, and I’d love to hear about your accomplishments so be sure to leave a comment below.

Decluttering Challenge Update

Remember my box problem from last week?

Well, not only did I have boxes in my office, but also in the dining room and living room, so I worked on those areas this week.

DINING ROOM BEFORE

I unpacked these two boxes in my dining room/breakfast area and finally discarded this fan that’s not working after thinking for weeks that we would fix it.

DINING ROOM AFTER

Here’s how the dining room looks now.

LIVING ROOM BEFORE 

This was the pile before I decluttered and unpacked. It was a combination of papers I needed to go through, boxes and toys I brought back from my mom’s house and a couple of miscellaneous items that ended up being thrown on the pile. (Anybody want an original Fisher Price Chatter Phone?) 

LIVING ROOM AFTER 

Yes, my sofas are old and kinda’ ugly, but they look a whole lot better when they’re not covered in junk! By the way, after agonizing over what to put on the wall over the sofa for a LONG time, I’ve decided that I just need some empty walls in my space. I guess I’m a wall minimalist.

To get to the point pictured above I unpacked the boxes (more glassware from my mom); put away items that I’m keeping; and went through the papers using my Quick Sort Paper Organizing Method (read more HERE) to quickly organize them into categories.  

I’ve been scanning information I want to keep into Evernote so I can throw away the papers. I have to admit, though, I really like holding on to paper for some reason so it’s a challenge. (See How to Organize with Evernote HERE.)

DONATION AND DISCARD ITEMS

I also went through several areas of the house gathering items we no longer use or want including:

• a pair of slacks that require ironing (who has time for that?!)
• several t-shirts
• an old phone case
• a plate with a chipped bottom
• a cup and saucer I bought at the thrift store, but decided that I hate
• a plastic lunch container we never use
• a couple of books
• a plastic lid and straw that go with cups we no longer own
• the fan I mentioned above
• a set of sheets (Do you know the trick of storing your sheet sets in a pillowcase to keep them together?)

There will be more items as I continue decluttering, but I’ll be making only one trip to the donation center at the end of the month so all of these items that weren’t trash went into paper bags which I’m storing in the garage for now.

If you’d like to join me, you can choose one or two focus areas like I am, or you can use my free 31 Day Decluttering Checklist with simple daily 10 minute decluttering tasks.

Read THIS POST for all the 31 Day Decluttering Challenge details and how you can win prizes!

 Leave a comment to let me know how you’re decluttering is going — and remember our motto:

Progress, Not Perfection.

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We Can Do This!

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