I went crazy. That phrase is stated too much around here. But seriously. We came home from vacation, and I was done with all of the “stuff”.  Stuff doesn’t bring us joy (perfect time to talk about this since the holiday’s are right around the corner HA). Sure, maybe we get some gratification when first purchasing the item, but eventually the feeling wains and all we’re left with is clutter. The funny thing is, we really don’t have that much mess to speak of. A few times a year, we go through the madness and do a good, old fashion purging decluttering. We actually had two yard sales this year and made over $200 selling our unused junk. Yay! This decluttering helps us keep things pretty tidy, to the point my friends like to poke fun that we don’t give our toddler toys to play with. She has toys and books, but not many. Why buy the girl toys when she would rather play with the packaging and everything she is not suppose to have? So, we keep it simple. A few of ours/her favorites. She doesn’t mind, and it makes me a feel a little more sane.

We have friends that have lots and lots of toys and, within a matter of seconds, it becomes crazy toy mania in the living room. I. CAN’T. HANDLE. THAT. No, thank you. Maybe baby girl my sweet toddler is still too young for the reckless toy tornado, but if that day comes oh me, oh my, my brain will explode. I’m hoping that day never comes and keeping toys to a minimum will surely help that. Right? I should keep dreaming, right?

How To Get Rid Of Junk

Here is how I easily went through our entire house and got rid of all our crap.

One room at a time, go through everything:

• Bookshelves, closets, under the bed, in those junk drawers, cabinets, what have you. Do not leave anything untouched.
• Make a schedule. Go through one room a day or a week and just spend a few hours in there decluttering. Or spend one whole weekend going through everything. Whatever works for you and your family.
• When deciding what to keep, toss, or donate, think to yourself “does this thing bring me joy?”, “is it something I use on a daily or monthly basis?”, “would it be hard to live without it?”. If it doesn’t meet those criteria, toss it (by toss I mean donate, put away for a yard sale, or if it is trash, throw it away). If it’s something you are unsure of, put it off to the side and come back to it (don’t put everything in this pile). And if you can’t live without it, put it back in its right place or in a better place.
• Do you have multiples? We had three cutting boards, and I only use two, so one went into the yard sale pile.
• Are you ever going to read all those books or magazines again? Probably not. Recycle them or donate them. 
• We had a closet full of gift bags. Do I seriously need 500 gift bags? No. They are going in the yard sale pile. That dehydrator my husband won and I used one time – nope, don’t need it, even though it is useful. Random tchotchkes? Probably don’t need them, and they bring extra clutter to your life.

Break up with your items.

• Sometimes, you have to break the emotional attachment to some things, and that can be difficult. Baby clothes – save maybe one or two outfits if you really have to.
• If it’s something you are having a really difficult time with, set it to the side and process what it means to get rid of it. Could you replace it eventually if you really needed to? 
• You may want to have your family help, or maybe not, depending on their willingness. Kids’ toys can be difficult. They tend to, all of a sudden, have a deep passion for that toy they haven’t played with for months when they know you are getting rid of it. One thing that might help is telling them they get to keep a few toys out of however many. You can tell them, then have them pick their favorite toys (give them a number they are allowed to keep), and the other toys will go to a family in need. 

What Can You Keep?

Now don’t get me wrong, you can still keep a few items. I kept some decorative items I loved. Just be picky. I have this vintage thermos thing that is adorable. It was about to go in the yard sale pile, but I liked it too much, so it got to stay. This was probably the only thing I changed my mind on. Just don’t do that with everything you own. Okay?

If it’s a serious family heirloom, keep it. You can’t replace those. But, if you have too many family heirlooms, maybe just pick your favorites and see if another family member would like some of the other items. We have a little wooden rocking chair from my hubby’s childhood. We will obviously be holding onto that. Plus, August loves sitting in it to watch a show.

My other thought process. If we had to move, would I want to pack it and unpack it? And would it fit in a small moving truck ? If everything wouldn’t fit or it wasn’t worth it, then it is going. 

With this purge, I may have went a little overboard. I tried to get rid of my husband’s dresser. He nicely asked where he would put all of his clothes. Ugh, fine, we can keep it.

The plus side to this is you can sell all your junk and make some money! Yay! Have you decluttered your house or are you planning to? We would love to hear about it.

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