View Full Version : March 100 Items Challenge
fidgiegirl
3-1-12, 11:59am
A new round of 100 objects for our house!
We moved a LOT of stuff, and a lot of it didn't need to come with. But with remodeling we weren't in a mental place to also declutter pre-move, so it all went into boxes and came along.
The first triumph: DH's socks. He used to do an entire load of socks when he had an agitator machine, so he had to have enough to compile the entire dirty load. He still had that many, even though the agitator has been gone for 5 years. He got rid of probably half of them the other day. Now, they still take up an entire dresser drawer, but that's better than 2 or 3 drawers. :laff:
We let the renters keep a lamp we were going to give away. They would have had to go buy some but now it's one less that they need.
So!
We'll count the socks as 10, even though the entire 100 is probably right there.
Socks = 10
Lamp = 1
DirecTV box = 1
TOTAL = 12
Anyone else?
Good God, I couldn't get rid of that much unless we counted individual pieces of paper! I did recently get rid of about half my books!
Corrected for weird phone autocorrect fixed!
Bastelmutti
3-1-12, 12:34pm
I might just estimate rather than counting specific items, but I'm in! I have two humidifiers in the basement - one is going to my sister's, one to the next charity pick-up. Need to schedule one for this month! Time to start on the basement, I think - ugh. Let's see how busy I am with work. But I do think I can commit to 100 items.
Count me in. I'm gone for a week this month for work, which will complicate matters a bit, but I definitely have more than 100 items that should leave my humble abode in one way, shape, or form.
fidgiegirl
3-1-12, 12:46pm
Yippee! Let the purging begin!
flowerseverywhere
3-1-12, 12:46pm
I'm in with a twist. Every yard of fabric that I use in a project that I complete will count as one item for me, as well as anything I declutter. No new fabric allowed.
Came home and grabbed a plastic grocery bag - that's always a good start. I knew I had a pair of shoes that I rarely wear because they rub the back of my heel so I wrapped those sketchers (must remember to never buy that brand of shoe again, never happy with any I've bought) in the bag and tossed in another bag and added to it....
1. sketchers shoes
2. sweater
3. shirt
4. 4movies on one cd
5. purse (too many black leather purses and I really don't feel like tossing it in the craft box)
6. 4 magazines
7. the 5 bags I gathered in Feb but never took to the thrift shop, since that was Feb's I won't count each item because that's not really fair but I'll give them one point since I still need to get them to the truck and to the shop
I'm in with a twist. Every yard of fabric that I use in a project that I complete will count as one item for me, as well as anything I declutter. No new fabric allowed.
I will be curious to hear about what you complete!
7. the 5 bags I gathered in Feb but never took to the thrift shop, since that was Feb's I won't count each item because that's not really fair but I'll give them one point since I still need to get them to the truck and to the shop
Good compromise - good start!
Simpler at Fifty
3-1-12, 5:56pm
I am in on this. I ordered new Ts and 2 sweaters from LL Bean when they had 20% off everything. I am culling through my clothes and have 6 items so far. Tossed a couple Ts and will have more to come. We sold a library table on craigslist this week and that was a load off our mind. Tried selling it a couple times with no bites.
I know I can hit the 100 mark this month. Thanks for starting the thread Kelli.
early morning
3-1-12, 9:51pm
I'll try for 100. So far - 1 pair of shoes, like new, re-homed.
fidgiegirl
3-1-12, 10:11pm
2 cans of paint
= 14
early morning
3-4-12, 10:06am
large bag of torn plastic bags to recycling, 1 bag of Christmas junk to GW, 1 grocery bag of papers culled from previous years files, ready to shred or burn, = 4 total.
8. Studio clean out - old wrapping material recycled
9. Studio clean out - 50lbs of waste glass culled thru, what I can't use in the kiln goes to the transfer station (not recyclable).
