Cleaning out

I am not a pack rat by any means and I really enjoy cleaning out - packing up things I don't need or use. I know I got this honestly, my mom and sister are exactly the same. Cleaning out feels just as good as losing weight. 

In college, I would clean out my room every couple of months. My three roommates loved it, because before taking it somewhere, they got to rummage through all the stuff and get what they liked. Who doesn't love that!

When Stephen and I got married I chucked stuff all the time. Two house combined into one!?! We had a ton of duplicates and stuff we didn't need. I have to do a little at a time - mainly because of time and I overwhelmed Stephen with my constant rearranging and organizational method.

With the new year, it feels like the perfect time to do it again...and its National Organization month too! Even more of a reason to trash the extra stuff in the house.  The office closet has been my "let me pile everything in these spaces so I don't have to think about them" storage area. Well, no more! I need to finally tackle this closet.

This is THE closet. My epic downfall. To give you perspective, I am 5'8 and this junk comes up to my neck.  I'm not even sure what half of it is in there. And it stresses me to pieces. 

The first thing I did was grab a couple of trash bags - one for throw away and one for goodwill. If there was something I wanted to keep, I placed it in a third pile to be organized (aka, the laundry basket).  

My rule on this closet - if I hadn't used it in a year, I wasn't going to use it again it got tossed or donated. In the end, I think I sent about 5 bags to goodwill and 2 to trash. For one closet. Sheesh. 

 Once everything had been pulled out and separated, I began putting back. And even doing that, I threw out more! I had some plastic bins around the house (you can get them for $5.00 each at Walmart) and put all my craft items in one bin, and the other 2 bins contain video games and office supplies.  I had a couple of random items that could be placed in other drawers in the house.

I am ecstatic with the final results. I can even see the floor! 

It was a great day to shed the excess and to get an organized closet where I can find the things I use. I'm a happy girl!