De-Clutter

I am not sure what got into me the past couple weeks, but it was comparable to "nesting". Never got to that phase in my pregnancy - but I am getting there now. Go figure.

Maybe it is the energy from having sun again, or my new-found realization that clutter in my home also clutters my mind. It bogs me down and overwhelms me, and don't know where to start. I can say after weeks of de-cluttering, a few comments from hubby along the lines of "you know, we still have to live here dear", and a trunk (or two) full of stuff for GoodWill, we are officially de-cluttered.

I found a few rules to go by, and I stuck with them.

1. When going through my closet, I kept it simple: Would I buy it if it was on a rack at my favorite store? If the answer was no, I got rid of it.

2. Is it damaged? If so, could it be repaired EASILY? Some things were in my "fix it later" stack. Folks, that stack has been moved from apartment, to townhouse, and now to our new house. Time to cut the cord.

3. Do I have multiple things to do the same purpose? This was especially helpful in the kitchen. You don't need three kinds of colanders, people! You really don't. Pitch the ones you don't use! Trust me, it saves on the frustration from constantly moving them to get to something you really do need to use.

4. I didn't do this one yet, but my mom was also on her own de-cluttering quest and told me about this. Christmas decorations. How many times do you put up the tree, sift through the good, the bad, and the ugly, to find the decorations you actually want to put out? Now is the time - it's summer...go through them and save yourself a headache during the Christmas season. Thanks mom!

5. Pass-it-on. If it is something that you find to be in good shape, but you really don't use it or need it - pass-it-on. You will bless someone else, and de-clutter your life.

6. Toys. In my pre-kid life, I pledged to never have a home with toys everywhere. I'll admit, for the most part we did a good job. We had cute bins on book shelves and a few stand-alone toys here and there.
One day, after being in a house without kids - we came home and I was VERY aware that we had too many toys out. I didn't get rid of all of them, but now I do a rotation system. Every other week I put away a few toys, and bring out the ones from storage. It works great, and it keeps Gavin interested. This way he isn't overwhelmed and throwing toys all over.
*His favorite new "toy" is Jason's old flip-phone. He loves to "talk" on it - walks around holding it between his shoulder and ear. Too much cuteness to handle!

I'll leave you with a little clip of my boy and his new sweet flip-phone.