Welcome to day 31 of 31 Days of De-Hoarding!!!


Did you hear that?  31 of 31.  As in.

The Grand Finale!!!!

I actually made it.  I de-hoarded my house for a whole month and it actually didn't kill me.

And today I am putting the finishing touches on my bedroom.

I Mastered the Master.

Get it??  Mastery?  Ha ha ha.

So, now I get to tell you that I have mastered this whole de-hoarding thing and I am the world's leading expert on de-hoarding.

Snort.

Right.

How about I tell you a few of the things I have learned during this process instead?

Yeah, much better idea.

It's a ton of work.

Thanks for reading!

Welcome to day 30 of 31 Days of De-Hoarding!


I know you guys were feeling sorry for me the other day when you saw how few shirts I have hanging in my closet.

Let's check out my dresser shall we?


We seem to have a problem in this house with drawers.  Many of them seem to have some sort of closing malfunction.

Every one of those t-shirts is precious to me and I couldn't possibly part with any of them!!

Welcome to Day 29 of 31 Days of De-Hoarding!


Oh, my goodness.  We are so close to the end.  So very close.  Like you probably wouldn't even notice if I just procrastinated the day away and never even worked on today's project.  Right?

No?

Sigh.

Alright.

The Chest of Drawers, or Lingerie Chest, or whatever you call that tall thingy in my room with a bunch of drawers.

Whatever you call it, I just love it.  So many little drawers to fill with stuff!

But again, I told myself this was not really going to be that big a project.  I have been pretty good about de-hoarding these drawers recently.  Not that much stuff in them.


Oh, you noticed the sock drawer up there on top.  Not shut is it?

Maybe I could let go of a few socks.

Welcome to day 28 of 31 Days of De-Hoarding!


I have actually been pretty good lately about de-hoarding my wardrobe.

Or so I told myself as I headed to my closet.

I have recently lost weight and have found it much easier to de-hoard clothing that is too big than it was for me to de-hoard clothing that is too small.

See, with clothing that is too small, I always tell myself that one day I will wear it again.  I don't want to give myself that safety net with the too big clothing!

Interestingly enough, the only time in my life that my hoarding has actually paid off has been in my "too small" clothes.

I am now actually wearing the clothes I have hoarded away for years.  Does it justify all those years of storing them, of moving them from place to place?  Probably not.

Luckily, I had forced myself to go through them over and over again and get rid of everything that wasn't an absolute favorite.

Which means once I fit into those clothes again I was left with an unintentional "capsule wardrobe" of only my favorite things.

Which was a good thing because I was still losing weight and really didn't want to go out and buy a new wardrobe to wear for a short time until I shrunk out of it.

And I can finally understand the concept of a capsule wardrobe.

Welcome to Day 27 of 31 Days of De-Hoarding!


When I started this project, several people, including my husband, asked me if I was just moving things from space to space and if they would just end up back where they started in the end.

They obviously know me pretty well.

That is exactly why I chose de-hoarding rather than cleaning.

Because, for me, cleaning is exactly that process.  Moving things from here to there to another place and then back again.  The constant game of musical stuff.

Because there is always something that doesn't really belong anywhere.  I put it here for now and then there when I need to clean this space.  And on and on.

Welcome to the end of the line.

The master bedroom.

It's the room no one ever has to see.  I can shut the door and hide it all.  So, I never really need to do anything about it.

Eventually all the excess stuff finds it's way into the master bedroom where it sits taking up space.

Welcome to Day 26 of 31 Days of De-Hoarding.

Week 5.  As in the final week.


Today I will reveal, what I like to call...

The Master Plan

Bwah ha ha ha!!!!!

Get it?

Master?

No?

The master bedroom.

Punny!

Like it?  Totally planned that the whole time.

Or maybe I made the image for today's post and didn't even make the "master plan" connection until I looked at it and realized what I had written.

I know.  I'm a genius mastermind.

Without further ado.

Week 5 - The Master Plan


Day 26 - The Master Plan
Day 27 - Nightstand
Day 28 - Closet
Day 29 - Chest of Drawers
Day 30 - Dresser
Day 31 - Mastery




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Welcome to Day 25 of 31 Days of De-Hoarding!


