declutter

Step Two: The Book Purge

It's been a hot minute since I've kept up with Marie Kondo's teachings and put them into practice, but now that the holidays and Mardi Gras are past, I'm back in purge mode!

You may not recall, but last September, I read Kondo's book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and started my journey to decluttering my life. The first step, which I did then, is to declutter your clothes and accessories. The reason this is the first category that Kondo has her clients tackle is because of all the things we own, our clothes (for the most part) hold the least sentimental value (but I'll be damned if I can say that about my wedding dress!). Something like old photos is way down the list and something you tackle after you become addicted to the purge-high. 

Now, five months later, I'm moving on to the next phase, which is books. I honestly thought this phase would be a lot harder on me. I love books, and even though I would never just chuck books in the trash (they are going to a thrift store), it is still hard for me to let go of my precious books. Well, come to find out, I have no freakin' clue where most of my books are! Ha ha. I'm serious though. The only books I found were a couple of coffee table books, my Wicca books, and boxes of books that Mr. LL's friend gave us. Now, I know somewhere, probably in a closet and out of my reach, is a box of books. I own a lot of books, but Mr. LL has hidden them from me. In my search though, thinking through what books I know I should have, it has made it clear to me what I will be keeping once they are found.

I'll keep my cookbooks, because I really do need them. I really would like to find them, too. I'll keep my complete set of the Chronicles of Narnia because that series had a HUGE impact on me when I was a little kid. I thought about keeping my well-worn copy of Jane Eyre, but honestly, I don't think I will. The older I've gotten, the more flaws I find in that romance between Jane and Mr. Rochester. So, that's really it.

What I kept out of the books I did have at hand was a cook book, those two coffee table books (one is Mr. LL's anyway) and books that don't actually belong me (oh and my signed copy of Destroying Angel). I need to return the books I borrowed from Diana (Part Time Monster) and from the editor at work.

These days, I do a lot of my reading on my iPad through the Kindle app and through the e-reader apps that my library uses. I also check out books from the library (like I did with Kondo's book). 

Next up, I have to tackle what Kondo calls "komono" which includes: CDs/DVDs; skin care products; make-up; accessories; "valuables" like passport, credit cards, etc. I'll probably do each sub-category of "komono" individually, but don't worry, I'll bring you along with me! And hopefully I'll be able to take pictures (as I've mentioned in a few posts now, my camera isn't really usable at the moment).

Goal Getter // September + October 2015

First, let's review how I did with my September goals; then, I'll set goals for October.

September:

SEPTEBER 2015

  • CAREER: 75% – I'm being a bit "hard" on myself with this one. I completed my original goals set for September in this category, but I didn't reach my added goals. I built the website for LV Book Design and launched it, as well as ordered business cards. But I still have work to do when it comes to promoting my business.
  • FINANCIAL: 30% – I really hate that my bank got rid of its coin machine. It is making it so much harder to get all of our change sorted to deposit. Not to mention that Bigby likes to eat the empty coin wrappers. :(
  • HEALTH: 100% – Weekends we eat out, but we don't eat a lot (like one meal a day and then food we have in the house if we get hungry again).
  • HOME: 100% – Even though I haven't gotten to decluttering my books, yet, I feel like just doing one big declutter session a month is a reasonable pace for me, so I'm giving myself this one.
  • BLOG: 99% – I still have a few September posts to write, but that's all. October's editorial calendar is filled and I had a successful photo day last week!

October

CAREER: 0%

  • Design print ads for the paper I work at for LV Book Design (25%)
  • Design and print flyers for LV Book Design (0%)
  • Network at the Venture POP! conference (0%)
  • Hang flyers at local businesses (0%)

Notes: It's all about that hustle, baby.

FINANCIAL: 30%

  • Pay off my Credit Card (30%)
  • Deposit all the change in/around the house (0%)

Notes: Still keeping the credit card goal on here, slowly trying to chip away at it.

HEALTH: 0%

  • Eat out only 3 times a week MAX (0%)
  • Better our diets with healthier, home cooked meals (0%)

Notes: Now that we've been pretty good about cooking meals at home, it's time to really focus on making them even healthier with our choices in ingredients and recipes.

