Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Decluttering

I am still trying to declutter our apartment. The more stuff we own, the more money we've wasted and the more time I spend cleaning or taking care of it all. No thanks. I've been inspired by Lara's blog, especially this post, this post, this video, and a few other posts in her archives. It really is freeing to get rid of excess.

So far this year, I have given away, thrown away, or sold the following:

140 articles of clothing (both mine and hubby's, though mostly mine)
9 pairs of shoes
14 hangers (many more to go)
6 towels
1 heating pad
60+ books
14 misc. items
21 items from the medicine chest
13 items from under the bathroom sink

I haven't even touched the closet in the spare bedroom.

I still have too many clothes. I've been eating fairly well and exercising so I've lost 39 pounds so far. As far as I can tell, all of the clothes I've shrunk out of are gone. As I continue to lose weight, I'm going to get rid of everything that doesn't fit. I don't think I will have anything to wear when I reach my goal weight as I haven't been that size since before I got married.

I've decided to try an experiment. I pushed all of my clothes to the back of the closet. As I wear something and wash it, I will leave it hanging in the front. In 60 days, whatever is still in the back of the closet is going to the donation bin. That way, even if I don't continue to lose weight, I'm still paring down my closet to only what I wear. The 100 things challenge, Cassandra's closet. From skirts and tops to shoes and t-shirts, I'm going to own as little as possible.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow, I like the 60 day closet experiment. I really need to do that as well.

Shelley Kubitz Mahannah said...

Good for you on the weight loss! Keep it up!

Ann said...

Cassandra,
I too am a big believer in decluttering. Growing up with a hoarding parent has made me realize the terrible burden of having too much stuff. Have you heard of Free-Cycle? A great resource for getting rid of stuff. We got rid of all our old furniture that way.
I am a little worried about becoming a teacher because I need to start collecting somethings for the classroom. I don't want my house to fill up with teaching supplies. Good luck on the decluttering process.
Ann

Not the Waltons said...

Sounds like a neat way to tackle the closet!

My next decluttering project will be our garage, lots of extra clothing/shoes are stored in there!

Keep it up with your weight loss AND decluttering!

Anonymous said...

39 lbs! that's amazing! keep up the good work!

Cassandra said...

Thanks for the comments, ladies. :)

Ann - 60 days might be too long, I'm not sure. I just thought it sounded like a good amount of time to need different types of clothes and show what I actually wear. Have fun with it, if you try it!

SKM - Thanks much!

Ann - I've only seen hoarders on tv, but I bet that's a stressful way to live. Thanks for the idea of free-cycle. I'll have to try that. Yeah, I can see your worries about being a teacher and having to collect things. Any chance you'd be able to just have a few things and rotate them through?

Mona - Good luck with your garage!

MademoiselleLeBrun - Thank you!