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Do you find yourself telling your kids you can’t play right now because you have to clean something first? Are your closets ready to burst at the seams? Do you have papers stacked up, stowed in totes, and piled in a corner because you might need them someday? Have toys overtaken your home? How many bookshelves do you have full of books? Have you read all of them and would you read them again? Are you putting off living a life you love because you feel like you need to constantly pick up mess or are too embarrassed to have others over because of your clutter and mess?
Last night I was finally able to start reading Kathi Lipp’s 
In order to be content, you must be at peace with what you have. One way to enjoy the space you already have is to get rid of what you don’t need, want, love, or use! I found myself shaking my head agreeing with Kathi last night as I read, especially her words of, “the best way to determine the right balance is to figure out when your house becomes a blessing or a burden” and that we need “to be able to focus on what really matters instead of focusing on, well, what doesn’t”.
Clutter stresses us out! Instead of being stressed with what we own, I want to be able to focus on what’s important to me: being able to play games with my kids, spend time with my husband, read my Bible, and have friends over. I want to quit worrying about the messy toy area, the bursting dresser drawers, and the shoes laying all over the porch!
In order to focus on those great things, I’m taking a stand to rid my home of the clutter by purging first and then organizing what’s left. In order to be able to relax and enjoy my surroundings, I started thinking about what clutter needed to go the most and came up with these 10 things I’m purging and organizing from my home in 2015.
- Toys (Including Outside Toys).
My kids have more toys than they can ever play with and we don’t have room for them. We also still have some baby toys that are no longer age appropriate, puzzles missing pieces, and dolls that have been forgotten. There are many children who would love to have these toys and it will be fun to bless others with them. I also think it will be a great lesson for the kids to scale down and learn to keep what they love and give to others.
- Storage Containers
How many times have I went to the store because I needed to organize something and instead purchased more stuff? You’d think that after all of the decluttering, organizing and purging books I’ve read I would have learned long ago that storage containers add clutter if all you are doing is boxing your stuff in something.
- Shoes
With 7 people who wear shoes in our home, we have a lot of shoes. We have school shoes, sneakers, sports shoes, church shoes, boots, on-the-farm shoes, sandals, snow boots, rain boots…it’s ridiculous. Then there are the ones I’ve saved (like snow boots that are barely worn) that don’t fit anyone at the moment. Yes, we have a shoe problem, but for much longer!
- Bathroom Supplies & Gadgets
With two bathrooms, 7 people (and 4 are girls) we have way too many ponytails, barrettes, clips, headbands, earrings with no matches, and curling irons. I decluttered one bathroom during my 31 Days Of Decluttering In December series but I still have one bathroom to go.
- Paper/Magazines/Cookbooks/Books
I will be the first to admit to admit I have a paper problem. I love books and magazines. I love sticky notes, journals, and greeting cards. They are like little treasures to me. My girls have a book fetish, too. This will probably be the hardest part of my purging process!
- Tupperware & Plastic Containers
I missed the memo that until you have a plan of how to organize your stuff, you should not buy organizing supplies! You should also wait to buy anything until you have finished purging. I have a lot of plastic totes, bins, and random containers that are taking up valuable real estate in our closets.
- Clothes
There are pros and cons of having kids around 20 months apart. When your kids are that close together it is nice to be able to reuse clothes. However, usually there is a year in between when one finishes using the clothing and another starts to use it causing a storage issue (especially when storage is limited to begin with). The kids’ closets are a mess of different sizes of clothing and disorganization. My goal is to not only get their clothes organized but to also purge half of their closets.
- Towels
I’ve read conflicting information about how many towels you should have. Normally what I’ve seen online is 2 towels per person but I’ve also seen 4 towels per person. In our house that would be 28 towels. Honestly, 4 towels per person seems excessive to me and a lot of extra laundry. My goal is to purge the towels and donate what we aren’t keeping to the local animal shelter. I also am going to purge my kitchen towels while I’m at it!
- DVDs
We have a lot of DVDs that are scratched or no longer watched that are still in our DVD collection. Each of these that are no longer watched or are too scratched to watch are taking up space and it’s time for them to go!
- Cameras
Somehow along the way I have acquired about 5 cameras. They all work but I only use one now so the others need a new home. Do you have duplicates of something that you could get rid?
How about you? What kinds of clutter do you need to purge from your home? Do you have some of the same clutter I do?
Have you enjoyed what you read here today? Do you have friends or other women you know that could benefit from this resource? If so, please do me a favor! I have included the links below to share with other intentional women! They’ll be glad you did!
De-cluttering is one of my favorite activities! Unfortunately we haven’t gotten to a point where we stopped accumulating more stuff, so I have to keep doing it, lol. My husband and I usually go through one area in the house every few months and do a big purge. It feels so great! And I noticed that areas I thought needed organizing often don’t anymore!
I love this post!!! Getting clutter free in 2015 is my goal! We are moving today – this served as great motivation.
Thanks, Annette – ProjectRefinedLife.com
I love this! I need to do this! I WILL do this! We have lived in the same house for 40 years! Can you imagine how badly I need to do this? Thank you for the encouraging tips!
I find organizing and de-cluttering something very refreshing for the home! I try to get rid of stuff we don’t need every year and this way the house feels much more spacious and much cleaner! Lovely post! 🙂 Greets!