Well, I have moved and we are settled in the new home (did I mention how easy it was to unpack?)…mostly.
So what will happen to Minimalist Monday Mission now?
I have to step back and tell you a little bit about the journey so far.
First, in October 2010, I started with the 75 in 75 Challenge. This got the ball rolling, with an initial goal of eliminating 1 item each day for 75 days that turned into 1,150 items eliminated. I was hooked. I could see progress being made (finally) and noticed a loss of clutter. So I decided to continue into 2011 with Minimalist Monday Mission: Declutter 365.
The goal of Minimalist Monday Mission was to pick an area in my home and declutter it each week, with the goal of being completely done with my home by the end of the year. This was going well, until the summer, and travel hit, which caused a little bump in the road. I quickly got back on track and continued decluttering, only to hit another bigger bump…separation.
When my husband filed for divorce, it came as a complete surprise. This was in September, and although I made a push to get the entire home finished before the end of the year, it just didn’t happen. Between the paperwork, the increased work load for me (on purpose), and planning for the future, little time was left to decluttering.
Despite that setback, I still managed to get to the majority of my home, and some areas I visited twice, eliminating over 6,000 additional items from my home.
In late 2011, I found myself looking for a place to live, and found a rental home. In mid-January, we told our family of the impending separation, and I had about 2 weeks to pack and move.
It’s amazing to me how God orchestrates our lives sometimes. When I started this decluttering journey, I did not expect to have to move. But, I look back and can see His hand over that, making my move significantly easier, since I was about 7,500 things lighter in packing the house!
All I needed to do to separate our things was to go back through the house again and pick out my things and decide on what items to sell. This was not so difficult, considering I had already seen most of those areas twice.
I was able to pack and move the majority of our things into the new home in less than 2 weeks. There are still a few things left at the old home (furniture I didn’t need yet because our rental home is furnished), but the majority was moved.
So where does that leave us now?
Well, I am, Lord willing, building a new home, which is about the size of our rental home (about 1,300 square feet), and in moving into the rental home, I can see more areas that can be streamlined and simplified.
I also have some more things at the old home that need to be organized and packed or sold.
My minimalist journey is not over yet…but to keep things simplified, since I no longer need to organize spaces in my old home, I’ll just be reporting in on what is eliminated from my home(s) in general. I’ll be simplifying the title to just “Minimalist Monday” as well. I invite you to follow along!
My new goal now is to be finished with all decluttering in both the rental home and the old home before I move into the new home in a few months…is that clear as mud? 
So as a recap for Minimalist Monday Mission, I eliminated 6,166 items from my home by selling, donating, or throwing them away/recycling. If you add this to the 1,150 items from the 75 in 75 Challenge, this brings my grand total to: 7,316 items eliminated from my home since October 2010!
I was back at the old house working in the basement this week, and I also took a trip to Goodwill, so I do have some numbers already for you! YEAH! Here we go…
Total of items eliminated this week?
- Threw out/Recycled: 364 items
- Donated/Given: 215 items
- Sold: 19 items
Overall Totals:
- Threw out/Recycled: 364 items
- Donated: 215 items
- Sold: 19 items
TOTAL ITEMS: 598 items
Now back to listing more items for sale!
What did you do this week to declutter??
To your success,
Dr. Laura
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