Time to Decrapify This Place

There's nothing like spending a week in a rented beach house to motivate one to de-clutter the house.  Well, maybe that doesn't push everyone into cleaning out drawers and closets of crap but it certainly works for me.  Fortunately I also have the gift of another 4 weeks of free time to wade through the junk, trash and other assorted stuff that has found its way into small and large parts of my house.

Sometime last year I heard about the 40 Bags in 40 Days Decluttering Challenge.  The idea behind the challenge is to map out parts of your house to declutter- one area at a time.  Once an area is identified it's time to get rid of trash and emotional clutter.  Trash is easy for me, but I have to be in the right mood to toss that emotional stuff.

Today I started with the front closet that is crammed with coats and a bunch of other stuff that most people would store in a shed or broom closet.  Since my small house has neither of those the front closet is quite the multi-purpose space.  Bag one of trash was removed.  Next, I moved onto the junk drawer.  It's not called the junk drawer for nothin'- that's for sure.  Bag number two was filled thanks to the junk drawer.

At this rate I should finish the 40-day challenge in half the time, which works out just right given my summer schedule.