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Taming the Chaos ~ "Traveling Light" Contest!

2:21 AM, Jul. 31, 2007

Weigh in to win!

Lose weight fast!

I lost 54 pounds in 2 days!

How much can we lose in a month? One lady who is doing this on another forum lost 200 pounds in books and 20 pounds in old cassette and VHS tapes. Another lady lost 17.5 pounds just in children’s shoes!

The rules:

1. The items must leave your possession. Moving items from the house to the attic or the attic to the garage doesn’t count. Things I’ve bagged up for goodwill don’t count until they actually are donated.

2. Normal weekly household trash doesn’t count (you can’t count the paper plates and banana peels you throw away after lunch.)

3. People don’t count: You can’t weigh your college student before he heads off to school and add him to the total.

4. Things being replaced or upgraded don’t count. Someone is going to ask, "What if I get rid of my van?" If your van dies, and you plan to replace it, it doesn’t count. If, however, you are downsizing to being a single vehicle family, or hauling rusting vehicles from your curb to the dump, then that would be decluttering.

5. Yes, items in the garage count!

6. Use common sense. Don’t over burden yourself with rules, just declutter! Traveling lighter, and enjoying a tidy home are the goals.

The Prize:

The real reward is in the restful look of a clutter-free room, the pleasure of opening a cupboard and seeing only those supplies you really need, and the ease of keeping things tidy. Having less clutter to tend is a huge prize in itself.

But, just to make things fun, I’ll be doing a drawing for Gift Certificates to The Old Shoolhouse Store! Entry deadline is August 31st. After August has run its course, Keegan and Keianna (my 2 and 3 year olds) will draw the names, from (drumroll...) a trash basket.

$25 worth of gift certificates will be given away: The first name drawn will get a $20 gift certificate, and the second name will get a $5 certificate. The winners will be announced in my first September Article on September 4^th.

How to enter:

For every 50 pounds of declutting you have one entry! Leave me a comment (or several comments as you go) sharing your progress! If you clear out 450 pounds of clutter, you’ll be entered 9 times!

Feel free to comment more than once each week, sharing as you go! It will help us all in our decluttering momentum to hear a play-by-play of your efforts and pounds lost!

You don’t have to give details beyond "weighing in", but specifics help encourage others! You can just post a simple, "50 pounds lost," or you can itemize as I did below:

I don’t get to enter my own contest, but I’ll share my own progress and weigh in each week! I

What I’ve lost so far:

7.5 pounds of children's socks

5 pound box of assorted items in the garage

41.5 pounds of stuff from the tiny back bathroom and laundry area! (Prescription bottles from 5-10 years ago, laundry products that were in the cupboard from the previous owner when we bought the place 5 years ago, plant food for plants that died 5 years ago...)

Hat tip to mamabeck for inspiration!

Domestic Chaos Tamer and Homeschool Mom of Five, Dell enjoys writing about home, heart and hearth.

Posted in tamingchaos, 19 comments, Link
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Comments
Untitled Comment

2:57 AM, Jul. 31, 2007, posted by LadyM

This could be fun! We moved a few months ago and have unpacked the majority of it, but we are down to the nitty gritty! I have 5 boxes of books that are leaving, a bunch of stuff that we need to finish going through (mainly my dear husband's boxes) and then onto the many, many, many containers of outgrown children's clothing. We have decided it is time to thin out the collection. So, now besides just boxing it up, taking it to Half-Price books, Salvation Army, whatever, I get to weigh it first! What an incentive!!

Awesome idea and even better timing!

4:39 AM, Jul. 31, 2007, posted by Maleah

We're in the middle of moving out of our house and into a already furnished apartment for a year or so. So that means we have tons of stuff that we have to get rid of or store. We donated probably around 10 pounds of clothing earlier today and still have more to go. Great incentive to go ahead and let go of some of this stuff and really weed out the clutter!

Untitled Comment

9:50 AM, Jul. 31, 2007, posted by andijeane

This is such a great idea! Thanks so much for the incentive and for putting some fun into the decluttering process.

