Dear Friends,

Let’s commit to getting rid of clutter on a daily basis: One box, one bag, or even one item. The goal is to get something out of your house every day! Start today!

We are going to focus on getting rid of our clutter for the next 40 days. We got this great testimonial once about getting rid of a box of clutter each day. Imagine that 40 boxes of clutter removed one day at a time. Along with taking something away from our home; we are going to add something beautiful to our Bedtime Routine. More on that later!

Do you need to focus on paper clutter? Just think about how your house will feel when you get rid of the paper clutter. I have some bags of memorabilia that I need to go through. I am excited about sorting through these bags, one at a time.

Do you have lots of books? Bless someone with the books you have read. I am going to eliminate books this year. Even if it is just one book a day. Robert and I just discussed this and we are committed to condensing our library.

Do you have lots of DVDs and CDs? This is an area where we could do a little more work. We eliminated all the jewel cases to our classical music collection a few years ago. We put them in albums. We are very pleased with look of these albums on our shelves.

Just ponder on this for the next few days. When you commit to declutter for Lent send an email to FlyLady@flylady.net with 40 BAGS IN 40 DAYS!

I am getting a head start on my commitment: Papers, Books, and CDs. I am grabbing a bag and getting started today!

Here is the testimonial:

One BabyStep at a time! Peace is Mine!

Dear FlyLady,

I set myself a challenge based on some discussions at the beginning of Lent – I decided to get rid of 40 boxes/bags or items over the course of Lent. And I took on 40 items from my to-do list as well. And since tomorrow is Easter – I wanted to let you know how I fared.

42 boxes, bags or items (that don’t fit in a box or bag) have left my house. With an average 10 lbs per item, my guess is that about 420 lbs have left my house…. I have a few more boxes staged to go out – but they haven’t left yet… some went as donations, some were garbage.

24 items are off my “to-do” list. So I didn’t quite get where I wanted. But I did take care of 18 other items that made it on and off “the list.” So all in all, I did move 42 items off or through my “to-do” list.

What I learned – with a little extra effort every week – I did manage to get rid of a fair amount of stuff – more than my goal.

With a little extra effort every week, I was able to finish or get rid of some things that had been on my “to-do” list for a long time – some 12 years old, some more recent. The best part – the mental guilt is gone for what I finished. Some things took less than 15 minutes, some took much longer. And while some things aren’t done (which is why I can’t count them yet) I made progress on them so they will be done soon, sooner than if I hadn’t focused on them at all.

I can hardly wait to redo my list on Easter Monday and know that it just isn’t the same list from February.

It’s been one of the best Lent experiences ever – the routines and the discipline of working day after day on stuff and to do list items and the goals – times when I thought I’d seen no progress but I checked, I was 25% into Lent and 25% through my goal at the same time. It just didn’t look like much. And for a long time, I’d work and work and never see any progress and then suddenly, 4 or 5 things would come off the list, or 16 boxes would make it to Goodwill…

This has been long, but my message is – don’t give up. It looks insurmountable but by working some on it regularly, you can make a big difference over time.

Thank you, as always, for the inspiration and the tools to help make it work. And thanks, as always, for listening. It helps. It really, really helps.

Thanks,

Trisha – a FlyBaby in Northern Illinois

Are you ready to FLY though 40 Boxes in 40 Days! Your home is going to hug you for this! For more help check out our Decluttering Section on our website.

FlyLady

Don’t Crash and Burn