I’m on a Space Creation Kick lately.
I might (or might not) have a few dumping areas.
Fine. I do.
One is (once again) the master bedroom, and one is “hidden” behind a screen in the gameroom. These spaces get on my nerves, but at least a part of the master bedroom one is Girl Scout stuff.
Honestly, the “stuff” was one of the reasons why I was so hesitant to agree to be the troop leader this year when we needed one. I didn’t want it.
But I have it, and I need a spot for it.
I won’t be naive and think that all my current master bedroom woes are due to G.S. stuff, but I know it’s there. And it being there has very probably justified the dumping of more stuff. Because that’s how I roll.
Anyway, I’m on a mission to go through some cabinets that haven’t been opened in a very long while and declutter some of the stuff that (therefore) hasn’t been used in a very long while so I can make space for some of the things that I have to keep but that don’t have a home.
Whew. That was a long sentence.
It’s all that My Home is a Container so I Must Get Rid of What Doesn’t Fit jazz.
I started in my breakfast area. I decluttered this area in the beginning of the blog. As I always say, re-decluttering is easier than decluttering. The second time around, there are just so many “duh” moments. I find things I remember keeping the last time because I truly believed I would finally begin using them. This time I have no emotional angst because I KNOW they aren’t needed.
Like these:
(Random affiliate link in the next sentence. Consider yourself legally warned.)
Those little balls that you spray and then they stick together. No thanks. We’ve moved onto to a floor covered in little rubber bands
And a breast milk bottle. I’m telling myself I must not have seen it shoved into a back corner last time. Because I can’t even imagine my justification for keeping it then.
And stickers. I did feel some sadness over these, but the only sticker-user we have isn’t a sticker-fanatic. And she already has plenty of stickers. I could have justified keeping them, but it definitely isn’t a wrong decision to not keep them.
And I did find quite a few things I definitely wanted to keep:
Like the Christmas Chip & Dip tray I looked for last Christmas, but couldn’t find. That I had assumed was in its box in the pantry (that obviously needs decluttering) next door, but wasn’t.
Now it is. 
And the “quacker dish” that my grandmother painted for me. Get it? Quackers?
And chopsticks I knew I had and often wished I could find. And they’re dishwasher safe, which totally makes me happy. (And now they’ve been removed from the package after almost 15 years, washed, and used multiple times.)
And this was yet another example of how “Just Decluttering” is where it’s at for me. I can see things. I can get to them. No fancy systems needed.
In the end, I got rid of a donatable box full of stuff with pretty much no heartache. I accepted the fact that I don’t put out place-mats, despite the fact that I’ve been gifted many many of them. I kept one set, but all the others will have to find a new home.
Aaaaahhhhh. Empty space. (I’m not messing with Hubby’s stuff to the right. A man needs a place where he can stuff stuff.)
Love the quacker dish, and I’m pretty sure we had those exact Santa placemats when I was growing up. Though I’m not sure we ever actually used them. 🙂
I also grew up with those Santa placemats. Things sure bring back a flood of memories 🙂
Until I read the comments, I didn’t realize what I was looking at. Yes! I remember those placemats being on our table, too!
Love how you’re creating more space by decluttering. I think I may make that my goal this month, kitchen cupboards, office armoire and cabinet, and a few bookshelves. Actually my goal is to get rid of enough books to be able to get rid of one set of shelves. 😀
I linked up with my recent declutter articles! Thanks so much for the link-up. Love your blog!
I linked up my February progress. Thanks for hosting. It keeps me motivated to continue making progress with my de-cluttering 🙂
A week ago Saturday I tackled the my girls’s bedroom, friday night I did the playroom (which received the excess toys from the bedroom and this morning I really scrubbed my shower and cleaned/decluttered the shelf thing behind the toilet. I cant decide if I am pre-spring cleaning or I am late on the fall cleaning :p Anyway in the last month we have taken to the ARC thrift store a big old couch that had been shoved to the side since last December when our new living room furniture arrived (Hubby had gotten the flu immediatly after), 7 big moving size boxes and 3-4 medium boxes of stuff!!! Also two boxes small toys/books to our church’s bible club store. Next is the office/guest room which is a big dumoing ground and then the basement…….. One step at a time, thanks for keeping us slobs motivated!