~Andrea

Untitled Comment

5:42 PM, Jul. 31, 2007, posted by FoggyMountainFarm

Oh this is great! Count me in. I need to unload some things.

you can find me at http://laurawilliamsmusings.blogspot.com

Untitled Comment

10:33 AM, Aug. 1, 2007, posted by Mom2PCAJD

Count me in!! This is something I have been needing to work on anyway, and you have just added a way for me to be accountable to someone else. I am almost excited to declutter now =0P

Untitled Comment

6:34 PM, Aug. 1, 2007, posted by 3boyz

Hi!!

I just got up from surgery and the boys (all of them big and little alike) have been having free reign for 7 weeks now. I have decide to spring clean and then I ran across this contest on another site. Perfect for me.

So far, I have lost.....

64 lbs in shoes and clothes! That's all the clothes and shoes that no longer fit thanks to losing 80 lbs. Can I count the weight loss as well. (That was done all by me a year ago... its just all sat on the bottom of my closest since then.

39 lbs in left over stuff from a garage sale 2 years ago. We kept it around thinking we will save it for the next one. Who has time for one of those?

17 lbs in car seat, high chair, and miscellaneous baby stuff to my friend who is pg with #4.

Okay ... next stop is the office closet, the playroom, and the boys bedrooms. I still need dh to go through the rest of the garage and don't even get me started on the side yard.

HUGS!
Misty ... who has a closet, an office, and a wee walkway around the van in the garage now!

Untitled Comment

7:20 PM, Aug. 1, 2007, posted by Dell

Great start, everyone! I'm thrilled to read of your losses just in the first few days! Just think what a month can do--keep it up!

Every bit counts!

Keep posting comments as you declutter! The comments do help keep us all encouraged to declutter more as we read of your sucesses!

Travel Light! -Dell

My first 50!

3:31 PM, Aug. 4, 2007, posted by andijeane

Hurray! We got to some decluttering today; just got back from Salvation Army. Here are the stats:
40 pounds of clothes
10 pounds of shoes and videos

We also threw out 15 pounds of garbage, but I'm not sure if we have to keep things at an even 50. I'll keep a running tab on my blog.

Thanks again for starting this! We're having fun with it.

~Andrea

Update!

12:05 PM, Aug. 5, 2007, posted by Maleah

This weekend we've gotten rid of 3 twin mattresses, bunk beds, a crib, a dresser, a toddler bike, two strollers, and two filing cabinets. The couch and loveseat haven't made it out yet. So probably at least 300 pounds of stuff.

Then on top of that we've gotten rid of at least 100 pounds of clothes, bedding, shoes and toys.

I've also gotten rid of at least 20 pounds of magazine clippings, homeschool worksheets, and other papers. I scanned them all into my computer so they're easily accessible now and don't take up any actual space.

I still have more laundry to go and some more stuff needs to be packed up.

Untitled Comment

9:32 AM, Aug. 6, 2007, posted by FoggyMountainFarm

My Progress Report for August 6, 2007:

Donated to a local thift store:

Clothing & Shoes: 34 lbs
Household items: 12 lbs
Toys: 1 lbs

Taken to a used bookstore:

Books: 5 lbs

TOTAL Pounds Lost: 52

The freedom!

1:37 AM, Aug. 7, 2007, posted by Lfilli

My family recently did a huge overhaul. Our garage was so full we couldn't walk through it. Our house had clutter in piles EVERYWHERE. We were in a constant state of CHAOS. We had had it. We went through that garage... it was almost empty. We probably got rid of about 1,000 pounds of stuff. That's just the stuff for Goodwill! We filled 3 large city trash cans with debris! YIKES. We are getting ready to put down wood floors so now, our garage that was full of stuff we never used now holds almost our entire house! The thrill of moving the stuff we WANT back into the house will be great. Room to move and an EMPTY garage. This was a very freeing experience for a self described pack rat. Great contest! My one warning is once you get started, you won't want to stop!!

Untitled Comment

12:17 PM, Aug. 7, 2007, posted by ElCloud

My very first entry!! Yippee!!

