My Shed 100 Challenge

I started a project toward the end of last year that took longer than anticipated. I knew I'd be buying and bringing more "stuff" into the home around Black Friday season, so I wanted to do a fall cleaning challenge - which turned into a fall thru spring cleaning. My goal was to shed (donate/sell/toss/give away) 100 items from what we already own.

So I started pulling out sections of different rooms and re-organized my dresser, going back to the folded and filed method (I tried stacking but it wasn't as effective for me since I'd forget about the ones at the bottom). I knew it'd be difficult to get Mr. Woo in on cleaning but even he was able to pull out a few things!

The start of something beautiful

Here's my last count between the two of us before I had a spurt of "nesting" and just ransacked items out of the home:

• Jeans (2)
  
• Ts/Shirts (27)
• Pants (3)
• Dresses/Skirts (8)
• Jackets/Sweaters (11)
• Socks (10)
• Shoes (4)
• Home goods (6)
• Jewelry (4)
• Bags/Purses (3)
• Misc. (21)

One of many bags sent to the trunk

We kept most of it in the trunk so that I could try to sell it at Buffalo Exchange, but we weren't able to wait in their crazy lines. I ended up donated most of it and just picked a select few to sell. I've always tried to be a bargain hunter, but I'm also realizing that to have room to grow is a worthy deal too. I'd rather have a sparse home that can slowly be filled with things that we absolutely adore and like, rather than a jam-packed one that feels cluttered and disheveled. This is harder to do with two people who are very different in many ways.

Nonetheless, it feels great to get rid of some clutter and having extra storage breathing space. In fact, I like it so much that I'm going to try and do it every year. Some have a stricter rule when it comes to bringing home "stuff," such as 'If two items come in, two must go out.' I'm a sentimental person so I don't think I'd have the will to do that just yet. I'll stick with my now annual Shed 100 Challenge.

Do you have a lot of "stuff" in your home too? Why does it mound up so quickly? How do you control it?