Starting Friday, I’ll have a series of posts to challenge us to simplify and organize our homes and our lives. Something simple and easy to tackle each week.  Check back Friday for the first in the series.

In the meantime, here’s an update on the Goodbye Junk challenge…

Note: This is an update of an older post, because it’s always a good thing to declutter and organize, right?  Who doesn’t want to make more time for things that are truly important and more enjoyable than cleaning? If you’re interested in more information, check out the Goodbye Junk tabs up at the top of the blog for links and resources and older Goodbye Junk posts.  I hope you’ll join me…

The GOALS:

• Say Goodbye to Junk

• Be intentional about what you keep and bring into your home

Free yourself from clutter, worry, debt, negativity, & all the other JUNK that is weighing you down.

I started the Goodbye Junk Challenge because I’ve been trying to embrace life, and have more time for my family by getting rid of the junk that has found it’s way into our house since moving in three years ago. The clutter is taking up time I don’t want to devote to it.

• Time to find things.

• Where did I see that ___again?

• Time to clean.

• It takes more time to clean if there is more stuff sitting around.

• Time being frustrated with how much stuff there is everywhere.

• This is big for me, because it robs me of enjoying my day even when I’m not cleaning.

Getting rid of junk is the first part of it.

Giving everything a real home is the other part.

Everything that stays needs to have it’s own home. Not just some pile on the counter, but a real place to be put away. Sometimes this is more of a challenge than the getting rid of junk part, but I’ve found that I’m much more successful and consistent about keeping things neat if there is a home for things. The kids are better at cleaning this way too. Things that don’t have a home inevitably end up in a pile on some horizontal surface in my house. And stay there. Not good.

Do you have junk like this that you want to deal with once and for all?

Take the Goodbye Junk Challenge.

Here’s THE CHALLENGE:

*Get rid of one item each day. It must leave your house for good…donate it, trash it, recycle it, give it to someone, sell it on ebay, whatever, just so that you don’t ever have to deal with it again. More than one is fine too, but if you just get rid of one thing a day, count that as success!
*Find one item that needs a home, and give it a home. Maybe something that you’ve never known where to put…figure out a place. Or maybe just put something back in it’s rightful home. Easy!

That’s it… quick and simple, right?

Here are a few other details:

• Feel free to make this challenge fit your life. Want to do a week worth all on Saturday? Fine! Want to fill up a box before taking it to Goodwill? Great! Just make sure that the stuff you pile up to leave your house actually leaves your house, otherwise, you’ll just be going through it all again in the future, and who wants that?
• If you miss a day here and there, or even a whole week, don’t give up! There are no Junk Police to knock on your door, and ask what you’ve donated today. You don’t have to do the whole year. There is no right or wrong. Just clean until you’re happy!
• Remember there are lots of sites out there with helpful ideas. Unclutterer.com and http://orgjunkie.com are two of my favorites, and Pinterest.com is a huge source of organizing and cleaning resources.  Don’t forget the Goodbye Junk tab up at the top of this blog for more links and resources too. 

It’s a win-win challenge. I {we} get a nicer, cleaner, more organized house, and Goodwill (or the charity of your choice) gets to benefit from our donations.

Ready to start

the Goodbye Junk Challenge?

There is no time better than the present to start a new challenge like this,

so get to it…

I’ve been on a mission to say “Goodbye” to the junk in my house, clear out the clutter, and make a more organized, peaceful home for myself and my family.  It’s been an ongoing mission for some time now, and I’ve made a significant amount of progress. Along the way I’ve figured out three simple rules that I’ve used and I thought I’d share them with you here.

1. Say goodbye to the junk. If you don’t want it, don’t use it, don’t like it, don’t need it…. Donate it!  Someone else can use it, and then you can feel good about getting it out of your way, and helping someone else at the same time.

2. Find a home for everything. If it’s worth keeping, then it needs to have a specific home.  A place where you can say, “Oh, that goes here.”  Or a place where you’ll think to look when you’re looking for that item later. 

3. Carefully consider what you’re bringing in to your home from now on.  The dollar section at Target is tempting and seductive.  Oh that’s cute!  Oh, this would be fun for the kids….  But ask yourself: ‘Will this ultimately end up as junk or clutter for me to deal with later?’   If the cuteness or fun is worth it, then go for it.  If it’s going to just sit around and be clutter later….leave it.

