Amy at The Finer Things in Life is again hosting her monthly link-up in her decluttering challenge. Her goal is to get rid of 730 things in 365 days. That’s an average of 2 items a day.
I linked up in January and was incredibly proud of my progress. I linked up in February and was inspired to do better in March when I went back through my posts and discovered that I hadn’t made huge decluttering progress.
So now March is over and I was excited to go back through my posts (my entire blog is about getting my home in order, after all) labeled “decluttering” and see what I had done.
There were 4 posts under that label since my February progress report. And two were more “about” decluttering and not really a report of items decluttered.
I was quite surprised. I thought I had done well this month.
But then I realized that although I haven’t posted about it, hubby and I have been going through box after box of paper clutter. Yes, we’re looking for something, and maybe that makes it not quite as noble, but we’re getting it done. We have a bag for papers that he’s going to take and burn when he goes camping with the boys this spring. And anything throw-away-able has been thrown away. Generally, one 5 lb box of random papers contains maybe three items that need to be kept.
This is huge for us. Papers are our nemesis. I’m guessing that although we still have more to go, we’ve probably purged at least 30 lbs of paper.
But I guess the best news is that we’re not making new piles like we used to. Because I now have a file box, I’m going through mail as I walk up the sidewalk from the mailbox. If it doesn’t deserve to go in the file box, it goes in the trash. It’s truly life-changing.
And as for other decluttering, I’m making a point to create a pile of outgrown or will-be-outgrown-by-next-winter clothing every time I fold laundry. And then the pile goes out to the garage sale pile. I would guess that I’ve purged about a garbage bag full this month.
My main visible progress for the month has been in the master bedroom, where most of the boxes of papers had been shoved during frantic someone’s-coming-over moments. It’s getting better little-by-little in there, but has a very long way to go.
For April, my goal is to completely declutter the master bedroom. I could probably supply an entire garage sale just with that.
Check out the progress of other de–clutterers at The Finer Things in Life.
P.S. I wish that Blogger’s spellcheck feature would accept that “declutter” and all of its forms is a real word. At least on this blog, it is.
Sherry says
Oh, yes – paper clutter! I did a LOT of this recently although I didn't add it to my decluttering list as I didn't even think about it. LOL! Great job!
dawn says
paper clutter is my nemesis as well. everything else has its place, but not that. great job getting rid of 30 pounds!
Tracy says
Love this post, it is what I struggle with, big-time!!!
Lindsey in OK says
I feel like there is just less paper in the mail in general in 2021 than there was when I was first married in 2000 or even ten or five years ago. We don’t seem to get nearly as much junk mail. Still half a dozen AMAZING credit card offers per week but not much more than that. I do pay all our bills except the water online, so that helps. Somehow I managed to overcome the stacking urge years ago and tear every piece of junk in half and toss it as soon as it comes in. My mail nemesis is those ads that car dealerships occasionally send out with the scratch-off things that try to convince you that you’ve “won” some great discount on a junky used car. My kids LOVE those things and always want me to go use the coupon they’ve “won” LOL! All 8 of my kids have fought for the right to scratch off those coupons over the years.
Jinjer @ The Intrepid Arkansawyer says
I wonder what happened to Amy at The Finer Things in Life. She hasn’t blogged since 2017. 🙁