We definitely have a lot of things lying round, or stashed away somewhere, that we don't need, use or really even want. I have been putting off getting rid of some of them because other people bought them for us and I felt bad...but the time had come. Things had to go, and what better time to do it than in the New Year?
I decided not to go at it all at once, which was how I had seen it done in the article I read - they took a box and went round the house to choose 50 things right then. I simply started chucking things out when I spied them.
I started in the living room by getting rid of two figurines/statues which we had been given a few years ago and a candle holder, none of which we ever really liked. I sent those off with Simon to the shop to be sold on. Some spare invitations from Isabelle's first birthday and a stack of old magazines went out as well - into the recycling. In fact, all those things were crammed into the same place so getting them out cleared a whole section of our sideboard.
Our bathroom was next. I had somehow amassed a huge amount of Soap and Glory products which I was not using and which were actually past their use by date. There were at least 15 things in there, and they all went straight into the bin which cleared a whole shelf in our bathroom cabinet.
Simon has been moaning for ages that we have too many coats on the coat rack in our hall...and he was right. There were coats on there which I hadn't worn since I was pregnant and they were just in the way. As well as a general tidy up I cleared out four of my old coats. I did think about donating them to a charity shop, however they really weren't in good condition so they went into the bin as well.
Along the same lines were socks - I had lots of single socks and even more socks with holes in them which weren't wearable. Luckily, I got loads of new socks for Christmas so I decided to clear out the old and bring in the new.
I'm currently about half way through my 50 things declutter and I definitely see the difference already. I'm no longer annoyed by the clogged up square of our sideboard, nor by the fact that we can't hang our coats up easily. It has actually prompted me to stop make sure I put things away when I see them. I am naturally a really tidy person, but you know when something falls behind the sofa and you think "Oh I'll get it later..." and it's still there three weeks later?! That's the sort of thing I mean!
I'll hopefully have gotten rid of 25 more things by the end of the month and successfully completed the Throw Out 50 Things Challenge. Why not join me?
