52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week 4 Update

It felt so good to finish decluttering the library this week. I swear the room feels bigger. Which, it should considering over the last 4 weeks I have removed 5 plastic grocery bags full of trash, and filled one box for the second hand homeschooling curriculum sale I do every year, plus 3 more boxes went to the local thrift store.

Realizing I took that much out of one room, is kind of satisfying and disgusting at the same time. Satisfying that the room is now simplified;disgusting that it got that bad in the first place.

(Links in this post are affiliate links. I will be compensated when you make a purchase by clicking those links. See my disclosure page for more information)

Again no staging here, oh how badly I wanted to remove those baskets full of shoes. We don’t have a front entrance closet at all so those baskets are our solution to shoes everywhere. The broom was left by the child who had sweeping this room as a chore the day before. The cardboard you see stuffed beside the wardrobe is the white science project boards I use to take my blogging pictures.

As you can see the horrible secrets of what is inside the cabinets is already leaking out into the room. That is yarn you see sneaking out of a draw there.

The cabinet is full of picture albums, yarn and craft supplies.

First I emptied out the entire wardrobe and then wiped it all down with all purpose cleaner.

The amount of stuff the wardrobe was holding was kind of overwhelming to look at.

Yep that is right, the contents filled up the couch, the chair and a coffee table and spilled onto the floor. I must admit I just sat and stared at it for a few minutes not knowing quite where to start.

I had forgotten all about this binder full of patterns I thought I might want to try some day. Ah the days before Pinterest.

In the end I kept just a small handful of patterns. I kept to my promise of keeping only things for the stage of life I am currently in, not the one I might be in someday, and not the one I was once in. I also figured pretty much any craft I want to try I can find a tutorial on Pinterest for.

I am very embarrassed to show you just how much trash came out of that wardrobe. About half of it was clothes I put in there to mend, and well……I don’t mend. I always like the idea of mending. It is thrifty, and green but I never make it a priority. The mending pile had been there so long that there was a maxi dress for my daughter that she could now wear as a shirt. SHAMEFUL.

The other half of the trash was empty plastic bags and pieces of this and that I had kept hoping to find the rest of the ..this and that. It has been years I don’t think they are showing up now and even if they do I don’t think we need them.

I also filled up about half of a box with stuff for the thrift store.

I had so much room in the drawer area of the wardrobe when I was done purging, I was able to devote a drawer to gloves, and another one to hats. This gave me room in the bookshelf I did earlier this month for my sewing box which meant I could now use the top of the wardrobe just for display items.

I am very happy with the end result. My bamboo knitting needles now have their own home in one of the glass jars on the top of the wardrobe. Which I think adds the perfect homey touch.

What did you declutter this week? Don’t forget to join the Snail Pacing Goal Achievers Facebook group, where you can share your progress,and receive encouragement.