I Decluttered In December!

Oh my! Who would have thought? I did some decluttering in early December!

I watched a YouTube video at the beginning of December where the creator challenged her viewers to declutter 10 items per day for the first two weeks of December. I believe she had ten categories of the type of items to declutter such as clothing, actual trash, and things that have no home.  What can I say? I was inspired and motivated to go looking for things!

While I have not taken on her particular challenge parameters. I did take some time over a few days to find some things. I went quickly through kitchen cabinets, closets and drawers primarily on the lower level of our home. I didn't tackle any clothes except I did trash a pair of socks that came out of the dryer with a hole. It isn't a lot of things, but it does feel good to make some decisions and get rid of some things.

A few items are from my last decluttering over the summer, which I tried to sell. No luck, so I will donate those, too. And I have put the scrapbook paper, gift bags and glue out on my porch for free. I posted the offer on a local neighborhood page. 

Some of the things (many not shown) were items I was keeping just in case. This is a frustrating one to keep tackling. I think it is very common to save things just in case. When I remember I try to follow The Minimalists suggestion about just in case items and let them go if they could be easily replaced for $20 or less and found nearby. 

I'm probably going to try selling the books, as they are all in decent shape and worth a few dollars. I will wait to tackle that in 2020!

Magazines! I picked up about five bags of magazines free from a neighbor recently with a planned project. I have yet to do the project, but I realized I will never use all of what I took. So I'm taking these to the recycling center. Yes, they have to be bagged in plastic. Boo.

I also did a large purge of cardboard boxes in our front closet. I was saving nearly every one that arrived on my doorstep this gift buying season. Now that I know what I need for mailing, I have let the others go to recycling. It looks so much better. And you will have to trust me on that as I failed to get a picture! 

Have you ever done some early December decluttering? This may be a first. I know it's rare at least. If I purge in December it is often after Christmas. There's something about getting rid of some things before the gifts are unwrapped that is very satisfying! Give it a try if you have a little time!