Now, I know a lot of folks are signing up for Crunchy Chicken's latest challenge to Buy Nothing for the whole month. No, it's not an April Fool's joke. She really expects people to refrain from shopping. She will let you get a little food and any medicine you need, but that's about it. Nuts, huh? I didn't sign up* for her challenge because we've been pretty darn good about this lately so it'd feel too easy. I want a challenge that challenges me to make changes. You know, like the last one that I was so successful with. Ha! Now that was an April Fool's joke...
It's time to cut the crap. No, I don't mean that we should stop eating fiber. I mean it's time to cut the crap out of your life. Yes, readers, this means decluttering! I hear the groans already. "Not more talk about decluttering! That's so overdone." In a way you're right. There are tons of books, websites, blogs, and even TV shows on the subject. Yet people still read them. Why?
Because letting go of the clutter is hard. Even identifying what is clutter and what is not can be difficult. It's certainly a very personal decision as indicated by the saying, "One man's trash is another man's treasure." In the quest to lighten up, though, I think people want to read about how others have made their decisions. It can motivate them to finally let go of something they know they don't need anymore, it can give them ideas on how to save the memory without saving all the crap, and it can reassure them that their life won't end because they got rid of that hideous gift their mother-in-law gave them 15 years ago.
This challenge begins immediately but I don't know when it will end. I'll be posting on the subject regularly for a while, and working on decluttering my own crap in the meantime. If you want to jump in, leave a comment and grab the plain (uncluttered) little doodad for your blog.
- Copy this code:
<a href=http://chilechews.blogspot.com/search/label/CutTheCrap><img src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_2H3G4C5T6s0/R_JHbQjx8xI/AAAAAAAAAq0/6APFM0nsmtg/s200/Cut+the+crap.jpg" /></a>
- In Blogger, go to your layout options, and click on Add a Page Element.
- Select Text.
- Type whatever you want for the title or leave it blank.
- Click Edit Html
- Paste the code you copied in the body.
- Then click Rich Text to confirm the image shows up.
- Save.
When you view your blog, the sidebar image should now appear and have a hyperlink back to this blog.
Let's get that crap outta here!
*Update: I let myself get sucked into the enthusiasm of Crunchy Chicken's latest challenge. After all, 100+ other people can't be wrong. Plus, on the very first day of the month, I found myself rationalizing spending money as I sorted through restaurant coupons. It's ok if it's cheap, right? Wrong again.
Perfect! I'm in - as you say, it ties in with Crunchy Chickens excellent challenge too. Not only will I save by not buying anything unecessary, but I'll use the decluttering as an excuse to sell things on eBay and Amazon.
ReplyDeleteThanks for setting this challenge up!
Mrs Green x
I'm not sure I'm going to do Crunchy's challenge since we are planning on putting our house on the market in a few weeks and I know I will need to buy stuff for that. However, decluttering fits in perfectly with putting a house on the market. So, I'm in.
ReplyDeleteI am going to mull this over today and decide if I can participate. I do have a bunch of stuff I want to sell on Craigslist and Ebay, but I am trying to not overwhelm myself with challenges. (Of course, Crunchy's April challenge is not really a new challenge for me, so actually I can probably do this.) Hmmm. I'll decide for sure this evening. But, awesome challenge Chile!
ReplyDeleteMove a lot and you learn quickly to declutter. My rule of thumb, every year I go through the house from end to end, drawers and closets, If I haven't touched it for a year out it goes to the local Goodwill store. My theory - didn't use it , don't need it , won't know it's missing. so far so good. Count me in on the challenge, I can always use more practice.
ReplyDeletePlease do sign me up Chile! This is a nicely complementary challenge to Crunchy's, and really rounds it out well.
ReplyDeleteAlso, thanks so much for last month's Stress Less challenge. I think I've really developed a couple new good meditation habits - the (partial) decluttering of my mind, if you will. :)
I'm new here but always up for a challenge :)
ReplyDeleteSign me up! I have masses of clutter and it must go!
