Donated - December

Well, it's the last month of the year, and according to my calculations at the end of last month, I still needed to declutter 97 items to reach the 1000 total I set myself at the beginning of 2017.

So, did I manage it?  Here goes:

1-2) Two old phone cases donated by LB.
3) One small satchel donated by LB.
4-8) Five items of clothing donated by LB.
9-16) Eight Christmas ornaments that I no longer wish to keep.
17) One kit to 'make your own' Christmas crackers that I'm not going to use.
18) One pack of Xmas cupcake boxes that I'll never use.
19) One Xmas cupcake stand that I'll never use and that came free with a magazine.
20-23) Four new and unused paper Xmas decorations that I bought in a sale a few years ago, but will probably never use. (As you can tell, I've been a bit ruthless with regard to the Xmas decorations - I just don't want to keep things any longer if I'm unlikely to use them)
24) One Xmas craft item that I bought very cheaply and never used.
25-33) Nine pieces of Xmas fabric that I no long want to keep and will never use.
34-35) Two individual Xmas cards that I bought in sales, but have never used.
36) One bottle bag I don't want to re-use but someone else might.
37) One lightweight sweater that I no longer want to keep.
38) One top I bought from the CS and don't for the life of me know why as it looks awful on.  Luckily it was only £2.99.
39) One gym t-shirt recycled for my rag rug.
40-55) Sixteen magazines I've read and don't want to keep.
56) One book I've read and don't wish to keep.
57-58) Two Christmas decorations I don't want.
59-61) Three pieces of underwear of LB's recycled for rags.
62) One pair of OH's socks recycled for rags.
63-65) Three unwanted gifts - I know this sounds ungrateful, but I believe in donating gifts I am not going to use, as they may be perfect for someone else, just not for me. Incidentally, I'm perfectly okay with people doing the same with gifts I've given them, if I've not chosen well.
66-70) Five gifted food items that were donated to the food bank, as we don't want to eat them.
71-73) Three hair clips - new but surplus to requirements.
74-85) Twelve part used or new toiletry/perfume items donated by LB that she doesn't use.  These will be taken to the next Give & Take, as they probably would be no use to a CS due to being part used.
86) One dressing gown of LB's which was replaced with a new one this Xmas.
87) One glittery nail varnish bought to use for Xmas, but which is virtually impossible to remove.
88) One jigsaw bought over the holidays, but not completed. It's not one I want to tackle again, and only cost £1.99, so is being donated.
89) One book I requested for Xmas, but just wasn't what I thought it was going to be.
90) One video that came free with some hair clippers. (Yes, a video - it's been sat in the box for years)
91) A part pack of tea lights I bought to use over Christmas, but which aren't very good, so I won't use the remainder.
92) One travel toothbrush case that no one uses.
93-98) Six unread books that I'm not going to read.

So, with a lot of help from LB this year (I couldn't have done it without her efforts), I did just manage to donate the 1000 things I challenged myself to donate in 2017. I know that I will struggle to be able to reach such a large total in 2018, as three consecutive years of decluttering have reduced the excess a lot, but I will still be setting myself a target to help me manage the amount of  stuff we have and bring into the house. As a consequence, a more realistic amount of 250 items will be the target next year.

I hope that if you have been trying to declutter items from your home this year, that you've had lots of success and are reaping the benefits of a more organised and tidy home.

Here's to keeping life even more simple in 2018.