Well, it has officially happened. The end of the month totally escaped my notice.
I didn’t warn anyone about the decluttering update going up, but I’m going to post my progress anyway.
You can share your progress (or lack of progress) by linking up a blog post, or in the comments.
My main motivation to declutter this month was my sister-in-law’s garage sale. Although I’ve been enjoying the ease of just donating things lately, I can’t pass up an opportunity to make a little chump change, especially when I’m going to be there helping at a garage sale anyway.
I purged quite a few VHS tapes. By the way, almost none of them sold at the garage sale. While I was sad to not pocket the quarters, I felt a strange sense of slob-blogger pride that these people chose not to buy something they obviously didn’t need.
I got rid of the hangers from . . . ummm . . . . a very hot place indeed. It was a vicious battle, but since they no longer live here and I still do, I’m claiming the victory.
The biggest decluttering I did this month was in my own closet. I must report that it has made a huge difference in there. I am so thankful that I had the help of my friend on this one. And in case you’ve wondered, she wasn’t terribly offended that I referred to her as scary. She did say that at first, she assumed that I was talking about myself, because she couldn’t imagine what she had done that would have been scary.
The most emotional decluttering challenge for me this month was my decision to get rid of my daughter’s “perfectly fine” bed when we moved some things around and decided we no longer needed it. It was in use up until the day we sold it, so I can’t say that it freed up space to get rid of it, but I can’t imagine where we would have put it if I had let my gotta-keep-it-slob-tendencies win in that situation.
I have, however, been reminded daily of how much space I gained when I purged my supposed-to-be-a-space-for-cups-but-had-totally-been-taken-over-by-medicines cabinet. It is so nice to not have to worry about things falling on me when I open those cabinet doors.
And finally, I started on my pre-summer-boys-room-purge. I got quite a bit done in eighteen minutes, but I’m going to need more than eighteen more to get it finished in time.
I’d love to hear about any decluttering you did in May. You can link up a blog post below. If you do link up, you must say something like, “I’m sharing this post over at A Slob Comes Clean for her May Decluttering Update” and then link back here. If you’re not sure how to do that, I’ll be happy to help you.
If you don’t have a blog, you can share in the comments. That is, IF they’re working.
I’ll soon be moving to WordPress, which should take care of these comment problems. You’ll still find me here at aslobcomesclean.com, things will just look different. If for some reason you don’t see me in your reader anymore, please hop over to the web address. I promise I’m not going away!
Nothing to do with this post, just de-lurking. I wanted to tell you I have been reading now for about a month and you are now one of the top 2 blogs I read. I love your style, and so much of what you write speaks to me. I hope to make some progress this summer on keeping a daily schedule with my kids. You give me hope that it will at least be a learning experience. Thanks so much for the willingness to open up to the world. Makes my day that much more enjoyable!
~Nancy
Nony…you are motivating me to declutter. I cleared out my kids clothes and my junk drawer. Lots more to do, but I love love love your idea to take before and after pictures. That has helped me so much. I have been reading your blog this week and I just enjoy it so much. Thank you!
Hi. I've commented before I do believe but just wanted to tell you that I really do enjoy your blog and I am glad that you are not going away 🙂
Anyway you have motivated me as well. I did get a lot of cleaning and sorts done over the weekend and it felt great. Now I really need to tackle our spare bedroom. Instead of a junk drawer we have a junk room. Need to get rid of more junk.
I didnt get a lot of extra done this month(a ton of end of the year stuff with the kids!) but I promise i will in June!
Um, I didn't do much of anything, but my husband cleaned out our van (worst: finding a bag with party supplies for my son's "two-two" train bday party. He turned 3 in March). Anyway, he did that 3 Mondays ago, and we've done a trash clean out a couple times a week and I've made the kids bring their toys back in the house (which they never complain about. why didn't I do this before?) every day. On Sunday, they needed volunteers and/or vehicles to cart the teens around on Wednesday doing fliering for VBS and I was able to volunteer our minivan because I'd kept it up!! that was a YAY moment for me. 🙂
My biggest declutter this month was my laundry room. It had become a scary, cluttered mess that I dreaded coming into. Now, it is a clean, open space that I don't mind spending time in. It's still a process (I want to paint the ceilings to make it feel less like a basement), but it's so much better than it was.
The other thing (inspired by your idea of straightening) was to clean behind my kitchen sink. I took everything off and then only put back what needed to be there. I combined 2 things of hand sanitizer, purged a hand soap that I got as a wedding present 6 years ago, put away random toys, and all kinds of other random things. Thank you for your inspiration!
12 years later….
In May 2022 I threw out a ripped bottom sheet and 3 pan lids. I also consigned a good size pile of paper to the recycling. Paper is insidious! I am looking for more of anything that I will never miss. I have struggled for years with trying to get my house under control. Since I found you the end of 2020 you have given me hope. Although I have a long way to go, I am feeling like I can really get my house under control one of these first months. Thanks so much for keeping your blog on the web.
Oops … That should be 11 years later!
The week has come (after the ice of Jan ’24 melts) that the workout ball given to us as mostly a play toy for kiddos, gets the boot to another home.
Don’t mess with my globe lights on this 1965 interior house!
Sorry kids, I’ll get another awesome ball when we have a space that I don’t care gets destroyed, or can’t be.