Work on it Wednesday

Books! Books have always been a huge part of my life and as a ferocious reader I have way too many. As you all may recall, I love a good thrift deal and generally books at a thrift store range from $.50-$3 or 4. Never one to pass up a good deal I've gotten some awesome books for personal library. At the same time though, I have amassed more books than one person could ever need and more than I probably will ever read in this lifetime. So, that's what I'm doing today. Packing up books I won't read or won't read again and passing on the gift of literature to someone else. I'll post an offer on Freecycle. I'm sure there will be some takers as like me, most people enjoy a good book.

Work on it Wednesday

Feeling better and ready to tackle some of this mess. It's amazing how a couple days of not staying on top of stuff can really add up. I have plans to do a room by room deep spring clean. First though, I need to tackle that Master bedroom closet. It's getting a bit crazy in there. In fact I really need to go through all the closets and purge some clothes. Luckily I should have more time since the boys don't have school and I can devote much of the day to this task. If I have time I also need to work on my couponing. I'm finding it a bit overwhelming to keep up with them and to remember to use them. Maybe I'm just not a coupon kind of girl. It was an experiment and while I'm not giving up yet, I haven't seen any big economic advantages to couponing for me. I still shop Aldi's and other loss leaders and do pretty well. We're spending about $600-700/month on food for our family and that includes paper goods and cleaning supplies. I'm sure others do better, but I'm pretty satisfied with that amount, it's about 50% less than I used to spend.
Last, but not least I need to sew up O.'s Easter dress so she can wear it to school for their program. I have it all cut out, I just need to stitch it up.
Wow...that's actually a pretty extensive list. I guess I have a lot to work on.
Oh and before I forget, today starts the April no spend challenge. I'm sure you'll hear me complain about it since I'll have to avoid the thrift stores. It's going to be hard, but maybe I can channel my energy into letting go of some stuff...yeah, that's it.

Six week declutter challenge

Ok! This is basically a challenge to myself. My friend and I were talking about the state of our homes and it got me thinking about purging, decluttering, donating, getting rid of stuff...downsizing. Whatever you want to call it, but it got me thinking that it's all too much. So...I've issued a challenge to myself to get control of it. I know that nobody is going to rescue me from this mess...but if I take it in small bits, focusing on a couple areas/week I should be able to make some great strides. So, not wanting to put things off, my week will run from Friday to Thursday and I'm going to start with books and magazines. I will post on freecycle to see if anyone wants them and I will not be concerned about the money I spent. I'll just let it go. So...week 1, bookshelf, books and magazines. I'll post about this again on Thursday and I'll let you know how it went. I think the next week I'm going to focus on the kitchen. I have alot of dishes and tupperware I need to purge as well as cleaning out the pantry. See, I've already got a game plan. This is good!

Purging vs. Social Consciousness

I really want to do a whole house purge while A. is home, but I don't want to be bothered with carting the crap somewhere else or waiting for someone to p/u. I just want to take it to the dump and be done with it. And yet, I feel badly about that. I also hate to think about all the money I've spent. But...I'm going to be better about letting go in 2008 and the future. I don't want to be weighed down. I'm entering my 40th year and I really want to make an effort to only do the things that matter and be surrounded by things I love. So...I guess that's my answer. I made a mistake in acummalating so much "stuff" but I'm trying to do better by lightening my load.

So busy...

Well things have been so busy here. Two of the kidlets are back in school and one more will start after labor day and then it will just be me and the princess.
I've been working hard on home improvement projects in an effort to embrace and love the home we're in. I just cleaned out my pantry. I'm thinking maybe I hadn't done it since we moved in...imagine. Anyways, it's quite empty now. Now, I'm going to reorganize the kitchen and clear off the counter space. It's so liberating to declutter. I mean I took 3 bags of expired and dusty food items to the dump. I will probably have 2 more bags when I completely finish with the other shelf. Woohoo, we got the new floors! They look fanfreakintastic! No more soiled smelly carpet. It opens up the entire space too! I highly recommend wood flooring to anyone.
Things are advancing well in the project me arena. More on that later.

Purging is fun

So I purged 3 bags of clothes from the kids room. There's more to be done, but I had to stop there and do some other stuff. I offered it up on the parenting board, but if the takers don't come by Monday then I'm off to the Bargain Box with my goodies. I mean there's no point in purging if it just sits by the front door for weeks on end. I can't wait to hit S.'s closet and mine and dh's stuff too. Purging is so fun and freeing. It also let me know that we have way way way way (can I say way some more) too many clothes! In the future I will be better about that. I took a careful inventory of what to get for E. to start school. I'm going to get him some socks and unders and make 2 pairs of shorts and 2 more t-shirts. Some people I know (think the muckety mucks) would be appalled, but I found about 4 pairs of jean he could still wear, shirts and several shorts. He's set for awhile and it's nice on the budget I must say. It's nice not to feel compelled to spend spend spend, to take an inventory of what you really need. I have the 3 bags of clothes to donate that prove it.