I am really excited about this summer challenge. Now I walk through my house making mental notes of what goes or stays. I also thought it would be fun, especially for you, if I added some prizes to this challenge. I am going to make it really simple to enter, all you have to do is link up your Itch to Pitch post with Mr. Linky, and you are entered. If you do not have a blog and still want to enter just email me or send me links to your before and after photos (with permission to post them) and you will be entered as well. This week I will pick a random winner on Friday and announce it next Monday. This means you have until Friday to link up your posts and be entered into the giveaway.
This week the prize is a Motivated Moms planner. I love Motivated Moms and it really is a great tool to keep you on top of the clutter! If you are not familiar with Motivated Moms, I encourage you to check out their site.
The prizes will change each week, and if you are interested in donating a prize in exchange for a little link love please send me an email.
It is time for some accountability ladies! I cannot wait to see how everyone did this past week getting rid of their clutter. Even though I wanted to throw out everything in my house, last week I focused on our school shelves. Since our year is finished and I was headed to the HEAV Convention, I knew I needed to get rid of the old to make room for the new.
I am not sure if other homeschoolers struggle with deciding what to keep and what to pitch, but this year I threw caution to the wind and pitched a ton. I saved all tests, review sheets, writing samples, and some art, but everything else is now at the recycling plant.
Remember when you are pitching to recycle, re-purpose or give away as much as possible. What might be clutter to us, could benefit someone else. That being said, don’t give away your broken junk. If it is trash throw it away or recycle it!
It was hard to really capture the amount of school clutter I pitched, or in this case took to recycling or the used curriculum sale… but I am sure all the homeschoolers will appreciate my efforts.
School bookcases before.
School storage to organize.
When a piece of curriculum has dust on it, maybe it is time pitch it and try something new!
Headed to the recycle bin.
Gone, thanks to the used curriculum sale.
Finished.
If you don’t have time to tackle a large task, like an entire bedroom or garage, how about going through one or two drawers a week? Over time your efforts will really add up and you will have a clutter free home by the end of the summer.
On my sidebar I added the Itch to Pitch button and with the code below. If you want to add the button, but aren’t quite sure how to do it, just copy the code from the box and put it in your sidebar, easy as pie!
Time to link up. Remember link to your Itch to Pitch post and not your blog’s homepage. Also please link back to The Happy Housewife, so others who read your blog will be able to participate, the more the merrier, right? Finally, please visit the other Clutter Queens who link up and give them some encouragement. We all love comments!
Jen@Balancing Beauty and Bedlam says
ok, I can appreciate that, but it’s embarrassing to admit that I have 8 of those school shelves (all of which are much bigger than yours). It’s so hard to pitch school stuff and I know I just need to pass it on. I have six huge Rubbermaids of stuff that I pulled this week from shelves (and that’s only a start) and yet I don’t want to give it to Goodwill since they won’t appreciate it. I Missed our used book sale, so I think I am just going to tell my friends to come get stuff. I started itching to pitch on way too big of a level and now have boxes covering my family room and kitchen (and I don’t have a post for it yet). 🙂
Oh, I love books so much but they have overtaken my house. I’m tackling it this summer.
Christina says
My first task really was to create me a work area. I HAVE a desk..But havent used it. LOL. And well after cleaning it off and out I have a workspace. Better pics with the next area promise. 😛
jolyn says
We had just tackled the project I linked when you posted your challenge last week. Organizing my daughter’s craft shelves isn’t exactly on the same level as your homeschooling endeavor! But it was still very rewarding to get it done. I hope to keep up with a project every week or so, but it may be closer to a drawer or two rather than a whole room;)
Thanks for hosting this challenge to help motivate!
Nell says
Well, I’m loving this challenge! 🙂 I’m going to tackle my kitchen drawers today for my challenge and maybe my art cabinet. I wish that I had a digital camera so you could see the befores and afters! Oh well, it’s the pitching that counts! Thanks for the motivation, my dear!
Denise C. says
I love how your bookcase is “cubbies” instead of shelves! Also I noticed a bin on the top with what looks like a chalkboard on the side of it- you have gotten my creative juices flowing!
Cat Mom of 3 says
Thanks for the challenge! I began cleaning out kids toys and clothes first and what a way to dive in, (read huge job). Now I can finally walk through my upstairs hallway without running into toys. We had a garage sale and sold a ton and the rest went to charity! I feel good!
Erin Lasky says
I am excited about this! We are on “staycation” this week, so I don’t know when I will get to it, but with rain in the forecast I’m sure I will have a chance.
My task will be homeschool books and papers as well. On the last day we celebrated, and forgot to clean everything up. Can’t wait to pitch all the non-essentials!
~Erin
Angie says
My kind of challenge. I’m all over this.
Angie says
p.s. Doing the swagbucks thing thanks to you. I’m liking it so far!
Anne-Marie says
I’m grateful for the challenge because I needed motivation to tackle all of the clutter around here….and believe me there is plenty to last all summer long.
Katie says
All three kids just “donated” about half of their toys! Go figure! A sure sign the world is ending (or they have too much “stuff”)!
Liz says
This is a great idea! I can’t wait to get busy and de-clutter something!!
GritsGirl says
Thanks for the motivation….I look forward to future posts!
Katena says
I am 8 months preggers. I went through a phase that everything needed to be done at that moment. Since we have a move coming up in November I started simple. I started at the bottom of the house cleaned out the closet and put everything in clear bins and thru away stuff we did not use or gave away. Then I started in each room and did a overhaul of the boys closet and organized them. Now every room is done and all I have to do is keep them that way. I am an organized freak and everything is in its place. With hubby leaving shortly before delievery, a birth coming up, school starting and a move everything is done. All we are waiting on this little one only 8 weeks. Today my sitter called and told me she was expecting twins and needed some clothes I had some maternity clothes that were too big and was able to get rid of some clothes and was able to help her in the process. I told her all the baby stuff I don’t use she can have it. So that is my story and thanks for helping me pitch the stuff we needed to.
Lawanda says
You go girl!!
Since I got the itch to pitch last year, I won’t do this challenge. But I will say: It is a nice feeling to have a tidier house because there aren’t (as many) piles everywhere! 😉
Mama Bear says
I just finished pitching 3 bags of stuff from my daughters’ room! Now they are in there playing and have way more space! I am going to tackle the homeschooling books next, when I have more time. Thanks for the inspiration.
Lily says
I plan to declutter my WAY TOO MESSY house this summer by spending ten minutes each day organizing and throwing things away. I hope to follow through to a cleaner house.
L2L says
I soooo love the fact that we have all week to get this done!!!! And can’t think of anything else to get me in gear more than a chance to win a planner, yeah baby!!!!!!
Julie says
Your shelves look great. My post is about my front closet, but I’ve been tackling the “school room” this week too, so I should have plenty of fodder for future posts. 🙂
Beth@Not a Bow in Sight says
I am going to do all the closets in the house…I’m going to post pictures later this weekend of the before 🙂
paula says
i do not have a camera to post any pictures but we did the garage last weekend….emptied everything out into the driveway tossed anything we have not used in a hundred years and reorganized when we put it all back in….took hours but with 5 not so excited kids helping i think we did great…can now park 2 trucks in if we wanted to…
Patti Bright says
I definately need motivation. I got the living room, fairly empty but need to work on the dining room & go from there
Kristin says
Finally got a chance to post my pics. It’s been about a week and we are still loving the whole cubby system I created in our entry closet. Everything finally has a home!
The Savings Ninja says
I’m a little late to the party but I SO need something like this to help me get motivated. Thanks for hosting this!