Kickstart to Clutter Free - Day 11

Getting closer to the last day of Kathi's Kickstart to Clutter Free challenge! Today's challenge is the medicine cabinet. Our 'medicine cabinet' lives in two areas in our home, one shelf in the kitchen and one drawer in one of the bathrooms.

So let's see the kitchen area first:

Kickstart to Clutter Free medicine cabinet

This shelf is where our vitamins and pain relievers live...or so I thought:

Kickstart to Clutter Free medicine cabinet

Once I pulled everything out, I was kind of surprised with how much was living on that shelf. So I checked dates on the bottles and boxes, and put back everything that I was keeping. Here is everything that I didn't put back:

Kickstart to Clutter Free medicine cabinet

Not sure why I was keeping all of those care and use guides, but they quickly made their way to the garbage. And the outdated benadryl?

Kickstart to Clutter Free medicine cabinet

Added it to my shopping list because it is something we need to keep on hand.

With the kitchen shelf cleared out, it was time to clear out the drawer in the bathroom:

Kickstart to Clutter Free medicine cabinet

Yep, this drawer is a mess!

Kickstart to Clutter Free medicine cabinet

My kids are 21 and 16, so I know we have no use for Baby Orajel, not even going to think about how old that tube is! Why is the towel ring hanging out in the bathroom drawer? Who knows, definitely something to give away. And that old instant thermometer? It doesn't even work anymore. That ended up in the trash.

Kickstart to Clutter Free medicine cabinet

Ah, much better!

Kickstart to Clutter Free medicine cabinet

Over the past couple of weeks, I have had the opportunity to attend Kathi's Finally Clutter Free events. She is a big believer in that when we overcome clutter in our lives, we are free to become world changers. One way that she is a world changer is by sponsoring children through Compassion international and sharing about her experiences at her events. At the last two events she has held, 12 children have been sponsored!

Not only do I encourage you to give Kathi's eCourse a try, but give it a try so you can clear out clutter in your home and become a world changer for a Compassion child today!

Kickstart to Clutter Free - Day 10

Yes! Made it to double digits of this Kickstart to Clutter Free challenge! Only four more days to go! Today's task was the laundry room:

Kickstart to Clutter Free Laundry room

Our laundry room is right off the entry area of our home and my main path into our home from the garage.

Kickstart to Clutter Free Laundry room

I love having a laundry room in the house rather than in the garage like we did in our first home. Since this is not an overly large room, I have tried to make good use of the space.

Kickstart to Clutter Free Laundry room

But like most rooms in our home, there is definitely some clutter that needs to go away.

Kickstart to Clutter Free Laundry room

Take this basket of clothes pin for instance. Now there have been times when I have needed to hang laundry to dry, but do I really need a whole basket full of clothes pins? No. I bagged up half of what was in this basket and they are going with me on my next trip to the thrift store to donate.

Once I put away the shirt that was on the back of the door, got the extra laundry soap and stuff off the floor, and cleared off that shelf, the laundry room now looks like this:

Kickstart to Clutter Free Laundry room

And that shelf above the washer and dryer now looks like this:

Kickstart to Clutter Free Laundry room

Now you might be wondering about those papers attached to the front of the cupboard. When my son was in high school, we focused on some life skills and one of those life skills was laundry. He typed up a paper on how to wash different items, like whites, darks, towels, etc.  The paper comes in handy when for some reason my husband needs to do a load of laundry.

And those drawings, they make me smile. So they are definitely staying where they are.

Kickstart to Clutter Free Laundry room

If you are wanting to tackle the clutter in your home, I know you will just love Kathi's eCourse, Kickstart to Clutter Free.  

Next task is the medicine cabinet...

Kickstart to Clutter Free - Day 8

We have made it to the area I have been dreading on this challenge...Day 8 is Kid's Stuff/Sports Equipment/Hobby or Art Supplies.

Kid's Stuff is not a problem because my kids are older and are responsible for their own stuff.

Sports Equipment is not a problem because my kids never really participated in sports.

