My friend/cousin-by-marriage, Holly, invited myself and many others to a Spring Declutter challenge accountability group via Facebook. The challenge was inspired by “The Minimalists” (Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus) who have a website, podcast and other platforms that helps people to live their lives with less. Check out their site!
The challenge is to get rid of one item for each number of the date of the month. So on April 1st, I had to get rid of one thing. On April 2nd, it had to be two things. As a self-proclaimed hoarder of clothes, makeup and things just from simply being to lazy to get rid of them, I at first thought “I don’t have time for this” or “this is just going to make my house even more of a mess”. But in reality, I am so, so glad to have joined this challenge!
I've been thinking about doing this over the past few months, really, since Marie Kondo’s show came out on Netflix and everyone started jumping on the bandwagon. I really wanted to, but with a newborn and two toddlers, I just could not make it a priority. So I actually decided to start watching it a few days ago and then I get this challenge invitation! Talk about timing right?
The challenge is to get rid of one item for each number of the date of the month. So on April 1st, I had to get rid of one thing. On April 2nd, it had to be two things. As a self-proclaimed hoarder of clothes, makeup and things just from simply being to lazy to get rid of them, I at first thought “I don’t have time for this” or “this is just going to make my house even more of a mess”. But in reality, I am so, so glad to have joined this challenge!
I've been thinking about doing this over the past few months, really, since Marie Kondo’s show came out on Netflix and everyone started jumping on the bandwagon. I really wanted to, but with a newborn and two toddlers, I just could not make it a priority. So I actually decided to start watching it a few days ago and then I get this challenge invitation! Talk about timing right?
Now, over the past few days, I have been consumed with this challenge and constantly thinking about “what can I tackle next”?! More than that, I am completely in awe at the change that I already feel in condensing and organizing all of our stuff! I decided to start my focus on the kids toys and clothes since this seems to take up most of the space and just constantly needs reorganizing anyway! This is what I’ve done so far:
Toy Room
My mom helped me go through all of the kids toys, activities and art supplies that we had overflowing on our built in shelves in the toy room. We were able to get rid of quite a bit and organized everything into containers so that it just looks a bit more appealing to the eye! We tried to group things that we kept into baskets and categories such as cars, puzzles/games, electronic toys, art supplies and educational items. Eventually I’d like to put labels on the bins using vinyl labels with a Cricut machine and also a visual sticker so that the kids will know what is in it too! Hopefully this will help us out a bit with clean up time each day!
Toy Room
My mom helped me go through all of the kids toys, activities and art supplies that we had overflowing on our built in shelves in the toy room. We were able to get rid of quite a bit and organized everything into containers so that it just looks a bit more appealing to the eye! We tried to group things that we kept into baskets and categories such as cars, puzzles/games, electronic toys, art supplies and educational items. Eventually I’d like to put labels on the bins using vinyl labels with a Cricut machine and also a visual sticker so that the kids will know what is in it too! Hopefully this will help us out a bit with clean up time each day!
Kids Clothes
So it took several hours, but I needed to switch out all of the boys clothes for the next size/season.As a bonus, I cut down on the amounts of their clothes during this process! I got rid of clothes that were a bit too well-loved, and organized them into big totes according to size. Let me tell you, that was satisfying to see the end product! I also folded the clothes using the KonMari method which makes it much easier to see everything that they have! You can see how the folding method works in the pictures below (demonstrated with a t-shirt) and I also linked a YouTube video of Marie Kondo demonstrating it too! The folding method might seem time consuming, but trust me, the more you do it, the quicker it gets, and you will love being able to actually SEE all of the clothes in the drawers!
So it took several hours, but I needed to switch out all of the boys clothes for the next size/season.As a bonus, I cut down on the amounts of their clothes during this process! I got rid of clothes that were a bit too well-loved, and organized them into big totes according to size. Let me tell you, that was satisfying to see the end product! I also folded the clothes using the KonMari method which makes it much easier to see everything that they have! You can see how the folding method works in the pictures below (demonstrated with a t-shirt) and I also linked a YouTube video of Marie Kondo demonstrating it too! The folding method might seem time consuming, but trust me, the more you do it, the quicker it gets, and you will love being able to actually SEE all of the clothes in the drawers!
Up Next: My Clothes
I am not looking forward to the next part...making a pile of all of my clothes and going through it all and refolding/rehanging. Don’t get me wrong, I am so excited to get rid of things that I’ve been hanging onto for way too long, but the thought of seeing every item of clothing that I own in one heap is overwhelming. And the thought of how long it will take to go through all of it? Yikes! But, it needs to be done and that will be the next adventure! Can’t wait to see how much I can donate and condense down to! (Updated post and pictures of that to follow at the end of the month!)
I hope this inspires you to join in on this decluttering challenge! For me, it helped to focus on the kids stuff first, so pick a category that seems to overtake your living space and start there! It is definitely an ongoing process and I am excited to continue!
I am not looking forward to the next part...making a pile of all of my clothes and going through it all and refolding/rehanging. Don’t get me wrong, I am so excited to get rid of things that I’ve been hanging onto for way too long, but the thought of seeing every item of clothing that I own in one heap is overwhelming. And the thought of how long it will take to go through all of it? Yikes! But, it needs to be done and that will be the next adventure! Can’t wait to see how much I can donate and condense down to! (Updated post and pictures of that to follow at the end of the month!)
I hope this inspires you to join in on this decluttering challenge! For me, it helped to focus on the kids stuff first, so pick a category that seems to overtake your living space and start there! It is definitely an ongoing process and I am excited to continue!
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