40 bags in 40 days {wrap-up}

Phew. What a ride. 

40 days, 40-ish spaces. 

40 bags. {At least! Maybe more!}

Out. The. Door.

This 40 bags challenge is called a challenge for a reason - it took some hard work and elbow grease to endure 40 days (somewhat continuous... Sunday's were my day off) of purging. Sometimes it was fun, sometimes it was really hard. Would I do it again? Absolutely. Hindsight is 20/20 and I learned a few things along the way. If you're inspired to give 40 bags a whirl, here are my post-purging pointers.

Tips for Completing a 40 Bags Challenge:

1. Find some friends. Seriously, seriously, seriously. Life is richer, deeper, and flat-out more fun when shared with an authentic community.
2. Write your list down. Seems like a no-brainer, but some people resist this or don't make the time to do it and then you're left with minimal commitment (i.e. a recipe for failure). There is something about putting your pen to paper that helps to seal the deal. {Free printable from Sugar Tot Designs}
3. Make sure your days are do-able. Try to limit each item on your list to something you can tackle in about 30 minutes. If it takes you longer than that, you'll probably get overwhelmed and quit on day 3. If you need several days for the garage or the basement or the play room, schedule in more than one day for those spaces, or better yet, break them down into smaller chunks.
4. Figure out a {group} accountability system. Will your friends email or text as they work through spaces? Will you talk via a private Facebook group? What about meeting for coffee or a play date once a week to share progress updates? Make a plan and then have everyone sign their name in blood. Kidding.
5. Commit to a {personal} accountability system. I Instagram-ed and blogged my way through my list. That's probably too much of a time commitment for most people (I actually enjoy the consistency of documenting everything), but figure out a way to document your progress. Keep a running tally of bags you've filled, snap pictures, or just take the time to check things off your master list as you go. (You did write your list down, right?? See #2.)
6. Stick to one space per day. There were days when I got off a little and worked ahead or had to play catch up, but the times 40 bags flowed the best were when I was intentional about setting aside time for one space per day. Period.
7. Start with an empty a space for best results. This allows you to take inventory, and it forces you to touch every item before deciding whether to keep or toss. It also allows you to wipe things down and start with a clean slate which is always a good idea. {More on my purging process here}
8. Keep in mind the greater goal. What is your greater goal? Are you doing the challenge to get ready for a garage sale? Or to practice intentional living during the season of Lent? Maybe you want to simplify or downsize or generally just stop tripping over clutter. If you keep your goal in mind, you'll be less tempted to quit when the going gets tough.
9. Form an exit strategy. How is the stuff going to get OUT of your home?  How can you keep little hands (or bigger husband hands) from retrieving long-forgotten treasures? Separate donate / sell / throwaway boxes and bags worked well for me. I also took three separate donation runs during the 40 days because I wanted to make sure everything made it out of my house in a timely manner.
10. Remember that any forward movement counts as progress. Check your negative self-talk at the door. Even if you have a plan and an accountability system and the best intentions in the world, sometimes life gets in the way and that's OK. Don't beat yourself up, just keep going.

Get ready, grab your bags, and go! A less cluttered, less overwhelming, more intentional life awaits!

{Previous 40 Bags Posts @ the terpblog}

Are you in?

40 Bags free printable

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Week Five

Week Six

40 bags: week six

Easter is on Sunday!

Lent is drawing to a close, and along with it my 40 bags challenge.

This has definitely been a marathon, not a sprint.

I am happy to say that I made it through my entire list and in doing so I have touched just about everything single material possession we own.

{The fact that it took me 40 days to do this is a story all it's own. #firstworldproblems}

Day 35: basement {round one}.

Our basement is currently unfinished, and it tends to collect stuff. 

We had some mouse-y house guests a few months ago which inspired a pretty good-sized purge (I swear I'm not a hoarder! Bad rodents can happen to good people!) I'm amazed how every time I set out on a new basement purge, I can always find a couple boxes of stuff to move on out. 

For round one, I focused on putting things away (there is a system - mostly labeled - I just have to remember to stick with it) and cleared out some old toys and random trash.

Day 36: holiday stuff.

