First Night of Clearing Out the Clutter

On Sunday I wrote about my desire to purge at least 50 items from my home. I thought I’d struggle to find 50 things to get rid of, but here I am on the very first night and I’ve already found sixteen unwanted items.

I started in my bedroom where I found one sweatshirt, two pairs of jeans, four t-shirts, one button down blouse, one pretty summer shirt, one tank top, six pairs of socks (I’m only counting all six as one item), one pair of sleep pants and two pairs of swim shorts (one of which has never been worn). The majority of items are headed for the donation center. A few of the items might fit my mom, so I’m going to give her the first right of refusal before donating them.

I’d like to make another pass through the closet, but my initial goal was to perform a quick purge. You know look through the closet and quickly decide, “that will never fit” or “that color never looked particularly good on me” or even “can someone remind me why I bought this?”. I’ll make another pass through later this week to actually try on a few things and decide whether or not they should stay or go.

I usually don’t have much trouble parting with things, but I did find a couple of t-shirts that I just couldn’t get rid of. Rather than throwing them out I cut the logos off the front of the shirts and placed them in a box with a bunch of other fabric and sewing supplies. Over time I hope to pull together enough t-shirt scraps to make a quilt. Of course, it’s just an idea at this point and I’d need a whole lot more fabric before I can get started, but I really love the idea. I plan to keep the cut-up t-shirts in a box for the time being. If a good deal of time passes and I never get around to making the quilt, then I’ll throw away the fabric and the idea.

With the first pass through of the closets complete I headed for the living room where I purged a bunch of newspapers and magazines. I never seem to get rid of magazines immediately after I look through them. I recycled a bunch and the remainder will head up to my mom’s house so she can read them.

Lastly, I recycled a bunch of cardboard boxes that have been hanging out in my sun room for way too long. I didn’t get rid of all of them, in case I find anything worth of listing on eBay, but I did make a dent in the pile.

Tonight’s purge was relatively painless. In less than thirty minutes I found sixteen items in need of new homes. I’m looking forward to finding thirty-four more items, but I have a feeling the second pass through will be much harder.

4 thoughts on “First Night of Clearing Out the Clutter”

  1. I just did a major purge in my place this weekend. I didn't count the items I threw out, but I had about three bagfuls of clothes that are no longer wearable and two bagfuls to donate to charity.

    I also got rid of a few random cross stitch supplies that I held onto thinking maybe I could find something to use them for. If after ten years, I haven't been able to, I think it's time to let them go.

    It's a great feeling having less stuff lying around šŸ™‚

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  2. Good luck with your de clutter – I have no problem getting rid of clothes etc nowadays, but I do like to keep hold of boxes (eBay}, t-shirts {clothes} etc like you, to re-use.

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  3. New here (followed a link from The Simple Dollar) & started reading older posts.

    Re old logos from tshirts – I have had great success making throw pillows from them. Pick 2 pieces from the collection that appeal to you, stitch them together & stuff with soft cotton pillow stuffing. I made a bunch of these for my daughter when she left for college & she realy enjoyed the memories!

    et

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  4. found your blog on google from searching peppers. love what i see. one of my fav ideas of yours is getting rid of 50 items. love it.. about to go try it now. i have already done my spring cleaning but i still feel like my house is tiny bit too cluttered, even if they are candles and picture frames. thanks for sharing your blog with us, i'll be back! šŸ™‚

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