Summer crafting - finishing up some unfinished craft kits

At the beginning of the holidays we had a huge declutter in both children's bedrooms. It has made such a difference! We filled up bin bags of rubbish, took many bags to the charity shop, passed things on to others and I have a pile of stuff to put on eBay when I get the chance. In Mia's room she had a whole draw of craft kits which she's collected over the last couple of years, and so the summer holidays seemed a good opportunity to get on and get them finished.

Here are the projects that we've completed:

First up was some air drying clay which Mia received as a prize at school for winning an art competition. We made some sweet little Sanrio figures, and also a small bowl each.

She had a lot of half finished diamond painting kits. This sparkly flower set which we bought as a sleepover craft was a bargain from The Range. It didn't take her long to finish, and it even comes with a frame so it can go straight out on display. The sparkles are lovely!

I was a bit daunted by this candle making kit, but it was much easier than I was expecting and we made two really nice candles!

There were lots of other small diamond painting sticker sets so we finished them off. This is my grumpy owl! Now I have a tin full of leftover diamond dots which I'm not sure what to do with, although I have a few ideas here - left over diamond dots crafts.

The final craft was a stone painting set. It was supposed to be neon paints but unfortunately they had dried up, luckily I have plenty of acrylic paints that we could use! We went with a dotty theme and made some colourful painted stones.

Now she has plenty of space in her room, and we had fun together working on the crafts.

Things I collect that I don't need

I've been looking around the house recently and thinking that I'm well overdue for a good declutter. It's been ages since I last took part in a decluttering challenge, and things are starting to pile up a bit. My poor bookshelves in particular are looking a little overcrowded, and there are lots of random things lying about that need to be sorted.

I've noticed so many things in the house that I really don't need but I just can't help keeping. They include:

Scrap paper - I can't bear to throw away any piece of paper that might come in useful. Letters that are only printed on one side, spare pages torn from old schoolbooks, notebooks going back to when I was at school.

Slippers from hotels - Freebie slippers are great while you're on holiday but not much good back at home, however I still can't resist bringing them back with me.

Other items purloined from hotels - In particular little bottles of toiletries, especially now that they are less common. I always think they will come in useful for travel, and then I just find more at my destination. Recently I emptied about twenty tiny bottles of shower gel into one large bottle and forced myself to work my way through it!

Books - This is becoming a big problem. I've always been quite minimalist with my books and passed them on once I'd finished, but I've recently been adding some old favourites to my library as I come across them in charity shops and I'm running out of book shelf space.

Blankets - I love snuggling under a blanket all year round, and I've also made quite a few blankets over the years. We have several times more blankets than people in the house!

Fabric - I don't do a lot of fabric crafting but I do like to keep some fabric scraps on hand and I often buy pieces on holiday in the US where it's much cheaper. There are also quite a few odd balls of wool lying about that I'm unlikely to use.

Recipes - This is definitely an aspirational collection! I cut out recipes from the free supermarket magazines and I also print out ones that I come across online. I store them all in a little box in the kitchen and then forget about them.

Things from the beach - Sea glass, shells, interesting pebbles. I walk along the beach fairly often and it's rare not to come back with something. My handbag and coat pockets are also filled with beachy souvenirs. 

Pretty boxes - From mugs, toiletries, chocolates, little gifts. I do love a nice box and I can't bear to put them in the recycling!

Added to that are clothes and shoes that the children have outgrown or have worn out, and all the other random things that pile up over time.

Photo credit Ella Jardim via Unsplash

Over Easter I'm definitely going to be having a good sort out and making some trips down to the charity shop!

Sorting out our masses of Lego and Playmobil

We are lucky enough to have a guest bedroom on the top floor of our house, a big room with a double bed and plenty of floor space. But during covid and those long months at home I allowed the children to use the guest bedroom as a playroom and a home for their many and varied large Lego and Playmobil sets. The children don't play up there anymore, and we don't heat the top floor over the winter, so I had forgotten just how messy it was. Faced with the imminent prospect of house guests I ventured up to see what I could do to tidy it, and I was quite overwhelmed when I realised the scale of the job in hand.

