The Brick Bungalow: You Are What You Keep

As 2014 continues to fly by, I am working on one of my main goals for this year - purge and clean! Organizing too, but that'll come after. So awhile back, I wrote a post and started listing what I've gotten rid of. I am back to say I've added to that list!

Here's what I had...

1-40 - my clothing
41 - Lily's old carseat
42-100 - trash items from my desk (I'm counting papers too, just so my house is clean!)
101-150 - trash items from bathroom - old products, etc. that were either out of date or never used
151 - 160 - old shirts taken to school for paint shirts

And now my additions:

160-170 - boards off of front deck from Lily's bedroom remodel - these are getting cut up for a classroom project for my 6th graders

171-180 - old aluminum window pieces, frames, screens, etc that had been junking out our back porch (recycled)

181 - old door from the house, no idea what it was used for - finally thrown away (or taken from curb, who knows)

182 - broken computer chair - it was broken for years, sat on our back porch the entire time - it was picked up from our curb

183 - 190 - random junk from back porch

191 - 200 - other random boards from Lily's bedroom remodel - thrown away and/or recycled
201 - box of wires to go to school (yes this counts because it's out of MY house, my classroom doesn't count in this)
202 - box of magazines
203 - box of crap for school. This should really count as about 50 items, but I'll just do one because it's now out of my house and I'm not picky.
204 - 220 - old binders and folders, taken to school
221 - 240 - school supplies, taken to school
241 - 245 - box of random knick knacks given to me, taken to school for future still life drawings
246 - painting given to me, taken to school
247 - broken doll stroller, trash

I am planning a garage sale for all of Lily's and Nate's clothes, plus a few random furniture pieces and other stuff. I'd love to tackle our basement this summer and go through all the boxes, bags, and whatnot. It's a mess down there and many things have not been touched in years.... meaning, it can go!

So, I'm about 10% done with my goal! Not too shabby!

Hello! A couple of years ago I remember reading a blog about "You Are What You Keep" and how she tried to rid herself of 2010 items (or 2011, depending on the year, I can't remember). I've tried to do it but we were holding onto a few things for various reasons. One of the biggest things we kept were Lily's clothes from birth to present in case we gave birth to another girl. Well, that ship has sailed and we have Nate, which means we don't need almost 5 years of clothes! So, long story short, I'm going to try to rid myself of 2014 items. My list will include all of Lily's clothing, my clothes, Nate's and Doug's clothes too that we no longer need/want. It'll also include household stuff in various forms.

So far I've gotten rid of two large trash bags full of my clothing. I gave them all to our local donation center. I also gave them Lily's old carseat. I'm not going to keep track of a full list of items, but I know for sure that my trash bags contained at least 40 pieces of clothing. I've also taken a bunch of stuff to school for kids to use instead of hoarding the crap I don't use.

So here's the list... give or take 5-10 items or so. I figured anything is good, 2014 is just out of the ballpark great!

1-40 - my clothing
41 - Lily's old carseat
42-100 - trash items from my desk (I'm counting papers too, just so my house is clean!)
101-150 - trash items from bathroom - old products, etc. that were either out of date or never used
151 - 160 - old shirts taken to school for paint shirts

PLAN:
Lily's clothes from birth to 5 - these will hopefully be sold at a garage sale, the rest donated
Nate's clothes from birth to present - he's outgrown so much already, it's sad, but I want it out of my house
unused and unwanted furniture in our basement
unused and unwanted junk that I'm hoarding ... why?!?! ... it. must. go.
old clothing from me and Doug - donate if possible, trash the rest
go through kitchen cabinets, get rid of unused items that take up room (do I really need all those champagne, margarita, drink type glasses that I NEVER use?!?)
old books - donate to school and/or donation center
arts and crafts supplies - use and/or donate
kids' toys - donate what isn't used or anything broken/missing pieces (we're terrible about cards... we lose half the deck, keep the rest. No more!)

Wish me luck. I have over 3000 sq. feet of house that needs gone through in order to declutter. It's refreshing and freeing to do so. Do you rid your house of unwanted items? Spring cleaning anyone?