I have been feeling overwhelmed by The Amount of Stuff We Have. This has been going on for months and months, but I have procrastinated and procrastinated. I have not yet had a chance to watch Marie Kondo’s show on Netflix but my social media feed is now overflowing with people inspired to take action and declutter their homes. I read Kondo’s book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up years ago and know what I need to do to have a tidier home. Getting rid of things I do not use or need is not exactly rocket science. I just need to do it.

Yet I am overwhelmed.

There are toys, so many toys. And books, so many books. And clothes, so many clothes.

Plus, there are two children running around making more messes that any human being should have to manage. I am trying to teach them to clean up Mess A before making Messes B-Z, but it’s a work in progress. Which I assume will stay in progress until they leave for college. So I am trying to practice some patience and embrace the chaos.

But I’m sick of it.

Today, I finally realized what I should do: I should get rid of ten things every day, for as many days in a row that I can, and record my progress. This seems like a good plan for several reasons:

• I love projects. They make me happy.
• I’m feeling stuck and need to build some momentum on the decluttering front. By making this a daily practice, I will get the momentum started.
• I’m a writer, so I’ll actually have fun recording my efforts.
• If I get rid of ten things every day, I’ll see some results pretty quickly, without getting overwhelmed. Motherhood keeps me busy, so even though a single kitchen drawer might not seem like a big decluttering project, for me, it actually is.

Once I had the plan in mind, I could not wait to get started. Within five minutes, I had gathered ten items and put them in a large box on the front porch for Goodwill.

• Item One: A full body toddler rain suit, never used, still in the plastic bag. What the eff was I thinking? We live in Southern California, a climate not exactly known for its rain. Did I really think I was going to wrangle a toddler into a full body rain suit on the few days it actually does rain? Goodbye, rain suit!

• Item Two: Microphones for the Wii video game system. Still in box. Never used. Deep breath, I forgive myself.

• Item Three: A big plastic tube used as child-proofing for power cords. It was just sitting on a shelf taking up tons of space. We are done with babies. Into the box!

• Item Four: Old pair of Birkenstocks that I no longer wear.

• Item Five: Old pair of tennis shoes that I no longer wear.

• Item Six: A pair of red platform sandals that I bought for my honeymoon because I thought this was the sort of thing I was supposed to wear on my honeymoon. Except I’m not a platform sandals kind of girl. (See Item Four.)

• Item Seven: A hardback YA novel that I read, enjoyed, but will never read again.

• Items Eight, Nine and Ten: Three very thick paperback books that I got from a Little Free Library in my neighborhood. They are a fantasy trilogy. At the time, I honestly thought I was going to read them. That was six months ago and they have been clogging up floor space ever since. Fuck it. I have too many books on deck before I will even consider reading these books. Someone else will enjoy them. If I am meant to read this trilogy, the books will find their way back into my life at some later date.

By the time I was putting the books in the Goodwill box, I was feeling pretty good. I wanted to keep going. But I think the Daily Ten is the right amount for me.

Tomorrow morning, I may actually head into the basement and find a few things that have been tormenting me while the kids are at school…