{Project Simplify} Kid's Stuff

This year for Lent I decided to put my New Year's Resolution of "One Step at a Time" into action, and clean and de-clutter one section of our apartment at a time.  My goal is to get rid of a minimum of one brown paper bag worth of trash or things to donate from each space.

Week Two: Kid's Stuff

Goal:

This project involved a few more pockets of the house than last week. I chose this one second because it was part of Simple Mom's Project Simplify, but also because the situation wasn't "that bad". My mom had just helped us re-do Evie's closet (read: toolbox, office supplies, storage, camping gear, and Evie's stuff).

My main goal for this project was to tidy up things that had gotten messy in the last 3-4 months, to pack up anything she's outgrown, to unpack the next stage of stuff, and to return or consign any items she hasn't used or didn't like.

I more than exceeded the goal of getting rid of one brown paper bag worth of stuff. I did that in trash alone.

How I did it:

Each day I would sit in a corner of the room and tackle it (remember my New Year's Resolution of breaking things into smaller, manageable tasks?). One day I did the dresser, one day the bookshelf, one day all the junk that piled up to be filed or sorted through, and one day the closet.

I made little groupings of things as I sorted, like all the pacifiers, or first aid stuff and then found them all new homes with their buddies.

I have two running piles of things in Evie's room: consign or return. We ended up with more pacifiers than I can count, but they're all newborn or 2 month size. We've made it four months with the four we've opened, so I am returning a dozen or so tiny sized pacifiers. Same with baby socks (we have 3 unopened 6-packs of 0-6 months?!?!). We have a few things that we washed and used but just didn't like, for example, some really complicated outfits. These things are headed to a consignment shop.

I elected not to take pictures of what we threw away, returned, consigned or donated. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings :)

(Mom, I found the big Hungry Caterpillar. It was jammed behind the books!)

What I learned in the process:

• I am so glad we didn't register for more baby things than we did. We went what I thought was barebones on the registry, but man alive, we have so much stuff. Really, I am thankful to have this problem! And I love we can pass along our extras.
  
• Decluttering, purging, and reorganizing is empowering. We've already jumped the gun on a few projects scheduled for later in Lent. I am hoping we don't burn out.
  
• Having Evie's closet well organized has made things easier to maintain. Everything has it's place! All I did was tidy it up, purge more, and relocate a few things into the space. Thanks Mom for helping us tackle this beast! 

Extra! Extra!:

• After I finished this room, I actually went back and took the desk out and moved the drying rack in it's place. Her room is looking great.
  
• We still have a few more big things in the room to tackle, but they didn't fall under "kid's stuff"
  
• Not pictured: I streamlined Evie's bottle and my pumping accessory disaster in the kitchen. I have decided I am going to fight a lot harder to breastfeed the next kid.