52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week 5 Update

This week’s project was so small and quick compared to last week’s. Strange too, since I have been dreading decluttering this area for a while.

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I know the top of the folding table doesn’t look that bad, but it is those baskets underneath that had me afraid. Would they hold as much junk as last week’s drawers?

Purses! That was all that was inside. Yes, that is a lot of Vera Bradley purses and bags. In my defense, I live 30 minutes from the Vera Bradley factory and 45 minutes from where they hold their annual sale. So these purses cost me a fraction of retail.

Of course, I don’t need this many, so really there is money wasted in these baskets. After all, we only carry one purse at a time.

When the kids were younger, I switched bags often. I had one I liked for all day outings. One I liked when it was date night, and I didn’t need all my mom stuff. One I liked for church. And on and on….

Now that the kids are older, I use two purses in fall colors, one large, one small and two purses in summer colors one small and one big. I also have a special evening bag for special events. That is five bags, and there were way more than that in these two baskets.

To decide which ones to keep and which ones to add to the box on the way to the thrift store, I emptied both baskets out entirely. I then went through all the purses, as well as vacuumed out the baskets to get rid of dust.

In the end, I got the purses down to just one basket. This basket also contains the backpack I use on long bike rides and the carry-on bag and huge purse I like to use when I travel by plane (which hasn’t happened in a while but I also use them for weekend getaways).

In the bottom basket, I put all my husband’s DIY home renovation books that were on the big built-in bookshelf. As I declutter this year one of my goals is also to rethink where things are stored so that things we use daily are in reach and things we use only now and again are kept in what I like to call “non-prime real estate.” In other words places not as simple to get to.

It didn’t take long to go through the papers on the top of the table. What you see left is a folder for collecting tax documents as they arrive. I like it out in the open to remind myself to gather things before the appointment with our account later this month. I am a very visual person, so visual reminders are essential for me getting things done.