My Personal Challenge
Day 12-

12 days ago I started a 27 day challenge, a personal quest to reduce the nonessential items in my home.  

Each and everyday I am gathering 27 things to get rid of.   Why 27 items?  I got the idea from The Fly Lady (flylady.net).  She calls her clutter removal system, the "27 fling boogie".  
Everything I collect will be donated to The Junior League Repeat Boutique, a thrift shop located at 3586 Summer Avenue. However;  if you see an item that you are interested in, you are welcome to have it.  Just let me know as soon as possible because I move the things out of the house pretty quickly.

The Repeat Boutique is owned and operated by The Junior League of Memphis, a nonprofit organization of women who are committed to be a catalyst for change and improvement in the quality of life in the Memphis community.  For more information about the JLM, visit their website: jlmemphis.org.

Today I spent some time in my "studio" weeding through my ridiculously large collection of rubber stamps.  I'm sure that I will probably be getting rid of more in the days to come.  I purchased lots of these stamps for had a card ministry that I had a few years ago.  The ministries that I am involved in now (Baptist Women's Auxiliary and The Community Art Room) call for the use of fabric and various other materials.  So it just seemed appropriate to pass along some of my stamps. 

Total weight loss so far-106.8 lbs.!

My Personal Challenge
Day 11-

Today my "27 fling boogie" took place in, what I call, my reading room.    It's really my son's old bedroom, but when your children move out, you can start calling their old spaces things like: guest rooms, studies, craft rooms, reading rooms or offices.  

As soon as our son got his own place, I painted his bedroom, added a daybed  and put a bookshelf in there. It was soon coined my "reading room".  It is a place that is free from technology-no t.v., computer or phone.  I don't even have a clock in there, just a reading lamp or two.  It is a peaceful place to retreat to and read. 

 I have accumulated lots of books on my bookshelf in the past few years.  Many I have read, many I have not.  I decided that my 27 day challenge was a perfect opportunity to thin out my collection.  I don't feel too bad getting rid of books that I haven't gotten around to reading, as most of the books that I purchase either come from a thrift store or a yard sale.  

My personal Challenge
Day 10-

I thinned out my wardrobe back in March before going on vacation, so today's "27 FB" was a tad bit challenging. I still managed to come up with 27 items from my closet to get rid of.  Most of us run on the 80/20 theory; in which 80 percent of the time we only wear 20 percent of our wardrobe.  I know that this is true for myself.  I probably won't even miss these pieces.

Today the things that I "flung" were: 1 bathing suit, 2 scarves, 1 wallet, 2 skirts, 1 tote bag, 2 pairs of shoes, 1 sweater, 1 pair of pants, 2 necklaces, 11 tops, 1 dress and 1 pendant and  bracelet.  

The items that I gathered from days 1-9 were donated today to the Junior League Repeat Boutique.  This helps their inventory and it keeps me from being tempted to reclaim any of these things.  Gracie, the manager, was thrilled to receive my donation!

My Personal Challenge
Day 9-

My 27 fling thing today happened in my sewing room. In effort to reduce the over abundance of fabric in my sewing room, I spent some time being selective about what types of fabrics that I truly do not need.  

I make chemo caps, lap robes, walker pockets and surgery pillows for the Baptist Hospital so cottons and knits are all that I actually need to keep in my reserve.  

Anything else I can pass along to others.  In my supply I  found large pieces of velvet, terry, felt and thermal knits.  If you can use any of these, please let me know.  I have purged well over 20 yards of fabric today.

I am finding that the further that I go into my challenge, the easier it gets to let go of stuff.  

My Personal Challenge 
Day 8-

I did my "boogie" today in my master bathroom.  This was a bit harder than I thought it would be. 

 In the bath you have mainly towels and consumables (shampoo, conditioner, shaving cream, toilet paper, make-up, tooth paste and such).  Since I just purchased new towels and passed on the old ones, I knew I would not be "flinging" any of them. 

I did however find a few personal care products that were either brand new or still had lots of life to them, some hair accessories and a handful of jewelry. 

My cabinets and drawers look so much nicer after doing my "27 fling boogie" in the bathroom today.  They seem to get "out of whack" so easily.  

I decided to do a second weigh in since I was already in the bathroom with the scale.
Total weight loss to date is 48.3 lbs.  

My house is feeling thinner already. I am very pleased with my progress!

My Personal Challenge
Day 7-

     
     
           
Don't let the seemingly small stash of paper goods fool you; I accomplished a lot during my "27 Fling Boogie" today. My stationery drawer is now more organized than it has been in years!  

All this cleaning out of stuff is not just about flinging things, it is also about putting each zone that I pare down in a more orderly fashion.  I used to be a Girl Scout so I know that we are supposed to "leave a place better than we found it".  When it came to the top drawer of my desk, that was not hard to do. 

 I had a greeting card organizer box right in the middle of my drawer, it's just that 75% of the cards were not in the box.  They were scattered about , making it nearly impossible to find anything.  I had several stationery boxes in the drawer with only one or two cards left in each of them.  These boxes were taking up precious space.  

After I paired my cards with their envelopes and put them in the organizer, I found that I had close to 100 mismatched pieces of stationary, note cards and envelopes left over.  I bagged them up and counted this bundle as one "flung" item. So along with 26 greeting cards that I discarded, I met my quota for the day.

My Personal Challenge-
Day 6

                For my "27 Fling Boogie" today I decided to see what I could come up with from my computer room.  

I discovered boxes of brochure blanks and a zillion note pads that my DH has brought home from various trade shows.  I use a note book each day for tracking my "to do" list, but by the time I go through the pads in my cabinet, he will have accumulated a half a zillion more. He will never miss the 1 or 2 that I have removed.

 I found that I had two boxes of staples with  5,000 staples in each box.  I don't know about you, but I don't believe that it is possible for two people, who do not work from home, to go through 10,000 staples in a lifetime!  Out went a box.

The pen and pencil population is a whole other situation itself.  I had a hard time opening my desk drawer because of the number of writing implements it contained.  This is the result of, not only trade shows, but also companies who are constantly handing out pens in effort to advertise themselves.  A few pens may have been inadvertently heisted from some unsuspecting cashiers.  

I am so glad that I have taken on this 27 day challenge. With 3 weeks to go, I truly think I will see a difference in my home's "waste line".  In the even that I do not, I may have to revisit my challenge again in the winter.  Time will tell.