New Beginnings

Hello, my name is Carrie and I am a hoarder-in-training. I live in a small 1950's Cape Cod style house with my husband and two dogs. Our over-abundance of stuff (o.k., yes, it's mostly my stuff) is starting to make us feel a bit cramped and that's not good.  I have always loved my collections, mostly books and any manner of vintage nonsense, but I have noticed it getting out of control in the last couple of years. We hope to adopt soon and along with a child comes lots of more...you guess it...stuff! I have challenged myself to get rid of 2014 things in the year 2014. This will be a place for me to record my efforts and (hopefully) my progress.

The challenge will start tomorrow, January 1st, 2014. Although I have to be real here and admit I've already thrown some things in a box in my excitement to get started...

The rules for my challenge are as follows:

1. Get rid of 2014 items before the clock strikes midnight on December 31st, 2014.

2. If a new item comes into the house, something must leave. The item leaving the house as a result of a new item does not get counted in the challenge.

3. Food items and things you use daily like toothpaste, shampoo, etc. are not a part of this challenge. Everything else is game.

I will place a couple of designated boxes in the spare bedroom that I will sort things into as I go along. I need to get rid of an average of 5.5 things a day if I'm going to complete this challenge in time. Obviously, I won't be making drop-off stops at the thrift store every single day, just when the boxes are full.

I plan on donating some things as well as selling some things at a consignment junk shop where some of this very stuff originated from! Some things I will give away to friends and family, but only if it's something I know they really want. I will throw some items away if they are beyond repair or just plain ugly or busted, basically anything I don't want and would be too embarrassed to donate. If I find something I borrowed and need to return, this will count in the total. It's leaving my house, after all. I will also sell some of my vintage items on my Etsy shop but I will not count sales of items I had already listed before the start of the challenge.

I plan on this challenge being very easy at first and then increasingly hard as I run out of the junk I don't want and must start to pick off things I actually like (but don't need). Hopefully by the end of this thing, I will have a clean and clutter-free home with some room to grow!