Day 2 ~ 40 Bags in 40 Days ~ Success!

Here's the finished living room.  Only took about an hour and that included dusting and vacuuming!

And here's the recycling bin, one bag of trash and one plastic bag with books for donation:

Day 2 ~ 40 Bags in 40 Days ~ The Living Room

Working from home today...and by working I mean looking around the house making my plans for decrapifying each room.  :)

Today, I tackle the living room.  It's possible that I'll have time to get to the dining room too but for now, let's take this in baby steps.

Day 1 ~ 40 Bags in 40 Days ~ Operation Bathroom Purge

WARNING WARNING WARNING!!!  This post is going to be picture heavy so if you're looking for some long drawn out monologue about how my day went, you're going to be sadly disappointed.

Got home from work around 5:30 and decided to grab the bull by the horns, or the bathroom in this case, and get to cleaning before I collapsed on the couch.

Bottom cabinet on the right

And after

Right side of the cabinet under the sink before

And after

Left side of the cabinet under the sink

And after

Right and left drawers before

And after

Counter top before and after

 I didn't take a picture of our recycling bin, but that was filled up with empty boxes.  Here's the trash bag that I filled to the brim with crap though.

Day 1 is in the books and I'm ready to keep going! 

Day 1 in Progress ~ 40 Bags in 40 Days ~ Found My Desk!

While I was on my conference call this morning, I began to purge the papers that littered my desk…remember the before picture?

First recycling bin ("bag") ready to be emptied:

Here is the finished product! Tah dah!

I still need to go through my drawers and cabinets but it’s a start anyway.  Tonight I plan on tackling the bathroom with a deep clean and decrapifying of the cabinets and drawers.  

Day 1 ~ 40 Bags in 40 Days ~ An Introduction

My name is Christina and I'm a packrat.

And all the people say, "Hi Christina!".

I was perusing Facebook at work…oh, don’t look at me like that, I was on a break!..and came across a blog post about “40 Bags in 40Days”.

I’m intrigued.  And hopeful.  And terrified.

See, I’m a packrat with definite hoarding tendencies.  Can’t believe I just wrote that but there it is.  I don’t know why I can’t throw anything out, or why I can’t put stuff back in its proper place when I’m done using it.  I just don’t do it.  And so, the piles of crap…well, they pile up.  And up.  And UP.

I think that in some way, it’s a throwback to my childhood.  My messy room was the one thing I could “control” if that makes any sense.  Sure, my mother would go off on one of her rants and throw all the stuff that was out of place on my bed and tell me that I couldn’t sleep until it was all put away…but ultimately, the stuff would accumulate again and I’d be back at square one in the comforting nest I built for myself.

The thing is, when I do find the time to clean and purge now, I feel accomplished and happy.  I love the feeling of not having any laundry baskets hanging around our bedroom and the feeling of simplicity I get when the tables in the dining room are cleaned off.  I want our house to be welcoming to guests, not a minefield of rainbow loom bands and book bags and purses.

Thankfully my fiancé is a trooper.  He’s a touch OCD and anal about where his stuff is.  I know that right now he’s probably cursing me out because I have five pairs of shoes sitting in front of the couch that should have put in the closet a week ago but he loves me anyway.  My kids are learning from me though so that’s reason enough for me to do this challenge and keep it going after the 40 days. 

And so, today I will begin.  I’m printing out my forms so I can keep track of my progress.  I joined the closed Facebook group and am going to blog about this journey.  Who knows, I may find treasures long buried by the crap that’s holding me down.  One can dream anyway.

To start, since I'm stuck at work today, I've decided to declutter my desk.  It's bad...very bad.  I've taken one picture and am sharing it now.  During the day I'll get rid of the papers and file them away in the cabinet that is starving for organization.