ANJ My first 6 days...

Hi All,

I've started the cleaning challenge as well although I don't know how often I'll be posting my progress.  I'll do my best! January is a perfect month for me to do this project.  I'm always ready to declutter after the holidays.  Here's what I've purged during the first 6 days:

1 bag of sippy cups (why I still had them in the house? who knows...)
2 broken Christmas ornaments
3 worn out kitchen utensils
4 socks with holes
5 STACKS of magazines/catalogs (approx. 50 issues in all)
6 expired items from the fridge

So far I'm ok with decluttering.  My bigger challenge will be getting the kids to part with some of their items.

That's all for now!

CAJ Day Six: my PICKS! (See what I did there?)

Hey there kittens!

Yesterday was a long day and I didn't get to my items until the very end of the day.  However I did manage to get rid of a bunch of junk mail.  It was more than 6 items and I had my roommates witness it to keep me honest.

Side note: It is kind of funny how my roommates try to "encourage" me to push the envelope (so to speak).  When I shared that I was counting the number of pieces of junk mail I was purging, G-Man inquired as to whether or not I should consider a PILE of mail as an item - as opposed to separate items.  It is a good thing I'm making the rules for this challenge!  Quite frankly, the amount of paper and junk mail that I have accumulated is what is going to save me from going crazy on day 31!

Since my mail bin is in the foyer this counts as my hallway/entrance section for the week.  For those of you keeping tabs, I had decided to do a different room/area each day for 7 days.

In no particular order they are:

1. Bedroom
2. Hallways/Entrance
3. Bathroom
4. Kitchen
5. Living Room/Dining Room
6. Junk Room Craft Room
7. Attic

I've done Bedroom, Craft Room, and Hallway/Entrance so far.  Today I will purge items from the Living Room/Dining Room area.  Most likely it will be books from the book shelf.

Hope you all are having fun with this.  I know I am!

LB Day 6 - cat toys and party favors

9 cat toys
1 pile of string
1 1/2 box of 2014 party crackers
1 broken water bottle
= 12

Goodnight, folks!

CK Days 4 & 5

Days 4 & 5

I sorted and donated excess mittens, gloves etc from my "winter hat & glove" basket.  Putting away the Christmas tree let me sort and get rid of broken decorations. Room for more next year :)

Days 6,7, & 8 are in a abeyance due to a road trip to deliver a daughter to school and a son to a job interview.

I will catch up when I get back.  Everyone is doing such a great job.

DCW Days 5 & 6

Over the past two days I've become convinced that Carlene should become a Life Coach.  She's clearly inspiring, motivating, and engaging the family and those beyond the family.

Yesterday, (well, actually, I planned it yesterday and executed it today due to my emotional clutter on Sunday), I removed 5 different types of items from the bathroom.  Banished from the house were 3 containers of old bathroom reading material, 1 bag of old toiletries, and 1 bag of outdated medicines returned to pharmacy for safe disposal.

Today I brought 6 outdated/expired prepackaged foods from the pantry directly to the outside trash can.

At the beginning of this adventure, I debated focusing on one place or being random.  I didn't intentionally decide on an approach.  Consequently, its become a random purge.  Some days I count single items, sometimes I count groups of items.  I'm focusing on being successful at this challenge on whatever terms I can manage at a given point in time.  Carlene asked me how I was feeling.  I'm trying not to think about how it feels, I'm just trying to focus on action.

CAJ Day 5, feelin' ALIVE!

Hi gang,

Today I was at an all day conference at which I had to present and I am totally exhausted!  Fortunately, I threw away some extra stuff late last night which I think can count for today.  My roommate G was my witness for my forward planning.

So for yesterday and today I threw away a HUGE pile of crappity-crap-crap.  Neither G nor I can remember specifically what it was but I can tell you a few items:

1) Folders of outdated paperwork from events & conferences.
2) A bit of swag someone gave me.
3) Stack of outdated bills
4) Old to-do lists

Additionally, I returned a few other out of place items to their homes. 

This means that the desk in the junk room/office/craft room is now usable by other people! 

LB Days 1-5

Saturday, 1/4/14 - signed up, with David!

We went through the magazine rack and liquor cabinet.

We needed to get rid of at least 10 things each to catch up.

22 magazines

2 six packs

2 bottles of unused cream liquors

1 cutting board

=27

- 3 notebooks for pottery class (I hope that I can maintain a trend of REDUCING the number of items in my home!)

=24

Sunday, 1/5/14 - purged bathroom cabinets!

This is a chore I've wanted to complete for years. And I stored the remaining things by their uses in boxes and baskets - hopefully adding to my time and sanity each morning.

David is cleaning the kitchen floor and living room rug today - so I'm more than happy to do his share of purging!

2 gingerbread house kits

1 Dick  Blick catalog

1 bag of old bags

6 bottles expired herbs

1 bottle beta fix (my fish died 4 years ago...)

5 old bars of soap

1 bottle 5 hour energy

1 "ripped freak" fat burner sample package

1 travel toothbrush

1 emery board

2 rusty razors

1 pr rusty tweezers

1 broken key ring

8 4-year old chapsticks

16 dried up containers of moisturizer

1 6-yr old bottle of face wash (burns my skin - why do I keep it??)

1 mostly used deodorant

2 8-yr old packages shaving cream

2 5-year old samples of face cream

2 1/2 packages dried out moist towelettes

1 1/2 package dried out shout wipes

1 1/2 package dried out cleaning wipes

2 1/2 packages feminine products

1 /12 package 4 year old Lactaid 

1 package dried out Listerine tabs

1 broken spray bottle

1 stained cosmetic travel bag

1 toilet chain - the wrong style for our bathroom

=63 items

total through day 5 = 86