Fall Cleaning – Clutter Beware!

Well, I didn’t get but an hour’s sleep and couldn’t get back to it. I may as well write for a few minutes then go back and try again. I’m hoping that clearing my mind a little of what I need to do may help ease my mind into a better slumber.

I was folding some laundry last night – something that I had put off for too long. I came to a huge realization when I went to put what I folded away; our closet is full, as are our drawers. I had no space to put what I was able to finish folding and I just got absolutely frustrated. It was then I realized that I had missed out on the popular practice of spring cleaning… so I’ve decided that I’m going to do that during the fall when temperatures begin getting more comfortable (to me – to each their own on temperature comfort).

In order for me to be able to scrub from top to bottom, I am going to have to go on a clutter purge. This is something I thought I had done, rather well, before our move here a little over a year ago. We threw away a lot, we gave a large amount of items to Goodwill, and I felt a lot better with less clutter. Sitting here, in a place larger than our apartment was, I still feel surrounded by clutter. I need to dig myself out and find peace of mind; I’m sick of holding onto items that I haven’t used in years!

Here is my current plan:

1.  I did some reading about purging clutter, again, to remind myself of some of the regular checklist items (do you need it, do you use it, etc.). Since I have a little experience at this under my belt, I’ve decided to follow a clutter challenge that I found. I’m not considering it a challenge – merely a starting point – but it’s a good one. The challenge is to get rid of 50 items… I think I can do that! I’m making this my goal for the rest of this month. I will not be counting clothing into that 50 items, that would make it too easy and a lot of clothes are going to be leaving anyway… it’s not a challenge, just the inevitable.
2. Next month, I will be continuing my clutter purge. This is most likely where a lot of the clothes are going to go (although I’m sure I’ll rid myself of some during step 1). This will be the part where I question certain clothing items – seeing if they fit, do I have plans to wear it, etc.
3. According to a quick look on Google, fall/Autumn will be starting the 23rd of September. So for the first half of September I will be doing a secondary full sweep over everything I own to take out items that I was on the fence about, or items that I may have missed, or areas that I forgot to even go through (I can see that happening to me, easy). At the end of September, I will be starting my cleaning… of… well.. everything.

I would like to enjoy the Halloween season clutter free, happy, and relaxed. Even if I don’t finish the cleaning process by the beginning of October, I still have the most of that month to get things done. I believe that decorative items will be the toughest challenge for me. I’ve never gone out to buy specifically to decorate any area of any place I’ve ever lived… unless you count knickknacks. I want to have the room to plan a better looking living space.

I could use all the support I can get on this… some cheering on… tips/tricks that could help speed the process… anything that you think I should add to my goals. Even if nobody responds, I’m going to conquer my clutter and take the handles on my life back up. I’ve let everything roam free and I need to pull it in and enjoy life to the best of my abilities.

Have a good one, everyone. Thanks for reading. 🙂