Decluttering, aka spring “editing”

I’m one of those awesome weirdos who loves to declutter, aka, editing, and organize!

It’s one of my superpowers. (And I never judge when I’m helping someone else fyi!)

It started in 5th grade…

To this day I can remember organizing my folders (on the bottom because they were the biggest), them my school books, and then my supply box.

And within the supply box, my pencils were in one area, and my erasers were in another.

Just lifting my desktop and seeing the tidienss gave me a sense of calm.

To be clear, our house gets dusty, crap collects on our dining table and kitchen peninsula, and we won’t talk about what the water looked like when Sully took our Ruggables to the laundromat yesterday…dogs and puppies amiright?!

I don’t want you getting the idea that I think everything has to be as close to perfection as possible because that’s impossible and unnecessary.

I like for everything to have a home and live there as peacefully as possible when I’m not using it.

Before we left for the Pacific Northwest, I decided to edit my closet. (I really like the word edit. It feels better than declutter.) And I still feel light and airy looking at it now.

There are a few things I ask myself when I’m editing, and one of them is not, “Does this spark joy?” because that just doesn’t resonate with me.

First question, does this have sentimental value? If it does then I’ll set it aside for phase 2.

And one of my longtime faves, would I pay a company to move it? 

This one really keeps me from sitting on the fence about things! Because weight and number of boxes really ads up and helps me decide how important something is.

I started with my closet.

Then I moved to our home office, and holy smokes did that feel good to get done over a few days! (How many staplers, paperclips, and old Apple user manuals and cords does one family need?! Some of the stuff was from Sully’s teaching career, but sheesh, time to pass it on or pitch it!)

Then I did my dresser, getting rid of everything that doesn’t fit, isn’t my true eclectic taste, or I haven’t worn in a year.

My next couple of areas are going to be gift bags (for the love, that area looks like Santa’s workshop threw up!) and the junk drawer in the kitchen.

I don’t have to do it all in one day, weekend, week, or month, but I’ve got a bee in my bonnet so I’m going to town when the urge strikes!

I love taking before and after pictures, or progress pics, because it can be easy to feel like you haven’t done much or have so much left to do and the pictorial evidence will prove your silly brain wrong.

If you’re wanting to do some editing, try my 2 questions, turn on your fave music (mine is a fab 80’s playlist my friend Keely sent me), a delicious beverage, and just start!

You got this, Sunshine and I’ve always got your back!