So, after 30 days we’ve now got rid of 465 items! We actually ended up throwing in a bunch more so goodness knows what our total is, but it’s been an amazing experience. If you didn’t join us this month I’d highly recommend it for February! No shame in starting a New Year’s Resolution in February.
In the end the whole family ended up joining in, and we discovered plenty of areas untouched for months (e.g. bathroom cabinets, makeup collections, tupperware drawers, fancy dress boxes, and even under the bed! You’d be amazed how many things you can throw out without even noticing they’re gone.
So, we took our items to a selection of charity shops (depending on what they sold), and put a lot in the bin/recycling. We also took another boot-full to the tip that we couldn’t fit in the picture! Serious self congratulation points going on here.
Now…. what’s next for us? Well, we’re certainly not stopping here. We’ll be toning down from the hardcore clearout stats, but we’re all going to have a donation bag/box in our rooms so that when we’re feeling strong/impulsive we can just chuck an item in. The secret with this though is to NEVER look in the bag! Just take it to a charity shop and feel good about it. If you look in I guarantee you’ll cave and take at least one thing out.
We came across a few interesting motivational blogs along the way, the most memorable of which gave us the 20/20 rule. It’s designed to help you get rid of the things you keep ‘just in case you need them someday’ – the rule says you can replace everything for under $20 in under 20…. and when you think about each item individually it’s totally true. Very liberating!
I’m also thinking about doing something during Lent. Perhaps not as hardcore as this 40 Bag in 40 Days blog but something to keep up the pace.
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