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Four weeks in and still going strong! I’m going to be super honest – I’m so thankful I made a list so I can stay focused. I’m really digging the feeling of getting rid of items that we no longer need and want but if there wasn’t a focus for each week I’d be all over the place! I’d start in one spot and get a few minutes in, find an object that goes somewhere else, and as I brought it there I’d find ten other things to do in the process. With the weekly task I know exactly what needs to happen. If I still have motivation and time to do more then I can start on the next spot in line but no more pinball machine decluttering or cleaning!
If you are just joining us, here’s the deal:
I still had this mindset of decluttering being a big ol’ chore up until a few months ago when I read this fantastic post from Nony at A Slob Comes Clean. It was like a huge light went off in my brain! Decluttering is simply the act of getting rid of what doesn’t belong, isn’t needed, or belongs in the trash. It doesn’t mean buying a whole slew of new bins for your things to go in or coming up with some type of system that you hope will change your life – that’s organizing. It’s a whole different ball game. Right now, I’m in the game of decluttering. I just want things GONE.
When there’s less stuff, especially less of what has no purpose in your home anymore, organizing can often happen naturally. You won’t be cramming thirty towels into the closet because you only need ten and they fit nicely. You don’t need to dig through a tub of medicines to find what you need only to keep coming across bottles that are long since expired.
Here’s my challenge: Each week, take on ONE area of your home. I’ve already made the list for you so that part is done. Go to the area, throw away trash, put items that you no longer need but are still in good condition into a donation box, and put other items where they belong. Simple!
Week 4: Movies, Music, and Video Games
I originally had this week as only movies and video games because they are all stored together in our house. But then we came across a whole bunch of old cd’s so I decided to lump them in with this week as well. It’s media week! Wooo!
I didn’t find a whole lot to get rid of in movies because we’ve gotten fairly selective in our movie purchases. I did find one that was a double of a movie we now own on Blu-ray but the others are all movies that don’t get watched much or don’t need to be owned on disc. We have access to an incredible movie selection at our library so chances are that if we want to watch a movie we can find it through them.
For music we had a stack of cd’s from our favorite bands taking up space in our room. We don’t listen to the actual discs anymore because… who does? We bounce between Pandora, Spotify, and Prime Music for our listening needs so while we love these albums there is no real need for the discs to take up space in our home. Micah ripped all the songs to our computer so we can listen to them if we want and then they went to the donation box. That was a huge amount of space cleared out!
As for video games we decided to part ways with Disney Infinity because once LEGO Dimensions came out we never touched Infinity. It sat on our shelf collecting dust and then eventually moved to a box in the closet to collect dust. I also found a few old Wii games that didn’t get much love either.
How did your decluttering go this week? Show me a picture of the media items you purged! Don’t forget to share it on social media and use #clutterbusterchallenge so I can find it!
Are you a movie buff with a huge collection or do you prefer only owning movies you absolutely adore? Any movies you were surprised you were willing to give away?
Come back next week as we head into the kitchen and go through the spices and baking ingredients! I know I’ve got some hiding in the back corners that can definitely go away.
