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Phew, it is feeling so good to be clearing things out! We had family over this weekend and they even noticed the decrease in clutter – especially the used-to-always-be-cluttered-ledge. How is the clutter busting going for you? Are you noticing it’s easier to keep areas clean or organized with less stuff clogging it up? How many pans or baking items did you find to clear out last week?

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 8: Food Storage Containers

I’m not sure I’ve ever met a person that has their food storage situation totally under control. Either there are too many lids, the containers are all mismatched, or nothing fits together correctly. Maybe it’s just the people I hang around with? I know that growing up it was always a gamble to open up the food storage container cupboards. If you moved things too much you were sure to cause an avalanche to occur.

Over the years we’ve done our best to streamline the types of containers we use because of the avalanche situation. We still have a few varieties of containers but we’ve chosen types that seem to next well together which seems to make a big difference. Even with this choice we still have quite the cluttered cupboard.

I knew from constant use of these items that we had WAY more lids than we needed. When a container would crack (most likely from being dropped out of the freezer) or melted (from one too many uses in the microwave) or simply didn’t function nicely for food anymore it became a LEGO container. We like having various sizes of plastic containers for when Micah and I build large sets. We can sort the pieces and make it easier to find what we need as we build. But simply because containers get moved to other areas of the house doesn’t mean the lids go too. In fact, almost always the lid stays in the cupboard… becoming clutter!

I cleared everything out of the cupboard and sorted. I matched up every container to a lid to make sure I had enough of each, got rid of containers that didn’t fit our needs anymore, along with items we didn’t need at all, and stuck them all in a pile to go away.

So many lids! The green and blue lids are from the abundance of IKEA containers we used to own. We still have a small selection in the cupboard but now we only have enough lids to match. The rest of the containers have either been recycled or turned into LEGO containers. The lid on the right actually belongs to my parents so it went to their house and the white jug is for bags of milk some areas sell in gas station. Not in our area… so we aren’t sure how it ended up in our house.

Would you look at how great this cupboard looks now?

Glorious! I’m not a fan of corner cupboards because of the awkward shape but we are making it work. It leaves a lot of wasted space but I’d rather have that than too much stuff that ends up getting in the way or falling out.

I’m actually calm when I open this cupboard now. It’s organized (because there is less junk) and makes sense. I know exactly where the items I need are located. This is what decluttering is about to me!

What did you find to get rid of this week? Did you discover any items that showed up mysteriously? How many mismatched lids and containers did you find?

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 9 of the Clutter Buster Challenge when we take on additional drawers in the kitchen. We already tackled silverware and utensils so whatever drawers are remaining will be your task! Are you like us with a lack of many drawers or do you have a large amount to go through? Do you want to go through one or two or try to master them all? It’s all up to you 🙂

If you are looking for a better way of keeping on top of your homemaking tasks now that you are steamrolling through all this decluttering you might be interested in a new course from Humorous Homemaking. Home Management How To: A Guide to Daily Success is open now! I’ve got a post about my experience with this course here but this is a great course for you to take control of all the household tasks in a way that is tailored specifically to your family and life.