Wanting to both eliminate clutter and donate to a favorite charity, my daughter and I committed to this popular internet challenge - on January 1 we each discarded one item, January 2 called for two things, and so on with more items filling the box each day. Clothing, books, kitchen gadgets, anything goes. (Why on earth do we own six blenders? And a dozen jars of anchovy paste? Yup - food counts too.) It starts out easy, with too-tight jeans and chipped coffee mugs being tossed, along with a bunch of Tupperware with no lids and old VHS tapes. By the second week I had cleaned out all the closets and every drawer in the kitchen (a shoe box of ballpoint pens saved me mid-week - how many pens does one family need, anyway?)
It was Week 3 where I started to sweat, and the rest of my family became suspicious. Doubtful that his missing NASCAR t-shirts were really all "in the laundry" (as I claimed), my husband installed a lock on his toolbox. It might seem simple to find 22 unneeded items in the entire house, except that yesterday I scrounged and barely got 21! Decision time - does a pair of socks count for two? And what about old sneakers - if I remove the laces can I call them four pieces?? Mom, have you seen my iPod? (Busted!!) And my Batman hat?
And then I looked out the window...
I know, I know...this is an evil thought, but I've often wondered who would notice if I relocated them to that farm up the road late at night...checking off not just one-two boxes for Em and Ellie but also the vast amount of supplies they've accumulated - four water buckets, five hay tubs, a half-dozen winter coats with Velcro straps, leashes, collars, containers and bowls for sunflower seeds, orange peels, animal crackers and apple cider vinegar...don't forget all the mineral blocks, dewormers, anti-itch spray, antibiotic paste, grooming brushes, hoof trimmers, one hoof-trimming stand (crafted by my husband but yet unused because I can't coax the goats into it!), rubber sleeping mats (partly chewed), brooms (for sweeping poop), wheelbarrows (for stowing it) and ten large garbage cans full of locust pods collected this fall. The minimalist challenge? Sure, nothing to it! Give me a number!
Here's my suggestion. Do this - but start in February. Only three fewer days than the months around it may not sound like much, but this amounts to 90 items. Trust me on this! Mom, what happened to the TV? And why are the cats hiding under the bed all the time?
Feel free to come admire my new un-cluttered house. (Just don't take off your coat while you're here!)
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