Purge January 2016----5 items a day.....

Neutral is a great place to be!
Chicken Lady, just curious, how big are these molds?

The molds vary. Closed they range from half a brick to an adult boot box. Median size is two bricks. Most of them are two pieces and when they at open an assortment of 15 covers the floor in front of my woodstove. I'm taking a dozen more to school today.

My daughter gave me a pair of her shoes that were super worn out and too tight to throw away (she's learning!), and I did. Returned a book to a friend who had loaned it to me. Total for month: 13.

Jan 27
Thank you Chicken Lady I am trying to make myself see what I don't use and don't need....the need it, use it, or love it thing...lol
---2 catalogs ---to recycle
---1 book --to charity
Total to date 92

I didn't have much time at home yesterday, but along with taking the molds to school, I grabbed a set of double sheets for the goodwill pile (we no longer have a double bed)

Friday was sort of a backslide day - my school s phasing out the 32 gallon trash cans in the lunch areas for more smaller ones. I knocked a hole in the can I keep my feed in because it was frozen and was going to need to buy a new one, so I asked management about the fate of the old cans. I was told to take them all, so I brought home 4 32 gallon trash cans with lids. I'd like to claim that we will get rid of some of the old, battered, cracked, lidless cans we've been using, but they will probably be "down-cycled"

Then yesterday I went to an all day teacher workshop at a local pottery studio. It was fantastic! I came home excited and energized with a notebook full of notes and plans. I also came home with 4 finished projects, 2 boxes of glazes, a roll of posters (for my classroom), a new splash pan for my classroom, but I will bring the old leaky one home and throw out the more broken one on my wheel if it fits, a bag of handouts and catalogs I need to sort through, and two glass plates, a fabric "lace" curtain, and a plastic candle holder I stopped at goodwill and bought for $2.68 because they would work for some of the projecs we did.

Sofull backslide.

3 of those lidded paper case boxes (love those boxes for collecting thrift shop items) in the back of the Escape ready to be dropped off. Don't even know what all is in them because son#2 was home and cleaned his room. Need to ask DH to bring home a few more paper boxes.

The last two weeks I've been in "listing mode" - every afternoon I take a junk mail envelope and write everything for the coming day on it, even the minor stuff like do laundry or have coffee. It's tiny baby steps but I force myself to do Everything on that list, which usually takes up the whole envelope. One of the things consistently on it every day is "1 item to toss or donate". Sometime I get on a roll and a whole box of stuff goes, but just the act of forcing myself to seek out one item I don't want is really helpful - and painless. While I can find it nearly impossible to look at 15 sweaters and tell myself I only want to keep five, it's pretty easy to pick out one I don't especially love.

Jan31---the last day of the month, have not reached 105 but very happy with what I have done.
It is getting harder because there is so much less in the house (not counting the garage, worked on it last summer but,
it will need more this year)
2--more magazines
2-- broken tools from the inside tool bag
1--lamp shade
Total to date 97
The other things I have done while decluttering this month are:
--Hang 4 pictures I love and that remind me of very special people (they were stuck in a closet)
I have hang them in places I can see them and enjoy them. Not out of the house but being honoured and enjoyed.
--Took 6 pair of really good quality knee socks that were too tight at the top and cut them down to ankle socks.
They feel good and did not unravel. So again not out of the house but being used up.

I cleaned out earrings. I decided that if I wear a pair of earrings and one of them falls out of my ear and is lost, so be it. That's life, and I will toss the other one.

There are 3 -4 pairs that I really like, but do not wear because they fall out of my ears. Now I will just accept the loss and move on.