My best friend Britt was telling me last week about how she had recently been going through her house and getting rid of A LOT! I told her I had been doing the same, trying to tidy and get rid of some things as fall approached. But she said that she was REALLY scaling back and wanting to live a real minimalist lifestyle, getting rid of so many of the kids toys and things that she had been hanging onto “in case”.

Well shoot. I have way too many “in case” bins in my basement so this sounded so intriguing. I HATE clutter, like despise it. But for some reason I can never seem to get away from it. It follows me everywhere, in every area of my life. My closet, my inbox, our SUV, the twins playroom, our kitchen (probably the worst!), our front closet, my computer desktop etc., etc., etc.,  Clutter. Everywhere. I’m one of those people who can’t think and my creativity is stunted when I’m surrounded by clutter so what do I do? I hide it. I shove it in drawers and folders and pack it away in closets to deal with later. Our house doesn’t look cluttered from the outside. In fact it almost always looks tidy and minimal. But don’t open any cupboards or drawers because I never actually get rid of most of it. :S :S :S

So earlier this week, I was sorting through the twins fall wardrobe, taking out what didn’t fit them anymore and ordering some new items online. I went down to the basement with a pile of clothing to add to the “2 year old bin” and I impulsively dumped about 80% of all the clothes I was hanging onto out of the bins and brought them to the local Good Will. I set aside one box for consignment and picked out my absolute fav items in case we have another baby boy some day but everything else GONE. I was nervous at first as I handed the bins over to the man in the unloading garage. This isn’t new for me. I often make trips to good will with “small” bags of things but nothing this drastic. :S And let me tell you, I drove out of the parking lot feeling SO good, so much lighter, like I had dropped a bunch of weight.

SO I decided I need to do more of this. A LOT more of it. I’m dedicating the month of September to de-cluttering my life. Literally every area of it….my closet,  the toy room, my kitchen cupboards, my computer, and yes even my calendar. I want less clutter in all areas of our lives and more doing life with intention. For some reason September has always felt more like the start of a new year to me than January anyway so I always love using this month to get organized and prepared for the seasons ahead. So who’s with me?  I’ve created a 20 day checklist that I’ll be starting today, yes on a Friday because there is no better time to start then now right?! Just one thing a day to keep me going with what I have started. Some days will take a minute, some maybe an hour. If you want to join me, download my 20 day minimalist challenge HERE! !

Happy minimalizing! xo