Count me in. I started a massive decluttering of our house last week after seeing an episode of Oprah and reading the book "It's all too much." For a long time, I've been feeling like all the clutter is suffocating me. So far, three boxes of books gone, three boxes of clothing & mischellaneous, a couple grocery sacks of paper to be recycled, and several cardboard boxes gone. Today, I only managed to discard 3 more books and was feeling a bit down so it helps to know that others are doing this. My goal is to get rid of everything we don't use on a regular basis and don't absolutely love.
ReplyDelete--Ave
Sign me up Chile, I have a spare room with lots of Stuff that could go to the recycle shop.
ReplyDeleteLike you I did not meditate each day as I had planned, but I did stress less. I tried to live in the moment and make realistic choices each day.
I found as a mother and grandmother I have a habit of "helping" or "rescuing" which can be stopped or used when necessary.
Theresa's comments helped me and the book "start where you are". This has been one of the toughest months of my life as my dear sister died after a long illness with cancer. I thought of the challenge every day as I sat with her at this difficult time and she was always interested in the blogs I read and what was happening in other peoples lives.
Your challenge has helped heaps. So sometimes when we feel a bit down, remember our words are heard and our challenges are shared.
So lets get rid of some of the stuff and travel lightly.
Anyone want, just kidding!
Maggie, I'm so sorry to hear you lost your sister this past month. I'm glad that focusing on being in the present was helpful to you. Hugs.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the new folks! Glad to have you participating in the challenge. Please keep commenting and stimulating discussion. We all learn from each other.
And welcome back to those of you who've gotten suckered into some of my other challenges. Gluttons for punishment, all of you! ;-)
I'm in, Chile. Your banner is so the essence of simplicity. Not terribly creative, tho... not even one piece of poo.
ReplyDeleteIt'll help me to get inspired for the move, even though it's been delayed.
Are you going to do "Sunday Confessionals" like Crunchy?
Ah! Help me! Please! I'm so in this challenge, because I NEED to declutter my life. We have WAY too much stuff, but it's so much work to get rid of it all. I just don't know where to start.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you could challenge us to get rid of specific things ... like Week 1: Clear out your kitchen cabinets .... I don't know. I guess I need more than "declutter", because I've been trying to do that for a long time. I'm just not good at it.
I'm still in, and I'll put the logo on my blog, but any guidance you could give would certainly be helpful and my minimalist husband would be ever so grateful :).
I really like this idea. I am always looking for ways to ebb the crap tide. I think Wendy had a great suggestion about having themed clean outs. It would really help the old beany to focus. It would also be great to be able to hear what everyone does with the oddball crap.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but "no poo" here means no dog poop in the banner.
ReplyDeleteSunday Confessionals? Hm, lemme think about it.
There will be lots of themes, but not necessarily a theme for the week. I will write quite a bit about this, probably as I work on each area. You may or may not be working on the same part of your life, but you can always refer back to the posts when you're ready for them.
Okay, okay, Chile. How can I resist a challenge?
ReplyDeleteI'm in.
P.S. I have changed my blog header to reflect my addiction to challenges.
Sucker! hehe
ReplyDeleteLove your new blog header. LOL
My fiance and I have been steadily trying to do this. Since we were both "established" prior to meeting and falling in love we have a lot of duplicates and extras and yet we keep them because we are both attached to our stuff. It's very easy for us to tell the other what to give up but hard for us to do that with our own stuff. We've been eyeing weehomes and on one paycheck a small house is all we are going to be able to afford once we get out of our apartment. Most of his stuff is in storage but will be delivered in the next couple of weeks. (We moved out to Colorado after getting engaged). Our goal is to reduce everything prior to moving in July. We will not have duplicates, we will minimize the stuff we are keeping "just because" or collections that are collecting dust. So far we have cleaned out the garage (you can see pictures of the stuff we pulled on our blog) as well as some closets and drawers. Alot of stuff we gave away because we didn't have much luck on Ebay and only slightly better on Craigslist. Freecycle is a great place to give away your stuff and of course Goodwill is too. You can look into selling your stuff to consignment shops or having a yard sale but we found it easier to load it all up and take it to Goodwill. The one thing we did have great success was Half.com. You can sell books and DVDs. You set a price and list it. You can leave it listed until it sells and you pay the same listing fee. So far we have made over $300 selling books and DVDs that were collecting dust in the garage and closet. I'm sure when J.'s stuff arrive we will have more stories and photos to share.