They had several large Playmobil sets with pieces scattered across the room, and most of the pieces from multiple sets all jumbled together in a large miscellaneous box. Then there were Lego sets, some set up, some half dismantled, all covered in dust and all mixed up. I'm usually quite organised when it comes to the toys and I found it really stressful to see them all in such confusion! So I decided it was time to have a good sort out.

We decided that we wanted to keep the larger Playmobil sets and all of the Lego, which is fine and I'm happy for it to be kept, but I wanted it all in order. I had kept all the instructions and inventories for each set, so I hauled them all out and began on a mammoth sorting task beginning with the Playmobil.

It was quite a job, and it took me many hours spent up in the cold room. I went through all the pieces and worked out which set they went with. I managed to find the vast majority and assign them to a set, there are a few small bits missing but there are more than enough pieces to make up playable sets. The smaller sets were bagged up and lent to my parents for my niece to play with when she visits.

The Lego was more difficult. While looking for a picture for this blog post I came across this ancient post - How I organised the Lego - and I had to laugh at how much simpler our Lego set up was way back then! The children chose their favourite sets and took them away for display in their rooms. Then I broke up the smaller sets and put them away in boxes, as well as sorting through the huge tub of miscellaneous Lego bricks to find any missing parts.

Again, I couldn't find everything, but I think I did a decent job. Now that it is mostly packed away I have officially handed it over to the children. I've said we will store it for them as they are good quality toys that they want to keep, but as soon as they own their own homes with a loft they become their responsibility, and if they want to make some pennies by selling it all on eBay sooner then they are welcome to!

It's amazing what a difference sorting it all out has made to me. Even though I wasn't seeing the room daily, it was always there as a future job at the back of my mind and now it's done! It was a little bit emotional for me because I have loved watching them play with these toys over the years and now they are all grown up. It's not perfect as we still have lots of boxes of toys. But I do keep going up there to admire all the extra space that we now have, and how clean and dust free it all is!

My personalised January challenge

When January comes around I always feel the need for a good tidy up and house reset. For the last few years I've signed up to the Apartment Therapy January Cure - a twenty day challenge with a home related task each day to help you refresh and reset your home. They include things like making a list of projects to complete around the house, decluttering a specific area and getting rid of expired items.

It's a really good idea and I have wanted it to work for me but I had a few problems with it. The main one was that the e-mail with the day's task arrived in my inbox at 2pm, and you can't see future tasks in advance. That's just too late in the day for me, by then I'm winding down ready for school pick up. Another problem was that some days I had lots of time to spend on a task and other days I have less time. Finally some of the tasks didn't really achieve anything, they were either things that I already do or just weren't relevant.

I recently wrote about trying out a bullet journal for the new year, and it seemed like the perfect space to work out a personalised January challenge for myself. I went around the house and looked for the areas that needed a bit of extra attention, then I worked out a list of tasks which would help me to get the house in order. I tried to mix it up with longer and shorter tasks, with some being more enjoyable than others. I knew that I would be away for a few days in January so my list only had 27 tasks.

Then I wrote them all out on a blank page in a bullet journal and put them inside boxes. Usually when I complete tasks in my bullet journal I scribble them out but this time I planned to colour the boxes in. This means that I can easily refer back to the list if I want to make myself another challenge at some point!

It's not perfect - clean kitchen floor was in there twice so I had to divide it into edges/skirting boards and the main floor area! But I stuck to it and got everything done and the house is definitely cleaner as a result. I really liked being able to choose the task I wanted to work on each day, I usually chose a task related to an area I was cleaning that day anyway and I saved easier tasks for busy days.

I'm going to repeat the challenge in the spring I think, maybe for the month of March as we are away for some of April. I have a few specific spring jobs like jet washing the patio and cleaning the garage doors, and of course some of these January jobs will probably need doing again by then! I've found it a really useful way to get some of those awkward areas looking much better.

Different types of decluttering challenges

I always find myself in September with a longing to sort out the house once the children are back at school. I find that a good decluttering challenge helps me to stay motivated and can make a big difference to the tidiness of my home, so I thought I'd share some of my favourite challenges below. Some of them I have tried in the past with great success, and others are ones that I definitely want to attempt in the future!

