Clear the Clutter: 40 Bags in 40 Days

I’ve seen this challenge come up several times on Pinterest, and each time, I think, “I should try that.” But then do I REALLY have 40 bags of things that I can purge? Why yes, yes I do!

From Little Lucy Lu

I especially feel that way after this weekend, which was my first baby shower (I’ll post on both shower done by my wonderful sister and friends in a few weeks). I brought home all these generous and thoughtful gifts, left them on the dining room table, and would just look at them. Where in the world would all of these things go? Plus all of the other things that were yet to come?A little overwhelming!

More storage drawers was step 1 to fixing this problem, but there’s still tons of things in our house that can just go. So I’m taking up the challenge. 40 bags, 40 days (okay, it will probably take me longer than 40 days, but I’ll be close!).

My rules:
*Bags can be to donate, to return to the person I borrowed things from, to trash/recycle
*More than 1 bag can come out of an area
*Big items count as 1 bag
*A Target bag is my “standard” bag size
*Organize and wipe down along the way
*Get the bags OUT of the house quickly

I think the last one is the hardest. Usually, I’ll have a stack of bags/boxes ready to go to Goodwill in my guest room. They’ll stay there for weeks. And then someone will come to visit, and they’ll either get loaded into my trunk to hide or finally dropped off. I think my goal will be every other week to drop off at Goodwill.

Places To Start:
*My closet (including pre-maternity clothes)–2 bags
*My dresser
*Craft room–3 bags
*Shoes
*Nursery
*Guest room closet
*Kitchen cabinets–2 bags
*Junk drawer
*File cabinet
*Things to Shred pile
After that:  we’ll see! 

I hope you’ll join me on this challenge… just make up a set of rules you’re willing to stick with and give it a go. Keep track of where you collect your bags from. Even if you don’t make it through your whole goal, your house will at least have fewer things in it!