A bit over 40 days ago, I started a challenge that was inspired by another Canadian blogger. Read all about it here. It’s a smidge more than the 40 days because, well, I was in Minneapolis for a long weekend away and then in Australia for two weeks and it’s hard to throw stuff out when you are not at home. 🙂
I finally finished today and I have to say I feel pretty great. Things were sold, donated and thrown away. A lot of the stuff I threw out was dried out, old or expired body care products. Old lip glosses, body lotions that were dried up or smelled truly horrible were among the biggest offenders.
The challenge forced me to finally, finally clean up all the bags of random junk in the bottom of my closet. I haven’t cleaned out these bags in over a decade, but I kept adding to it. About 95 per cent of what was in there got donated and now I have a useful closet again. It is incredible! I have purposely slept with my closet open over the past few nights because it was soooo damn clean. 🙂 I mean, I can actually see the floor in my closet now. 🙂
This challenge taught me a lot…first of all, I have waaaay too many body lotions and body care items, make up included. Now that I have an inventory of what I have, I am making sure I do NOT buy any new lotions or anything because I definitely do not need them. Same goes for eye make up. I have a lot and I am not allowed to buy anything new until the other stuff is gone.
Second, the challenge showed me that more stuff isn’t better. I used to really like having all sorts of fun tchotchkes to show my personality and my style. In the last few years, I have done a u turn on that and have avoided buying those tchotchkes and after completing this cleanse, I really see and value of less clutter around me. Plus less stuff means cleaning is that much easier and faster because there isn’t as much stuff to work or move…which means I might end up being tidier without having to work extra hard at it. Yay! Oh and the things I have kept are things that are meaningful to me…a la Marie Kondo’s way…like my race medals or picture frames with photos of me and friends during wonderful times.
Third, this challenge is amazing in terms of feeling like you have accomplished something. Since it is ten items a day…and it is truly items….like you go through your pile of random pens you have collected over the years from trips, work, dentists and trade shows…and you throw 20 of them out, then guess what, you are down twenty items. On the really rough and tiring work days, it was this approach that kept me from tossing in the towel on this challenge. Plus, now all the pens in my “pen cup” work!!!
Finally, the challenge showed me the value of having a place for everything. In the past forty-ish days, I have already seen the value of this…with less stuff, I have had more room for storage…and with more room, I can actually put stuff away in proper places and be able to find it, instead of putting in in piles or just shoving it into my closet and forgetting about it for who knows how many years. My drawers of running clothes, pj’s, undies and socks are all folded Marie Kondo style and it’s so easy to find what I’m looking for. It’s amazing.
I know I definitely have more things to purge and I may undertake this challenge again as a lead up to Fall. I still have things that I can pitch, but that I don’t think I was ready to do just yet…you know what I am talking about…those sentimental pieces or those things that are “still good and I might need one day…”I really want to tackle those as it is something I definitely have a lot of.
So yeah…to say I’m feeling springy is an understatement. And it couldn’t be better timing as my cold is finally gone, my sleep is finally back to normal post Australia and I’ll be back at work tomorrow.
Have a great week!
~Princess Lisa
Prairie Princess Runners 