7 Day Decluttering Challenge: Day 5 – The Living Room
Inside: Today it’s the decluttering challenge featuring none other than our second favorite catchall–the living room! Will I find 25 items scattered around this space dedicated to rest, relaxation, togetherness, and fun? I’m thinking yeah.
We turn to the living room today to do our purging, and, for me, this is one of those places that fills up with stuff quickly. The project du jour or current book or magazine I’m paging through. Work-related items if I want to get something extra done while I’m watching Mama’s Family reruns. Used coffee cups, if I’m being honest. (I go by the 12 -hour rule of returning them to the kitchen.) Hey, at least I bring in the bowls and plates I’ve used–if I don’t fall asleep in front of the TV, anyway.
Enough about me.
So what types of items might we find in the typical living room for casting off?
- old movies (maybe even VHS)
- ancient video games (hopefully not Pong)
- magazines on the coffee table
- books
- décor needing to be retired
- used up candles
- old VCRs, DVDs, stereo equipment
So how did I do today? I hit the goal of 25 items, but because I have a literature sorter in my living room, I kept finding more paper and magazines to throw away. So not exactly typical living room items, but it works for me!
So how is the decluttering going? Tell me about it in the comments.
Related posts: Join Us for the 7 Day Decluttering Challenge
7 Day Decluttering Challenge: Day 1 – Kitchen
7 Day Decluttering Challenge: Day 2 – The Spare Bedroom
7 Day Decluttering Challenge: Day 3 – Junk Drawers
7 Day Decluttering Challenge: Day 4 – Paper
Inside: Today’s decluttering challenge is paper, and I’ve pledged to get rid of 100 items. Will I be able to pull it off? Read on to find out!
It’s Wednesday, and we’re more than halfway through the 7 Day Decluttering Challenge–yay! Today I’m putting myself out there–100 items. Paper abounds in most homes, except maybe some of these twenty- and thirty-somethings who have actually gone paperless. Have you heard of that? Crazy. Can’t even imagine that! Nor would I want to. I like to have a hard copy of many, though not all, things. Relying solely on a digital source doesn’t work for me, so I’ll leave that to the millennials.
Meanwhile, there is paper to be removed. What might fit into this category?
- old magazines
- old newspapers
- junk mail
- scrap paper
- used notebooks
- paid bills (whatever you don’t need to keep for your records)
- packaging
- fliers and ads
- candy and food wrappers
- miscellaneous paper (of course!)
When you write and edit for a living, you tend to have old manuscripts and stacks of writers’ magazines lying around. Today’s trash bag was heavy with paper, but did I make the quota? Yes! I got rid of 101 items, which included old writers’ magazines, scrap paper, old receipts, old stubs, cards, fliers, old manuscripts, old notebooks, and binders with paper. Admittedly it was hard to get rid of some of the magazines, so if I found an article I wanted to read, I simply ripped it out to read later. I still got rid of a lot of stuff. But . . .
Go paperless? No. Go with less paper, definitely!
From here it’s easy peasy. Tomorrow we turn to the living room. Will I find 25 things? Stop by and see.
Do you have any paper pile-ups in your house? Tell us about it in the comments.
Related posts: Join Us for the 7 Day Decluttering Challenge
7 Day Decluttering Challenge: Day 1 – Kitchen
7 Day Decluttering Challenge: Day 2 – The Spare Bedroom
7 Day Decluttering Challenge: Day 3 – Junk Drawers
Inside: Today’s decluttering challenge, junk drawers, is not without mystery. A motley assembly of odds and ends, from whence they came, who knows? Time to do battle with the junk!
Junk drawers. We all have them–or, well, if you don’t, then please seek medical attention immediately!
You’ve seen one of mine. I have several more. Today will be a piece of cake–or, more likely, 25 pieces of junk. What types of things might you find taking up space in a junk drawer?
- pencil stubs
- pens with dried ink
- markers, crayons
- half used batteries
- screws or nails from various projects
- keys to who knows where
- scraps of paper
- tape, dried out glue sticks
- paper clips, rubber bands
- old pairs of glasses
- plenty of miscellaneous
So how did I do? From the junk drawer pictured above, I threw out 31 items today, which included an old seed catalogue, lots of scraps of paper, old postcards, travel brochures, expired coupons, a planner from last year, and a flier.
Okay, team, you know the drill. Go open those drawers and throw away stuff! You can do it! Rah, rah, rah!
Stop by tomorrow for the grande-sized challenge when I attempt to throw away 100 papers.
What odd items might we find in your junk drawer? Tell us about it in the comments.
Related posts: Join Us on the 7 Day Decluttering Challenge!
7 Day Decluttering Challenge: Day 1 – Kitchen
7 Day Decluttering Challenge: Day 2 – The Spare Bedroom
7 Day Decluttering Challenge: Day 2 – The Spare Bedroom
Inside: Day 2 and I’m purging the spare bedroom, otherwise known as “the catchall” or my free version of a storage unit. Check in to see how I’m coping.
The spare bedroom. You know the place. The catchall. The room that houses your adult children’s storage boxes for that someday when they promise to pick them up. When an item doesn’t have a permanent home, it’s often banished to “the spare bedroom.” And, really, is there even a bed in there? Yes, Virginia, there is, but it’s covered with so much stuff you can’t see it. Even the cat has trouble finding a decent place to nap.
My assignment, should I choose to accept it, is to get rid of 25 items.
What types of throwaway items might you find lurking in the shadows of the spare bedroom?
- piles of old magazines
- stuff your adult children outgrew (tread carefully here)
- objects spilled over from main closets
- broken, unused, or outdated rejects from your entertainment center (VCRs, DVD players, gaming systems with old games)
- books
- boxes, wrapping paper, craft supplies
- miscellaneous (Ever notice how there is always plenty of miscellaneous?)
So how did I do? I banished 25 items to an overflowing trash bag, which was promptly carried to the garbage can outside. Today that included old writing and décor magazines, a stack of fliers from about twelve years ago (yeah, I know), an old broken DVD player, a broken diffuser, and other miscellaneous small items. Admittedly, I didn’t make a huge dent in it, but I’m all about doing things “little by little.”
What’s up for tomorrow? Junk drawers. Tune in to see what I excavate!
What’s lurking in your spare bedroom? Confess in the comments.
Related posts: Join Us for the 7 Day Decluttering Challenge
7 Day Decluttering Challenge: Day 1 – Kitchen
7 Day Decluttering Challenge: Day 3 – Junk Drawers
Finding my Pace: Slowing Down to Enjoy Life