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Oh man, oh man. It has been great to ask the little boys to grab a pair of socks and they can find a pair almost immediately and they always fit! This is why I’m doing this challenge – to make our lives simpler by eliminating excess.
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!
You can read more about the challenge on the week one post.
Week 41: Kid or Guest Bedroom Closet Racks
Only one of the kids uses closet racks and that’s Mercedes. Her room isn’t really big enough for a dresser so instead she has a small dresser for underwear, socks, and pjs, shelves for pants, and racks for all her shirts and dresses. Now that the seasons are switching this is actually the perfect time to take on this task. I can remove all the summer clothes that are still hung up to take away the temptation to come upstairs in a tank top when it’s only 40* outside.
They don’t look too crazy but a good amount of her clothes were in a basket when I took this picture.
First I took all the summer clothes out and decided if they would last another year or not. Those that would be too come next summer were tossed to the donation pile and the keepers were folded to go in the tote. Then I moved on to the laundry basket to do the same thing. She is definitely going to need shorts next summer since I decided to pass on all her 4T shorts. They will be WAY too short for her next year.
Because the kids sort the laundry sometimes we find clothes that don’t belong to the person in his or her laundry basket. I found three of the big boys’ items plus several of the little guys’ items in her basket and three of my socks. Those were sent back to the correct places.
Once the everything was sorted I hung up the clothes I decided to keep and moved all her seasonally appropriate clothes to the bottom rack and the clothes for more special occasions or certain holidays up to the top.
Now I know everything she can wear is acceptable for the cooler weather and fits her correctly.
Share a picture in the comments or on social media with the hashtag #clutterbusterchallenge of what you found to declutter.
Come back next week for week 42 to dig through the closet shelves and clear out the clutter, find items to donate, and put away what isn’t needed right now. I’ll be back in my daughter’s room to clean out her shelves of shorts, capris, and all those too small items that she doesn’t need anymore.