30 Day Writing Challenge Day #18 - Decluttering, a Way to Make Progress During Self-Isolation


During these days of self isolation, there is time to embrace many tasks we've been avoiding. Whether it's going through your closet to get rid of clothes you no longer wear, heading into the kitchen to cook old favourites that you haven't made in awhile or trying something new like learning to knit or make bread from scratch - there are ways to use this forced downtime in a positive way.

Today I received an email from Realtor Lauren Schneider of Military Home Search in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  She wondered if I could put a link to her FREE guide to home decluttering - Declutter Your Home: Room-by-Room Tips and Strategies to Organize Your Life - on one of my old blogs.  As that blog was a guest article, I didn't think it appropriate, but I thought this was a timely idea to share in an article.

Most of us only do a serious home decluttering when we move. That was Glen and I 4-1/2 years ago. We had been in our home over 2 decades and raised 3 children there. All but one were gone. The house was falling apart. We lived in a neighborhood with larger lots, so every house sold was knocked down to make a large, new one.  Any money put into fixing up our house would have ended up a write-off when we sold.  After a good four years of looking, we finally found our new home.  Then the real work began.

Every single room, every single closet, every storage space - all needed to be gone through with a fine tooth comb.  Our oldest had taken most with him, but our middle daughter who was now living across the country needed to have everything of hers sent on, box upon box, as she wanted to go through them herself.  My youngest hates keeping things and just tossed without really thinking. It drove me nuts. I tried to go through his discards and salvage anything I thought he might treasure down the road.


I remember going to the storage area in the laundry room where we had accumulated years of camping stuff, sports equipment and more and feeling overwhelmed by the piles.  On a sunny day, I moved it all into the backyard as well as a camp chair for me to sit on.  Piece by piece I went through every item sorting it all into 3 piles - garbage, donation and save. The broken and useless garbage pile was the largest by far. Why had these things not been thrown away years ago. The donation pile also had a good amount in it. The save and move with us pile was woefully small. Why had we been keeping so much we did not need?

Here is your chance to begin, so if and when you do move, the job isn't so monumental.  Set time once a year where you try to do at least some decluttering. Take a different room each day for a week. Be honest and brutal about what you will no longer use.  You THINK you'll get to using that bread maker one day. It's been 10 years - LET IT GO.  

Lauren - Lauren and her team
And lucky for you, Lauren and her team has created this free guide to get you moving -   "...an all-encompassing decluttering resource- from why decluttering can be beneficial to specific tips people can follow in each room of their house or apartment."

Chapters include decluttering habits, room by room tips, and mistakes to avoid. And she discusses different ways to approach it like creating a routine, filling one trash bag a day, asking the right questions and more.  It's easy, just click HERE and dive in. 

Where we are all nesting at home in self isolation, this is the perfect time to begin!

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