The Minimalism Game

I love playing the Minimalism Game, and I've done it several times over the years. It's very simple, you just discard the same number of items as the number of the day in the month. So Day 1 is one item, Day 2 is two and so on. It's very easy to start with, but it's pretty tough by the end! It also requires a certain amount of self-policing - for example do you count smaller items in a container as a group, or as individual items? A twist on the game is to play it in reverse, so that you get the most difficult part out of the way first thing. 

A certain number of items each day

This is the challenge that I'm working on this September. It's a variation on the Minimalism Game, but you remove the same number of things each day. For me, ten items per day is a manageable amount.

A particular amount of time each day

Set a timer, for example fifteen minutes or half an hour, and declutter as much as you can during this time. This challenge doesn't work so well for me because I get easily distracted and then panic that I'm not working efficiently, but I can see this being effective if you have a very cluttered house or lots of rubbish lying around.

A different area each day

Plan for this by making a list of all the areas in your house that need decluttering but try to keep it manageable, for example a cupboard or drawer at a time. Then work on one area each day. It's best not to be too rigid about it, and to keep the larger or more difficult spaces for days when you have more time.

Photo credit Elena Mozhvilo via Unsplash

A different category each day

This is the core of the Marie Kondo method and I find it works really well for me when I need to have a big clear out. Sorting by category means that it's easy to get rid of duplicates which might be missed if you are working on different areas at a time. It can be quite overwhelming and messy at times though, and you need to have the space to set aside an area for sorting.

Declutter the things that you don't use

This challenge works really well for clothing but can also be used for other items. Take out all your clothes, and only return them to the wardrobe or drawers once you have worn them. After a certain amount of time you will easily be able to see the clothes that you don't wear regularly and pass them on. Of course there are exceptions for seasonal items and special occasions, but it's a good way to remind yourself just how much you own.

Photo credit Sarah Brown via Unsplash

One item in, one item out

Every time something new enters your home, something else must leave. Ideally this would be something from the same category, for example a new pair of shoes or a book.

Join in with an online guided challenge

There are plenty of online challenges that you can take part in which can be very motivating and inspiring if you want to share your progress with others. Often there is an attractive printable calendar available for download.

My favourite challenges are run by Apartment Therapy, and they host regular free decluttering challenges using a daily e-mail to keep you on track. The next one starts on the 19th September 2022 and you can sign up here - Decluttering Cure 2022. You can also find the older completed challenges with links to the daily tasks, for example the January Cure which I did this year, or a previous two week Decluttering Cure challenge.

I hope that I've given you some inspiration for a September declutter!

Using the Marie Kondo method to declutter an older child or teenager's room

For a little while my teenage son's bedroom had been descending into chaos, so I decided that we would tackle it together at the beginning of the summer holidays and have a really good clear out and clean. I'm a big fan of the Marie Kondo method for decluttering and organising, and so I decided that we would use this method in his bedroom. It was really successful and his room looks so much better now,  so I thought I'd share how we used the method on his room.

The Marie Kondo method involves sorting possessions by category. You start with categories of items that have little sentimental attachment and can obviously be removed. The main categories are clothes, books and paperwork, and then you move onto the smaller categories which can be customised based on the sorts of things that you own. 

I came up with a category list before we started, and I also added things as we went along. I've shared our category list below, and I'll go into detail about each one.

Downloadable a printable version of the checklist

Before you start, if possible clear a sorting area and gather together large boxes, bin bags, and bags for charity donations. As you sort you will find things that belong to later categories or to a new category so it's a good idea to have somewhere to keep them. Prepare for a few days of mess!

We did the declutter slowly and worked on a category or two every day. I planned the next day's category in advance and where possible gathered the items together in my sorting area. That way we both knew what was coming up. If we had a busy day then I planned a smaller and easier category to work on. 

I also cleaned as we went along, for example pulling out the bed to hoover underneath and giving the window a good clean. As the room begins to empty it's a good opportunity to think about whether your existing storage systems are working, and whether you need to look at repurposing or purchasing new storage.

Clothes - For me this is the easiest category for children as it's really obvious which things have been grown out of and can be passed on. I also keep on top of it anyway - every time we pack for a holiday I take out the things that no longer fit! I take clothes that are still in really good condition to the charity shop, and those which are a little more worn to the supermarket recycling bins.