ReplyDeleteDo you want to join in with this since you're already doing it? Or stay on your own? ;-)
ReplyDeleteI can give you a suggestion for paring down that worked for my sweetie and I. Barter. We agreed at one point to each choose something that "belonged" to the other person - something the non-owner hated but the owner had not been willing to part with. Since we each had to give up something we liked, it felt more fair.
Okay, I'll do it. I need a kick in the backside to help me weed through some of my dad's belongings. He died about 16 months ago and I'm dreading having to do this...but it needs doing so here I go...
ReplyDeleteCLM
I am so in... I NEED to declutter the garage and the laundry...
ReplyDeletewhen you live in 800 sf you NEED to declutter, and I don't think we have ever done this!
I'm late to the party but I still want to party like it's 2099! I am so ready for this challenge and already started clearing out a bunch of stuff. I'll post about it later this week. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteCLM, it's hard to go through someone else's stuff, but you can't keep it all!
ReplyDeleteNo kidding, Jennifer. I got pretty good at decluttering from a lot of moving, but small living space will do it, too.
You're not too late, Green Bean. It may take some of us up to 2099 to get rid of all the excess crap! ;-)
Count me in!
ReplyDeleteWoohoo! I knew you wouldn't let me down, Chile. And I despise clutter and just made a trip to Goodwill this afternoon. I'm going to an organic gardening class tonight (is it possible for me to grow something besides weeds?), so I'll put your challenge on my blog tomorrow. Thank you!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWow, the frugal queen is joining us. Woohoo! :)
ReplyDeleteDA, maybe you could just aim for growing edible weeds...
We only get until 2099 to do this? I was wonderful with s's stuff after he refused to take his things away from the garage ~ parcels of music sent to US, Spain & Canada, magazines sent to France, instruments to Oz, books to willing readers, clothes to charity shops or mice, papers on woodburner to keep us warm... but my rubbish, well, that's another matter.
ReplyDeleteI had a pile of magazines I'd kept for patterns & recipes & had to get a friend to put them out of their misery whilst I turned my back! I'm a hoarder like my father & I must be good & get rid of so much now we've down-sized from a 13 room house to a 7 room tiny old Irish cottage ~ 1 of those rooms is the bathroom! Besides which I want the garage to become my studio & it's full of furniture & stuff belonging to myself & my 3 childer.
I shall try this.......My name is Killi & I'm a complete & utter hoarder................
New connection seems to work :)
Welcome Killi. We'll do what we can. If I understand correctly, only one of your three offspring live with you. So...you should only have furniture belonging to one childer in your home. You are not a storage unit. The other two need to arrange to pick up their stuff this month so that you may use your space for your life.
ReplyDeleteIt's called Tough Love. :)
Count me in today.
ReplyDeleteOkay, Chile. I'm in. I know I said I was staying the straight and narrow with food but I'm going to declutter the kitchen and the pantry and if it leads to decluttering the books in the loft and the clothes in the closet well then so be it. I've so been considering the not buying anything for the month but I'd likely fail. Instead I'm going to declutter and give stuff away. I'm excited. Thank you.
ReplyDeletePS: I appreciate you every single time I type a link now since you blogged about it. Thank you.
MamaFeelGood and Katrina, you're in! And it will lead to everyplace possible, Katrina, yes it will. Don't think for a minute that I'll limit this to one month if we're not done. No sirree. We're going til there is no more to do.
ReplyDelete(Oops, maybe I shouldn't say that. Now I'll scare everyone away.)
Just the "kick in the ass" I need! Thanks, Chile! Count me in!
ReplyDeleteOh yeah! Sign me up too! I could always use more incentive to get things streamlined around here.