Kickstart to Clutter Free Day 8

Which brings us to Hobby or Art Supplies...I think part of the reason I have so much of this type of stuff in my home comes with where we live. When we first moved to this area, the closest big box store was about 30 minutes away. This was before Amazon and internet shopping. So as a homeschool mom, and someone who likes to work on craft projects and do a lot of sewing, I would stock up on items in case we needed them. Who wants to pull out everything for a project just to find out that you need something and the closest store that carries that type of item is over half an hour away?

The other reason I have been dreading this day of the challenge, I tend to consider this room in our home as a dumping area. If something doesn't have a 'place', it gets dumped here. If people are coming over, I can dump clutter from other areas of my home into this room and close the door. And pure laziness of just not finding proper homes for these items with the 'I will find a home for it later' and that later never comes around.

So, here is what I started with...

Kickstart to Clutter Free Day 8

...yeah, it is kind of a mess. But, with Kathi's help, I knew I could make progress!!

Kickstart to Clutter Free Day 8

I found a whole bunch of stuff that just needed to be thrown away, and started a pile of stuff to give away. Little by little, things were starting to look better...

Kickstart to Clutter Free Day 8

Definitely not finished, but so much better!

All of this stuff didn't find its way into my house overnight. And the stuff that doesn't need to stay is not going to leave overnight either.

Kathi's method is working for me. And by dedicating time to work through this challenge, I am learning to keep things in my home that I love and use.

Next up...the family room!

Kickstart to Clutter Free - Day 7

Today marks the halfway mark for me on the Kickstart to Clutter Free challenge!!

For today's area, I had to take a deep breath and just tackle one small area of this larger space...

Kickstart to Clutter Free Day 7

...the garage. There is stuff out here that is mine, there is stuff out here that belongs to my husband, and there is stuff out here that belongs to my son. I don't believe my daughter has anything out here at all.

Since this is a shared space, I am only taking  responsiblity for tackling my own boxes of clutter. So rather than tackle the whole garage, I decided to focus on the three boxes of completed schoolwork.

Kickstart to Clutter Free Day 7

Wait a minute...three boxes of completed schoolwork for two children? 

Kickstart to Clutter Free Day 7

Yep, three boxes...filled! And do you see the date? 2003! Oh boy. This took me a little longer than 15 minutes to go through, but I did find little treasures like this...

Kickstart to Clutter Free Day 7

And I threw away a whole bunch of paperwork I really didn't need to keep...

Kickstart to Clutter Free Day 7

When I finished going through all three boxes, there really wasn't much for me to keep. Definitely not three boxes worth!

One thing I am starting to accumulate going through the challenge is a bunch of empty boxes!

So now I have empty spaces where those three boxes lived on the shelves in the garage. Almost makes me want to go out there and do more decluttering...but I think I will wait until the weather is warmer...

Kickstart to Clutter Free Day 7

In the meantime, be sure to check out Kathi's Kickstart to Clutter Free eCourse to start clearing out clutter in your home!

Kickstart to Clutter Free - Day 6

Moving right along here on Kathi's Kickstart to Clutter Free eCourse...next up: Kitchen Drawers!

Kickstart to Clutter Free Day 6
Kickstart to Clutter Free Day 6
Kickstart to Clutter Free Day 6
Kickstart to Clutter Free Day 6

I have four main drawers in my kitchen, and yes, they needed a bit of decluttering. My daughter is a big help to me when I am going through this process. We tackled one drawer at a time and took everything out of each drawer. With everything out, it was easier to look at everything and decide what could stay and what needed to go.

I was able to let go of quite a few things I never use, or that I had duplicates of.

Once we finished, the drawers looked like this:

Kickstart to Clutter Free Day 6
Kickstart to Clutter Free Day 6
Kickstart to Clutter Free Day 6
Kickstart to Clutter Free Day 6

Overall, I ended up removing 41 items from my kitchen drawers, and I sold some of the items to help raise funds for my next Compassion trip!

Kickstart to Clutter Free Day 6

I have to say, I am really happy with how well this Kickstart to Clutter Free eCourse has been going. Are you ready to join in?