HOME:  0%

  • Declutter: books (0%)
  • Decorate for Halloween (0%)
  • Take "decluttered" clothes + books to a charity store (0%)

Notes: Those three bags of clothes I "decluttered" in September are still sitting in my office. :/

BLOG: 0%

  • Work on blog posts for October (0%)
  • Work on November planning (0%)
  • Go get supplies for the annual "Trick or Treat" series!!! (0%)
  • Photo day (0%)

Notes: Mr. LL agreed to do Trick or Treat on the new blog! I'm so excited!!

Step One: Declutter your closet

This post is going up super late. So did Goal Getter. It's been a weekend. Mr. LL finally had a few days off thanks to Labor Day, so I've been spending some time recharging with him. It's been really nice to hang out together, playing video games, laughing, just being with each other. However, now it's Monday night and I'm doing laundry while trying to get some posts out! Everything has a price.

But, to the post at hand. I took the first step from Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and decluttered my closet. I don't have a lot of purses, belts or other accessories, so I just went through my clothes and shoes.

She has a whole system on how to go through your clothes, but I just did them all at once. Kondo instructs you to take all of your stuff and put it on the floor; well, I have three pets, so I was not about to put clean clothes on the floor. So I piled them on the bed. All of them, except what was in the laundry (but I figure that if it's in the laundry, it's probably something I wear with regularity, so I wasn't too concerned).

The mountain of clothes, plus Bigby. Gah, I've had that purple suit thing since I was 18. Not anymore!

The mountain of clothes, plus Bigby. Gah, I've had that purple suit thing since I was 18. Not anymore!

Kondo's advice is to hold each item and ask yourself one question: Does this bring me joy? Some pieces of clothing were easy to answer. That ugly suit thing I've had since I was a teenager, that I got for a funeral, was an easy "no." My favorite maxi dress, easy "yes." There were some gray areas though. I had a few moments that I was like "I wear this top, I like the idea of this top but..." I just had to stop rationalizing why I was holding on to these items and ask "but does it bring me joy?" Every time I found myself rationalizing something, the answer to that question was "no." So, I put it away.

The hardest items for me to get rid of were two pairs of really cute wedges that I wore only once each. While I love how these shoes look, they hurt. I have a scar on my ankle from one pair. I spent money on these shoes and never wore them, but they brought me no joy. Just regret and disappointment and who needs that in there lives.

Here is the result of my purge, three garbage bags full of clothes and shoes that are going to a thrift store.

Here is the result of my purge, three garbage bags full of clothes and shoes that are going to a thrift store.

None of the items I got rid of are in bad condition. When we moved a few months ago, I got rid of those kind of items. These were just items that did not bring me joy or I hadn't worn in over a decade.

I then went through my keepers and put them away just as Kondo recommends...well, the best I could remember. I read this book from the library, so I just have my memory and a few notes to guide me. I do think she is a bit concerned about how much your socks are relaxing. ¬.¬ Just saying.

My closet and drawers are now all organized and full of only what brings me joy. It was very liberating to do this! I've always loved taking things out of a drawer and putting them back, organized and folded neatly. This was different though. I had been carrying around t-shirts for years that I don't want to wear. The material wasn't that soft, worn-in feel that I like in my t-shirts; they were just from my college clubs and I felt bad getting rid of them. But they don't bring me joy. At one time they did, and I thanked them for that time. But I don't want them any more. I kept my Jesters sweater and a Highlander sweatshirt, but the rest of those shirts were given up. My underwear didn't really need a lot of work, because this past New Year's I adopted a new tradition of throwing out all the undies that were past their prime and buying new pairs. I don't use socks that often, living in the south where sandals are a year round shoe style, so I didn't have much to do their either. I did get rid of some nice blouses, though. But the common theme among the majority of them was that they were button ups that just didn't button well across the bust area.

I am looking forward to tackling my books next, and a little apprehensive about that project, too. I'm a BIG reader, and I love my books. I love seeing full bookshelves. But it's time to let go of the clutter in my life.