Forgive me if this post comes across as a little brief and a bit incoherent.  I just spent the last several days at the University of Dallas Ministry Conference and I am exhausted.  In a good way.


You know how you work really hard on getting a room all nice and spiffy?


Then you turn around and see that space you previously paid no attention to and suddenly it sticks out like a sore thumb?


The top of the Princess's dresser is screaming at me.

It's so bad that I didn't even notice my reflection in the picture I was taking because it was too covered with stuff.  You probably didn't notice it either until I went and pointed it out.

Ugh.

I really can't ignore it.

Welcome to Day 24 of 31 Days of De-Hoarding.


Let me tell you a little story.

Once Upon a Time...

We bought this house.  Four bedrooms.

Downstairs we had two bedrooms.  One was our bedroom.  One was the Peanut's bedroom/soon to be shared between the Peanut and the Princess.

Upstairs there were two bedrooms.  One was an office/man cave for my husband.  And I had a room to claim as my own/guest bedroom.

I decided to make it my craft/hobby room.  All my scrapbook stuff went up there and all my Arbonne business stuff went up there.

I soon discovered that going up and shutting myself in my little room was never going to happen.  Tiny ones needed watching and the room wasn't really kid friendly.  When they were napping there was always something that needed doing downstairs and I was worried about not hearing them if they needed me and I was upstairs.  So, all that stuff just stayed stored away up there.

Then the Peanut got older and really needed a space to call his own.

Welcome to Day 23 of 31 Days of De-Hoarding!


Confession time.  I totally cheated when I planned for today.

The Peanut and Princess used to share a room and all their toys were in the same room.  Then when the Peanut moved to his own room we moved the toys he actually plays with into his room.

(All on the floor instead of his shelf where they belong but I will leave that for him to rectify.)

And all the toys that need to be de-hoarded are still in the Princess's room.

So, I basically gave myself two days to do one big task.

And you are remembering that big pile I had left to do.  Aren't you?


Told you I would come back to it.

Welcome to Day 22 of 31 Days of De-Hoarding!


This one has to be the most difficult de-hoarding task of all.

All the problems I have with de-hoarding combined in one horrific pile of never ending chaos.

There are the toys I have some sort of sentimental attachment to.  Aww, this is the first toy she played with after she turned 3 years and 12 days old.  Oh, and there was her favorite from when she was 3 years and 13 days...

Then there are the toys that were special gifts from someone.  So and so gave her that as a gift for her first birthday.  She should totally still have and love it now that she's six.  And so and so would never understand if she only loved it to pieces for five years!

The, that was so expensive and they never played with it and one day they will probably appreciate it, toys.

Learning toys.  If they would ever play with these they could learn something.

There are the "treasures" the kids just love the minute they see it and then totally have forgotten five seconds later.

And the minute I am in the room going through their stuff, they are in there watching my every move.

The intimidation factor.  It's so bad I don't even want to touch it.

And the ultimate futility of it all.  Give 'em five minutes and it will just go right back to looking like it did before.

Did I mention the lack of a good organization system?

Now I get to add one more problem.


That's my phone.

And guess what was on that phone?

Pictures.  Of my progress.

Welcome to Day 21 of 31 Days of De-Hoarding!


Back when I was in college, I remember thinking that the more clothes I owned, the less laundry I would need to do.

Hear me out.

If I owned two weeks worth of clothes, I only had to do laundry once every two weeks.  So, obviously if I owned a months worth of clothes, I would only need to do laundry once a month!

More clothes = less laundry.  Brilliant!

It kind of worked back then.  Even though laundry day was an absolute nightmare.  That was one heavy laundry bag!  But I saved on quarters by stuffing those machines as full as possible.

Of course I only had one person to do laundry for.  Imagine having to wash a months worth of laundry on one day for a whole family.  Oh, and add in towels, sheets, blankets etc.  And remember kids never get through a day without changing at least three times.  (Yet, they will wear the same socks for three days and think nothing of it.)

Obviously my strategy doesn't pan out.  In fact, now I realize the reverse is actually true.

I now have the luxury of having a washer and a dryer in my home!  No quarters necessary.  I could do laundry every day if necessary.  And I usually do.

