NaBloPoMo #8

Clutter....love it or hate it....it's taking over my house!!!! It's my number one resolution every year and I continue to fail miserably every year. This year I've been trying to take baby steps and get rid of some of the stuff that I know I will never use or is just taking up space. It's slow going and it's hard to see any progress yet but if I keep working on baby steps I will get there. I've been reading the blog 365 Less Things for the last little while and it is a great motivator. Colleen posts Mini Mission Mondays that contain little tiny goals for each day of the week with the ultimate goal of eliminating 365 things from your home every year.

This week's Mini Mission Mondays are:

Monday – Be realistic ~ Declutter an item of clothing today that no longer fits, is probably never coming back into fashion or really never suited you.

Tuesday – Be courageous ~ Declutter and item that someone else gave you that you are only keeping out of fear they may notice it gone.

Wednesday – Be generous ~ Donate something today that you are considering selling. It is quicker to donate anyway.

Thursday – Be impulsive ~ Declutter an item today that you have never really considered for decluttering before. Go on - there is bound to be something you haven’t noticed that really is excess to your needs.

Friday – Be decisive ~ Find an object you have been procrastinating over decluttering for some time and get it out of there.

Saturday – Be brave ~ Declutter and item that you are keeping because “you may need it some day”. Take a chance that someday will never come, lets face it, it hasn’t come for years already.

Sunday – Be inquisitive ~ Take a look in a place that you haven't paid any attention to for a while and declutter one of the items in there that you obviously care so little about.

And one more word of advice ~ Behave yourself in the future and be discerning about what you bring into your home because what doesn’t come in won’t become clutter later on.

This week I decluttered my Thanksgiving decorations. I ended up donating about 10 things to Goodwill. A small start but a good one nonetheless. One thing that has really helped me is keeping a bag or box in the master bedroom so that anytime any of us come across something to donate it goes right in that box. Then almost once a week I drop the box off at Goodwill - it's right on my way home and super easy to just drop stuff off constantly. I find that the longer the box sits in my house the likelier one of us is to take something OUT of the box:) So if you accept this Mini Mission Monday my addition is to then take that box or bag to the thrift store first thing the following Monday:) Let me know how you do.