My Personal Challenge
Day 24-

My DH walks into the kitchen with an arm load of clothes.  When I asked him what he was doing, he said that he might not have 27 items.  I asked him (with a grin on my face), "Are you doing the "27 fling boogie" with me?  He proudly counted his items that he had gathered to donate.  He had in his stack 6 pairs of shorts, 22 t-shirts, and 13 short sleeve shirts.  For his first attempt during my 27 day challenge, he comes up with a whopping 41 items.  Way to go! I told him how thrilled I was and just how excited they will be at The Junior League Repeat Boutique to receive his clothes. When a man is that willing to go overboard, overages are okay.

I told him that I love to buy clothes for him, but occasionally he needs to pull from his wardrobe and pass some things along.  It got to where I could not fit all his t-shirts and shorts in the drawer. But he had to be the one to thin things out, not me.  I wouldn't want him trying to decide what to keep and what to get rid of in my closet and drawers.

With just 4 days left of my "fling thing", I need to be selective as what areas of my home in which to glean from.  I truly want to "see" a difference.  I feel a difference for sure!

If getting rid of 729 things seemed too daunting, join us for these last few days.  Everyone has a 100 or so items that they can let go.

Giving feels so good!

My Personal Challenge
Day 23-

The 27 items that I gathered to get rid of today were from my ridiculously large collection of shoes and accessories.  I'm sure that there are people who have a lot more than I do and I am not going to judge them on that, but for me, it is a bit suffocating. I think that my daily wardrobe selection would be a lot easier if I had less to choose from.

How did I accumulate over a dozen pairs of boots and a half dozen strands of pearls?  These aren't even things that I wear everyday.  It seems like such a waste.   It only makes sense to pass some of this stuff along to someone else.  Scarves are a whole other story.  I love them, I buy them, but I hardly ever wear them.  That's how I used to be with hats.  I had a nice collection of pretty hats, but I finally came to the realization that I am not a hat person.  I got rid of all of them.  All except my baseball caps. I just discovered a few years ago on a cruise that they can actually be a helpful accessory item.  Caps can keep your hair from going crazy in high winds and they are perfect for "bad hair" days.  As my personality goes, I now have a stash of close to a dozen of theses babies.  After all,  you have to have different colors to match different outfits.

I went through my jewelry today as well and managed to come up with a "baker's dozen" between my necklaces and earrings.  I have a bunch of pretty necklaces, but often find myself not wearing a necklace at all.  I couldn't purge as many as I probably should have because I had that strong feeling of "I might wear it" come over me.  For now though, I am still making my quota of getting rid of 27 items a day.  I  have committed to get rid of 27 each day for a total of 27 days.  Yes, that is 729 items and  I am still holding my own!

My house is feeling so much lighter with a total weight loss so far of 253.4 lbs.

My Personal Challenge
Day 22-

Today I collected a bit of bric-a-brac.  I don't really have a lot of "extras" in this department as I "pared down" quite a bit when we had the living room painted a few months ago.  But, all of us have something that we can give away. I did manage to, once again, find my quota of 27 items.

 I mentioned it earlier, but for those of you who are joining us a little late, all of the items that I gather from My Personal Challenge, are being donated to the Junior League of Memphis Repeat Boutique Thrift Store (3586 Summer Avenue).   Every dollar that they take in at the store, goes directly back into the community.  It truly is a "win-win" situation;  I thin out my home and I support the people of my community at the same time.

To see some of the projects that The Junior League of Memphis supports, visit:
jlmemphis.org

With just 6 days to go in my challenge, I am still going strong.

I wonder what I will find tomorrow....

My Personal Challenge
Day 21-

I will admit it; I enjoy yard art.  Although personally, with the exception of a classic item or two in the front yard (a pretty pot or iron piece), I prefer for my lawn accents to be in the backyard.  I think a lot of little knick-knacks in the front yard can look junky, taking away from the curb appeal of a home.

With that said, I have collected a number of things to tuck into my backyard flower beds since we moved into our home 20 years ago.  But with constant exposure to the elements, even the nicest garden treasures can begin to look rough after a period of time.  Occasionally I will go through and get rid of items that have become broken or faded and replace them with newer fresher "finds".  I say finds because most of my lawn accents were purchased at yard sales or rummage sales.  It's hard to appreciate pretty "new" accents when there is a bunch of broken stuff hanging around. 

