Typically I am all about the fall crisp change of colors. Give me a good storm on a cold grey day and I am a truly happy lady. But this year… this year I am loving the sunshine. It feels like one big cleanse. Instead of mocking you I now join your ranks, if you will have me? !
I think we have all spent plenty of time in our own spaces to know every area that brings on the stress. Spring has always felt like a good time to do a deep clean and shed the winter blues and scrub in the spring sun. It is ONE of the times in the year that I like to do a deep home declutter and inventory ( I have also been known to randomly do this just because). I did not necessarily ever think of what I did as a system. But when I started making my list for the next few weeks I thought maybe I would share it and if you want to work through our list together that would be way more fun!
The objective of cleaning is not just to clean, but to feel happiness living within that environment. – Marie Kondo
My to do list looks a bit like this…
Start with my clothes – Much like Marie Kondo I like to start with clothes. I am pretty sure the Marie has a very inspirational reason for starting here. I do this because it is the most black and white and gets me in the purging mood. This year I am struggling, I have got to be honest. I love the simplicity of the capsule wardrobe and when I was travelling a bunce for work I had this perfected. Now when I started to evaluate my wardrobe, I realized that I had just started accumulating pieces and they did not all play together. Do I replace my perfectly good pieces for a more minimal wardrobe with pieces that work together? I struggled with that choice, because I untimely want to use and consume less on a daily basis and this went against that. This year I have decided to work with what I have in my closet and continue to replace items with more classic pieces. So choose your direction and purge away.
- Change out of season clothing.
- Donate any clothing that you have not worn in the past three months. If it was weather appropriate and you did not choose to wear it in the last three months, you are probably not going to wear it. One of my favorite people and Owner of the Betty Be Good Boutiques told me that her clothes have personalities. If they sit in her closet and she does not wear them they don’t have a personality so they move on to anther closet where they will find their purpose. If it doesn’t work for you it may be perfect for someone else.
- I like to include my jewelry box in this sweep as well as my makeup drawer.
If you happen to have little’s in your household, you can go through the same process in their closets. You may want to include the more opiniated littles in the decision making. They may (or may not) surprise you with their input.
Book and Media – Next evaluate your reading and media inventory. I like books. I have a Kindle and read lots of books that way, but I really like the feel of paper. I also have a weakness for having to own all of my book club books. I think I do this because I feel like if it is in my home I can claim to be an intellect. Although, I truly believe that every book I have read has taught me something, I know that you can’t judge a book by the cover and my intelligence cannot be contained by a mere library. But for reals, I love being a part of my book club. I embrace what I can from books that I would never choose to read if left on my own. But if I am going to be honest my favorite genre is Bed and Breakfast Mystery series. I will probably only read the most of my book club books once so I can definitely find a share a book stand and share some really good reads.
I like to include my DVD’s in this as well. In theory we are in a digital age so we should be able to get rid of all our DVD’s. If you happen to have any VHS in the house, what are you thinking? Just kidding, I just found a stack of VHS tapes that we will be converting. We also each have a handful of DVD’s that we are just not ready to relinquish control of. We try to keep these within a certain workable space in our house. When it doesn’t fit we sort.
Piles and piles of papers -This is a great time to get your filing system trimmed up. Tax season is coming and well it is just good to make sure everything is in it’s place. I have found that paper work is one of the hardest things for people to organize. I fall on the Kondo side and really only keep a few papers forever, some until they are taken care of and the rest usually don’t make it into the house. This is what I have found for how long to keep documents (click here).
Kitchen – Go through the pantry and fridge discard anything that is beyond it’s expiry date. Not much to say about this one. Don’t skip it though, you’d be surprised at how many things expire if you are not keeping up on this.
Gadgets and those extra cords that come from????? – I have recently added this to my purge. We seem to end up with a bunch of extra cords of all sorts. I am not sure where they come from, but I have yet to run into a home that does not have an over abundance of these cords. We do not have to keep these “just in case”. They can be donated and shared or disposed of if needed. Along with the cords those unused gadgets can maybe be enjoyed by someone else. It may be “just the thing”someone else is looking for.
“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” – William Morris
Room by Room Evaluation, Donation and Inventory– I start in the far left corner and work my way left to right – top to bottom – through the house. I carry a garbage bag for donations in one hand and my note pad in the other. This is the time evaluate “the extras”. What decor is still working for me? What is just taking up space? Is there something that would add to this space? I fill my bag of donations and my wish list as I move through the house. Again if you have littles, get them involved. I bet they have some things to add to the the donation bag.
I have shared my list. What is yours? I would love to hear from you as you work through your decluttering.