De-Cluttering with the 52 Week Challenge...

The title of my blog says quite a bit about me as a person.

My home is very 'lived' in and whilst I am not
quite at the crazy cat lady or extreme hoarders on TV level, there is a definite disorganised nature to my house and I hate it. Despite my slightly messy nature, and a relaxed attitude toward tidying, there comes a certain point where the mess become smothering.

This year I have determined to try and get more control over my home and the best way to do this is to declutter. Of course, I think have two hoarders in the house won't help, but I am determined to get to a point our house is only full of items we need, use or that are there to make our house a home.

My daughter is the classic hoarder and I can barely stand to walk into her room most days. My husband, whilst far tidier than I am, in fact, once upon a time I would have said he was a bit of a neat freak, is unfortunately also a bit of a hoarder. I open the cupboard in my office and the top level shelf is filled with boxes our equipment came in, because, according to hubby, they come in handy when we move. I cannot fit my car in the garage anymore for the same reason, all the 'stored' stuff.

Yeah right! Do you know how many empty boxes I unpacked from our removalist boxes on our last move. How many times our printers, computers, kitchen appliances and more were was carefully wrapped in paper, packed in a removalist box and the original boxes they came in packed in another box empty. On one move I unpacked a whole waist high removalist box full of nothing but empty boxes. SERIOUSLY!!!!

Not to mention old equipment he can't bear to throw out. We replaced our printer 18months ago, there was nothing wrong with the old one but it was ancient and needed an update. Guess what, YES we still have the old printer packed in its original box, sitting in our cupboard as hubby says: 'Just in Case'. Hoarder or What!

So this year I am getting a handle on it and taking control but its a little overwhelming to figure out where to start right. Then I found this 52 Week De-Clutter Challenge on the Organised Housewife site. Love it, giving me specific and achievable weekly tasks to follow. So I am starting this week off with Task No.1 and moving from there onwards.

But I decided that this challenge, whilst the perfect start for me was not enough on its own and then I saw another challenge in the comments on the 52 Weeks '365 Things I can Live Without' from a woman who is committed to disposing of one thing every day for a year. What a great idea.

So in the coming months I am going to share my journey in the 52 week challenge, not every week, just those tasks that I think are worth sharing, together with the occasional roundup sharing goodbye to the items 'I can live without' as I think its fun to share your journey with others.

Do you have any cleaning, decluttering or organising challenge, hints and tips to share, add them in comments.