July tally

I have to admit, July was an appalling month when it comes to decluttering, which you probably have noticed, since I haven’t written about a single thing I shed.

So what have I been doing with myself in the month of July? Well as I wrote in the beginning of July, I was taking an hiatus to focus on my health.

So July month have been filled with trips to the osteopath, loads of rest, beautiful days in the garden and not to forget…

Loads and loads of time occupied with Molly, my furry friend 🙂 With her around I seemed to get “nothing” done. When I sat down to read, she wanted to play. When I worked outside in the yard, she hated being on a leash so I made “borders” so she could go loose, but I still needed to keep an eye on her whereabouts, just in case… When I ate, she wanted food. When I watched TV or had friends over, she wanted to “play” or go out for a walk, or was hungry or something.

So you can see why I got nothing done… right? 😉

Even so, when I think about it, there are actually a few things that have gone out-the-door in July… Not only have I not written about them, but mostly I have even forgotten to take pictures of them 😦

But let’s see if I can’t manage a small recap anyhow!

JULY TALLY of things “out-the-door” = 22 items

2 reasonable sized Boxwood plants in planters – 1 given to a neighbour, 1 given to my step-mum for her new cabin
8 plastic planters/pots – given to my neighbour
6 books – I’ve actually read 12 as part of my read a book program – but, I’m getting into some of my favourites and they are harder to part with… maybe next month 😉
1 roll of plastic flex pipe
a bunch of small plastic plant pots – counted as 1 (no photo)
2 terracotta pots (no photo)
bunch of plastic pipes leftover from earlier garden constructions – counted as 1 (no photo)
bunch of wood bits and pieces leftover from earlier garden constructions – counted as 1 (no photo)

Let’s see… I think that was it.. I can’t believe I ended up with the same amount of items as in June! And NO it’s not a copy/paste error – it just turned out that way!

Hmm.. if I could part with one extra book, I could beat June tally… Nope, I don’t think so.. not quite yet, gotta think about it first 😉

So her we are – 22 items – just like June!

June tally

We are all in agreement that the month of June have been a bismal month for decluttering. But even though I haven’t written about them, there are a few things that have gone out-the-door anyhow!

So let’s see what this month have amounted to on the declutter scale:

JUNE TALLY of things “out-the-door” = 22 items

2 hanging baskets – given to my step-mum for her new cabin, including the
2 linings for the hanging baskets and the
2 hooks for the hanging baskets
1 big bag of shredded papers – I normally do a yearly shred after I’m done with the taxes (late shred this year)
A bunch of kitchen drawers utensils no longer (or ever) in use – counted as 1
1 red empty leather notebook – also for my step-mum
1 toilet bag after dad
Some outdated medication – counted as 1
1 indoor water fountain feature set
9 books – I’m still chugging away at my read a book program
and another book that I read and gave to mum while I was in London in May – that I forgot to tell you about, but I’m counting it anyway 😉

Hey, this wasn’t quite as bad after all… for a non declutter month… 🙂

May tally!

Well there it is, the month of May is over, and it’s time for my monthly tally.

If I may say so, I think the month of May have gone pretty OK when it comes to declutter items. Even though I had a week completely under the weather, and a week in London with more sightseeing than decluttering 🙂

Let’s see what this month have amounted to on the declutter scale:

MAY TALLY of things “out-the-door” = 126 items

53 – items when running amok in my guest room

9 snuggles (stuffed animals and bean babies)
1 empty computer box
1 empty camera lens filter box
1 PC “desk” to use in your lap
5 clothes storage “bags”
1 decorative plate
6 space bags
5 books
3 small paper pamphlets
6 Christmas decoration items
1 hanging shoe holder
2 eagle creek travel gear pieces
1 camera bag
1 dirty linen basket
1 decorative “garland”
1 gym “bag”
1 space saver set
1 travel journal
2 bathroom mats
1 shoulder strap for a bag I no longer have
1 bag of sticky carpet felt (to use under carpets to make them not slide)
1 hanging bag for cloths

54 – items from my closet cleanup

8 shorts – surf shorts and regular shorts
1 swim top
1 bikini bottom
2 knee length pants
1 bicycle t-shirt
1 pair of indoor “shoes”
4 office shirts
3 sweater
1 knitted hat
1 fleece buff
2 regular buffs
1 scarf Stockings – a bunch (counted as 1)
1 par of socks
3 of my dad’s ties
12 unused unmentionables
5 pairs of jeans – 2 worn, 3 unused (but sadly to small)
1 pair of office pants
1 top
1 T-shirt
1 knitted jacket
1 pair of insoles
1 belt

1 pair of very high heeled shoes 😉
16 paperbacks
1 wooden box – and
1 keg/barrel – my brothers – as posted from London

And that’s it. The out-the-door tally for MAY 🙂

Not to shabby…

Taking a stab at the bookshelves

I’ve been thinking about taking a stab at my bookshelves…again.

I have done this several times over the years, and the books I have left, have survived several culling’s and it will be more difficult to par down this time around.

My read a book program
What I’ve been doing the last couple of years is; read a book, then decide – good enough to keep? or donate/toss material?

This have help me getting rid of quite a few books, but I haven’t been ruthless enough in the “how good must a book be, to be a keeper” department.

I did a count of all my different books today, and I found I have 346. For some of you this isn’t even a collection (I have friends with more than 5000) and for some of you this is a lot (I also have a friend that I know have 2 and only because they were presents). I’ve had way over 1000 at one time, so being down to 346 isn’t to bad.

But, I have a goal, and that is to fit all my regular sized paperbacks, into a special build bookcase, which unfortunately only takes 200 of them 😦

So this year, there’s going to be a little twist to my read a book program 😉

Books I love
Only books that I love are keepers and deserve a place in my bookshelves. You know, the ones you’ll read over and over again, are part of a special collection, have special sentimental value, is an absolute keep for reference/work/hobby reasons or you just absolutely have to keep for some reason or another.

Books I like
Books I like, but that are not quite in the “I love” category, will go (donate/toss or sell). I will however, write down the title and author of these books on a “could read again maybe” list. And if and when I ever decide, I need or want to read it again, I will get it as a Kindle e-book.

Books that don’t excite me
Will go – either donate/toss or sell.

Overall goal sometime into the future
My overall goal way into the future is to have most of my books as e-books, then I won’t need to use to much space in my small house for books. But as I said, way into the future. I’m not quite ready to part with all my physical books quite yet.

So let’s see how we do in 2014.

And on that note.. here is my first installment on books decluttered 🙂