Books - Again I find this quite an easy category as children's interests change so quickly and they grow out of books. But I am also quite careful here as I've recently found myself re-purchasing some of my old childhood favourites! So I found Harry a large box for carefully chosen 'sentimental' books which he can keep in his wardrobe.

Paperwork - I tried to start with the least sentimental items of paperwork, so for a child this includes instruction leaflets for toys, schoolwork, old notebooks, certificates and all the random pieces of paper that end up lying around. Some of the paperwork can be dealt with in the sentimental category, for example photos, letters and postcards, diaries and journals. 

Bags and accessories - Hats and caps, jewellery, belts, ties and so on.

Stationery - I like to sort this into 'current' stationery, including school pencil cases and desk stationery, and 'spare' stationery for when this runs out. Make sure that the pens all work, pencils are sharpened etc. and there isn't too much excess in the spare category. 

Decorative items - Pictures on the walls, cushions, blankets, fairy lights, ornaments and trinkets.

Jigsaws and games - Always a satisfying declutter as the boxes take up lots of room! I included card games, board games and puzzle games in this category.

Large toys - Playmobil sets, dolls houses, marble runs and so on.

Construction sets - For my son the majority of this category was Lego, also KNEX, Meccano, and magnet activity sets. 

Action figures and dolls - Also the accessories that go along with them like bottles and clothes.

Small toys and collectibles - Figurines like Pokemon toys, Shopkins, LOL Dolls and I also included trading cards. If you are getting rid of these then it might be worth looking at whether it's worth selling as they may have some value.

Completed craft projects - This was a surprisingly large category. Pottery painting efforts, sculptures from school and various other creations. Luckily much of it was no longer wanted!

Soft toys - Possibly the toughest category! But I found that putting stuffed animals together in one place really helped to see just how many there were. Our school loves to take these as donations for the soft toy raffle at the summer fair.

Sentimental - All those precious things that are much harder to part with, although my son was much more ruthless than I expected. I found that we had different ideas about the things that would be sentimental to him, so I had to let him take the lead! It could be photographs, ticket stubs, holiday souvenirs, postcards, gifts from friends or relatives, journals and so on. 

Extra categories - All children are different and you are bound to come up with extra categories as you go along. For example - toiletries and makeup, computer games and gaming accessories, DVDs, sporting equipment, badges, craft supplies.

Photo credit Kenny Eliason via Unsplash

For me the most difficult part of the tidy is getting rid of the excess items. There are lots of options - passing things to a younger relative or friend, selling, donating to a charity shop or recycling for example, and ideally it should be done as soon as possible. I like to at least get things neatly packed up so that I can grab a bag or two to take to the charity shop or deliver to a friend when I get the chance.

Just one last thought - when it comes to decluttering with children I think that the age of the child makes a huge difference. With very young children I think it's best not to really involve them, and instead I would just do the decluttering myself. Many of their possessions are ones that they've been given and they outgrow things so quickly. 

But older children have many more things which are sentimental to them, and things that they've specifically requested as gifts or chosen and purchased with their own money. So I think that using the Marie Kondo method works really well with older children and teenagers. I also think that regular decluttering is a really good habit to work on while they are younger so that they learn to keep on top of things, and hopefully they will remember this method so that they can use it in the future.

Category list background credit - Alessio Soggetti via Unsplash

Ad - Book review - The Organised Mum Method by Gemma Bray

I received a copy of this book in exchange for a review. This post contains Amazon Affiliate links.

Today I'm sharing a review of a new book - The Organised Mum Method: Transform your home in 30 minutes a day by Gemma Bray. Gemma Bray believes that there is more to life than housework, and she has been sharing her perfected system - The Organised Mum Method - on her blog and social media channels since January 2017. There has been a phenomenal response to her method, and this book contains the tips, tricks, cleaning schedules and more which will help you to get your housework under control and completed quickly and efficiently, leaving you plenty of time to do the things that you'd much rather be doing.

Despite being familiar with the method and already a subscriber to the blog, I must admit that I hadn't actually embarked on the plan myself. With my review copy arriving at the beginning of our school summer holidays, I decided that now was the time to make a proper start, and I've been following the routine for over 8 weeks - enough time to work through the plan in its entirety.

What is the Organised Mum Method?

