Getting Tough on Stuff in 2015 - March

Sunday afternoon, and with the end of March looming, I came to the realisation that I hadn't been doing as much decluttering this month, so I decided to tackle a cupboard in one of our reception rooms.  This particular cupboard houses CD's, DVDs, videos, Wii games, other small games, Wii cables/remotes and a few other bits and pieces.

I was drawn to this particular cupboard as Little Bird had raided it a couple of weeks before for her tabletop sale and as I hadn't even looked in there for at least a year or so, I figured that there must be other things we no longer wanted or needed still in there.  I was right.  I managed to throw out a handful of empty computer game boxes (the games had been given away previously) and also collated a pile of 15 other items that could be donated.  These were swiftly added to the charity shop box.

Earlier in the week, I had sorted through the shoe basket and coat rack.  There were quite a few pairs of shoes and boots of mine and Little Birds that could also be donated.  I have finally decided to donate my two pairs of knee high boots.  One brown suede and one black leather.  I'd worn the black leather ones for a dog walk on Saturday afternoon and realised that I am just not going to wear them again.  I cleaned and polished them before adding them to the donation bag, along with the brown suede ones which I no longer want to keep.  In addition, I found three old coats/jackets that I was happy to donate.

I'm intending to re-organise my hallway in the coming months and get rid of the shoe basket altogether. Shoes just get thrown in, squashed, muddied and generally end up looking battered as a consequence.  I have stopped putting any of my shoes in there and keep them in my wardrobe now for this reason.  In it's place I'm going to acquire a pine storage seat solution, with cubby holes or shelves for any that remain.  This should be a whole lot easier to clean around too.  It's time for a different approach to shoe storage here.

I finished reading another couple of books which were also put into the charity shop bag and I also went through another cupboard in my hallway and found a few more items to donate.  In total, the amount of items I'm taking to the CS this month is 66.  This is a much smaller amount than for the first couple of months of the year, but I'm still on target towards my aim of 1000 things this year, with the total so far now standing at 346 (total as at end of February) +  66 (March total) = 412.

In addition, I managed to sell a few items on eBay this month, which also provided a welcome bit of extra cash.   One pair of Little Bird's shoes and some old worn out underwear went in the bin this week too, as they weren't in good enough condition to donate or reuse.

I haven't got any specific decluttering plans for next month, save that I am intending to go through my kitchen with a fine tooth comb and remove as much excess stuff as I can.  It should be interesting, will hopefully create a bit more space and get rid of a bit more clutter.  The quest for simplicity continues.  I'll keep you posted about my progress.