Yesterday I started decluttering the kitchen. And wow does it feel good. It didn't take me as long as I thought. I still have some spring cleaning and rearranging to do but the majority of it is complete. I think the best part of it was finding more room. By the time I was done, I had a pile of three medium to large sized boxes to donate to Goodwill.
When I was decluttering, I did not think about the item. I just quickly asked myself if I'd used the item on a regular basis. If not, it went into the box. Some of the items were obvious. I had five collanders in the kitchen and we don't need five so I kept three. One large, one medium, and one small. I also got rid of my canisters. You know the ones you are supposed to store things in. Well ours were storage for candy and other things we'd forgotten about. So they all went into the box. I've found one gallon canning jars make much better storage for pantry items like oatmeal, flours, cornmeal,beans, sugars, etc. They hold a lot, are airtight, and I can easily see how much is in there. We also had seemed to have accumulated enough coffee cups to start a restaurant so those were also pared down.
I also quickly went through my closet and sorted my clothes. I ended up with two 30 gallon garbage bags of clothes I knew I would not wear or would not fit. This included two winter jackets and a pair of snow pants. I still need to spend an afternoon in there trying on some clothes to see if they'll fit but it's a good start.
It felt good to accomplish a portion of both of those tasks. Now since the snow has finally stopped, I can load everything into the jeep to take to Goodwill. I know there are several small pieces of furniture that will also go in the first trip to Goodwill. The book I'm reading says I should have a garage sale to make money of what I'm purging from the household. The reason I've choosen Goodwill is because it's one of my favorite places to shop and it's a wonderful charity to support. Also, because it is winter in Wisconsin, I'd have to store these items for several more months. We do not have a lot of storage room and holding onto everything for several more months runs the risk of someone in our household (uumm namely me) suddenly realizing there is something that we must keep and it going back into the household to take up space. Out of sight, out of mind, right??
One of the reasons I've accumulated so many clothes is that I have clothes from before the children were born, maternity clothes, and clothes bought after each child was born. My body has been through so many changes in the last five years that I seemed to have ended up with several wardrobes!
So I've been planning some new clothes for myself. I've been going through all of my patterns and books, picking out things I like that I know I can wear through several different seasons. For example, skirts that can be worn in the summer and then again in the winter by adding a pair of tights. Dresses and tops that can be worn again in another season by adding a turtleneck or sweater. I've been saving my cloth training pants money and buying fabric when it goes on sale. I've done so much sewing for other people it'll be nice to do some for just me!!
Blessings,
Lisa
