Day #2 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life: Practice Living Without It!

Today we continue on our quest for simpler lives.  Day #2's mission if you choose to accept it is:

Today, dejunk one drawer.  If you are like most people, messy drawers abound in your kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom.  Do the three steps of sorting, recycling, and dealing with ambivalence that are outlined below in "The Mechanics of Simplifying".  These simple steps will help you simplify and organize every area of your life. (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 15)

OR for the serious simplifiers only---

Tackle at least five drawers today.  Be bold.  Toss as many items as you possibly can.  Make the items remaining in your drawers more accessible by using organizers --- small boxes, plastic trays, rectangular baskets--- to divide up drawer space.  Be ruthless!  (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 20)

If you don't have the book*, you're probably wondering what are "The Mechanics of Simplifying"?  Here's the short version:

1. Sort the items you're organizing into 3 piles --- the love and use pile, the recycle pile, and the ambivalence pile (i.e. the things you both like and dislike and can't decide if you want to keep).
2. Create an ambivalence center.  Store all the stuff in the ambivalence pile in an out of sight area and practice living without it.  
3. Get the recycle pile out of your house and to a thrift store ASAP.
4. Put away the love and use pile neatly.  On Day #15, we're supposed to learn about systems to help us do that, but in the meantime just put it away.

Remember--- we have tomorrow off.  I will post my Day #2 results and our Day #3 mission on Monday. 

Here's my outcome from Day #1---Fill A Shopping Bag:

I ended up with a garbage bag full of kid clothes and a few stray maternity outfits, a box of unused disposable diapers and pull ups, the baby bath tub, an over the door jumper, a baby monitor and a changing pad and cover (being loved by Pumpkin the cat in the photo.  The cats found the whole process fascinating!).

I also parted ways with a bunch of baby blankets and the crib bumpers and crib skirt I sewed up before Red was born (sniff, sniff).

And a ton of boys shoes!  No I did not buy all these.  Hand-me downs are awesome!  Clearly, some of my girlfriends were obsessed with buying water shoes. :-)

I'm planning on going to the pregnancy center on Monday morning and I have a Purple Heart pick up scheduled for Wednesday (which means I have to get more stuff to donate together between now and then).  I also have a bag of clothes and cloth diapers together that I need to sell on eBay.  Time to get posting...

FYI---don't forget to take photos and keep track of what you're donating for next year's tax deductions!

Be sure to leave a comment and let everyone know your day #1 success story.

*I really like this book so if you want more detailed information about anything we're doing over these 30 days (not to mention there are some great inspiring stories in the book), do the author a favor and buy it. :-)