Declutter Challenge Update No. 4

Updated on January 24, 2020

The Declutter Challenge is over! Basically, to prepare for a yard sale I had this last Saturday, I challenged myself to find 15 items to declutter for 15 days. This would allow me to purge 225 unused, unloved items from my home. These items could go in the trash, to the yard sale, be listed on Craigslist, or donated to Goodwill.

The days sort of jumbled all together for which items I decluttered on what days. So, I will share what pictures I have and then try to remember all of the other items that were purged for the last 10 days of the challenge. You can also read about the first five days of decluttering.

Yard Sale/Donate:

• blender
• set of 5 ice trays
• 3 glass vases
• stray popcorn container
• 5 plastic drinking bottles
• Hawaiin shirt plastic tray
• bottle warmer

Total items: 13

Trash:

• 5 VHS tapes (these were movies I had taped with my old VCR – in high school, no less!)
• a box for a Wii gun

Yard Sale/Donate:

• 2 cassette tapes
• remote for DirectTV unit I already had ready for sale
• crafting DVD from Jo Anns

Total items: 10

Recycle:

• Stack of old catalogs/magazines (there were about 6)

Yard Sale/Donate:

• Bottle opener
• Bottle cap opener
• Fork (at this point I was really thinking – what the heck?)
• 8 baby spoons

Total items: 17

Yard Sale/Donate:

• Over the shoulder bag
• Zippered re-usable shopping bag
• 2 hand towels
• 2 Winnie the Pooh figurines
• Slippers
• 4 drink cozies
• 2 fabric wall hangings

Total items: 13

Yard Sale/Donate:

• Massage chair cushion
• Food vacuum sealer
• Curtains (pair)

Total items: 3

Yard Sale/Donate:

• 4 canisters
• Melamine serving tray
• Skillet
• 3 coffee mugs
• 6 glasses
• 2 shot glasses
• 1 plastic cup
• 2 can cozies
• 5 sippy cups
• brush
• curling iron
• set of 3 Winnie the Pooh make-up cases
• 5 necklaces
• toy key

Total items: 36

That is all I have for pictures. I had fully intended on getting pictures of everything, but life with two small kids allows me only to work in short bursts on a whim! I didn’t always remember to grab the camera when I was in the middle of it! We went through my husband’s clothes and threw out about 15 items of clothing that were beyond repair and added to the yard sale/donate pile another 21 items. I had a bag of baby bottles (there were 5), a toaster and our old wireless router.

Total items: 43

This is in addition to all the yard sale stuff we had stored in our shed from our yard sale flop last fall.

The grand total for the 15 days of decluttering is 228! My goal was 225 items, so I was able to get a few extra items in there.

Our yard sale was a success! We made over $100, which is think is pretty good for having most items priced at a quarter a piece! I ended up taking about 7 or 8 boxes of stuff to Goodwill to donate. I did not want any of it back in my house. I spent Tuesday and Wednesday putting my house back together and cleaning – it was sorely neglected with all the yard sale prep. I have organized peace and calm in my home again.

If you followed along with me or are just joining in, I would love to hear how you did/are doing in the comments!

If you missed earlier posts in this series:

• The Declutter Challenge
• Declutter Challenge Update No. 1 (the first five days)
• Declutter Tips: Remove the Emotional Component
• Declutter Tips: How Much is TOO Much?