Join Us For Tackle It Tuesday! We’re making housework blog-able! Each week on Tuesday, we are posting before and after pictures of a project or trouble area that we tackled this week. Find out more about Tackle It Tuesday here.
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In the spirit of simplicity and clutter free living, I’m hosting a comment contest! You get the prize, and my house gets decluttered. Simply leave a comment on this post, and you will be entered in a drawing to receive a gently used copy of the book “Decorating on a Shoestring” by Ellis and Janssen. (What I really need is a book called “Decorating your Landfill.” *sigh*)
All you’ve gotta do is leave a single comment (duplicates will be deleted) about the last time you RAKed (Random Act of Kindess) someone. You must provide a valid e-mail address, but you do not have to have a blog. I’ll announce the winner on Wednesday!
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The decluttering continues! Last week I started in my bedroom, but quickly realized that I didn’t really have a good “holding area” for the items that were waiting on their new homes. This meant that I ended up having lots of stuff spread out in our living areas. Not Good.
So I decided to clear out the garage instead, freeing up space so that the “inside the house” stuff can wait in the garage. It has been a long, grueling process. Which, sadly, still has a long way to go.
Can someone explain to me why I keep posting embarrassing pictures of my house? Seriously. For years I’ve been trying to hide all this clutter, but give me a digital camera and a blog, and I’ll post it on the web for the whole world to see. It’s a sickness.
Sadly, this is NOT a “before” picture. This is a shot of my garage as it stands today. Believe it or not, this is an IMPROVEMENT over what it looked like just last week. I’ve gotten rid of an embarrassing load of excess since then. I am holding on to just a few items to sell on Craigslist, but 99% was given away on Freecycle.
Anyone else in the throws of decluttering? How about on a massive scale like this? Got any embarrassing clutter photos on your blog? Link me up! I’m starting to feel very alone here….
Perfectly Imperfect 
I do RAK all the time, they seem so minor to me and so easy to do. The last one that I really thought “hey, this isn’t your ordinary RAK” is when I was on my way into the grocery story. A little old lady was just getting to her car (very slow walker) and so I helped her put her groceries in her car and was going to take her cart back for her. She was going through her bags one by one looking for something. She told me she realized she forgot to get sour cream, so I offered to run into the store (the very back corner) and get her sour cream and bring it back out. She gave me $5, told me what brand/type she wanted, and I was back with her sour cream, and change, in about 3 minutes. It probably would have taken her that long just go get back into the store.
And yes, my house looks like that. Right now my garage is a big staging area too!
I love to offer to take pictures for people when I see them taking group pictures. The last time this happened was while we were on vacation in Maine. I was able to preform this fun little task for three different people. It is so fun to see their eyes light up as they realize they will get a family/group photo instead of one person being left out.
Did you check out my blog and my totally embarrassing photos!? Keep at it, you are doing a great job.
Hi! The last RAK I did was to go through my pantry and put together a goodie box of GOOD food (it wasn’t full of stuff that I wouldn’t eat – LOL!) for a family who was experiencing some money problems. I left it for them anonymously 🙂 I know this family well and I just wanted to surprise them a bit.
Hi! The last RAK I did was about a month ago. I had been trying to weed through a lot of “stuff” before moving. I mailed 4 boxes filled with goodies to three different people. I mailed baby clothes, toddler clothes and some cross stitch/craft items. I love giving surprises! I also gave all my extra freezer and pantry items to a family who could not afford a lot of extra grocery shopping. Not only did it help them, but it helped me decrease the weight for the move.
Thanks for the inspiration to declutter!
Oooooh… If I lived closer I’d take the rocking chair off your hands! 🙂 There are times I wish we had a garage, and then I think about cleaning it. hehe.
I also own a similar bassinet.
I love the picture – it’s like a “where’s waldo” in a way. Peeking through to see what ya got. lol. (I think I need more sleep *G*)
Here’s my RAK- we have a family on our baseball team that has had some MAJOR medical issues! Our family has sort of “adopted” them and we anomynously take care of their extra financial baseball needs- we bought their family baseball wear (Dad’s team shirt, Mom’s team shirt, little brothers hat and shirt) etc. or we’ll sneak $ into their cooler at games-stuff like that. The good Lord has blessed us with the ability to do this and we are so thankful! My His grace we aren’t in the situation they are!!
Oh, to have a garage!! Even though it would NEVER see cars inside, it would be a dream to have one. Even if it looked like this (which it probably would–from the day we moved in!).
My small apartment has no place to “hold” things.
The only difference between your garage and mine is that mine is only a one car garage. I think I even recognize some of the boxes.
OK, so my RAK story…. I work at a hospital and we have the dreaded parking decks. After work one day, I saw a lady (probably in her 70’s) walking all over the place looking for her car, so I walked with her hoping we would see it. We came to my car and I asked her if she wanted to circle the deck in my car. Well, we never did find it and discovered that she had parked on the other side of the hospital in the other parking deck. We had a good laugh over it and I drove her over and found her car exactly where she described it. I hope someone will help me like that if I ever lose my car!
Jen
thanks for visiting my blog
wtg on the decluttering
now since Im here
a RAOK just today I gave my next door neighbour the pipes off of my old washing machine to use on hers
Really not entering the contest, but wanted to say that I am also decluttering around here. Moving every two years helps with the problem…but having a large family seems to CREATE the problem. LOL Good luck – don’t send me the book – I’m trying to cut down on the books. LOL
We’re also decluttering BIG TIME around here. In the meantime, my whole house is a disaster.. why is it always worse before it gets better?