Decluttering To Do List UPDATE

December is always a really busy time for me between the holiday hullabaloo, my birthday and work deadlines.  I knew I wouldn't get much done until after Christmas and I was right.  Unfortunately, I got sick a few days after Christmas and that lasted pretty much until February.  While I was sick, clutter started to accumulate again, not to mention that I still had donations to get out, recycling, etc.  Luckily, most of that was just surface clutter that I was able to clear out quickly once I was feeling better.  Plans with a friend to come over and scrapbook, was the impetus I needed to get the lingering donation boxes out and tidy things up even more.

While I was sick, whenever I could, I started working through the GINORMOUS pile of memorabilia.  I knew this was stuff that would take more time to go through so it was set aside while I went through the general decluttering progress in November.  Happy to say that I've been through pretty much the entire original pile of memorabilia.  Unfortunately, the pile grew again as I started going through the craft room.  Sentimental clutter is my main weakness, with future clutter a close second.  I wish I could just dump it all but I've lost so much in my lifetime that keeping the memories are important to me.  That said, I do have a plan to limit the amount of emotional/sentimental clutter AND to keep it from getting out of control again.  So far everything I have kept is neatly organized and almost all of it is in chronological order.

I made a HUGE dent in the craft room mess.  Knowing I had a scrapbook date with my friend Gwen helped a lot but also just wanting to justify the expense of having an extra bedroom and the cost of all the items in it.

• Living Room
• Holiday Closet - Mostly done.  I went through everything except my boxes of ornaments, which I will do Christmas 2016.
• Futon
• Under
• Dining Room
• Jewelry cart - plan to tackle this after I get the rest of the craft room done as I hope to find a home for it in there.
• Bookcases - no plan to tackle these until this summer (closer to move date)
• Craft Room
• Piles in front of closet and bookcase
• Side table
• Closet  - So my closet was completely full of tubs of stuff from floor to shelf.  I found three tubs full of kitchen stuff in there!!!  Half of what was in there is now gone and there is room to store stuff that has been housed in my living and dining room.
• Shelf - IN PROGRESS - only two boxes on the right side haven't been gone through but all their contents was already organized so I'm okay with that for now.
• Right side
• Left side
• Bookcase - IN PROGRESS - two shelves were completely cleared and now house some organized items.  All other shelves are somewhat organized but still need to be gone through at some point.
• Cabinet
• Top - IN PROGRESS - went through it all but that was before I had an organizational plan so will need to go through it again.
• Inside
• Desk 1
• Top
• Drawer
• Underneath - This was HUGE.  This is pretty much where all my scrapbooking paper was.  It's all been completely organized according to Tiffany Spaulding's four section system.
• Desk 2
• Top
• Drawer
• Underneath
• Table
• Top
• Underneath
• Right side 
• Drawer - this used to be my dining room table and the entire contents of this drawer is for dinner parties.  Even though it's completely illogical to keep this in here, I'm going to continue it for now.
• File cabinet
• Shelf
• Drawer
• Top

This list doesn't even fully do justice to the mess that was my craft room.  I seriously could not get in the door because of the boxes and piles of crap everywhere.  I took pictures so I could visually document my progress and as a reminder to never let it get like this again.  I still have piles/boxes of things around the room, but they are all categorized (not organized).  Basically, as I went through each little pile of stuff, I sorted it by category.  So all my paints are together.  All my stamps are in one place, etc.  Basically, everything was a mess and disorganized.  So much so you could tell I couldn't find supplies for a project so I went out and bought duplicate stuff.  UGH.

Using Tiffany's system and some of my own ideas, this will not happen again.  I still have a LONG way to go before I've gone through everything in the craft room, let alone fully organizing it and getting it into shape; however, where it is now is a GIANT step forward!!!
 

Decluttering To Do List

Shortly after I began the decluttering challenge in November, I compiled a list of all the places in my apartment that needed to be decluttered.  Here is the master list.  It is so satisfying to see so many items completely crossed off.  I knew going into the challenge there were a number of items I would not tackle during the 30 days (anything craft or holiday related!).

