Year of the Great Declutter: Episode 1 - Toes in the Water

Mornings are the best time for me to plan out my day and set a couple of realistic goals for myself.  In the morning I can tell what kind of a mood the baby is in, how well my brain is going to work, and I finally know my husband’s plan for the day.

Yesterday, I was feeding the baby and clearing out my emails.  I like my inbox to be filled only with things to which I still need to reply, orders for which I’m waiting, or anything that needs a second read-though later. I followed a link and read this article from Homeyohmy. 

Inspirational goodness!  And I love numbered lists!  I felt so energized, I made my own list and followed it:

1.  Get rid of anything you wouldn't choose to wear today.

I felt inspired to jump right in and clean out some of the clothes that I’ve been building up in my drawers. I didn’t even try anything on. I just looked through them and said, "Is this something I would skip over while looking for what to wear?"  If the answer was yes, it went into the pile. I ended up with quite a pile of clothing.

2.  Get rid of jewelry: broken, missing, or unworn.

Then I pulled out my jewelry organizer and got rid of all the necklaces and earrings I haven’t worn. (I kept all the weird holiday ones, like the shamrocks, because you gotta have green on St. Patrick’s Day.)  But I did throw away the hoops that were missing a pair and the weird ones that I always skip over. Especially ones I bought a vacation. I buy the weirdest jewelry on vacation. 

3.  Take a picture of your good work.

I snapped a picture of the clothes and did a quick inventory.  I want to be able to look back and see how much I've managed to simplify.

I got rid of:

34 shirts

25 camis

12 pieces of jewelry

9 shirts

3 pairs of shorts

2 pairs of pajamas

1 skirt

1 pair of shoes

+ 1 swimsuit

For a total of: 88 items!

4.  Get those clothes out of the house!

The hardest step for me is getting the clothes to the donation bin. They tend to sit in their bags next to the back door, waiting to be loaded in the car.  Then they tend to sit in the back of the car waiting for me to remember that they are there.  Yesterday, I took them straight to the Salvation Army!  

5.  Celebrate your victory over clutter!

We felt so accomplished that baby and I had a celebratory lunch at Jason's Deli.  Yum!  

Sadly, when you look in my dresser or closet, you probably wouldn't even be able to tell that I cleared out so many clothes.  Well, that was just the first attempt, so I have plenty of time to impress myself with my decluttering skills in the future.