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6 items min.daily - to declutter in 2015 (baby steps, one at a time !)

8K views 161 replies 21 participants last post by  IsaFrench 
#1 ·
Am going to try getting rid of 6 items minimum per day in 2015.

I have LOADS of papers to sort out.
Plus plenty of knick-knack lying around

My clothing is mainly sorted out,
kitchen and bathroom relatively under control,
i tried using the 2014 in 2014 chart but didn't find it actually worked for me in the long run ....

Now, taking baby steps towards a more streamlined life ....
Anyone wants to join me and share about their decluttering challenges ? ... Welcome here, post your progress and let's inspire each other !!!
 
#2 ·
Mine isn't so much about decluttering but not buying un-necessary items. Also instead of donating, reselling things (books, video games etc). Honestly, we need the cash.
Today went well, did a much needed return to the mall for $15.00


1/2015
$15.00 re-couped
 
#3 ·
Joining! I think that I will look at it as 6 per day = 42 items per week and will probably purge the 42 once per week. Or so I hope. That number seems daunting but I am game for the challenge.
thanks Isafrench for setting this up.


0/2015 so far
 
#6 ·
OP here .... rather pleased to be able to report that i'm up to date and managed to do my 6+ 6 items for the last two days ...
i've got a spare ring folder just for that and plan to write down what i get rid of as i do so (so i might be ahead or late ... depending)
in the past, i tried posting details on-line .... but i find it a bit "too personnal" (= that's how i now know that i have "issues" about it !!!) so am working my own baby steps towards my goal.
Many THANKS to everyone who has posted ... it helps me to see different styles from others working towards the same end result ....
Now, we might house a cat for 3 weeks in about 10 days ...SO, as soon as the children resume school on Monday, i'm probably going to have a good go at making our flat a bit more presentable !!!! Nothing such as impending visitors to spur one to move ... one's ass a bit faster !!!!
 
#7 ·
IsaFrench - I LOVE that you are cleaning your apartment for a visit from a cat! :) glad it's going well.

Today I sorted thru my plastic food storage containers and tossed out 7 of the older ones (I am hoping to switch over to all glass but that is a slower project due to needing to buy them)
I also tossed out a hairbrush with a few broken bristles (well maybe more than a few)

New total - 8 from today and 3 from yesterday 11/2015
 
#9 ·
Only 4 things so far- we've been sick with the stomach bug/flu. After a week of passing it back and forth I'm finally feeling like maybe I'm recovering. So... two outfits that are the wrong size, a broken buddha statue and a bowl the dog broke. Hopefully I will be back later today with a whole bunch more.

4/2015
 
#10 ·
My decluttering today has some history to it.. My Mom trained us from an early age to save gift boxes, bags, and wrapping paper... (she was raised by parents who lived through the Great Depression) growing up we ALWAYS CAREFULLY unwrapped gifts so we could try to save the paper so we could reuse it.. it was almost a joke to try to identify previously used gift wrap or boxes... or if you got a gift that they accidentally forgot to change the gift tag on it from the previous gifting so it had your name on it, but the was actually for a different family member..

Fast forward many years, I've gotten married and I carry on the tradition of saving gift boxes and bags, but NOT wrapping paper.. My mom continues to do the same at her home.. THEN my parents move to AZ, but they continued to return to the East Coast to spend Christmas with my Brother, myself, my husband & my son, plus my Mothers entire side of the family.. all was normal until after 9/11 and TSA decided that people could no longer carry packed gifts in their luggage.. I don't recall how many years after that happened that I started this, but at some point between my personally created collection of gift boxes and bags and those thrust upon me by my parents as they left to go home, I finally told them before they arrived.. You don't need to buy or bring ANY more gift boxes or bags I have enough for ALL of us!!! Since then I've been providing for all of us... and the same boxes and bags have been passed around a LOT.. with new ones thrown in the mix here and there from other relatives, friends, and our own purchases..

Well... some of those were getting pretty long in the tooth/shabby to say the least.. I had decluttered some last Christmas and the year before , but I decided some REALLY had to go this Christmas, too... plus some overly RE-USED tissue paper which was torn or hole-ly from too much abuse.. (I bought new boxes and tissue paper for 50% off at the Christmas clearance on Dec 28th..) The truly amazing this is we have one box that is still in good shape and gets used pretty much every year since I first wrapped it back around 1992.. and since it isn't Christmas wrapping paper.. it was used for a lot more than just Christmas.. (It's a Green Marble wrapping paper that I remember buying to wrap a present for my mom.. no clue what the gift was.. but I remember wrapping that box in that paper!!) Our other epic box is only 10 years old.. doubt it will make it 22+ years..

anyhow total for today was 33... that included tissue paper (just counted that as 3 it was LOTS more than that!!), 2 bags, 12 gift boxes, 12 other boxes plus 4 or so misc items... I'm positive I'm missing stuff, but that's ok...:thumb recycling bin is overflowing!!! Luckily tomorrow night is trash and recycling night!! :grin:
 
#11 · (Edited)
Way to go Mirta!:thumb I was taught to save gift wrapping/bags too- haven't gotten to that shelf yet.....
only 4 yesterday- had to get caught up on basic straightening up first.

8/2015

ok! got myself motivated this morning to tackle the books- sold some online for 50.00 and the rest I'm dropping off this afternoon. plus a handful of empty CD cases- 155!