Our Christmas stuff was starting to take over a bit. I'm a practical girl so I find it kind of strange that we store all this stuff year round so we can haul it out for one month of enjoyment. I condensed our stash down to the things I really love and parted ways with some of the riff raff. Everything fits on one shelf in the storage room now. And yes, I am quite proud of the kiddos' personal ornament boxes.

Day 37: kids' clothes bins.

I keep an empty laundry basket upstairs in Mady's closet and then whenever someone outgrows something I throw it in there and deal with it on a later date. Today was that date. The bigger kids are slowing down growth-wise, but Mady still needs frequent wardrobe switches.

(She's already moving into 3T! Put a book on her head!)

I am trying not to hold on to clothes any more besides the sizes between Ella and Mady. My boy clothes supply is pretty much zilch at this point and once a couple more baby girls show up on the scene, I should be able to clear those out as well. I love passing things on to friends, otherwise I sell some of the nicer things at a twice-yearly mom-to-mom sale or donate them to a local charity.

Day 38: basement {round two}.

Clean, uncluttered stairs! Oh my! 

I'm guessing this hasn't happened since we moved in four years ago. 

I have a bad habit of setting things on the stairs instead of actually walking them all the way down and putting them away. [Despite what your impression of me might be, I am an innately a lazy creature.]

For round two, I tried to purge a little bit deeper. I'm happy to say that basement stuff (i.e. Christmas ornaments, kids' clothing bins, random home decor, tools & paint, wrapping paper, winter gear, and luggage) is now contained to "just" the storage room.

Day 39: miscellaneous, etc.

Because I had combined a couple of days earlier on, I ended up with two days leftover at the end. I figured a catch-all type day wouldn't be a bad idea, so I spent this day walking around the house looking for spaces I  missed the first time around. 

Places I had missed: the half bath, the sofa table in the "formal" dining room/office (this room has major identity issues), and the cedar chest in our room (now streamlined to house our tree skirt + stockings, baby blanket keepsakes, and an alternate duvet cover.)

Day 40: final pass + donation drop-off.

This is the third load to-be-donated in the past 40 days (this isn't all of it either...I took this picture mid-loading). There were some slightly bigger items I had posted on Craigslist throughout the process and anything that didn't sell in the 40 days is getting donated today as well. Freedom!

*  *  *  *  *

A part of me wishes I would have kept a running tally of bags including items sold, donated, and trashed. There is something about knowing a concrete number that would have been very satisfying. What I do know for sure, however, is that every where I turn I see less cluttered, more streamlined, better organized spaces. 

And for right now, that is more than enough.

{Linking Up}

40 bags: week five

Confession: my 40 bags resolve weakened a bit this week.

For the most part, I have been keeping up with one space per day (besides Sunday) and this is the first week that I fell behind. 

I was gone over the weekend and when I came back home the week hit me like a truck + I wasn't looking forward to the items on my list.

I soldiered on, however, and doubled up a couple of days until I was back on track.

Day 28: paper piles.

We have a desk in our kitchen and it collects major clutter. I have a pretty good system in place, it just needs to be weeded through every now and then. I try to recycle things immediately if I know I won't need them and then I have a square bin on the desk that I use as a catch-all for the maybe's. The for-sure-keeps get filed in these folders (above) that are housed in a PB caddy.

Day 29: books & magazines.

I don't usually hold onto a lot of books and magazines after I read them because I know I won't reference them again. I don't like to read books more than once (with a few exceptions) and I try to tear interesting articles from magazines as I go. Tossing catalogs promptly keeps me from being tempted to buy things I don't need.

Our Paper Gator recycle bin benefited from today's purge!

Day 30: craft/office closet.

This closet is semi-organized but it can quickly deteriorate into a hot mess. (I like to blame this on the children). We keep the kids' craft supplies in here as well as office supplies and games. 

I removed some trash (i.e. broken crayons and used up coloring books) and added some items to the donate pile.

Day 31: paperwork & files.

More paper...ugh! Again, I did work at developing a system a while back and it's holding up pretty well. I have two places where we store files - a small file box and then these three binders (originally inspired by this post). Therefore, I have two magazine holders in place for needs-to-be-filed items...one for items that belong in the file box and one for items that go in the binders.

Day 32: front closet.

We have three different coat closets in our house which is overkill if you ask me. One of them actually holds coats, the second one is our craft/office closet, and this third one is a catch-all for my scrapbooking supplies, file stuff, note cards, exercise equipment, random electronics/cords (on the upper shelf that you can't see), and, of course, the vacuum.