I have been slowly decluttering the areas of my house since Christmas. In February I tackled my daughter’s books…which tripled almost two years ago when I quit my teaching job to stay at home. Close to a thousand books and I decluttered about a third!
I must also say…I got your 28 Days to Hope For Your Home book in a huge e-book bundle last spring and started reading it in July. After that I read your blog start to finish. Today is day eight of my cleaning all dishes or putting them in the dishwasher…has drastically improved my family’s eating habits because my dishes are always clean and my counters are always clear! I’ve also been prioritizing my dishes over “projects” which I am too much a fan of!
third times the charm. No matter what I am sorting, it takes me three times through to really deal with it all honestly. No matter if I sort it a week apart, a month or a year, the third time is always the real deal- done and dusted!
what toy is the balls that get sprayed and stick together?
I think they are called pixos.
Decluttered the DVDs and Books today while unpacking. Finally got the mister’s head wrapped around it really being OK. And the Container Concept really seems to be helping. “Do you think we can pick up another bookshelf so we have more room for DVDs?” /No, we don’t have room for another bookshelf and if we’re going to fit a baby in here someday we’ve got to think critically about what’s staying that’s already here./ Suddenly I’ve got a box full of DVDs, books, and games to donate to the library, and two empty DVD shelves. Now I’m going to have to make good on either using or donating my craft supplies!
YES! I’ve been wanting to declutter our CD/DVD collection but always felt horrible about throwing them out! Why didn’t I think about the library??
Great job! I love getting rid of clutter to find more storage space. It’s like finding a $50 bill.
Oh! You are a Girl Scout leader too!! I am taking over our troop this fall and any suggestions you have for getting that going would be great!! 🙂
Just what do you do with everything you get rid of? I have things of my mom’s that I don’t want, neither would anybody else, but throwing them away seems wasteful and wrong. So they sit there in boxes taking up space in my “guest room”.
I donate almost everything. I used to sell in garage sales or on ebay, but I’ve gotten to a point where I just want it gone.
I forgot to take before pictures, but a friend spent day helping me make massive progress on our enclosed patio – many boxes that’ve been there since we moved in months ago got unpacked and disposed of and there’s actually space out there now! Every time I walk out I’m enjoying not having to thread through schtuff – and we’re not even done yet!
I had a set of plastic boxes for some magazines, coloring books etc. They looked neat and tidy and were labeled nicely. So I go in ‘that room’ to see what else I could declutter. Beneath my “writing potential desk that is too cluttered to write at this time” there were some not-so-nice boxes of things that made it look sloppy.
So I made a DECISION. (WOW.) I asked myself whether it seemed as though the kids were interested in those things in the nice boxes. I hadn’t had the urge to pull any of them out for them every since I organized them. So that did it. I chose to donate all of those things except my home-schooling magazines, and then re-labled the nice boxes and placed the ‘under-the desk- items in those.
In the future, I will ask myself the same question. “Did I ever feel the need to use these?” and if not, I will know they are safe to donate.
As for the home-schooling magazines- they are old, but I’ve always enjoyed browsing them. Recently, I’ve developed a habit of “me-time-on-the-sun-porch” in the morning. I keep a storage stool for my feet and Bible study books in front of ‘my chair’. So, now I’m thinking that I’ll pull on magazine out of the nice box, and take it to my porch where I can read it, and pass it along. I have MANY magazines, so that’s a potential of many months of pleasure, while I’m decluttering. 🙂 Works for me!
It won’t be long, though, until the porch is too cool, so I’m working on creating a cozy corner in my craft room for some Winter-Me-Space.
You have made decluttering a JOY! Thank you for that!