In a nutshell, the Organised Mum Method involves completing Level 1 daily jobs (which should take 15 minutes), Level 2 jobs in one room each week (which will take 30 minutes), and a Friday Focus where you concentrate thoroughly on one room or area (again for 30 minutes). The Friday Focus rooms rotate through an eight week schedule so that each room receives a deep clean during that time. You are encouraged to use a timer to keep yourself within the time limits and to prevent distraction, although you can spread the cleaning throughout your day in smaller chunks, depending on your personal schedule.

So why buy the book if all the information is available on the website?

Well, I think I can answer that from personal experience. As I said, I was familiar with the method and subscribed to the blog, but I hadn't actually done anything about it. I just needed something to get me started, and for me this book was the kick.

For a start, I found it really helpful to have all the information organised in one place in a sensible order, rather than having to jump around different parts of the website. It's really easy to find what you are looking for when you need to refer back to something.

The book also has plenty of supplementary discussion about the method. For example, I found that the explanation of the rationale behind the method, and why certain rooms are scheduled for particular days, really made sense and helped the plan to stick in my mind.

For me, I find information in book form rather than online much easier to digest. I took the book on holiday with us at the beginning of the summer and made notes about how I was going to use the schedules, ready to go when I got home. Reading the book in advance meant that I was fully familiar with the process before I got started, and I found the tips and advice really motivating.

If I hadn't read the book, I doubt I ever would have started.

What was particularly helpful about the book?

Reading the book helped me to understand what stage I was already at when it came to housework. Luckily I do keep my home fairly decluttered so I was able to jump straight in with the method. If your house is quite messy then you are encouraged to complete a one week 'Boot Camp' first to get your house into a state that you can work with.

It also helped to cement the reminder that it's much easier to clean quickly if you don't have to tidy up first. For example, wiping down the kitchen counters only takes a few seconds if they are already clear, so it's an incentive to keep things tidy as you go along so that you can clean more efficiently and stick to the time limits.

How I adapt the method to work in my larger house

One of the things that had first put me off this cleaning method was that I have quite a large house. As all the rooms need to be divided over just four days, I didn't think that I would have time to fit everything in, and it all felt too overwhelming. However I sat down with a pen and paper and came up with a timetable that I felt I could make work for me. Gemma's suggested daily rooms are in italics, and I've added in my extras.

Monday - Living room and dining room
Tuesday - Bedrooms - Master bedroom, Harry's bedroom and en-suite, Mia's bedroom (clean sheets are alternated weekly between ours and the children)
Wednesday - Hallway, cloakroom, study
Thursday - Kitchen
Friday - Focus Day - a rotation of eight different rooms
Weekend - Family bathroom and master bedroom en-suite.

You'll notice that the bathroom/toilet is missing from Gemma's plan. This is because the bathroom comes under the Level 1 jobs and should be cleaned daily. However as our house contains four bathrooms/toilets there is no way that I can clean them all thoroughly, along with the other daily jobs, in just 15 minutes.

So I add the downstairs toilet to Wednesday as our hallway doesn't take long to clean, and I do Harry's en-suite bathroom on Tuesday as it doesn't get much use. Then at the weekend I give the family bathroom and our en-suite a thorough clean. I do clean the toilets more frequently and I wipe down the surfaces in all bathrooms daily.

I have a couple of extra rooms - a dining room and study - which are added on to Monday and Wednesday respectively. I also have two guest bedrooms at the top of the house. These rooms aren't used regularly so I clean them properly as part of the Friday Focus Miscellaneous Rooms (or if we have guests using them!).

Photo credit JESHOOTS.COM via Unsplash

How realistic is the 30 minutes of cleaning a day?

I do have to accept that along with appreciating the benefits of a larger house I need to spend a little more time cleaning it. So I must admit that it does take me longer than 30 minutes to do my Level 2 jobs. However it's not usually longer than 45 minutes, and if I was stretched for time I could finish within the half hour. I also don't include tidying in my room cleaning, I try to make an effort to keep things tidy daily anyway throughout the house, rather than leaving it until I'm concentrating on a particular room.

Because of my extra bathrooms I do need to spend a short amount of additional time cleaning at the weekend. I could probably fit this cleaning in during the week, but it wouldn't be at the standard I want it to be.

