So, I’m a teacher. Who’s surprised? Exactly no one who reads this blog, and that’s probably true for people who see me in real life. I’m not sure what it is about teachers, but it’s almost like one of the classes we take is how to dress like a teacher. When I switched dentists a few years back, I walked into the office, and he looked me up and down and said, “Oh, another teacher.”
The cornerstone of any female teacher’s outfit (besides cute flats!) is the scarf. Not convinced? Last year, our school hosted a spirit day in which students dressed like teachers. One of my students mimicked my hairstyle and about six of them came to class wearing scarves. (Mercifully, though, none of them stuffed beach balls under their shirts even though I was suuuuuuper pregnant at the time.) If it’s not in my DNA, then it’s basically in my job description to own a lot of scarves. 27 of them to be exact. But the real question is do I really need this many scarves?
No.
No, I do not.
Looking at my closet closets (sorry, HP, I’ll move out of your room one day, I swear!), I realize that this month, I need to finish the #MinsGame Challenge. After failing quite spectacularly last month with all of my goals and voicing a semi-legitimate concern about the eco-effects of rapid fire decluttering, a fierce determination set it. Namely, the panic of returning to work and realizing just how fleeting my time at home will be. And when I am home, how dare I let my family compete with meaningless clutter for my time.
Without further ado, here’s the mid-month decluttering check-in:
Day 1 – My windowsill basil plant. It was the little seedling that could…until it simply couldn’t.
Day 2 – A half-used canister of formula and a water bottle that I unearthed from a box of baby shower gifts.
Day 3 – A set of new pajamas I don’t wear and a bracelet.
Day 4 – Four stuffed animals. Sorry, HP, but you already have too much stuff.
Day 5 – Five mini bottles (nursettes, if you’re fancy or want to charge a lot of money) of formula are headed straight to the food pantry.
Day 6 – Lest this start sounding like “The 12 Days of Christmas”, we’ll change things up. Workout pants, a candle, two travel toothpastes, a face wash, and a hair conditioning treatment. The last four items, I actually used up since they were opened.
Day 7 – A bunch of books. Even though I have probably another hundred or so stashed at my parents’ house. One house at a time. One house at a time.
Day 8 – Two pairs of shoes, a winter coat, another candle, a door wreath, slippers that still have tags on them, a digital photo frame, and an apron. A lot of these were well-meaning gifts. But let’s be serious. An apron? If it doesn’t go in my crock pot or a cereal bowl, I’m not cooking it these days.
Day 9 – Nine scarves. Teacher or not, it’s still probably not reasonable to own 17, so I should revisit this.
Day 10 – Gift bags, bubble wrap, and tissue paper. I wrapped two gifts and then recycled whatever else I could.
Day 11 – I’m currently in the process of culling my sock drawer. Do you remember when it was fashionable to buy mismatched neon ankle socks? Don’t look at me like that. It was. How do I know? I still own probably 20 pairs.
What I’m doing well: I’m actually getting rid of things. I’m not walking around making empty promises to myself to list the items on Poshmark one day. No, no. These items are out of here. Though, I will likely need to do several selling challenges one day.
What I’m doing terribly: There’s no real rhyme or reason to what I’m decluttering. I had grand plans of going room by room, but it’s basically wherever HP will spend time 17 seconds before he demands to be entertained. And let’s be serious, I’ll take playing with him over anything any day.
What I’ll do differently: Next time I test my willpower with this game, I’m going to alternate high and low (31, 1, 30, 2, etc.). Because the thought of finding hundreds of items to donate or discard in the next two weeks is a little daunting.
So Tell Me…Can you believe I’m actually decluttering? To make me feel better, what’s one thing that you held onto for a while that you probably shouldn’t have?
Ah yes, the scarf . . . can we do anything about the stretchy pants? 😉
AHH! I was just going to mention the stretchy pants thing. Is that what (female) teachers where in your schools? That was not a thing 5 years ago where I worked.
Great work with the declutter! Isn’t it amazing how many candles we all have? And coffee cups? We’ve been dragging bags to the curb the last two weeks… And just wait until HP starts creating all kinds of pictures and projects. I just parted with a “sculpture” my son made in 3rd grade 🙂
Are stretchy pants leggings? I have a pair of skinny/slim fit black dress pants that I wear with everything. But I’m not sure they’ll fit now. I only tried on one pair of non-maternity jeans. They fit, so I figure I’m going to hang onto this victory as long as I can!
When I clean out, I also just take things directly to Goodwill (or our local equivalent). No trying to sell them at our consignment shop, etc., or they will hang in my closet for another year.
Stuff that we hang on to way too long: a motley collection of laptops culled from the dump. This is Mr. ThreeYear’s hobby and once he’s got a laptop he’s really hard pressed to let it go. Sigh.
I culled my scarf collection last year and let me tell you… it was challenging. I have three now. 🙂
THREE. THREE. How will I ever get down to three?
When I go back to work, I’m going to keep track of what I actually wear and how often. I am so guilty of hanging onto clothes (and scarves!) because they’re nice/in great shape/pretty but never wearing them. Oops.
This sounds like fun! I know for a fact that we need to have a good purge; we’ve accumulated so many things that we no longer have a use for.
It has been fun, but now I’m starting to get a little nervous that I have to come up with so many things each day!