• Bedroom 
• Closet
• Rod
• Right side
• Left side
• Shelf
• Armoire
• Inside
• Top
• Under
• Shoe cubbies and drawers
• Night stand
• Right side of bed
• Bed and behind it
• Door
• Hooks on front
• Organizer on back
• Bookcase
• Kitchen
• Pantry
• Food cabinet
• Refrigerator 
• Under sink
• Drawers
• Dish cabinet
• Glass cabinet
• Container cabinets
•  Bottom cabinets
• Bathroom
• Cabinet
• Rolling cart 
• Medicine cabinet
• Living Room
• Holiday Closet - plan to tackle in December.
• Entertainment center
• Right bookshelf
• Left bookshelf
• Futon
• Under
• Top
• Stacks near door
• Stacks near hallway
• Coffeetable
• Top
• Shelf
• Underneath
• Drawers
• Front
• Behind
• Chair
• Front
• Behind
• Right side
• Left side
• Magazine Basket
• Dining Room
• Microwave cart
• Jewelry cart - plan to tackle this after I get the rest of the craft room done as I hope to find a home for it in there.
• Bookcases - no plan to tackle these until this summer (closer to move date)
• Table
• Top
• Under
• Girl Scout tubs
• Hallway
• Closet
• Shelving
• Craft Room - THIS ROOM IS ITS OWN CHALLENGE, WHICH I WILL BE STARTING OVER THE HOLIDAYS.
• Piles in front of closet and bookcase
• Side table
• Closet
• Shelf
• Right side
• Left side
• Bookcase
• Cabinet
• Top
• Inside
• Desk 1
• Top
• Underneath
• Desk 2
• Top
• Underneath
• Table
• Top
• Underneath
• Right side 
• File cabinet

Day 24 through 30 of Decluttering Challenge

As Thanksgiving grew closer, my grief over losing my Mom swelled so it was difficult to keep up with documenting my decluttering progress.  However, I kept up with the actual task of decluttering.  I finished the challenge and have continued to work through my clutter problem. Here are some highlights from the end of the challenge:

11/24 - Finished the bathroom.
11/28 - Finished the kitchen, including the disgusting floor.
11/29 - Finished the dining room, though I skipped the bookshelves in there for now.
11/30 - Finished the bedroom, including what I thought was the most dirty task I had to tackle.

There is still a whole lot that must be done to truly get my apartment into shape and in a place where I could invite people over, but these past 30 days have made a HUGE dent and given me great confidence for continuing on.


Well over 1,000 items were donated, recycled or trashed!!!!

Day 23 of Decluttering Challenge

Walked after work with my accountability partner then went to the movies.  When I got home, I went through the cabinet under the sink in the bathroom.  I pretty much got rid of all the make-up I had been holding on to since all I ever wear is lipstick/lipgloss.  I also got rid of all the old product and stuff that's been hanging out forever.  Discovered I have enough cotton balls for life, considering how little I use them.  Need to come up with an art project or donate the unopened bags!!!

	TODAY	OVERALL
DONATED:	5	510
TRASHED:	60	260
TOTAL:	65	770

Day 22 of Decluttering Challenge

Pajama day!!!  Decided to be kind to myself today and not sweat what I did or did not get accomplished.  It's been a rough few weeks and I feel like any forward movement is enough.  So, I did a lot more reading today than cleaning or decluttering.  That said, I got another area of the living room done!!!!  Pretty much all that's left in there is the coffee table but it's a bit surrounded by the donation boxes and empty storage containers.  It's pretty much the best staging area in the place so it might be the last frontier.

	TODAY	OVERALL
DONATED:	25	505
TRASHED:	85	200
TOTAL:	110	705

Day 21 of Decluttering Challenge

Spent a leisurely morning in bed reading.  Braved the snow storm to volunteer at NCYC.  So thankful that I knew the two people running our booth well and they gave me a lot of little breaks.  Sensory and people overload for sure!!!  Was so physically and mentally exhausted that I went back to bed when I got home.  Yes, I was in bed before 7pm on a Saturday.

	TODAY	OVERALL
DONATED:	0	480
TRASHED:	0	115
TOTAL:	0	595

Day 20 of Decluttering Challenge

It's been a very long, very rough week.  I got lucky in that a volunteering gig was cut short tonight.  THANK GOD!  I was in the foulest mood.  I came home vegged out.  I read my book and caught up on TV.  I spent time dreaming online and stayed away from the soul-suck.  Hopefully, I will wake up feeling recharged tomorrow as I committed to volunteering for 6 hours.  The convention center is huge and parking is far away.  There will be tons of people and I'll be on my feet most of the time.  It's going to be a challenge for certain!!!

I also didn't climb many flights of stairs yesterday so I need to get 13 flights in Saturday and Sunday in order to reach my challenge goal.  If I don't do it, it will be fine.  I've already climbed more stairs than I originally thought I would during the whole challenge.  It's also way more than the total number of stairs I've climbed in the last ten years so no matter what I will be proud.  Still, I'd really like to meet my revised goal.

	TODAY	OVERALL
DONATED:	0	480
TRASHED:	0	115
TOTAL:	0	595