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Dana K. White

A SLOB COMES CLEAN

Reality-Based Cleaning, Decluttering, & Organizing

 

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Clear Out the Clutter Challenge

April 7, 2010 By Dana White | 4 Comments

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Two nights ago Money Saving Mom announced that she was going to do a “Clear Out the Clutter Challenge.”

Perfect, right? I mean, that’s what I’m all about here at my blog. I have no lack of clutter, and I’m all about clearing it out.

But then, the assigned area and linky went up last night. Last night after my daughter’s birthday dinner. Last night after the day when all of my exhaustion from the past two crazy weeks finally hit me full force.

So, I made one of those difficult decisions to not let blogging take over my life, and I waited. Even though it would mean I wouldn’t link up until her linky was way down on the page, I just couldn’t force myself to work on it last night. I mean, hubby and I had an episode of Lost to watch. I do have priorities, people!

Her assignment was to declutter the living room and coat closet. I was a little discouraged, because in my entire house, the living room is generally the least cluttered area (other than the random pair of undies left on the floor by my kids). And the coat closet was one of my early projects on this blog, and I’m happy to say that when I checked it, it still looks good!

But I did it anyway. I’m getting ready for my garage sale at the end of this month. And although I have mountains of clutter to go through in some areas, I need to also go back over the non for-family-members-eyes-only areas.

I went through our videos and games. Both were in specific places; they had a real home (my resolution for this year). They were hidden in drawers and behind little doors, so in my slob-mind, that was good enough.

But the reality is, even “normal” people need to declutter. They declutter before things start to spill out onto the floor and force them to.

I got rid of 14 VHS videos and four games.

The “What if . . . ?” part of my brain really kicked in. No, we haven’t watched this video in the 4 years that we’ve owned it, but what if we wanted to? No, we wouldn’t choose to play this game if we had a game night, but what if . . . ?

I decided that if it wasn’t a video that we would choose to watch instead of going out to rent one from redbox, it needed to go. And as for the games, one was really “fun” back in high school and college, but invariably made someone cry, so as I head toward my 40s, I think I should let it go.

It feels good to have done this. As a slob, I tend to only want to declutter when it’s going to make a huge impact, when people are going to enter the room and stop dead in their tracks and heap praise upon me. But the reality is, as I make real changes to how I manage my home/life, this is how it’s actually supposed to be done.

Tomorrow, come back to read the first post in my series called: How to Have a Good Garage Sale: Advice from the Girl Who Knows Too Much!

I know that’s a reeeeaaaaaaaaalllllly long title, but it’s too true. It’s one of the ways I got into this mess.

Check out more decluttering posts at Money Saving Mom’s Clear out the Clutter Challenge.

Related Posts:

Read Newer Post Clear Out the Clutter Challenge – Kitchen and Stockpile
Read Older Post Entering a New Phase

Filed Under: clear out the clutter, decluttering | 4 Comments

Comments

  1. Lenetta @ Nettacow says

    April 7, 2010 at 11:05 pm

    Good for you! And I can't wait for tomorrow's post. :>)

    Reply
  2. mle says

    January 13, 2013 at 12:43 am

    Found your blog after a procrastination based google search for motivation tips for slobs :). Your writing is fantastic- honest, funny and your progress has inspired me and given me hope that lasting change is possible for people like us. This sounds wierd, but reading through from the beginning I have had revelatory moments when you articulated something I would do/think/say but never had the perspective or objectivity to recognize as connected to my issues. Thank you so much for this! Also I gotta know, what was the game that always left someone in tears??? Thanks again! mle

    Reply
    • Nony says

      January 14, 2013 at 12:51 pm

      Thanks for your comment! I believe the game is: True Colors. It basically says things like “Who is mostly likely to _______” and you have to name another player who you think would do that.

      Reply
  3. Rebecca says

    February 16, 2016 at 9:44 am

    Oooh! #excited! After coming across your (fabulous!) blog a sgort time ago, I have been absolutely riveted! All of the totally identify/kindred spirit stuff. Except that I’m tall, introverted and not a “theatre person” (but love theatre)…but otherwise, soooooo relate! I’m reading your current daily posts on FB, but have also gone back to the very beginning and am reading the blog like a book. I’ve been really curious to find out more about the whole garage sale thing!

    Reply

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