<p>My personal success story: even though I did not throw anything away this week, I am coming from a trip without buying any souvenirs or similar crap. Yay me! </p>
<p>First: Iâve had LOTS of trouble signing up for Freecycle. Anyone have suggestions?</p>
<p>So I was purging some of my kids old papers. Itâs amazing what I found out about myself. My son wrote a laminated card titled, My Magnificant Mother. I was 8 feet tall, weighed 80 lbs, my favorite store was the grocery store and my favorite activity was âdoing the laundryâ. Who knew? ;
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<p>I am adding my name to the list doing this project. I did one whole black garbage bag today.</p>
<p>Have started going through bookshelves. I hate getting rid of books, even if Iâve never read themâŠbut the library will benefit from them, so itâs good.</p>
<p>Have cleared out old bills and records, but have not yet touched the drawer with the guysâ old school papers, etc. That will be a really tough slog.</p>
<p>Limabeans, my son did a project in kind. or 1st grade, and he kept referring to his grandparents with the great attributes. When asked whee his MO most liked to shop, he wrote âIn grandparentsâ pantryâ. He made me feel 4â tall.</p>
<p>Last week, 15 bags. This week, 8 bags. But I cleaned out one drawer in a bathroom cabinet! If you belong to the Three Bags a Day subgroup of this Club, you will recognize that as a real accomplishment!</p>
<p>The posts by limabeans and bookworm made me smile. In first grade, my younger brother filled out a worksheet indicating that our grandmotherâs hair color was âpurple.â No, it wasnât! 
But she had quite white hair, and her hairdresser used one of those products to counter yellowing, giving her hair just a slight blue/purple glimmer.</p>
<p>I tackled the cookbooks. Kept only the ones I use. Filled another big bag with the rest. They will go on Monday.</p>
<p>Three bags today to goodwill. Two shopping bags of books and a black lawn bag of my daughterâs clothes! I took in a hand me down pair of boots from a relative that I plan to recycle but she felt good about handing them down. </p>
<p>I started reading â100 Things Challengeâ on a girls weekend away. We all had a few laughs on the lists and how to repurpose things for several uses. That said, we all agreed that we need to get rid of stuff. The other universal agreement is that our kids arenât cooperating with our need to declutter and never take their stuff, even though they may have their own places to live. </p>
<p>One friends has 3 kids in their 30s and the parents are threatening to throw stuff out if they donât come get it. </p>
<p>What Iâve started doing with S2âs stuff (heâs all grown up and moved out) is to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies and send that to him with a few of his items in the box. He can keep or toss the items, but at least theyâre out of my house.</p>
<p>Another two bags of clothes. D can get in her closet again. Also a box of books to the library. Love seeing this stuff go!!</p>
<p>Itâs getting easier and easier for me to look at something and say âthat can goâ even in the ordinary course of the day. </p>
<p>/on my way to minimalism! (not really)</p>
<p>I decided to tackle the desk which is piled with papers, bills, etc. It took me over an hour just to get through about 1/4 of it. I had to check everything to see if it was important enough to keep, or if it could be trashed or needed to be shredded. At this rate, it should only take me another 3 hours to finish decluttering the desk. Ugh. </p>
<p>still doing my 3 a dayâfound 3 books and put in the pile. It equals about a bag a week so can I stay here?
I have been doing this since the fall and just recently can see the difference. I have only pulled 2 things out of the bag so far. I think everyone is doing uber great!
And to think my friends and family have thought I am a minimalist all along. What they did not realize is that there is still âstuffâ that lurks in drawers and closets.</p>
<p>^^and that stuff is often the hardest to get rid of.^^ I like your 3 things a day approach. </p>
<p>Yes, my outward surfaces are clutter free. But, boy there is a ton of stuff crammed in drawers and cabinets. I have cleared out the bathroom cabinets but havenât gotten the energy for my large closet yet! </p>
<p>Another trip, and not a single purchase! I count it as a 1/4 of my weekly bag. :)</p>
<p>coralbrook, you donât have to do the entire large closet at once. Just do one shelf. </p>
<p>Bleah! I missed trash pick-up today, so the bags are still in the garage. Hoping for better next week!</p>
<p>These snow days are wonderful. My son had to use my computer and my husband is home doing work. So I HAVE to be productive. Today, I compiled a box of books to go and an overflowing bag of stuff. I can see Iâm all out of clothes to clear out, for now, so today is the day to toss those odds and ends I stored away in drawers. Stuff like placemats I never use, small plastic organizers I donât use/need, or small toys that arenât oh-so special that I have to save. Whoosh! It may not look significantly different at first glance, but if you open a cabinet or a drawer, you wonât get a cascade of âstuffâ falling down at you. Plus, what is there is looking much more organized. Iâm a happy momma today.</p>