163/2015
 
#14 ·
When I posted yesterday I forgot to post the 8 items from earlier in the week that I had kept meaning to get online to post but never did.. add that to yesterday's 33 and today's 5 bring me to 46/2015.. but the best part of today was bring that massively overflowing recycling bin to the curb for tomorrow mornings pick up!! It felt great to have all of that out of the house and know that I tomorrow I'd have empty trashcans and bins to start filling again!! :grin:
 
#17 ·
Hi,
I found this forum and thought ok - I'll give it a go. I like the idea of 6 items/papers a day. I think that this makes it possible or as someone suggested possible to catch up on the weekend if you have a few late nights at work and the 6 items remain.

Thanks to the person that posted the suggestion of a ring binder. I am going to keep a book and just mark the date and tally marks of the items I discard. This way I can keep track. I am hoping this forum will be motivation to keep me going also and possibly I can help motivate others too!

I have a visitor coming in a few months and although I have a spare room, let's just say there is nothing spare about it. It has been filled to the hilt and now is the time to get rid of too much stuff so they actually have somewhere to sleep.

I have placed many items under themes in boxes eg. Christmas etc but the main issue is really the paperwork. I also have a big box called the scanning box yet - things are not scanned.

Your thoughts in organising files on the computer are also appreciated. I seem to have so many folders and get overwhelmed between electronic and paperwork to be sorted.

I also feel really guilty if I do something other than try and sort out the mess I have. Rather than leaving everything in this room, I have pulled it all out and feel that everywhere is a mess now.
 
#18 ·
yes, the ring binder process seem to be working for me this year, i mean, i'm "late" by quite a few days, but i keep up writing the date of the day "it should be if i had kept at it regularly" so that i know if i have some catching up to do & can plan my efforts to suit what happens in my life at the moment (= less external pressure, just a kind of personal reminder ...)

we won't be housing the cat after all, so the owner of the cat is not going to turn up on my door step ... so i spent quite a lot more time doing crochet in front of mindless TV programs "in order to relax" ... but then, it eats up my sleep time & i'm not so much in a good frame of mind to address my clutter issues come the next day ...

i used to think (and was advised too) that i should declutter first THEN do the recreational activities that i like to pursue with a clear mind .... this hasn't happened basically over the last five years,
so, in the last 2 months, i "gave myself permission" to spend more time on creatives activities (needle work mainly) whilst trying to address my clutter problem little by little SO ... it doesn't quite show YET, but i think i'm progressing "in my mind" regarding the clutter ...
 
#20 ·
1st Day on the job

Hi,
On my first day joining the 2015 declutter I have finished the bathroom and laundry. These are probably the 2 smallest and easiest rooms to do - but a start. Have others tried to tackle the hardest rooms first and then move on to those that are less daunting?

20 items in the bag for charity today.

Any great ideas that people have in using up sample make up? I have some great make up creams etc but it seems I never open the draw and when I do think I should really be using these things.

I have a binder for important documents and a tax box. Anyone have any great ideas on best ways to work through papers? I only have a 'lift the lid' scanner so if I scanned everything it would take me years!
 
#40 ·
Hi,
On my first day joining the 2015 declutter I have finished the bathroom and laundry. These are probably the 2 smallest and easiest rooms to do - but a start. Have others tried to tackle the hardest rooms first and then move on to those that are less daunting?

20 items in the bag for charity today.

Any great ideas that people have in using up sample make up? I have some great make up creams etc but it seems I never open the draw and when I do think I should really be using these things.

I have a binder for important documents and a tax box. Anyone have any great ideas on best ways to work through papers? I only have a 'lift the lid' scanner so if I scanned everything it would take me years!
If you're looking for a place to donate unused samples, around my city homeless shelters need any type of toiletries, also some people here collect for a local women's halfway house, and Dress for Success could use products if you have one nearby.
 
#21 ·
I haven't been logging on to post and I haven't been doing a lot of DAILY decluttering but I have done some and I have kept track of the days I have done.. 115, 24, 6, 10, and 20 for today to add to my previous 46 which brings me up to 221/2015 all of it trash or recycling.. LOTS more where that comes from.. if only I could get myself doing it DAILY!!!

Good luck to the rest of you.. some of you are doing great!!
 
#23 ·
Today's Fly Kids Challenge was for the kids to go through their books and look for books they no longer wanted or had out grown.. I asked my son to go through his books for 15 mins and since I've gotten soo many books for him over the years, 99% from the thrift shop, he only went through about a fifth! He choose a LOT to let go of!! I sat with him as he went through them some I vetoed, because he liked them so much, or I knew they were more for when he grew up, or because I really liked them, but most of them I let his decision stand.. I also asked him about his old High Five Magazines downstairs and he gave me the go ahead to donate them.. So we have 40 magazines going to the library, 41 books going to the friends and 10 books going to the library! 91 items total!! So far!! SOO proud of him!!

He motivated me to do my own decluttering.. I got rid of ironically 91 owners manuals and 59 other items! 150 total.. bringing todays total to 241.. more than my previous total for the WHOLE YEAR (221)!!! GO ME!!!! New total for the year so far: 462/2015
 
#25 ·
I am joining too...this is going to be a big decluttering year for me I have decided.

I am not going to bother keeping a total as I go, as that is what has bogged me down in the past, spending time counting things.

Because I hate wasting food I have a tendency to let jars of this and that sit in the fridge for ages, plus bottles of soft drink that nobody is drinking...just tossed 11 items...fridge is looking a bit clearer now! :grin:
 
#26 ·
Started strong with 20 items going and then had a couple of days where nothing went. Back into it this weekend and tonight have 50 files and 20 items donated to charity. (90 for my total this week isn't so bad - I'm counting Sunday as part of this week!)

I really like to touch base on the site once a week. I read some of the latest posts and this gives me motivation to keep going.

All the best ladies as we declutter in 2015. Can't believe we are over 1/2way through January.
 
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