Roughly 10 weeks ago, I shared a “fun” challenge here on the blog — the opportunity to complete a FULL HOUSE PURGE before the New Year even began!
Post Summary: focus on one room per week, every week until the New Year (16 weeks at the time) and purge up to 16 rooms before the New Year (most homes have 16 or fewer rooms).
Since then, I’ve been diligently working to purge one room per week… and the results have paid off, as the entire main floor of our home is now less cluttered and more organized!
I shared my 5-week update last month — purging the mudroom, half bath, kitchen, dining room, and basement.
Now I’m back this week with my 10-week update — sharing the progress I made in the living room, office (and closet), master bedroom (and closet), master bathroom, and nursery (and closet).
Thanks to all the closets and storage spaces in these rooms, I was able to purge A LOT — in fact, I even surprised myself with how much I got rid of!
Living Room:
I’ll be honest, we really don’t store anything in our living room besides a few books and 2 baskets of baby toys — so this room took me all of 5 minutes to “purge”!!
I got rid of 10 baby books and 2 baby toys. However, in another 6-8 months, I’ll most likely be able to purge the rest of the baby toys!
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The Office:
The office took MUCH longer than the living room.
Our office serves so many purposes, it has so many functions, and it houses SO MUCH STUFF…
- Our library book basket (which is always overflowing)
- Our piano, all my piano music, and everything we need for leading Sunday School
- Our filing cabinet and all the paperwork for my business and our personal needs
- Our computers (laptops are stored in the upper left cabinet)
- My sewing machine, all my sewing accessories, and any sewing projects I’m working on (upper right cabinet)
- Several of Dave’s school resources (in the upper right cabinet)
- ALL the kids games, puzzles, movies, CD’s, photo albums, and “school stuff” for when they play pretend school (in the closet)
I spent about 2 hours (over 3 afternoons) going through all the different cabinets, drawers, shelves, etc. and I purged A TON!
I ended up with 2 bags of paper to recycle, and 3 large bags of stuff to donate!
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Master Bedroom & Closet:
Other than clothing, we really don’t store anything in our bedroom, so Dave and I both took turns going through our clothing. Surprisingly enough, we ended up with 3 large bags of clothing to donate and a few items to trash.
As I mentioned earlier this week, I’ve lost 60 pounds over the past year (35 were just extra baby weight) so I’ve purged quite a bit of clothing over the past 6 months… but apparently there were still several more items I was willing to part with!
BEFORE:
AFTER: a little more breathing room!
We store potential gifts for others on the top shelf of our closet, and with Nora’s birthday and Christmas just around the corner, I used this time as a great opportunity to get all these gift items organized (and take stock of what I have).
I pulled out the items we’ll use for Nora’s birthday gifts and consolidated the rest in a much more organized fashion.
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The Master Bathroom:
I already did a pretty massive bathroom purge earlier this year, so my time spent organizing our master bathroom was minimal. I was actually able to work my way through all the drawers and storage baskets in about 25 minutes one afternoon during Clara’s nap and while the boys were watching a Netflix show.
I’m not even sure I purged anything — just a few trash items. The rest was simply consolidating, better organizing, and putting things back where they belong.
The room FEELS much more organized, much neater, much cleaner, and less cluttered — so the fact that I didn’t purge all that much doesn’t bother me.
The bottom drawer is still completely empty, as are the top 2 storage baskets!!
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The Nursery:
I spent more time in the nursery than I thought I would — but it had been several months since I went through Clara’s clothing, and so much of what was in her closet was now too small… sniff!
I purged a HUGE bin of clothing, along with a handful of baby gear and accessories I won’t need anymore.
Clara “helped” and now her closet has lots more room for bigger clothes! 🙂
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Now I’m moving onto the upstairs bedrooms, play room, bathroom, landing area, and closets for my last 5-week purge!
If you’ve been following along with my challenge, I’d love to know what type of progress you’re making!!
Happy Purging!
Amy says
Finished the kitchen and kids bathroom over the weekend – I am getting better at using 20 minutes here and there. Goal for this week is the toy area and office area – since the kids are off of school. After that one bedroom and one closet to go! Thanks for doing this challenge and posting updates to keep us going.
Andrea says
isn’t it amazing what you can do in 20 minutes!
