Tag: decluttering

One of my goals for 2021 is to finish the list of unfinshed tasks I had for 2020.

The 2020 list had 31 items on it.

I finished 8.

I have 23 items to go.

Until yesterday.

I finally cleaned out the last kitchen cabinet.

I’m embarrassed to show you this, but I will any way. This is what my cabinet looked like.

Yeah. It was bad.

Yesterday I took everything off of the two bottom shelves, cleaned and reorganized them. It took me an hour and a half but it was well worth it.

Here is a picture of the containers and stuff I tossed.

I don’t know why I kept all of that stuff and left the cupboard that disorganized for so long. It was such a pain the butt to get items out because I just tossed items in. I’m lucky everything didn’t fall out.

Heres what it looks like now.

Much better.

I smile everytime I open it.

One thing crossed off my list for 2021.

22 more to go.

Going through the kitchen cabinets and drawers is on my Finishing The Unfinshed list.  So I’m taking a break from NaNoWriMo and going thru a drawer.

I’m tired of my dish towel drawer.  It is a mess. I forgot to take a picture before I cleaned it out but I did take a picture of everything in it.

My drawers remind me of a dresser you would have in a bedroom.

I love the fact that they are so big, but they end up being junk collectors.

The picture below is what I’m letting go of. 

The pot holders are stained and have holes in.  They are going in the garbage.  I don’t like the towels so I’m taking them to the consignment shop.  A girl at work makes the dish clothes.  I have 25 of them.  i love them, but I’m getting rid of 6 because they are showing their age.   The cutting board is cracked.  It’s going in the fire pit.  The pot holders I made when I was a kid.  I’m keeping 2.  They are so small that you can’t do anything with them.  The spoon holder doesn’t work for me.  I don’t like it.  I’m taking it to the consignment shop.   The hot pad is stained.  It’s going in the garbage.

I’m letting go of 19 items!

Here’s what the drawer look like now.

I did buy two new potholders.

Don’t worry I am still writing.  I will give you an update on Sunday.  I haven’t been writing  every day like I hoped, but I’m happy with my progress.

Until Saturday…

I was thinking last week about how to say goodbye to the items I am dropping off at the resale/thrift store.

Should I sing a little diddy, read a poem or say a prayer?

I wasn’t sure.

On the way to the resale shop this morning the answer pcame to me.  I just started talking to my items.  I thanked them for being with me.  For helping me.  For giving me comfort and joy.  For being my crutch.  For helping me stay stuck.

I told them that I didn’t want to be stuck anymore and that is why I was letting them go.

I wished them well on their next journey.  I hope that they all find great homes where people love them and use them and show them off.

I told them I loved them and  goodbye.  Our time is over but it was great while it lasted.

Happy trails my friends.  I let you go.

I know my goodbye may sound silly to you.  You may be thinking: but chrissy one of the items was just a tube of toothpaste.

I agree.  It is small.  To me it’s small, but to a child or someone the hasn’t worked in months and is short on cash it may feel like a Godsend.

We should never underestimate how far giving goes or what effects it has.

It feels good knowing that many people will benefit from my donations.

I’m grateful today that I have the ability to give, that I had the guts to let the items go and even more guts to drop it off at the resale store instead of keeping it and letting my life proceede as normal.

Heres a pic of what I let go of in 30 days.

.

Quite a lot.

Here’s what I what I’m bringing there.

A box of stuff and a comforter from the trailer. A bag of plastic bags and a bag of paper bags.

Stuff.

Stuff that can clutter someone else’s house instead of mine.

Goodbye stuff.

I use little bottles of shampoo and deodorant when I go to Vegas, at the trailer and in my overnight bag.

Since I haven’t gone to Vegas or anywhere overnight and camping season is over I’ve decided to go thru all these items and get rid of some.

Here’s what I have.

There’s no reason for me to have all of  this stuff.

I’ve decided to keep some of downstairs in my cabinet so I don’t have to upstairs everytime I need deodorant or something.

Heres what I am keeping downstairs.

This is what is am taking upstairs to use up. I know it won’t take long. Some of them are almost empty.

Here is what is not opened. I’m donating it.

I wish I could throw all of the items in a box and donate it but that’s gross. Half used deodorants and mouthwash. Yucky.

When I go to Vegas for New Year’s, I want to bring all new items and start fresh.

Now that that is out of my system I can go work on my novel for an hour or so.

