Summer Daily Decluttering
These are my worn out baby shoes. I don’t want them. I am giving you (and myself) permission to let go of anything you don’t want!
Hello Friends:
I hope this finds you in good health and joyful spirits. As I shared in last month's post, I am feeling cautiously hopeful. In my home, we have remained healthy and managed to continue our kids' education in various formats. We are looking forward to our children returning to in person school in the fall. Here's hoping that more people, especially children under the age of 12, will be able to be vaccinated soon, both in the United States and abroad.
Overall, I am feeling more relaxed and abundant these days. So much so that I want to let go of the excess again. I am typically an aspiring minimalist; however, with the uncertainly of everything since March 2020 I felt like holding on and stocking up. Prior to the pandemic, I saw no need to stock up on grocery items or household supplies. I was certain that I would always be able to go to a store and purchase whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted it. Although my certainty didn't last, throughout the last 15 months, we were grateful to have everything we needed for daily life.
We are so fortunate to have the essentials and then some. The extra pressure of educating our kids from home combined with concern about the coronavirus, led me to turn a blind eye to little pockets of clutter that have slowly sprung up around our home during this time. Clutter has no deadline. Now that the kids have entered their summer break and things seem to be on the up and up, it's time to put our house in better order again. My goal is to let things go and recreate the spaciousness I crave. Maybe now we can get back to our usual way of dealing with the things we no longer need.
The summer months are an important time when I can involve our children in the process of letting go with a flexible schedule. Now is the time to sort through old school papers and excess "kid clutter" that seems to have multiplied throughout our home. While on summer break, my kids are tasked with a daily 15 minute tidy, among other things. Time will tell how far this gets us. It's important to me to share that the life skill of letting go can be done with ease.
It's not just the kids' items cluttering things up. We had an embarassing number of bottles squirreled away in the basement, which at $0.10 each, provided me with a nice "discount" on my latest grocery run. There was that huge box that our new bike rack came in collecting spiders in the garage. The stacks of grocery bags from on-line grocery orders need to go. There are things that need to be repaired and put away. You get the idea. My clutter is probably no different from your own.
Wonderfully, our kids have grown during this time and a plethora of outgrown clothes needs to move its way out of here, along with outgrown bicycles. To offset the cost of new clothes for the kids, I will sell the nicest things on Poshmark or at the local resale shop. The bicycles will find their way to Craig's List in time. Everything else will go to Goodwill or textile recycling. And, also in our basement, are boxes of donations that need to make their way to Goodwill. It was sad to learn that Purple Heart no longer picks up donations in my area.
Throughout the year, I do my best to declutter on a daily basis. It seems that I find something, often the smallest of items, every day. I will often post these items on my Instagram stories with #dailydeclutter. Most likely, few care what I am decluttering and some are inspired by my sharing this small action. Small, consistent actions do add up. Even just 15 minutes a day can make a difference. If you are on Instagram and would like to play along, please tag me @simplyorganizedlife with your daily declutter items. I am curious what you no longer need.
Wishing you all my best,
Carolyn