Day 33: digital files.

I have a basic folder system in place and I try to keep up with it, but in the busyness of life this often falls through the cracks. I keep our photos sorted by year and then by month. Within each month, I also have a spot for blog-related (usually edited) photos and Instagrams. It's really hard for me to delete any pictures involving my kids, 

but I'm learning to be better at it. 

(For a good post on digital photo organizing/purging check out this one from IHeart Organizing.)

I also backed up our music and photos on to our external hard drive (which I hadn't done since January 2010!)

Day 34: craft supplies.

B.P. (Before Pinterest) I can't say that craft supply organization was a problem for me...because I didn't own any craft supplies. Now that my inner-crafter has been awakened (and thanks to our monthly craft night), I find myself with piles of crafting goodness. I had this three drawer plastic organizer in the basement that I had re-purposed into my supply cabinet, but the existing system involved simply shoving things into the drawers.

Post Purge: an hour or so later, and I was back in the game. 

I dumped everything out, sorted through the keeps and the tosses, carefully reloaded, and then labeled the whole shebang. 

Ahhhhh. Much better.

* * * * *

This week was a bit of a challenge for me, but now the end is in sight. One week to go, six more spaces. Home. Stretch.

And I'm taking a nice, deep breath because next week it's time to tackle the {very unfinished, very full-of-stuff} B-A-S-E-M-E-N-T.

Stay tuned.

{Linking Up}

40 bags: week four

It's week four! At this point, my 40 bags daily to-do item has become a natural, even favorite, part of my everyday routine.

I find purging, cleaning, and organizing to be good for the soul.

{And I realize the 40 bags challenge is more about purging than anything else, but I inevitably find myself cleaning the space after it's emptied and organizing what's left post-purge.}

Feel free to call me crazy.

Day 22: main floor toys.

Most of the toys are stored in the kids' rooms because toys on the main floor make Mommy crazy but some of them, especially Mady's, still reside in our living areas. I love nothing more than dumping out all the toy baskets into a giant heap, ditching the junk, putting pieces back together, and returning everything to it's correct place.

Day 23: shoes.

I've been purging shoes along the way, especially during mudroom day and my/Matt's closet day, but I still found a few stragglers. 

Six more pairs out the door.

Day 24: TV cabinets.

We're not big DVD people (and our CD's are all stored on our computer) so there wasn't a ton to sort through here. Love these brown DVD boxes from Ikea for keeping everything in order.

Day 25: our van.

I'm lucky enough to be married to a guy who values a clean vehicle so usually things don't get too bad in this department. I did remove some trash and random trinkets and then I vacuumed and wiped everything down. I found this little caddy in the garage, cleaned it up, and filled it with the random items that are usually just rolling around on the floor. (Thanks again, Pinterest. I owe you big.)

Days 26 & 27: the garage.

I broke this into two days but ended up doing it all in one day 

(it took me an entire morning). I capitalized on this crazy, crazy 80-degrees-in-March-in-Michigan weather and employed an assistant (she does great work and only charges 25 cents).

Garage toys. Sigh. Three kids at three different stages 

(and a hubby who loves to bike) means we have a lot of different modes of transportation housed in our garage. 

Thank goodness for a third stall.

Balls. Sand buckets. Small toys. Oh my.

Big tubs make it easy for little hands to aim, shoot, and hopefully score.

Out with the snowpants (I couldn't quite work up the nerve to put the boots away) and in with the baseball gloves.

Bonus points: I swept the floors and hosed everything down.

Now to see if spring sticks...if it does, we're ready!

{Linking Up}

40 bags: week three

Seven more days of the 40 bags challenge have come and gone.

I continued on with upstairs (bedroom/bathroom) projects.

Day 15: my jewelry.

I have an organizer thing-y I found at Marshalls in a drawer in our bedroom and this Ikea rail + s-hooks behind my closet door.

Day 16: our nightstands. 

Matt chipped in and helped me clear out some paper-related clutter.

I love crossing things off the list!

Day 17: upstairs linen closet.

I overhauled this area a while back, but clutter has a way of creeping back in. See you later sunscreen circa 2003!

Day 18: kids' bathroom.

