Decluttering Results

I have seen that a lot of people are doing a 30 day decluttering in January. I did a major decluttering in December before https://godprovidesforus.com/2017/12/01/the-easy-things-what-is-easy-for-you-to-throw-away/Christmas and I am so happy with the results.

I had plenty of room to put Christmas presents Zoya received.
I was not tempted to buy too much for Christmas because I was busy taking careful stock of what I had, needed, and wanted.
With minimal effort, I can keep my house clean.

I had a much younger sister living with me for two months, helping me get things in order. I wanted to do something with the time she was here that would have a long term impact. She was happy to keep the house clean, but if we had just focused on cleaning things, it would be a disaster again when she left. So I decided to focus on decluttering with Project Fewer Things.

I was only able to blog the first five days, but I didn’t stop there. Christmas, toddler sickness, grief, and work insanity, made it hard to write, but I kept getting rid of things we did not need.

I didn’t follow a plan. I tried different methods for Project Fewer Things.

Decluttering with a friend was definitely the most productive.
I tried the easy wins on the bad days just to keep going.
I did short timed sprints.
I did specific areas.
I filled a box.

That last one is my maintenance plan. One of the unexpected, but maybe most important results of Project Few Things, is that I buy so much less online. I’m much more particular about what I allow into my space. I no longer get amazon boxes every day. So as a maintenance, when I do get a box, I try to fill it up with more things to give away.

I’m not done. I don’t know if you ever get done. I haven’t finished my late husband’s things, I need to finish organizing and moving work things out, and I need to pair down Zoya’s toys. But I’ve done enough. I’ve done enough to see major results. I’ve done enough for it to all be worth it. I’ve done enough for two major results. My house is easy to keep clean and my shopping is way down.

My goal was a clean out, but Project Fewer Things really zapped me out of my boredom shopping. True, it pushed me to find other things to fill my mind and my time, but that is why I had an amazing outdoor weekend this past weekend.

So if you started a January Decluttering, keep going. If you started Project Fewer Things and gave up, keep going with me. I know I don’t have it in me to stick daily to a program. I wish I did, but there are days I’m only home and awake for 30 minutes. There are days Zoya and I need to be outside all day. There are days I’m too sad to get off the couch. There are days friends come over and we have too much fun. Some days, I’m done with work at 3:00. Some days, I just try to get Zoya to bed as early as possible so I can work til midnight.

Big projects are easy to start, but hard to finish. Most of us don’t have the ability to commit to anything daily, but we do have the ability to commit to keep going until we are finished. Keep going even if it’s just one thing when you remember, and eventually you will get to a place where it’s all worth it.