Reducing Clutter

We have to work very hard around here to keep clutter to a minimum.  Currently I'm accepting a clutter challenge on a forum I belong to.  I've been dragging my feet about it all summer long.  With school about to start and chaos consuming the kids rooms I cannot put it off any longer!  There are a few things that really help when I am on a decluttering mission.  I have found that when I am cleaning a room and trying to clear clutter I keep a bag for trash, a bag to donate and one for clothing.  We donate clothing and misc. to two different places.  I wait about a week and go through that same room again.  When I am working on a room the first time through sometimes because I am removing so much I get soft or just worn out and don't get rid of as much as I should.  This is particularly when I am working in the kids rooms.  I am able to go back through and fine tune the room again the next week and get it worked down to a bare minimum.  I have found that if I skip the second round in a room, it collects clutter faster than if I just clean it once.  The other major thing that helps reduce clutter in our home is to not bring it in!  Simple I know but I have to ignore the impulse in me that thinks we might be able to use an object somewhere. After the last few garage sales I have realized that a lot of what I bring in I am turning around and selling or donating it because I really don't have a place for it anyway.  I also tend to stick to the same decorating style I have had for years.  So when I see things that don't "fit" my home I leave it there.  I also have no more room for anything else so if I bring it home I have to get rid of something else.  Guess what?  I have decided that I like everything I have and have stopped bringing more home!   It has to be really special to add to our home.

Lately I have realized and don't really want to know, just how many years of my time I have spent picking up and cleaning the same things over and over and over.  I don't even like a lot of these things.  It's time for them to go.  I have also stopped attaching sentiment to things.  Sure I have special pieces of furniture passed down, and other special things but not everything is special!  Yes, we have had items  since the kids were little but I can't possibly keep everything that we purchased for them since they were born.  Who am I keeping it for anyway?  I certainly wouldn't have wanted everything my mom had purchased for me.  So here's to you and yours as you go about your cleaning routines and those of you working on reducing clutter around your homes.  I hope a few of the things that have helped me are of help to you.  The biggest help will be the peace and calm you have when you walk through your newly decluttered home and feel the stress melt away.  I enjoy nothing more than the soothing feeling of a clean home.