Nancy says
Thanks for the encouragement. I spent a couple of hours yesterday working on my bedroom closet and have also made some headway in our basement. Nothing systematic there, but I’ve been using opportunities as they arise to sort through and part with things such as a bunch of Halloween costumes and some toys. Hoping to get my husband onboard, but really I think everyone has to find their own timing (sort of like your weight loss post).
Andrea says
awesome! And yes, you are exactly right — you must wait until you (or they) are ready to purge. No sense forcing it (or trying to force it)!
Marva says
I did some major purging early this year but need to deal with my closet. However, my comment is about how I’m snickering at how you keep gifts in the top shelf of your closet. My parents did the same and I can assure you that I was never surprised with what was under the tree at Christmas! My mother (at 86) is shocked to find this out! haha
Andrea says
I keep almost everything in boxes and there’s NO WAYS my kids could ever get up there yet… so I think I’m safe for a few more years!
Debbie says
I think I’ll start on our master bathroom. Not much to do there, but my husband’s side of the drawers need work. I’ve tried different ways of organizing it but after a while it falls apart again. Why does he keep empty bottles of lotion and who knows what else?
Andrea says
yes, this would be a great room to start in because it’s the last thing you see before you go to bed and the first thing you see when you wake up. If it’s decluttered an organized, you’ll feel that first thing every morning!
jennifer says
I have four boys, ages 9 to nearly 2. I cannot decide what winter gear to keep and what to purge. So much has been given to use as hand-me downs and it takes up SO much space. How do you decide what sizes to keep for your kids to grow into? I don’t really want to have to buy new boots (I do thrift shop sometimes but usually cannot find shoes/boots in good condition for older boys so I have often purchased them new, so I’m not going to give them away until everyone’s grown out of them..) Clothing is so hard for me to purge but hard to store because it takes up so much space, especially as they get bigger. I also homeschool the boys, so we have books EVERYWHERE. I want to purge, but need to keep the curriculum boxed up so the next one can use it. Talk about a space hog.
Andrea says
well, I realize my approach to kids clothing probably will not work for you (since you can pass all your things down) but I honestly purge almost everything at the end of every season and buy more the next season (so we don’t store anything).
I don’t save any of Nora’s coats, snow pants, or boots because they’ll never fit the next year and I won’t hang onto them for 6 years until Clara can wear them.
I also purge all of James and Clara’s gear as they will also be grown out of it by the next year.
I will save SOME of Simon’s stuff if I think it will fit James the next year. Otherwise, I just shop at thrift stores and buy “new-to-us” items in the fall. This works for now — not sure what I’ll do when they are older and don’t grow as fast!
Brandie says
I am going strong! One room every Sunday. I’m not sure that I will be done by Jan. as we have missed a couple Sunday’s being out of town, but I have no intentions on stopping until I’m all the way through.
I have even inspired my sister and a few friends to do this at their houses as well!
THANKS Andrea!
Andrea says
oh that’s a good plan — tackle one room on a specified day each week. Awesome that your sister and friends are on-board too! You can all keep each other accountable!
Olivia says
I’ve been following along! I got off to a great start, then life happened and I got knocked off-kilter (kiddo was sick, got me sick, work got extremely busy and overflowed into my purging time, etc). I’m SO close to being done that I can taste it though – just have the kitchen/pantry, my office, and the garage left to complete. Fingers crossed that the first half of next week is quiet and I can make some good progress. Also hoping that my husband, who’s a teacher and off all next week, feels like getting started in the garage without me 😉
Andrea says
isn’t that always the case!
I’m looking forward to tackling a few organizing projects with Dave’s help over the holiday weekend too (hopefully purging some toys!)
Annette Silveira says
My daughter is in the middle of a purge where each day you get rid of the same number of items as the day of the month (today would be 16 items for the 16th). She’s having a lot of fun with it. This might be a good way to slowly start a purge since at the beginning of the month you’re only dealing with a few items at a time.
Andrea says
oh that’s a fun idea — and yes, very doable. Might get trickier towards the end of the month, but even 31 things in one day is definitely doable!
Summer says
I am! And this helped inspire me to stay on track! This is exactly what I needed to give me a boost today. I have done about half of mine. Last week I skipped and just did a zillion other things, but I am attacking a room today. I can still finish on time if I conquer one a week and I love how much more space I have found! Thanks!
Andrea says
yay — way to go Summer! 🙂