The thirty minutes of daily room cleaning doesn't include the Level 1 jobs, and it also doesn't include things like washing up and wiping surfaces after making a meal, as these are all things which are part of running a home.

Do you still need the book if you follow the method already?

Many people have been following this method for a while now, having used the information on the blog and in the Facebook group, and may feel that they don't need the information in the book. However while I feel that the book is aimed more at people that are new to the system, I think that it would still be of interest to people who are familiar with the method. It helps with understanding more about the method and why it works, and there are lots of really useful tips and pieces of advice.

Has this method worked for me?

My answer to this question has to be yes! There is no doubt that since I started following this method my house has become cleaner. It's a little and often method of cleaning which really does work, and there are so many benefits. For example, when you are dusting the same ornaments every week you start to think about whether you really need them, or whether you could do a little decluttering. When you actually set a timer, you discover just how much you can actually get done in a short period of time if you concentrate and don't allow yourself to be distracted.

I've started to take more notice of my home, and do something about the parts that were bothering me. When you spend the time to care for your house you start to think of ways that you can improve your storage or just make things look a little nicer.

I really felt the benefit a couple of weeks ago before we went away. Normally the week before we go on holiday I'm running around like mad trying to clean everything because I like to come home to a clean house. This time I found myself at a loose end, because everything was already clean!

Obviously there is no escaping the fact that in order to be successful with this method you do actually have to get on and clean, no-one else is going to do it for you. But if you are someone that likes seeing tasks broken down into easily manageable chunks and enjoys the satisfaction of ticking things off a list, then this could well be the system for you.

You can buy the book here -   The Organised Mum Method: Transform your home in 30 minutes a day

Marie Kondo doesn't want you to get rid of all your books

I've written before about Marie Kondo and how much I enjoy her books. Although I've never felt cluttered enough to complete an entire Marie Kondo festival, I definitely use her techniques when it comes to arranging my home. In particular I follow the essence of her method, which is gathering and decluttering items by category rather than by room or storage area.

Related post - Working out my own interpretation of Marie Kondo's method

I've always loved reading, and I've always loved buying, collecting and displaying books. Fortunately I've always also been good about passing on books once I've finished with them. Even books that I've bought new, if when I've finished them I don't feel that I'll want to read them again I'll pass them on to either friends or family, or to the charity shop.

Earlier this year, after the Marie Kondo documentary was broadcast on Netflix, people got very cross at the suggestion that Marie Kondo advises that one should keep fewer than 30 books. I don't remember this quote featuring in the series (although I'm happy to be corrected if it was!) and I didn't remember it from the books either. All I remembered was her opinions about which books to keep, and how important it was to really think about the books that truly deserve a place in your life.

I had a look through Kondo's first book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying, and found the section that this 'quote' comes from. Under the sub-heading 'Books to keep - Those that belong in the hall of fame' where Marie Kondo discusses books, she says "I now keep my collection to about 30 volumes at any one time, but in the past I found it very hard to discard books because I love them."

So she is most definitely talking only about herself, and saying is that 30 books is the right number for her, and she emphasises everyone is different when it comes to how many books you want to keep around the place. I definitely have more than 30 books, but every book there is one that really does spark joy to me, and when I look at my bookshelf it makes me feel happy, not overwhelmed by a mass of books that make me feel guilty because I've not read them.

Related post - My Marie Kondo approach and Sparking Joy

I also found another quote in that section which I really loved - "The moment you first encounter a particular book is the right time to read it. To avoid missing that moment, I recommend that you keep your collection small." It's so true - when I spot a book that I want to read I want to read it immediately, not put it at the bottom of a to be read pile and lose that enthusiasm.

So which books belong in my Hall of Fame? I actually shared a blog post about my fiction bookshelf a few years ago, and more recently I shared a list of the books that I can read over and over again. Some of them are rather battered and scruffy copies, but they have definitely earned a place on my bookshelf.

Photo credit Nick Fewings via Unsplash

So don't be put off the Marie Kondo method if you think that she wants you to get rid of all your books, her advice really is excellent and will help you to think carefully about the books that you do want to keep, however many that is, and your reasons for doing so!

