Today I realised I had some "dead sticks." For example, in 2014 I spent a ridiculous sum on an absolutely gorgeous planner in a purple (my favourite!) leather zip-up cover with a flower on it. It was soooo pretty! Surely it would make me super organised. It didn't! I hardly used it. And of course, 2014 was a while back. There are no extraordinary notes or memories recorded in that pretty diary. Why do I still have it? It was too pretty to throw out - but it's not like I'm going to use it again!

And how about all those packets of fancy copier sheets my mother passed on to me 10 years ago, and I haven't used yet (you know, glossy photo paper, T-shirt transfers, address labels in an ugly format....)?? Why do I still have them??

Dead sticks, people, dead sticks! Time to let them go.

Today I have decluttered the following items:
2 file boxes
6 binders
30 completed school books
7 literature resource books
13 unused school resources to pass on
1 CD-rom Essay Writing set (another dead stick - never been used!)
1 keyboard
1 mouse
2 bags of trash
1 fishbin full of paper for recycling or burning
46 random items from the shelves
6 packs special printer papers
1 clearfile
2 new accounting books (I do this digitally now)
1 hardcover book
1 graph paper refill
1 new visual diary
7 books to sell
6 dictionaries
2 books - first aid and bush craft
1 paintbrush canvas roll
1 spiral bound notebook
1 2014 (dead sticks) purple diary
10 kid's story books
3 kid's educational newspapers
1 basket
1 marble

That's 155 items and a BIG bin full of paper!

It really does feel good to let go! I feel like I'm peeling back lots of layers, to ultimately reveal what is hidden underneath - a life of calm and pleasantness.

According to the decluttering game I'm playing, I'm supposed to declutter 8 items today - but I was on a roll, and ended up decluttering 110 items instead!

It started when I decided to clean out my kitchen utensils drawer...from which I eliminated 33 items - I grabbed an oven tray that is no good any more, and piled 22 junk items in it from the drawer for the trash, and put another 11 items into the donate box for goodwill.

This evening, I decided to go through the binders off one shelf while watching the end of a DVD mini-series (it will go in tomorrow's toss pile!), and I ended up tossing the contents of 5 binders - which are going in the donate box.

So that's 110 items (not counting the several hundred pieces of paper from the binders!)

I think I was extra motivated because last night before bed I skimmed back through Leo Babauta's The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life. Reading books which remind me of all the good reasons to reduce clutter and excess is always good motivation. Leo recommends these overall principals:

• Omit needless things
• Identify the essential
• Make everything count
• Fill your life with joy
• Edit, edit!

It feels good to let go!

Between yesterday and today, I have selected 13 more items to toss, give away or sell:

• A three-ring binder
  
• The contents of 5 other binders (the binders themselves have gone into my box of spare binder for reuse when needed)
• A brand new book
• A brand new bra
• 6 DVDs to give away
• 3 DVDs to sell

I'm playing a decluttering game - getting rid of as many items as the day of the month. Today is the 5th, and I've selected 5 more books to toss.

Life is full of seasons. There's the season of youth, the season of being newly married, the season of having young children, the season of homeschooling, and so on. Things never stay the same forever.

My life is entering a new season - in a very short space of time, my eldest has married a beautiful lady and moved 6 hours away, my second has moved out of home, my third has moved to the South Island, my fourth has finished homeschooling, and my youngest has enrolled in a program at a highschool to finish off the end of her schooling. For 25 years I've been a homeschooling mother. Suddenly, I am not. And it is way harder than I thought it would be!

This week I've been thinking about the change of seasons, and preparing for God to do a new thing in my life, whatever that might be. A part of that change is a process of letting go - letting go of the things we don't need any more, the resources for all those "good ideas" we never got around to, the things I meant to do and wished to do, but didn't, and the general clutter that accumulates in a household of 7 busy people. 

It's time, once again, to pare down, streamline, simplify. And for me, it always helps to have a focus or a goal to motivate me. Long time readers will remember that 2 years ago I decided to get rid of 1000 things​ - a seemingly huge goal, but it ended up being more than that.This week, someone posted a link on Facebook to a decluttering game, posted as The Minimalism Game.

In this "game" the idea is to locate and get rid of one item on the 1st of the month, 2 items on the 2nd, 3 on the 3rd and so on right up to 30 items on the 30th of the month. At the end of 30 days, one would therefore have eliminated 465 items. The items can be given away, sold, thrown out - whatever. But they must leave your home and life forever.

Just what I need to focus my general desire to start decluttering! So, this is what I'm going for the month of July. Who knows, I may repeat it every month for a while. I like the slow build up at first, as it gives me time to get in the grove, plus allows time to do other things.

So, on the 1st of July (the day before I read about this game), I had allowed my daughter to select a book to give away to a friend.

On the 3rd of July, a Sunday, I took a break, but listed those 3 items to give away first on the 4th - a stick blender multi-set, a greeting card notebook, and another book.

Today is the 4th - so far I have thrown out a pile of damaged or odd socks (11 of them, but I'm just going to count them as one item), two plastic shopping bags which will go to the thrift store (counted as 1), a pair of cut off shorts, and am about to list a book for sale on Trade Me.

In the process, I've sorted out the sock pile, cleaned out one bookcase, and tossed out quite a bit of trash (not counted, though it could be).

I'm going to post updates each day.

How about you? Do you want to join me in playing this decluttering game? You could either throw out 10 things today and be all caught up, or just jump in where you are, and get rid of 4 items today, and then 5 tomorrow, and so on.