10. old coffee pot to thrift shop bag
11. another purse
Spent a 1/2 hour starting on the laundry room/sewing room:
12. pillow
13. roll of velcro (have 2 more - more than enough)
14. 2 skirts (was going to remake but decided I didn't like the fabric)
15. sweatervest - unworn by son (rec'd as gift)
16. a few sewing notions
17. framed Laundry theme art (rec'd as gift/wrong colors)
18. 2 paintings that I'll never finish (let someone else paint over and re-use)
19. a few various frames that I won't use
20. a couple of journal books (those things seem to breed, I'm always getting them as gifts at women's activities and I never use those kind, I'm picky about my journals)
Wow, everyone is diligently at work on this challenge -- I need to get on it!
Yesterday, while cleaning the kitchen, I discovered four of our potholders were in sad shape. So I tossed them <gasp!>, which is so unlike me. I like to use everything until it has practically disintegrated in my hands, but I decided life is too short for me to hold on to these ratty potholders!
Total = 4
Ooh, coming along, everyone!
Here, a portable heater to BiL and SiL makes a total of 15.
Yesterday I dropped off four placemats, a decorative tin, and a tiny crock pot plus a bag full of clothes. Eight items of mine and ??ten of DSD's?
24 I guess. I still have a long way to go.
Plus when I was at the thrift store I bought two shirts, two scarves, a book and a ream of paper. Ooops! Do I have to subtract them from my decluttering total?
fidgiegirl
3-11-12, 12:12pm
leslieann, I don't subtract, but maybe you need to. We are trying to get settled in a new home and that just necessitates some new acquisitions. Like, I bought plastic containers to organize our wonderful new linen closet. Our other bins and baskets weren't the right size. And that's ok. :)
Here, one can of paint dried up and in the garbage. = 16
DH has a bunch of stuff packed up to go to my in laws:
1 phone
1 water filter pitcher + 1 box filters = 19
This week is gonna be a biggie for decluttering. We will take our scrap metal in and we will get rid of a box spring and some other large household items. Excellent. But not counting 'til it's done . . . so hard . . . keep at it, all!
Hey, and no worrying about how far you have to go to get to 100. Let's say we all do our best to get to 100, but if we fall a little short, we will still enjoy the space, the lack of clucking over our things and shuttling them and organizing them and shifting them and cleaning them, even if we get rid of 80 things instead of 100, or 20 things instead of 100. GO US!
leslieann
3-11-12, 12:59pm
I like the focus on success! Whatever happens for the rest of the month, there is more space in my house today than there was yesterday. Thanks, kelli!
Spring cleaning yesterday and I ATTACKED the laundry room/sewing room:
21. several tins
22. 3 patterns
23. a small bundle of fabrics that I know I'll never get around to revisiting
24. 3 hoops
25. a collection of floss (I'll never get around to that project)
26. a 3 drawer organizer
27. 2 pillows
28. thread holder
29. stack of magazines
30. several "re-fashion" projects that I won't get aorund to
31. belt
32. paints
33. dog bed
34. used a stack of towels to make a new dog bed
35. skirts
36. tops
37. pants
39. sorted/matched/purged socks
40. swimsuits
I broght back out my spring/summer clothes and pulled a few winter items that I never got around to wearing this year those those were added to the thrift shop pile, and as I sorted the summer items I tried to be ruthless.
41.sweaters
42. jackets
43. shorts
44. jeans
45. capris
I went thru my jewelry and found a stash of some wonderful funky pieces that I had traded for a few years back but never got around to wearing. As much as I like them I immediately thought of a young girl at church that is about to graduate and go to college. I handed them to her this morning and told her about the artist. She loved all of it and will have fun wearing them.
46. 3 pair earrings
47. necklace
48. bracelet
Cleaned out my knitting bag
49. 2 pair of duplicate knitting needles
50. 2 skiens of yarn I'm not thrilled about (a gift from someone but it's too pink for me)
Woo Hoo!!! I'm half way there!
fidgiegirl
3-11-12, 4:48pm
Yeah, FloatOn!!
Wow, FloatOn, I am SO impressed. I think I'll go look for something else to release.....
No, I did find three more items: dog brush, dog collar, and shoe bag. Oh, and some smelly hand soap that I love but makes me sneeze. That's four more.