ReplyDeleteWe've been working on this one. My kids call themselves The Clutter Busters. There's a silly picture of the royal clutter-busting court on my blog.
ReplyDeleteI'll be glad to kick ya'll in the ass. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd, I have to admit, I've been doing this for some time, too. I just never seem to get done. Go figure!
Although we are a few days into the month, I still wanna jump in. I've been doing this the last few days anyways, and maybe it will help me to keep up all month.
ReplyDeleteFirst time visit, love your blog!
I'm in.
ReplyDeleteWelcome, welcome, it's never too late to jump in!
ReplyDeleteI am all in! I have actually slowly been working on this for a while, but need a challenge to help me achieve it more quickly.
ReplyDeleteWelcome, Stephanie. I tried to leave a comment on your blog but the security/spam code isn't showing up.
ReplyDeleteI just found this, and I'd love to be included! I have two blogs, one for local eating (slowcavore) and one for house fixup stuff (retrovation). I'd like to add the link to both since I'd like to comment on my progress both from the house fixup perspective and from the green and my garden's perspective.
ReplyDeleteLeslie
That's fine, Leslie. Welcome! Be sure to read what we've already been working on this month and do what you can to catch up.
ReplyDeleteOkay Ms. CHile- I am in. Maybe now I will finally get my garage straitened out! At least his is kinder and gentler than that Evil Chicken Womman's challenge!Now you know I love Crunchy!
ReplyDeleteChile, I've been meaning to comment for ages on this post. For the last two weeks I've been running around like a mad woman taking care of all kinds of things, from work to finding work to looking for a new home to cleaning this one for the realtor* to ugh - the list goes on and on and on.
ReplyDeleteLists! That's a great way to declutter the mind. My husband keeps great lists, and I go in and out of list phases. Right now, I'd be hopeless without a list.
Anyway, with all the stuff I'm doing right now I can't formally participate in the challenge. But you better believe I'm decluttering as I move. We don't have a lot of decluttering to do because LOL we moved a year ago. But I'll be thinking of you every time I debate whether or not I keep something. When in doubt, throw it out... well, out into the bin to be given away, that is....
*We rent, but we have a realtor.
Glad you've jumped in the pool, Rob.
ReplyDeleteMelinda, thanks for your comments. I knew it was unlikely you could formally participate, but I suspected you were madly throwing stuff out left and right. Good luck with all that stuff; moving's a pain in the rear!
This is a great motivator to clear the crap and live the less is more mantra!! I'm in...I know I'm late...but it's never too late, right!! I'm new to your site and the blogging world- great informative site! I found your challenge through Green Bean Dreams!
ReplyDeleteYou're right, it's never too late to join in. Glad you found my blog!
ReplyDeleteHey I'm in!
ReplyDeleteMy fiance and Jewish and they have a marvelous day for that, it's very soon and it's about: spring, freedom, renewal celebration and....decluttering! Yes let the fresh air in in the house, feel the breeze in empty and clean closets :-D
Cristele, are you saying you have to get it all done in one day? ;-)
ReplyDeleteI haven't been around to any of my blogroll lately because I've actually been trying to do this around my house. Heh heh.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's the Spring air.
Count me in.
Welcome! Since we now have two Wendy's signed up, ya'll will need to put some kind of notation as to which you are...
ReplyDeleteMy family & I have been challenging ourselves to cut the clutter all year. We've eliminated 2,600 items from our house and our lives but can certainly use the added challenge.
ReplyDeleteIf it isn't too late, I'd love to join!
Sure, Kali. Just let me know which blog you want to use to track your progress. I was going to do the frugal one, but I like your commentary at the simple one, too. So...you choose. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI'm using the frugal blog mostly these days - http://justanotherpixie.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Count me in... even if I am a wee bit late. *smiles*
ReplyDeleteI know I'm REALLY late, but we were sick all April. I'm totally motivated now!
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm not officially doing the weekly round-up anymore, but you're welcome to grab the banner. There's an entire month's worth of posts you can work your way through. Best wishes!
ReplyDelete