Pounds decluttered so far:
* 15 lbs. toys given away
* 20 lbs. old clothes to trash
* 6 lbs. misc. items to Freecycle mystery box
* 10 lbs. to Goodwill
Total: 51 lbs.

April

Fantastic idea!

3:07 AM, Aug. 11, 2007, posted by servingtheKingofkings

I'm in. What a great timing this is :)! We'll be donating tons of stuff (accumulated over the years) for our homeschool co-op's fund-raising garage sale (Aug. 24-25). I haven't weighed any yet. I'll have to report about the weight later.

Untitled Comment

7:23 PM, Aug. 13, 2007, posted by ElCloud

I reached my second 50 lb. entry!!

Pounds decluttered so far:

* 15 lbs. toys given away
* 20 lbs. old clothes to trash
* 6 lbs. misc. items to Freecycle mystery box
* 10 lbs. to Goodwill
* 7 lbs. clothes and shoes given away
* 16 lbs. magazines given away
* 14 lbs. books given away
* 6 lbs. clothes to Goodwill
* 2 lbs. books to church library
* 4.5 lbs. children's books to Goodwill

Total: 100.5 lbs. (this includes the previous 51 lbs.)

April

How fun!

11:03 PM, Aug. 14, 2007, posted by keldaris

I have four children who have been greatly overburdened by toys and the mama (that's me) has just always collected stuff for later. The week before last we did a Bedroom Bootcamp for the kids. We decluttered and (mostly) organized. Then I went through my closet and gave away 2 huge garbage bags full of stuff! The total: 75lbs. Woo hoo! I'm inspired to get rid of more! NOW, only if I could get rid of my hubby's stuff!

Untitled Comment

4:30 PM, Aug. 16, 2007, posted by Jenn in AZ

Wow, what a great idea! We are decluttering right now and have already taken a suburban load of stuff to Goodwill and thrown away a lot of useless stuff. It feels GOOD, but it seems never ending.

About the books--you might want to check out paperbackswap.com . It is a book swap site and I love it. I have gotten some really good, useful books out of it and sent off some of the books I wasn't interested in, but were treasures to others.

Glad to see your site! I came here through ElCloud and found her through 5 Minutes for Moms.

Untitled Comment

11:16 AM, Aug. 23, 2007, posted by ElCloud

Woohoo! Still gaining ground here ... and have my third entry. Hope to get a fourth entry before the end of the month, too.

Pounds decluttered so far:

* 15 lbs. toys given away
* 20 lbs. old clothes to trash
* 6 lbs. misc. items to Freecycle mystery box
* 10 lbs. to Goodwill
* 7 lbs. clothes and shoes given away
* 16 lbs. magazines given away
* 14 lbs. books given away
* 6 lbs. clothes to Goodwill
* 2 lbs. books to church library
* 4.5 lbs. children's books to Goodwill
* 10 lbs. of old coloring books to trash
* 19 lbs. of misc. stuff from bedroom and kitchen to freecycle
* 17 lbs. twaddle children's books off an overcrowded bookshelf to freecycle
* 1 lb. blood sugar monitoring kit we were given and can't figure out to freecycle
* 1 lb. misc. purses and bags decluttered
* 7 lbs. twin sheets and 1 curtain to freecycle
* 4.5 lbs. homeschool books decluttered
* 2 lbs broken crayons sorted out of the art supplies and tossed
* 5 lbs. Highlights magazines to freecycle
* 1 lb. baby stuff given away

Total: 168 lbs. (this includes the previous two entries)

April

Oops!

3:05 PM, Aug. 23, 2007, posted by andijeane

I forgot to post! Here's everything so far (including my first 50):

40 pounds clothes
10 pounds videos, shoes, misc.
15 pounds garbage (mostly old clothes in poor condition)
50 pounds of old homeschool workbooks and papers (yikes!)

Total Pounds Lost so Far: 115

I've gotten rid of 153 lbs. so far.

2:27 AM, Aug. 31, 2007, posted by servingtheKingofkings

67 lbs. of books
51 lbs. of clothes
35 lbs. of misc. household stuff

Total: 153 lbs.
I'm loving this :). Continuing to declutter...

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