My five-a-day plan

Monday, August 19, 2013

I came across this quote the other day and it definitely resonated.


Problem: I don't abide by this. At all. My house is full of things that are neither beautiful nor useful to me.

A drawer full of bras that no longer fit, but I've barely worn them, and it feels wasteful to get rid of them.

Kitchen appliances we don't use. How many George Foreman grills does one household need?

Chocolates left over from not just Easter, but Christmas. CHRISTMAS!

Two ironing boards. WE DON'T EVER IRON.

At least six or seven spare pillows. I don't even.

I'm generally pretty good at keeping my clothes inventory reasonable-ish. I know how often I wear things and I have no problem getting rid of old clothes (usually because I rationalize it by buying something new) but when it comes to *things* - towels, bedding, kitchen stuff, actual useful things - I have a hard time getting rid of excess. It might come in handy someday! We barely used that!

While our house looks tidy on the outside, I would have a heart attack if someone opened a closet door. It's just a lot of stuff, yo.

So rather than embark on a big, top-to-bottom cleaning, purging, organizing frenzy, I am going to commit to getting rid of five items a day. Just five. It can be five pairs of socks with holes in them. It can be five couches (it WON'T be five couches, because we only have three, but you get the drift.) Five items a day that can be tossed, sold, or donated. That's doable, right? It's not a huge time commitment - it's only going to take 10 minutes, hopefully less. And honestly, there'll be days when I get  on a roll and end up chucking way more than five things.

My hope is that within a month or so, I'll start to notice a difference. Less "stuff". Feeling lighter. More space.

Do you have too much stuff, or just the essentials? If you've ever done a big decluttering operation of your own, how did it go? What helped you?

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5 comments

  1. Don't ever open one of my closet doors. Ever.

    I really need to clean them, and while I'm at it, the two junk drawers in my kitchen. The fact that they're named junk drawers is enough of a reason to purge.

    Sigh, how does it get so bad so fast!?

    Love this idea and I hope you'll some day soon have closet doors that can be opened by nosey guests

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    1. It definitely seems to come out of nowhere, doesn't it? I just can't wait to have all that SPACE :)

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  2. That's one of my favourite quotations! Seriously amazing plan, Amy. I have a sneaking suspicion that I should join the challenge...

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    1. I started last night! It was hard to stop at just five things (I'm sure that'll change as I keep going). The hardest part was actually deciding where to start.

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  3. I always *think* I'm good about this, but lately I've realized that stuff is piling up and it's driving me crazy. I'm going to start doing the same thing!

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