My Daughter mentioned recently that she felt I had just a little too much stuff in the yard.  My purging efforts were obviously overdue.  I figured my 27 day challenge was a perfect opportunity to attend to this task.  I will say, the removal of a couple dozen garden goodies has given my yard a fresher feel.

Is it time for you to clear your yard of some unsightly statues, broken pots or tangled wind-chimes? 

Weight loss to date-226.4 lbs.   Loosing weight never felt so good!

My Personal Challenge

Day 20-

This journey that I have been on for the past 20 days is showing me a lot about myself and my areas of weakness and compulsion.  Today's "27 FB" was a prime example.

 I saw these cute little pins in a local fabric store a few years ago.  They were made out of coordinating fabrics that came from a fabric sample book and were embellished with various buttons and fibers.  One of the ladies working at the shop was making them and had them for sale. 

 I knew that I could make one if I could just find a pattern.  With just a little help from my friend, Google,  I found simple directions on the internet. I knew in order for them to turn out the way I wanted, I needed to get my hands on some designer fabric sample books.  My husband's office was located next to the store where I discovered the pins, so I decided to ask a lady who worked there if she would mind saving some sample books for me and that I would come get them.  She said that she would be happy to.  A week or so later she walked over to my husband's office with twenty or so sample books.  The fabrics were beautiful.  I could not wait to make my first pin.  I made several and showed other people how to make them.  I gave them sample books so that they would have their own "stash" with which to work.

After I got over the "newness" of this project, the remaining sample books sat idle in my studio along with lots and lots of other materials that I have gathered for other "great" projects.

I seem to have a pattern going where I will get excited about  a new project, track down all the needed materials and then jump full steam into making whatever it is.  The excitement then soon wanes.  A "new" idea will come along and the cycle repeats itself.  

Luckily I am a very thrifty person and am able to find lots of what I need at yard sales and thrift stores, so I don't have a huge financial investment in most of my art supplies. I also have lots of art friends that I trade with.  My frustration comes from me hesitating to get rid of things, especially in my studio.  My theory is that I might need it for a future project. Today I "flung" 24 fabric sample books.  I kept a few just incase I decide to make more flowers.  

If these flowers sound like something you might like to try, visit this site:  http://blairpeter.typepad.com/weblog/2006/03/fabric_flowers.html

My Personal Challenge
Day 19-

  

Today was a second go round for thinning out books during my 27 day challenge.  When my first "27 fling boogie" of reading material proved to be surprisingly painless, I decided to "dig deeper" to see if I could let go of even more books.  This turned out to be a successful venture. 

Just like day 11, I discovered books that I had acquired, but had never read.  I sat down on a little bench in my reading room and read the first page of several of these books.  If they sounded like something I would like to read, I put them back on the shelf, if not, they were added to my give away pile.  

I also decided to pass along some of my "favorites" that I had been holding on to.  I am not one to reread books so there was really no point in keeping them.

 *I keep a log of the books that I have read so that I don't make the mistake of re-buying them.  

My bookshelf looks so much better now.  In the future, I am going to think twice before bringing in new reading material.  I have so many books that I have not read, that I will be busy for some time!

My Personal Challenge
Day 18-

A customer of mine asked me the other day if I was seeing a change in how my house looked now that I had been at my challenge for over two weeks.  

I think she was shocked when I told her , "No". When I walk through my house, things really do not look any different. I had been so optimistic about my efforts until she asked me this question. 

 To date I have gotten rid of 166 lbs. of stuff, so a change is being made somewhere. But where?

Most of my work has been in drawers and closets, but even in those areas, I don't see a significant improvement.  I am not a hoarder (not by my standards at least), but I am beginning to get a true grasp of the meaning of excess.  I have already done a "27 fling boogie" in my studio, but I was back in there again today in effort to further reduce my "over-stock" of art supplies and such.

I truly think that having so many materials to work with has been stunting my creativity.  I am finding that letting go of some of my rubber stamps, fabric and craft supplies is very liberating!  I will probably need to revisit this room again in the next few days.  Until then I press on...