I kept art books and a LARGE portfolio from college for years… OK decades. I haven’t used them but I lugged them from house to house in many moves. This weekend I finally passed on the books to someone who actually draws and sold the portfolio. It was like I had been carting around a very large reminder that I never became the designer I thought I would be. What a relief to let that go!
I’ve been trying to clean out the clutter as we head towards winter (aka- spend more time inside months). Progress is slow but it is such a relief to see bags of random stuff leave the house!
I tried the MinsGame in January… But I didn’t actually finish it until June… It gets hard with the larger numbers and having a daily deadline… If I do a similar thing again, I’ll spread it out on to just the weekend days… Or make the daily amount smaller… It’s hard to find the time!
Great work on what you’ve decluttered so far! 🙂
I’m a big fan of decluttering (in the process myself at the moment), but the minsgame really annoys me for some reason. I think it’s partly the fact that it dictates the amount of decluttering based on date rather than how easy it is in the moment (What if I feel like getting rid of six items on day one? Or 12 items on day four?). I also don’t like that it leaves people feeling like a failure if they don’t get to day 30/31, rather than feeling successful for all the things they did get rid of.
For me, personal mementos have been hard to let go of. I just decluttered my “memory box” this weekend, and I still had all my report cards and awards dating back to elementary school. But not anymore…they’re now all in the garbage, and I can now lift my “memory box” without straining my back.
I decluttered a lot of t shirts and hats last year, but this past month I got rid of a TON of glassware, stemware, you name it. About 16 pint glasses (I still kept my 8 fav’s), 12 wine glasses, margarita glasses, pilsner glasses, and more. Essentially all the stuff we were given as gifts or I’d collected during grad school from “buy a pint for $2.50 and keep the glass” promotions at Woody’s. 🙂
We got gifted some more stemless wine glasses and so the glassware purge began. Mrs. SSC was ruthless and I was over hearing about how much “extra” glassware we had, so we gave away a LOT.
I’m impressed by your decluttering while trying to entertain a tiny human. I have no such excuse and haven’t decluttered, well, anything for weeks (or has it been months?). One thing I know I’m holding onto too long is my baseball memorabilia. None of it is especially valuable, but it’s all sentimental. It wouldn’t be so bad if I had a man cave to display it in, but instead it’s taking up a couple of boxes in the closet. Every once in a while I check out similar items on eBay to see if anything’s worth selling, but for the most part, it isn’t.
Well done Penny! I still have my last two old cell phones stashed in a backpack because for some reason I hate getting rid of technology stuff. I keep telling myself I’m going to turn them into something cool but honestly, I can’t imagine I’ll ever make the time to actually do it.
Ok, you convinced me – I’m gonna go put them in the electronics recycling box.
Thanks for the inspiration Penny!
You have made a lot of progress. I have been trying to declutter since the beginning of summer. I am thinking maybe just toss the boxes out and not even look through them.
PS. I have about 25 scarves but I’m not a teacher and I have only worn two.
Good job, Penny, especially on the stuffed animals (we are overrun as my MIL gives Little Bit one every other month or so.) Don’t let them take over your house!
Our decluttering is a little stalled, although I did get rid of 2 pairs of pants that didn’t fit.I need to work on the paper, though. I noticed that since we’re back in school and Little Bit’s been on an art kick we have a ton of stuff to sort through and toss.
I have a REALLY pretty strapless formal gown in the closet that I can’t quite make myself get rid of. It was a bridesmaid dress but also the only one that could definitely reworn. You know, to those black tie events that we attend. *eyeroll* PLUS there’s no way it’ll fit my post-pregnancy body, ever. It was tailored to my 00P size ten years ago. I’ve got to bid it goodbye. But I can’t just yet… Also I have a real camel wool floor length coat from the 40s that I can’t quite give up despite being slightly moth eaten. It was a hand me down from a grandma that I adore and … I bundled it up to keep forever even though I’m unlikely to wear it.
P.S. what are you doing with the stuffed animals? I have yet to figure out a good way to pass those on.
I can totally relate on the basil plant — I’ve had probably close to half a dozen, and they never end well. XD
In my basement, I have no less than four old notebooks/laptops in a box, the oldest probably circa 2008, and they are doing absolutely nothing except for collecting dust.
I love the idea of alternating high-low number days! The first time I did this challenge it took me three months because once I got the high numbers, I wouldn’t do them until the weekend…I couldn’t face the challenge after a long day at work! I still consider it a win even though it took much more than the month to get through it. 🙂
The second time, I managed to get through all 30 days in less than 30 days. It gets easier over time.
Good luck (and definitely one house at a time)!
A good strategy with clothes is to hang them up backwards. Then, when you use an item, hang it like you normally would. You will be able to see which items you use and those that you don’t and it will be evident. What I try to do is wear every item I have and if I don’t feel great in it, then it goes to Goodwill. I have some great finds at Goodwill, so I know that I can replace almost anything for super cheap.
Also, if you haven’t read it already, you may enjoy a book called “Walden on Wheels”, by Ken Ilgunas.
I always start with that strategy and somehow let it go. I return back to work in two weeks, and I’m going to turn all of my hangers the same way right now. Your comment might just be the encouragement I needed! Thanks!