This turned into more of an exercise in deep-cleaning (ummm...blue toothpaste e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e), but I did toss some old baby washcloths, icky toothbrushes, and worn-out bath toys. 

I also dropped off my second load of stuff to Love INC.

Day 19: Dylan's bedroom.

He's the neatest of the three, but I still moved out a pile of clothes, a stack of books, and a bag of junk (McDonald's Happy Meal toys!?)

Side note: last summer's toy organization project is still working well!

Day 20: Ella's bedroom.

She's my messy one, and it's been a parenting lesson to let her be her (within reason). The weather was beautiful yesterday so after I tackled Dylan's room I kept going and did Ella's too. 

Besides the purge treatment, their rooms also got freshly washed bedding and dusted surfaces. Glorious!

Day 21: Mady's bedroom

I've been working hard on organizing this space and making it a fun place to play since our baby isn't really a baby anymore but an energetic toddler. Her toys were pre-purged a couple of weeks ago, and I cleared out some clothes that no longer fit (it's so tempting to put away all the winter stuff too!) I love these Ikea drawer organizers for keeping track of the little stuff.

* * * * *

We're over halfway there, and I'm still having as much fun as I was on day one. I realize this might make me a little bit odd, but it helps that I have been able to get through most of the days' tasks in about half an hour (some of them like the kids' rooms took me longer). 

One day at a time, one space at a time, one bag at a time, 

and I'm starting to see some results just in time for spring.

A prayer (@stevenargue): 

Help me find the way by 

going up through down; 

finding through letting go; 

filling through emptying.

{Linking Up}

40 bags: week two

It's week two...

I've been averaging six spaces a week (there are technically 46 days in Lent, so I am taking Sunday's off for the most part). 

I'm posting an update every 6-7 days, so here are spaces 8-14:

{week one update here}

Day 8: fridge & freezer. 

See you later expired salad dressing, droopy produce, 

and freezer-burnt chicken.

Day 9: laundry room cupboards.

I figured the extra inspiration was a nice touch, featuring T's thoughtful 6-month workout challenge gift to us girls.

(And this Instagram totally made us want to crack Gary & Elaine jokes.)

Day 10: mudroom closet.

Our laundry room and mudroom are one and the same. 

Mudroom lockers are on the wish list, but until then this is it. 

(We also have some hooks and storage out in the garage.) 

The non-everyday coats are hung up higher, and I moved their flip flops and Crocs to a basket in the garage. I cleared out a box of outgrown shoes as well. On average, my scariest space.

Day 11: make-up drawer (+ other master bath drawers), before.

My dear friends didn't believe me that this the actual state of my make-up drawer. I'm flattered, but this is really what it looked like.

Day 11: make-up drawer, after.

Lots of trash and parting with not-for-me colors. 

In Matt's drawer, I found an Avon calendar chapstick dated 2007 :)

Day 12: the rest of the master bath.

It's not a huge bathroom, but I went through our toiletry stash in the shower/tub and in this little storage closet. I'm parting with some things that either didn't work for me or that I just didn't use. 

I'm bringing them to some craft night girls who will be happy to use them up for me instead (everybody wins!).

Day 13: dresser drawers.

This included socks, undies, jeans, swimsuits and workout clothes. 

Threw out a bag of trash (good-bye sad, old socks!) and added a handful of nice (but not for me) things to the donate pile.

Day 14: my closet.

I went through the mother of all closet purges about a year ago this time after being inspired by Project 333. The idea is to limit yourself to 33 items of clothing, accessories, jewelry, outerwear, and shoes as an experiment in living with less. 

I didn't quite go that far, but I did get rid of a lot (after three pregnancies in five years, things were in a sorry state.)

This made Day 14's task that much easier, but I still had accumulated some clothing riff raff in the meantime. One of my favorite things about last year's closet clean-up was the addition of these wooden hangers. The pile above is what I emptied out today.

I have found that when you start out your day in an organized space - a neat closet, dresser drawers that aren't overflowing, a bed that's made (if you need 10 reason why, go here), a make-up drawer that's under control - you start your day off on the right foot. 

The kids still need breakfast, the laundry needs to be put away, your to-do list is still sitting down by the desk...but at least for the first few minutes of your day, there is order and peace.

{Linking Up}