Getting rid of junk makes sense.  Keeping yourself from filling the house back up with more junk makes sense. But why is finding a home for everything that you’re keeping so important? Well….  Here’s why:

Yes, this shameful pile is embarrassingly mine.  No, I didn’t pile it all up just for this post.   I could give you excuses about why it’s all there, and that we’ve got extra company and had to move things around to make room for them to feel welcome.  I could tell you that this is just one tiny corner in an otherwise de-cluttered room. But the bottom line is that this is stuff with no home, or things that didn’t get put away, because setting it here to put away later way just ‘easier’.  Here’s what was piled in there:

1.  Rug- too nice to give away, but not sure where to use it.

2. Box of large cars/toys that should be in my boys room.

3. Pile of blankets that needs a home for the summer.

4. Extra chair that goes with our kitchen table.

5. Sleeping bag- definitely needs a home!

6. Tub of photos, cards, and other keepsakes.  Needs a better home, for sure.

7. Earphones/plugs… belong in the garage but they keep migrating in the house on my 5 year old’s head…

8. Favorite Lego Star Wars book.  Belongs on the bookshelf in the bedroom.

9. Boogie board.  This one boggles my mind.  It has no home. It has no purpose.  My sweet mother in law insisted on bringing it back from vacation on the plane.  Years ago.  Why we have it in land locked North Texas I don’t know.  Needs to go. To her house, I think.

10. Toddler dump truck.  My boys don’t play with it anymore.  But it’s one of the few little boy toys left around here.  That makes it harder to part with.  Time to find a little boy who would love it like it deserves, and let it go.

11. Yoga mat- Has a home, but ended up here.  Because once there is a pile of stuff with no home, it’s so easy to just add to it.

12. Plug in Spiderman video game.  Never opened.  Christmas gift. We need to hook it up or pass it on to someone who’ll use it.

13.  This one must be hiding under the chair.  A.k.a.-I must have gotten distracted putting the numbers on the arrows and skipped 13….

14. Another unopened toy that some other child would be thrilled to have.  A good lesson that we are blessed to excess, and need to share our blessings with others.

As you can see, a few things with no home can make a big impact. In fact a lot of the stuff in that pile DOES have a home.  But this is what happens.  A few things without a home get set to the side to figure out where to put them.  It becomes a “Stuff to Put Away” pile.  Then something else gets added to the pile.  And soon it’s a mountain of stuff that needs to be put away, some with homes, some without.  The bottom line for me is to keep this from happening from the beginning.  Find a home for everything.  If it’s worth keeping, it’s worth taking the time to find a place to use it or store it.

What things in your home are waiting

for a home of their own?

I’m still here.  I know I haven’t posted since EASTER, but I’m still here.  Trying to prioritize the things that are truly important, and reluctantly letting the other (sometimes more fun) things slide for awhile.  (Like blogging…)  I’m working my way through cleaning the house, saying Goodbye Junk to massive amounts of clutter, and making room for our friends to come and visit this summer.  I’m rearranging, reorganizing, and rethinking the way we do things.  It’s slowly but surely starting to make a difference, and I’m starting to both see and feel the results.  It’s much more peaceful.  It’s less stressful.  It’s easier to clean.  It’s easier to relax.

I’m working on my photography.  A little.  When I can, which isn’t much yet.  But I’ll have more time for that soon enough.  It will come.  I just need to be patient and find joy in putting the important things first, so that the other stuff can fall in line after.   Each day, each minute, each chore even, is a blessing, and I am thankful for all of them.  Even the dishes.  Darn it. 

I’m looking forward to a summer of fun with my boys….the last one before they are BOTH in school full days next year at the elementary school.  Kind of sad, but mostly I want to enjoy every minute this summer and savor it.  Make memories.  Have fun.  Be intentional.

Here’s to a summer of fun for you too.

May you be blessed with joy, laughter, fun and happy memories in the making.

~M

Recently, it was our day to go through toys, get rid of broken or missing pieces, and choose others to donate to Goodwill.  It makes me happy to be able to bless others with our donations, and to get some of that stuff out of the house for good! The boys were surprisingly on board with it this year too.  They happily chose a huge pile of toys and games to bless other children with…it was a wonderful thing!  I ended up with three large drawers empty and waiting for Christmas morning, which makes a great place to store gift wrap, bags, bows and ribbons within easy reach.  A lovely bonus.

Our toy closet~ Organized at last!

I am also making it a priority to go through ALL of our Christmas stuff, and giveaway the stuff that we don’t use anymore, or just don’t love.  It’s my goal to ‘GoodbyeJunk’ some of it, to make it more manageable.  It’s also my goal to make sure that I have the boxes or storage containers ready for packing up after Christmas.  This year, I’m making sure they are all marked with LABELS for what’s inside.  It’s my hope that this will make it easier when we pull them out next year, and also easier to put away after the holidays.  I’ll let you know how it goes!

What are some of your tips & ideas for getting/staying organized during the holidays?

How do you keep from being overwhelmed with all the ‘stuff’?  Please share in the comments!