Ready, Set, Go!

Did you think I had quit getting rid of my clutter?  No!  I am still at it, but I  have gotten rid of  lots of clutter over the past three and a half years, with last year being my first time of decluttering for every day of the year.  The ideal was to do it every day, but I did not find that practical for me.  Moreover, I almost always found more than one item a day.  When I get busy with a task, I tend to get on a roll and keep going.  However, having a goal of getting rid of 365 items in a year and posting it, kept me going.  Maybe you don't have a blog, but share that you were able to fill a bag or name a certain number of items here in the comments or on our support page on Facebook.  If you have a notebook or calendar, set aside a page for writing down the number of items you have gotten out of your house.

Today, I am listing things that I have been working on over a period of weeks.  I set aside a small area, gradually adding items to donate.  It has been a leisurely pace of cleaning, which is possible when one has already worked hard at decluttering one's home.

I have four items to give away and four items to throw away. 100 Items Decluttered in 2014

Try folding a set together.
This is a cotton tank and jacket,
 which has a lot of wear left in it.

When I found this bag and a couple
of receipts, I could not believe I still
had them after three years.  It was in
a box, which I had not gone through.

A Rag I Used For Staining
A Project - Found in the box
with the bag and receipts.  

Soap That Irritated My Hands

Broken

Let's go over some different ways that You can go about getting rid of your clutter.

A Toy That Works, and A Good
Stocking Stuffer to sell at
Habitat for Humanity's  Thrift Store

• One item a day = 365 items in a year  (and you will probably find more)  Set aside a small out of the way corner for putting your donation items, and make sure you get them out of the house, out of the garage, out of the car into a Charity.  Please only take items that someone really will use.  Don't give away broken, worn out, and torn items.  
• Grab a trash bag and Throw Away 27 items.  You would be amazed how quickly you can fill up a bag.  
• Work on one room a day for 15 minutes a day.  Have three boxes, hampers, or baskets marked Put Away, Throw Away, and Give Away. 
• Clear a hot spot, which is a place in your house you tend to pile things.  Work on this for five minutes a day.
• Do you want to get the clutter out of your bedroom drawers or your kitchen drawers?  Work on one drawer a day.  Don't take out more than you can do that day.  If you leave things sitting out, they tend to attract more clutter.

The five ways I have listed are a review.  Perhaps, you have another way you like to get rid of clutter.  I don't always use the same method;  however, these are all tried and proven ways I have used to fight the Clutter Monster.  The idea here is not to let yourself be overwhelmed.  You know what you are able to do for a certain number of minutes.  

When I was too weak to clean house,  I started with carrying one item on the way to another area of the house.  When my body responded to my doctor's treatments, I started working for  one minute, adding minutes as I was able.  I have had setbacks, and I always began again the same way, a little bit at a time, adding minutes as I become stronger.

If you are a fairly healthy person, who is reading this because you tend to keep clutter or you want to find an easier way to get rid of it, the same principles will work for you.  Start with small increments of time.  Work in fifteen minute segments maximum, then do something else.  Sometimes, we think we spend all day cleaning when we are really spinning our wheels, wasting time.  I can say this, because I have done it.  It is easy to get distracted;  however, when you set a timer for fifteen minutes, it is easier to stay focused on a task.

Students, this works for studying too.  Your concentration tends to be highest at the beginning and end of a fifteen minute segment.  Use this information to optimize your study time by breaking it into easily managed blocks of time. 

Get ready, get set, go! 

Work on one Hot Spot for 5 minutes.