52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week 49 Update

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Wow! Week 49. I cannot believe that I have almost made it through this challenge. It has been a tough one for me. My discipline has been stretched to the max, and I can honestly say if it wasn’t for all the people that I know are following this challenge I probably would have given up–but I am so glad I haven’t.

Our home is far from fully decluttered yet. Stay tuned for a new challenge that I hope will keep my readers pursuing a clutter free life (it is the 30 times 12 challenge you can view it here) and me -however, there has already been so much progress made, and our home now feels bigger and brighter because of it.

What you are looking at is a pile of sheets and blankets from the linen closet. I took before photos of the closet itself, but for some reason, they didn’t load to my camera card.

Anyways this is yet another re-declutter project. For the month of December, I am concentrating on going back and decluttering some areas that got re-cluttered as of late so that the home looks neat and tidy for the extra guests we get at Christmas time.

Now our visitors don’t look into our linen closet, so I guess this week the re-decluttering was really for the sake of my sanity. My kids put the sheets away, and I have given each set a plastic bin with a lid to make it simple. Well, at least I think the system is simple, but the kids seem incapable of grasping the concept even though the range from 13 to 19 years of age.

I was ruthless with the sheets and found another entire box to give away. It is hard to believe that two boxes plus a bag of sheets that had holes in them came out of my linen closet this year.

I wish I kept an accurate count of how many boxes I have donated this year and how many bags I filled with trash. I am sure that I have given away at least 40 boxes. As for trash, I didn’t have as much, but I guess the total is about 12 bags worth.

Here is what the top half of the closet looks like. The boxes with lids have a fitted sheet and a top sheet. The white washtubs hold pillow cases. We all have at least 2 to 3 pillows each in our family. I sleep with 4. Kind of extreme I know but I like two under my head at least, and another between my legs and the last one is either under my head or tucked in the small of my back.

Here is the bottom half of the linen closet. Notice the empty shelf. I ended up placing a laundry basket on it and am going to make it the place where everything from next year’s decluttering project lands each month (here are the details on that project).

The bottom of the closet has some baby linens and blankets we use from time to time when we are asked to babysit a little one -it also holds our air pump, emergency flashlights (yes I know they are kids ones but they are so long lasting).

The bottom container is full of blankets my husband and I use on the couch downstairs in the family room whenever one of us can’t sleep. They are handy to grab here without bothering anyone.

What area of your home did you declutter this week?

Don’t forget to join the Snail Pace Clutter Removers  Facebook group, where you can share your progress, and receive encouragement.

A few great posts to help you with your clutter roadblocks…

• How To Start Decluttering When You Feel Overwhelmed By It
• How To Declutter When You Just Don’t Feel Like It
• 4 Essential Items For Efficient Decluttering

View the plan and grab your free 52-week planning sheet here

Update: I finished this challenge – below are the links to all my weekly updates showing my progress.

1. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week One
2. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Two
3. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Three
4. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Four
5. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Five
6. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Six
7. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Seven
8. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Eight
9. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Nine
10. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Ten
11. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Eleven
12. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Twelve
13. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Thirteen
14. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Fourteen
15. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Fifteen
16. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Sixteen
17. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Seventeen
18. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Eighteen
19. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Nineteen
20. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Twenty
21. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Twenty-One
22. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Twenty-Two
23. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Twenty-Three
24. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Twenty-Four
25. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Twenty-Five
26. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Twenty-Six
27. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Twenty-Seven
28. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Twenty-Eight
29. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Twenty-Nine
30. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Thirty
31. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Thirty-One
32. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Thirty-Two
33. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Thirty-Three
34. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Thirty-Four
35. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Thirty-Five
36. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Thirty-Six
37. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Thirty-Seven
38. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Thirty-Eight
39. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Thirty-Nine
40. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Forty
41. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Forty-One
42. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Forty-Two
43. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Forty-Three
44. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Forty-Four
45. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Forty-Five
46. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Forty-Six
47. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Forty-Seven
48. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Forty-Eight
49. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Forty-Nine (you are here)
50. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Fifty
51. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Fifty-One
52. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Fifty-Two