So how did I do in my decluttering challenge last month?

Well one thing I learned: It is very annoying to count every item you’re getting rid of. I think it’s probably a good challenge if you’ve already done a major declutter and want to push yourself to get rid of a few more things. But when you’re talking 200 or 300 items… yeah that’s annoying. I would have taken a picture, but I could just anticipate someone getting offended because it was something that they had given me… or something like that. :-)

So I have no idea how much I actually disposed of, but I don’t think I made my 200 goal. As it got closer to Christmas, I had to just forget about typing out all the items and just take the boxes to Goodwill to get them out of my house. Then life got crazy; I was sooo busy and going down to Orlando in the midst of all the busy-ness did *not* help. There are still a lot of things I aim to declutter, but I was able to tackle some major areas of the house, like the guest room. It already looks better, but I do need to do more work.

One of the things on my list was to go through my clothes. I have quite a few items of clothing that no longer fit me, and they aren’t anything special that I feel the need to hang onto. I did take advantage of a few sales and get some new shirts, but with so many things hanging around that I don’t wear, I don’t have a good conception of what I actually need. (Or what colors I have a lot of. I know at one time, it seemed that the only color shirt I wore was either blue or black!) I hope to someday finish all the laundry and then I can really get picky with my wardrobe.

The good news is I feel like I have made progress in our main living area as far as cleanliness! I had to clean very thoroughly for Christmas because one of our guests is allergic to cats. I decided to take the approach of less-is-more, so I resisted the urge to clutter up all the wallspace and corners. I think it looks so much better now. Currently, our den has borne the brunt of that approach – it has definitely turned into the junk room. I find the cat pee smell down there overpowering, so I don’t spend much time down there (which is a shame because it’s sooo much easier to keep all of Savannah’s toys down there). I hope to tackle that soon, especially once we figure out what to do about getting the smell out of the carpet.