I am up to 28. Those haven't left the house yet but are in the bag for next week's run to the thrift store.
early morning
3-11-12, 9:04pm
Now if we were decluttering our OUTBUILDINGS, I'd be done, lol. I did manage to get rid of three bottles of unusable salad dressing and a pair of shoes that were way too far gone, for a total of six.
29. A pile of papers went to recycling. Probably 500 pages or so.
30. Pitched an alarm clock that apparently needed something more than just a new battery.
I wonder what else I can get out of here....(looks around appraisingly....)(the dog leaves the room)
early morning
3-12-12, 7:07pm
Stack of socks - 7!! You guys are doing super. I am sooo bad at getting rid of things, I so often have pitcher's remorse!
fidgiegirl
3-12-12, 8:31pm
(the dog leaves the room)
LOL
Woo hoo, all! We are rockin' this challenge.
I wish we'd measured ours in cubic feet rather than items, because today's was huge in volume but small in numbers! That's ok, more opportunity to keep going :)
2 boxes of scrap metal sold for $42 (yippee)
1 light fixture returned to Home Depot for $20
1 languishing bottle of hand soap used up
= 23
Happily, DH has been unpacking and filling his donation and "to eBay" boxes. This is a good thing :) He will actually sell the stuff, too. And if it gets sunny and dry again here this week, we are going to take a load to Bridging, a furniture warehouse in town that outfits people in need with the basics. This will include a BOXSPRING. I will be so happy to get that sucker out of here.
fidgiegirl
3-13-12, 12:56pm
1 boxspring
1 lamp
10 lightbulbs
to Bridging. (http://bridging.org)
= 35
Getting there . . . and these were biggies! If I don't add one more item all month (and we will, we have donation boxes ready for our pickup on the 24th) I will be happy.
I can't list specific items, but I know we've gotten rid of at least 100 items so far this March. Just the newborn-9 month boy clothes I donated alone would be 100 items.
Things are really getting easier to take care of here. I've spent a lot of time lately getting rid of clothing and some blankets. I've finally got my laundry under control!
fidgiegirl
3-13-12, 8:11pm
Hooray for manageable laundry!!
three pairs of socks, a shirt, and leggings.
35.
Three more: a jar of red and white peppercorns that our new grinder dislikes, an "extra" corkscrew to a friend, and a handful of empty prescription bottles squirreled away in the "junk" drawer by DH.
To I am up to 38. Feeling the pressure.... However, many of the things I would like to declutter are not properly mine. In that junk drawer I found two baby spoons, two baby forks, labeled with my DSD's name and four little plastic spoons. All were from when DSD went to day care. She is now 15 but heaven forbid I relocate any of those items. I actually took them out of the drawer to ask what we could do with them and they are now back in the drawer. So it is a bit of slow going. That's the problem with the only child of divorced parents. Everything is a keepsake. Maybe we need keepsake storage?
fidgiegirl
3-18-12, 11:13am
You know, maybe there is something to that. DSD can keep her spoons in her box if she wants them that bad. In high school I had about four boxes full of keepsake stuff. As I've culled it over the years I'm down to 1 or 2. Some days I don't see the point of having any of it!
early morning
3-18-12, 12:21pm
2 tshirts 1 mug = 11
early morning
3-24-12, 8:32pm
Still plugging away. Emptied two desk drawers today (getting ready to get rid of desk, lol). Lots of paper recycled, dead pens trashed, etc. (and lots of stuff just put elsewhere). So I'm claiming it as two (one for each drawer). Wow, all the way up to 13, lol. Maybe I can get the rest of the drawers emptied tomorrow!
fidgiegirl
3-24-12, 8:52pm
Yeah, early morning!!! :)
We are closing in on 100. Maybe we can do it!
5 expired medications that we don't use anyway (we usually will use expired ones if they are something we need, but we never use this kind)
1 hat
5 pr mens socks (this is a miracle)
2 ties
2 sweaters
9 vintage buttons
tackle box
rod & reel
green glass water jug
1 bag kitchen knobs
placemat
doll
pizza cutter =
31
******drum rooooooooolllllllllllllll*******
GRAND TOTAL
= 66!!!!