928 words for yesterday.

Great start!

111 items.

This is the number I am stopping with.

I’m happy with this number.

Dont worry.  There will be more posts about stuff I’m letting go of in November

Next Tuesday I plan on taking my items to the thrift store and to the cosignment shop. I’ll post pics of the boxes and such.

Until next time….

Here is what I am letting go of today.

The marbles have been sitting on my steel table in the basement for 6 months.  I love marbles.  We used to play marbles at recess in grade school and I was good at it.  I was going to put them in a jar, but why?  They serve no purpose. I like them but I don’t love them so they have to go.  I found the large paperclips in the little bin in the back of my filing cabinet drawer a couple of weeks ago. There was another bin with small paperclips in.  I haven’t used either in a year or more.   I kept 10 big paperclips and put them with the little ones. The rest of the big paper clips and the bin have to go.

Last night when I came home from work I started to go through the file of my novel notes.

What a mess!

I have the start of the first five chapters typed out and a ton of notes and half started chapters hand written and a bunch of notes with done and the date written on them.

I think I continued writing it in 2018 but then something happened to my computer and I lost what I had written so I stopped.

As I read through the pile I tried to group ideas and or what I think should be chapters together. After an hour I’m not even half way through my notes, but I shredded a bunch of notes and 30 sheets of themed paper that was turning color around the edges.

Guess what? I’m using the small paper clips and I’m using the medium size lined green sticky notepad that I kept to write on what the topic of that group of notes is.

Because I organized and let go of items I knew exactly what I needed and where it was. Instead of going out and buying what I needed because I knew I had it some where but I couldn’t find it.

This makes the last month all worth while.

I’m really proud of myself.

I’m starting to plan out November. I know I want to continue to clean out. Maybe letting go of 30 items in November while I clean out my office. I want to participate in NaNoWriMo but I think I’m going to do it on a smaller scale. Maybe 800 words a day or maybe just working on it for an hour a day. I’m definately not posting every day. Maybe twice a week updates. I was thinking on starting on November 2nd. We are cutting down trees on the 1st.

I dont know, but I’ll keep you posted.

Until tomorrow….

Today I’m putting letting go of stuff on the back burner.

The thought of doing NaNoWriteMorhas crossed my mind more than once this month. Probably 20 times. So over the weekend I found the notes for the novel I started during NaNoWriMo in 2017.

In 2017 I didn’t make it very far. Only 8 days and 2913 words and then I gave up.

It was my first time. I wasn’t prepared. I didn’t have my characters worked out. I really didn’t have a lot of notes. I didn’t have an outline. I had a whole lot of nothing.

Over the I have looked at it once in awhile when the characters speak to me and I write notes and stick them in a file folder and back on the shelf they go.

On thing I’ve learned during this letting go process is that everything needs order. Including this file folder full of notes.

What a perfect time to go through this mess and decide what direction I want to go in.

If I finish NaNoWriMo great. If I don’t that’s fine too.

At least I know where I stand.with that project.

My writing life. This whole area needs to be cleaned out. Emotionally and office wise.

I’d like to use the month of November to figure out what that phrase means.

My writing life.

November is the perfect month to get started. Figuring out my writing life is actually on my Finishing The Unfinished list for the year.

I’m ready to dive in and see what’s there. What’s truly there and what it means.

It’s really time I get that part of my life cleaned out.

Yes, I am letting go of four things today but I’m only counting it as one because they came as one.

That’s all for today. Gotta go to work. I’m excited. It’s my 24th anniversary at the company I for today. I’m bringing snacks and it’s going to be a great day!

Until tomorrow….

I love positive words.  Phrases.  Sayings.  Affirmations.

I put them in places I can see/read them every day. 

Positive words are important to me. They help me believe in myself and my abilities as I move along my path. 

These are the three sayings I am letting go of today.

I’ve had these and three others in my office for the last year or so.  I decided to let go of three.

These are the three I’m keeping.

These three fit me the best.  They inspire me and help me to stay on track and keep moving foward.

I think part of this letting go journey is you let go what doesn’t fit you anymore and making room so what does fit can come into your life.

I think with less stuff you see who you truly are and what you want.

You see things more clearly. Things you may not want to see, but it gives you the opportunity to fix them so they do work.

Positive words turn into positive thoughts which turn into positive habits.

Until tomorrow ….