It continues to astonish me just how much STUFF we have. One of these days, I may crack and purge 100 things at once; but I do think the Declutter 10 pace is working well for me. Maybe the Declutter 10 is helping me build towards a bigger day? But in the meantime, here’s what I decluttered:

Day 11: I attacked the children’s collection of activity books. We have amassed quite the collection. I decided to get rid of 19 workbooks, sticker books, and coloring books. Some of these were mostly used up and went to the trash. The rest were still in good condition. They just did not capture my kids’ imagination, so I passed them on to our babysitter.

Day 12: Ten books from my collection. Some I had read. Some I have never read and honestly, will probably never read, and their presence was making me feel guilty. Off to Goodwill!

Day 13: I turned my sights on the fridge door. I have a magnetized clipboard that keeps me organized with daily laminated checklists, but the clipboard was getting cluttered with school flyers. I purged the old flyers. Then I got rid of expired coupons and old artwork that was lurking all over the fridge plus several magnets that had arrived in the mail from plumbers and realtors. In all, I probably tossed 15 things. The fridge is the sort of household zone that will require regular decluttering. I can already tell that when I have finished the Declutter 10 Project, I will need to enter a Maintenance Phase and regularly attack the parts of our house that are clutter magnets.

Day 14: Bit of a hodge podge day.

• One random yellow shoelace – trash!
• Two old pieces of cardboard that were part of the packaging for hair bands. Pippa was organizing the hair drawer so I saw an opportunity to create more space.
• A random blue circle made from a flexible sticky material, purpose unknown, origin unknown, found in hair drawer.
• A half piece of Velcro in the hair drawer?? Decluttering is hilarious.
• And then, I did not expect this to happen, but Pippa agreed to give away NINE stuffed animals. I asked Pippa if there were any stuffed animals that were maybe a bit babyish. This made her look at her enormous collection a bit differently and she got excited to thin the herd. I felt a little emotional when she picked a stuffed blue and yellow monkey that Nathan bought when I was pregnant with her, but Nathan pointed out that the monkey was falling apart and he did not mind if Pippa sent it to the trash. When I put the stuffed animal in the trash bin, I felt a big surge of relief.

Day 15: Ten picture books that are either babyish or just not part of our regular rotation. I have a feeling that I’m going to be getting rid of at least a few (dozen) more picture books!