My Decluttering Progress for April

I can’t believe it’s May. When I wrote the title for this post just now, I had to stop and think which month to write, because April just started, but I already had a post about March.

Actually, April just ended.

Wow.

I did pretty well last month, moving steadily toward my garage sale. I was supposed to have already had it, but rain was correctly predicted for that weekend, and so now I’m choosing between a few upcoming weekends. And although I was frustrated to have to put it off, I’m glad to have more time to continue the purging. It’s needed.

The majority of my progress in April was in the master bedroom. The previously very scary master bedroom. And I must say that I’m loving the results. I had worked on it in March, but since it was THAT BAD, there was plenty more to be done in April. I couldn’t even attempt to count the number of items I got rid of from there, but it was primarily clothing that had been buried in the “surely I could wear this again before I wash it” pile and forgotten . . . for a very long time. I also cleaned out under our bed, for the first time since we moved into this house . . . almost four years ago. I found more than a few things to get rid of under there.

The other decluttering that I did was primarily motivated by Money Saving Mom’s Clear out the Clutter challenge. At first, I was a bit frustrated because the first two areas she challenged people to work on were areas that I had already decluttered in this de–slobification process that I’m going through. But, in the interest of playing along, I did it anyway, and I really learned from it. A big part of my slob-problem is that I wait way too long to declutter. I wait until things are spilling out and cabinet doors won’t close anymore. But the reality is that I need to continually declutter, even in rooms that I don’t think really need it. That’s what will help me maintain. In the kitchen, I found quite a few things to get rid of, and in the living room, I didn’t find much, but looked at things with a more critical eye, and still found quite a bit to purge.

And finally, I worked on my kids’ bookshelves. This was hard, as I never want to part with books. But the reality is that if I don’t have room to put them on an accessible bookshelf, they get tripped over, or piled up, or stuck in a box. None of those things give them a very good chance of being read. So it’s time to accept that fact that there are quite a few books that my kids have outgrown, and I need to let go of them so someone else can enjoy them, and we can have room for the books that they love.

I have so much more to do, and have already done quite a bit more purging in these first three days of May. I’m very excited to finally have my garage sale, and watch these things leave our home. Check out my series of posts on How to Have a Good Garage Sale: Advice from the Girl Who Knows Too Much

You can find other Decluttering Progress Reports at The Finer Things in Life. I so appreciate Amy hosting this every month, as it is encouraging and motivating to reflect on the month’s progress.