But, even though it feels like I am washing clothes constantly, I can never seem to catch up.  Which is why we need fewer clothes not more.  Yes, I realize this should be obvious.  I'm slow sometimes.  Mmmkay?

Fewer clothes = less laundry.  Hmm.  Less = Less.  Kinda makes sense.

With that in mind, let's get to work de-hoarding the Peanut's clothes.

Welcome to Day 20 of 31 Days of De-Hoarding!


Every year around this time I go through the kid's clothes and de-hoard them.

Why now?

Well, the Princess's birthday is at the end of September.  The Peanut's birthday is at the beginning of October.  Grandma buys them clothes for their birthday.  She also buys them clothes for Christmas.  It is also a change of seasons.  And it is the perfect time to move up to the next size of clothing.

I have found the easiest thing to do is wait until after their birthday and then just switch out all the clothes.  Then I go through and see what is missing and fill in any immediate needs and put anything else on the Grandma Christmas list.  (Grandma is going to buy them clothes, list or not, so the list just makes it easier for everyone.)

I planned this post to come after their birthday party so it would be nice and easy.

Unfortunately, Grandma was sick on the day of their birthday party so we don't have the new clothes yet.

Still, it needs to be done.  And if I actually go through their clothes now, it will be easier to figure out what they really need.

I started with the Princess.

I have learned to just go through and take out all clothing of the size she is growing out of.  Otherwise it gets too confusing for me.  I will end up hanging on to that one item too long thinking it sort of still fits because I really want it to.  Or, she will keep wearing something that doesn't fit because it is her favorite.

This time I will have to do it a little differently since I don't have the new clothes yet.

Still, she has plenty of clothes that can go.

Welcome to Day 19 of 31 Days of De-Hoarding!

Week 4!  Can't believe I have made it this far.

Where were we?

Oh, right.  Last week I told you I had planned on moving to the kid's rooms but changed to the kitchen instead.

Now that we have covered all the main areas of the house, let's go ahead and work on the kid's rooms now.  Shall we?

You guys are going to pitch in right?

No?

On my own?

Ok, I can do this.

Week 4 - The Kid's Rooms


Day 19 - Plan for Kid's Rooms
Day 20 - Princess Clothes
Day 21 - Peanut Clothes
Day 22 - Princess Toys
Day 23 - Peanut Toys
Day 24 - Peanut Closet
Day 25 - Kid's Rooms Finishing Touches




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Welcome to Day 18 of 31 Days of De-Hoarding!


Looks like we are all done with the kitchen.  Yup, nothing left to do.  Got the whole thing whipped into shape.

Guess I can take the day off.

Well, I guess the food shelf could use a bit of work.


Maybe?

Another thing my kitchen is lacking is a pantry.  So, this shelf is my pantry.  And I don't get to just shut the door on the mess.  So, maybe a bit of straightening up?

Welcome to Day 17 of 31 Days of De-Hoarding!


Can we just skip today?  Or just trust me to do this.  Really it's in your best interest.  Ya'll really don't want to have to see pictures of my trashed out counters.  Trust me.

Fine!

But don't say I didn't warn you.

You asked for this.

Brought it on yourself.


Happy?

Ugh.

I never seem to have enough counter space.  Wonder why?

Because this peninsula thingy really does have a lot of counter space.  Granted it really is the only counter space in my kitchen but it is pretty big.  It is also covered very quickly with stuff.  Dirty dishes, food, papers, trash, stuff.  Lots and lots of stuff.

Oh, and how about a couple of empty pickle jars.

Or maybe lots of empty pickle jars.


I wish I could tell you I had an actual good reason for keeping these.  Really they just need to be rinsed out and put in the recycle.  Yup.  Just sitting there waiting to be rinsed.  Taking up valuable real estate on my counter.

Welcome to Day 16 of 31 Days of De-Hoarding!


Now we really are more than half way through!!!

Today, it is time to de-hoard the Hutch thingy in my kitchen.

It is actually made up of a mismatched shelf on top and some kind of office furniture thingy on the bottom.  I bought them at a thrift store and then painted them with a can of oops paint.  The paint has not held up that well and it's also really hard to clean so I really should repaint it but for now I just overlook all the scuffs and stains.

The kitchen was really needing more storage and counter space.  This was my solution.