Okay, so I didn't have time to make a list, but I decrapified big-time today with DH while my sweet MIL watched the baby. We both got rid of a ton of clothes. 2 boxes of books, another box of odds and ends. I got rid of some shoes and jewelry and a purse, too. And we let go of three huge kid toys we were given. One was broken and the other two were still nice but just too big for the small rooms in our house. I don't think the baby will miss them now or when she will be old enough to play with them. We also returned a box of Vietnam slides to my FIL and a bag of plastic lids and containers to my MIL.
AHHHH....feels great! To be continued tomorrow!
early morning
3-25-12, 12:50pm
13 + 4 more desk drawers empty + 12 items from the stove drawer storage (10 !! pan lids with no pans, lol)= 29! :)
leslieann
3-25-12, 12:55pm
Yesterday a wonderful thing happened. Two little Girl Guides showed up at the door asking for my returnable bottles. They are fundraising for a 2013 trip to Europe. They had mothers with a van so I just unloaded a closet full of bottles (we also have deposits on juice containers here...any beverage other than milk). I was slightly mortified by the number of wine and beer bottles (it represents about four months' worth but it was still LOTS of bottles) but they went out the door and the recycling closet is nearly empty! Yahoo!
I am still struggling to find items that are mine to let go....I handed out three books last week to clients but they will probably come back so I don't think I can count them. So I am still at 38...off to drop the last batch off.
Oh, I see there are only a few days left in the month and I've still got more to go to reach that 100 goal.
early morning
3-27-12, 8:17am
29+ 2 pieces of a futon (must I confess we kept parts of the frame for other uses:|(?) + 2 containers of liquid soap used up + 1 bottle of lotion cut apart and the remaining lotion scraped into another= 34. So I don't make 100 - that's still 34 things gone! and the month's not quite over...
fidgiegirl
3-27-12, 8:26am
A few more days! Rally the troops!!
As early morning said, something is better than nothing, so all our efforts will have been worth it. I won't meet 100, either.
But! Maybe we can up our total a little in these last few days.
GO FOR IT!!!!!!
I didn't count my items but I think they topped 100 for the month. But am going to try to get a few more items out the door before the month ends.
Finish strong, everyone! We can do it! :)
51. Sold a dog crate
52. small bits of pcp pipe (cut lengths I needed for garden last year and kept the small bits 'just incase' and I can't think of anything to do with them)
53-57. lost 4 meat chickens to coons (I'm counting them because that's 10 meals at least)
58. finally thrifted the ski bar I found in the lake last year (could of sold on craigslist but never got around to it)
59-61. At least 6 pair of summer shorts that the boys outgrew
62. yet another purse that I'm tired of
63. a few scarves (didn't really like the yarn but I made them for practice)
64-66. threw away several pair of worn out yard shoes, and moved some over to that purpose
67. jeans thrifted
fidgiegirl
3-27-12, 6:30pm
Woohoo!!!!
early morning
3-28-12, 5:20pm
Ok, this was mostly in the barn but still a LOT gone - 180 # of aluminum scrap and cans (which netted us $95.!!!) also hauled some notebooks and office supplies to work, which I'm counting as 2 things gone for a total of 36 (plus 180#, lol).
68. broken bird feeder
69. broken hummer feeder
70. more shirts
71. more pants
72. several pots I don't plan to use
73. broken weedeatter
74. all the recycling out of the house and into the truck
75. went thru make-up and tossed a few items that were getting a bit old (I pay close attention to getting new eye makeup every 3 months because I get infections easily)
early morning
4-1-12, 11:00am
So - yesterday I managed to get the desk totally removed from the living room - yay! Ended with 37 things, but that's more than would have been gone had I not signed up for this challenge and been mindful of getting things out of here! Thanks - let's do it again for April!
fidgiegirl
4-1-12, 11:02am
Yeah!! DH got rid of a few more items yesterday, too, so we ended in the 70s range. Not 100, but also happy. Thanks for playing, all!!!!!!!!!
Wow, you guys did an amazing job. I think I am still stuck at 38 or something but that's okay: that represents 38 fewer items in my house.
Anybody got plans for April?
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