26 books and the Joy of Less

At the start of 2011 I set a goal of reading 26 books in the 52 weeks of 2011.

 I met my goal yesterday when I finished my 26th book!!!

If you want to see the otehr 25 books that I have read this year, check out my Shelfair profile here.  

My 26th book was "The Joy of Less" by Francine Jay. It got me motivated to declutter my stuff. I have not finished our house, however am getting there.

Currently I'm happy with our bathroom, closet, kitchen, and pantry.

I wouldn't say that I'm over attached to items, however I think often think "what if I may need this in the future".

This is half of the stuff that I donated from my closet. I finally got rid of the clothes that do not fit me. Why am I holding on to a pair of pants that I wore on my 21st birthday. Chances are if I can get back to that size, i will not want to wear pants that are 9 years old! I also donated my wedding dress to a local charity. It was just taking up space in my closet. I do not have any daughters, and If I did, would they really want to wear a dress that has just been sitting in my closet for 30 years? No.

I got rid of all the shoes I no longer wear. A majority of those shoes were ones that I have worn once or twice and they killed my feet. So those went off to the Goodwill. The ones that were falling apart went to the trash. Yes, I got rid of my Rainbow flip flops from college :(

(but that's ok, I now have Birkenstocks!)

Look at all the counter space! My stuff was over taking our bathroom. Why was I holding on to makeup, lotion, and those tiny hotel samples of junk? I kept what I actually use. The rest has just been taking up space! It went to the trash! (plus I'm sure most of it was out of date and past the use by date, nasty)

Look at all that cooking space! I hated that we had 100 things on our counter top and I would have to move stuff to get dinner ready. The coffee pot that we only use on the weekends went under the counter. The empty container that completed my flour and sugar set of 3 is off the counter! The junk mail is gone! I also took out all of the stuff out of my cabinets and got rid of stuff. I don't need 4 muffin tins and 700 Tervis Tumblers. Goodwill was happy when I showed up this week.

As far as our pantry goes, I has spices that expired in 2006 that were still following us around. I also filled a large bag to donated to a food bank. Aww it feels so good to see our house some what decluttered. Next is the bedroom, Colton's room, and the storage room Guest Bedroom!