I did a lot of reading about organizing over the month of January and was drawn to one particular method the life changing magic of tidying up by Marie Kondo aka the KONMARIE method. It has basic pillars:
1) declutter by category
2) touch each item to see if it sparks joy
3) start to organize after you declutter
Decluttering by category was a definite mind shift. Typically we clean by room. When you tackle this by category it puts into perspective how much of one item you have. Very eye opening!
We concentrated on these categories:
1) clothing
2) shoes
3) stored baby clothes
4) books
5) kitchen items
6) baby items
Ok clothing, emptying out our closets made me realize not only the quantity of clothes but the fact that we needed to clean! Oh man some spaces were not as well kept as they seemed once emptied. My clothing was easy because I'm pregnant, nothing fits and after baby #2 I'm in need of a wardrobe overhaul anyway. How many "going out" tops do I really need when most of my outings are to Target?
Shoes, easy! I work from home and wear flats. Kept one pair of black heels and sold or donated the rest. I think my days of being in weddings are over so all those shoes I bought for one off reasons were given new homes.
Stored baby clothes, so easy since #2 is opposite gender. Neutral items were hung in the nursery closet, girl items went to my niece, consignment and goodwill. Freed up space in our attic. It was tempting to then start cleaning the attic but I stuck with categories and not rooms.
Books, a tad harder since they are mostly my husbands and daughters. All duplicate kids books were sent to my niece. My husband dropped his at a local book store and used his credit to get a new book. So about 15 out and one back in. Books are what I call a "community item." I read another book about minimalist living that stressed that items easily found in the community don't need to be owned. So, books you can get at a library, and you can play on a swing set at a park, no need to own your own. If you have espresso once a week, go to a coffee shop instead of buying the machine...since in the end it's probably the experience of going to the coffee shop you enjoy more and if you had a machine you'd never make espresso. Just some things to consider!
Kitchen items. Another area where we were like wow we need to clean out the inside of all our cabinets. We donated boxes and boxes to goodwill. We got rid of all duplicates. Only one giant pot for pasta. 3 baking sheets kept since that's all we can even use at one time. Extra bags of utensils in case 45 people show up for dinner are gone. The kitchen made us consider our lifestyle and it doesn't include fancy dinner parties...just the occasional family birthday. We have never had to transport 30 cupcakes anywhere in a special carrier. We have never even baked cupcakes...
Finally we get to baby items. This was needed as we had to see what needed replacing from baby #1 and what we didn't end up even using and know is a waste as second time parents. Lots of items sold, shipped as back ups to grandparents, donated and replaced. We didn't need 30 receiving blankets, multiple monitors, or baby shoes (for real - a waste of money!). Had to replace changing pads and crib sheets. Sent extra strollers to grandparents houses so we don't have to cart things all over for visits.
In the end everything was organized and had a place. The whole process took about 6 weeks. It was time consuming getting RID of items. Filling boxes, packing the car, trips to goodwill and the post office. It really was a lot of effort! And that's with a pregnant lady in nesting mode (you don't get more motivated than that!). This whole process made me realize I don't want to go through this again, so I'm embracing this minimalist living for now and second guessing anything we bring into the house. Wish me luck!