Related post - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo

Marie Kondo, and managing without things that you've decluttered

I'm constantly organising and decluttering my home. Even though I like to think that I'm fairly minimalist, I'm always on the hunt for things that are unnecessarily taking up space and can be moved on. I can honestly say that there are very few things that I regret getting rid of, but that doesn't mean that there aren't a few annoyances.

Related post - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo

For example, in my recent blog post Decluttering 100 things in a week I listed all the things that I'd removed from my home, including some plastic food trays with separate compartments which went in the recycling. Then a couple of days later we were given a huge Lego set with many, many pieces which needed to be sorted. The plastic trays would have been perfect for organising some of the pieces, and I was so cross that I'd thrown them away!

But then I remembered a passage that spoke to me from Marie Kondo's book Spark Joy:

"I have bid farewell, at least temporarily, to countless things that didn't bring me joy and, to be frank, the absence of a discarded item never caused a catastrophe. There was always something in the house that would serve as a substitute." - Marie Kondo - Spark Joy: An Illustrated Guide to the Japanese Art of Tidying.

She describes how she discarded a chipped vase, only to need it the very next day. Instead of going out and buying a new vase she covered a plastic bottle with cloth to use instead, with the bonus that it could be recycled and removed from her home once finished with.

Photo credit - NorWood Themes via Unsplash

It's so true, whenever I've found myself missing something that I've decluttered, I've always been able to find an alternative. And when I'm debating over whether an item deserves it's place in my home, I find it easier to let go of it if I imagine what I would do if I didn't have that item. There are very few things that you can't find a substitute for, and they are definitely the things that spark joy.

In the case of the Lego sorting trays, I remembered a stack of plastic cups that I bought for parties years ago, and I started putting aside plastic food containers and the punnets from our fruit and veg, all of which can be reused or recycled once finished with.

Related post - My Marie Kondo approach and Sparking Joy

Now I just need to get the children to build that Lego set so that I can have my dining table back!

Decluttering 100 things in a week

As the end of the Easter holidays approached, I began to think about getting the house back in order. We were at home a lot, so there were plenty of half-finished projects scattered about, and we also shopped for new items which needed homes.

It was the wrong time of the month to play the #minsgame, so I decided to set my own challenge, and remove 100 items from the house over the last week.

I'm the only one in our house that does any kind of decluttering, so normally when I do challenges like this I often count items that belong to other people are part of my total. But I decided to be a bit stricter with myself this time.

These things didn't count:

* Things belonging to other people, I could only count my own possessions or household items that are exclusively for my use and that no-one else knows exist. I still decluttered and tidied other things at the same time, I just didn't count them.

* Things that I'd be throwing away anyway, like junk mail.

* Consumables that were used up during the week, like toiletries or food.

I must admit that I found the challenge very difficult! I declutter regularly and am often sorting through my things so there weren't many obvious things to remove. But here's what went:

Study - 3 packs of glue, 1 pack pencils, 2 sets of sticky dots, broken magnetic notepad, blunt scissors,
book, old squishy, pen, 2 USB sticks, 5 Ikea pencils, Lego cards, silly putty, craft kit, old map, patterned paper, tissue paper, foam sheets (25)

Bedroom - 4 jumpers, 2 pairs pyjamas, 1 pair of jeans, 6 tops, 1 lonely sock, 1 bra, 3 bits of fabric, 2 expired cards, low factor sun cream, razor stand, sewing kit, ear plugs, 4 pairs headphones, 1 box (29)

Bathroom - 3 expired bottles of medicine, 2 medicine spoons, 2 inter dental brushes (7)

Living room - 2 Ikea catalogues (2)

Kitchen - 8 colouring/activity books, shoe polish, wristband, shopping bag, sponge, ice cube tray, 4 shoelaces, filled up notebook, tube of dried up paint, plastic trays, tea towel, 2 cleaning cloths, pencil pot, 9 pens, plastic mat, science kit leftovers, big pile of dried up felt pens, broken pencil sharpener (37)

= 100 items!

Lots of these things were small, so you'd think that it wouldn't have made much of a difference, but I can definitely tell that things are looking tidier. Especially in the drawers where I keep my clothes - I've made some space and rearranged things so that I can see them more easily.

Doing a challenge like this is definitely a good way for me to keep on top of the little extra things that end up in the house!

Photo credit - Khai Sze Ong via Unsplash