365 Days of Eliminating Crap Facebook Group by Linda Davis AKA “The Crapmaster”.
I am so happy to have found Linda's Facebook group. Linda is a real estate broker associate with Re/Max in Ledyard, CT.
Around January 5, 2014 I found out about Linda's group- 365 Days of Eliminating Crap
The purpose of the group is to inspire each of us to get rid of 1 item per day for 365 days. If I could do this, that would mean that I would get 365 items out of our house that we no longer need or are of no useful purpose to us.
At first it sounded daunting but instead, it was awesome inspiring!
What started out as the thought, “What in the world can I get rid of every single day?” ended up within one week's time thoughts of real things to get rid of.
It was fun too. Although I did not have time to take photos and post them every day to the group- it ended up that not ONE day went by in 2014 where I did not eliminate something.
Linda's strict rule was “one item per day” NOT cleaning out your entire closet or garage. That was great because if you break goals down into small manageable action steps it is easy to accomplish.
In fact, Linda would oust you from the group if you started posting about cleaning out entire closets and rooms.
It is easy to make sure to get rid of just one item per day out of your house. Most of us have way too much junk and items that can be much more useful to others.
Some items went out to the recycling containers, some stuff was thrown in the trash but most of the items I got rid of were given to others who could use the items. First, I would ask our kids ( the grown up ones) if any of them wanted the items, if they did not want them, I would ask our church members and if no one there wanted them, I put them on freecycle. Our freecyle group here is very good, I rarely have no shows.
I love spices and enjoy cooking. By doing just a little bit each day- I was able to clear out two good sized spice cabinets and one drawer. I consolidated all the half used bottles of spices into larger containers and then labeled all the containers.
I also was able to clean out one half of my walk-in closet. Since I lost a lot of weight, I gave away all the clothes that are now too big for me.
I cleaned out my trunk in my car over time and also many drawers in my kids' rooms as well as in our kitchen and offices.
As you homeschoolers know, you can get pretty cluttered with homeschool books, notebooks, science kits, projects, etc. If you are like me then you also have a bunch of awesome homeschool ideas laying around with good intentions but in reality you will never have the time to finish them:). Yes, I do that too. So the best project was the one of eliminating those projects and passing along books and curriculum to other homeschool families who were in need of these items. Here is Tristan's homeschool desk now:
And here is my clutter-free desk:
It feels so empowering to get rid of “stuff”. It feels so good to look at nice cleared out areas in your home.
No matter how busy you are- you can look around each day for just one thing. It does not even have to be in a specific area. It could also be deleting emails and clearing off your desktop files on your computers.
Thank you Linda Davis for providing this group. I am excited to start another year of eliminating something every single day of the year. I have made progress in clearing out things we don't need yet still have a ways to go.
So onward we go into 2015 getting rid of crap one item at a time!
Join Linda Davis' Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/152141201557636/