And it's a huge mess.


Most of the mess was just stuff that needed to go somewhere else.  Appliances that needed to be put in the appliance cabinet.  Food that needed to go on the food shelf.

I guess that technically counts as cleaning but I made an exception.

And some empty cans.

Welcome to Day 15 of 31 Days of De-Hoarding!


15 days!  That's basically half way through.  Technically half way through will be the middle of tomorrow.  I am celebrating today.

For day 15 I am taking on the lower cabinets in my kitchen.  I have a few more lower cabinets than upper and they are in worse shape.

I know you may have wondered where all my dishes were in my upper cabinets yesterday.  They were still in the dishwasher.  Too lazy to unload before de-hoarding.  Plus, why make the task harder?  I figure whatever is in the dishwasher is actually being used.

I'm always complaining about the lack of cabinet space in my kitchen.  I just don't have enough room to hold all the stuff!  Maybe it would help if I got rid of the stuff I don't need??

I am going to try to refrain from inundating you with too many photos so I didn't even take pictures of the cabinets I didn't de-hoard.

The lower cabinet list.

The cabinet holding dog food and trash bags.  Recently de-hoarded this one big time so I could have a place to hold dog food and trash bags.

Under the sink.  Probably could use some work but didn't seem to be much there other than cleaning stuff.  It probably doesn't get used often enough to justify keeping it but the solution is probably not to trash it all.  Maybe I should actually use it more.

I did find some vacuum bags from back when we had a vacuum that used bags.

De-hoarded!

Two other lower cabinets.

The one under the peninsula and the one under the stove.

The cabinet under the peninsula is what I like to call the pit.  It is deep and dark and things just get shoved back never to be seen again.


Doesn't look that bad in the photo because, you know, flash.  But it does continue to the left for about a whole other cabinet width.  Tons of space but not overly accessible.  Probably should put some stick up lights in there or something.  I promise it doesn't look that dusty in the dark.  Guess I should do something about that.

Thankfully I de-hoarded and reorganized that cabinet not long ago.  Also, yes that is another mug.

Also in that peninsula space are five drawers.  One holds silverware and that one is kept fairly organized.  Another holds larger utensils and again is fairly organized.  Then I have one with measuring cups and stuff I use frequently.  Also fairly organized.

Which leaves two drawers to throw all the other stuff into.

Right.

Welcome to day 14 of 31 Days of De-Hoarding!


By today I was supposed to be full on back into the swing of things.  But as usual life has other ideas.  Today is a little crazier than anticipated.  So, I briefly considered excusing myself from today's task.

Then I asked myself, how difficult is it really to just quickly look in the cabinets and pull out anything I don't really need?

Not so difficult.

Made even easier by the fact that I don't have that many upper cabinets.

Just the cups cabinet.

The plates cabinet.

The mugs and bottles cabinet.

And a cabinet I keep the small appliances in to free up counter space.


I am always struggling to fit all the mugs in the mug cabinet.  It's a pretty small cabinet.  I also only really use the bigger mugs.  So some of the mugs just sit there taking up space never getting used.

I have a particular weakness for Coca-Cola branded merchandise.  I also have a weakness for the Target dollar section.  Which resulted in four Coca-Cola mugs.  One was larger than the others so I kept it.  The rest.

De-hoarded!!


A few other mugs and random lids.

De-hoarded!

A couple of plastic Coca-Cola plates.  Also from Target dollar spot.


De-hoarded!




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Welcome to Day 13 of 31 Days of De-Hoarding!


Lucky #13 today.

Nothing like a super easy task for the day after a birthday party.


Giant Slurpee cups.

De-hoarded!

I was so happy to get rid of them.

Broken flower pot.

It was given to me in the hospital when the Peanut was born.

I was devastated when it broke.  So, I kept it.  To remind me how upset I am that it broke?  How about a picture and a farewell.

De-hoarded!

An extra set of knives.


We haven't used them since we got a better set for our wedding.  Almost 9 years ago.

De-hoarded!

A silverware holder thingy.
That no longer holds any silverware.

De-hoarded!


Year old Halloween candy.  Ew.

De-hoarded!


Funny.  It really was super easy.  So, why hadn't I done it before?




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