De-cluttering the easy way!

First, I got rid of 10 gift bags today (actually more but I was too lazy to count them all, LOL). We keep gift bags when we get them because "they can be reused" or "they can be used for crafts". And yes, sometimes we do reuse them or cut them up for crafts but I guess every now and then you have to cull some because every single holiday and birthday brings more more MORE! My son's birthday is coming up in May and we'll get more so yesterday I just freecycled the entire stash (that was after all the ripped and majorly crumpled ones had been tossed a month or so ago). I got a response in a few hours and this morning they are gone. I hope she gets good use from them!

So - how to declutter. I often hear the advice to pretend you are moving and decide if something is important enough to pack up and move with you. I have a new, even faster way to declutter. Look at your stuff and decide "is this important enough to try and remove the cat pee stench from it?". Yes, that's right, yet again my cat is helping me with my decluttering endeavors. I did post about the last time he did this didn't I?

I'm not happy of course. First about the mess but second because he's getting on in years and I think this is a symptom of that. He's the sweetest cat I've ever known and I'm not looking forward to him passing.

But, and I'm being completely honest here, today I was totally able to see the silver lining in this. Because of this, there is now a major culling of stuffed animals and dolls happening.

First, I had to throw away half a garbage bag full of stuff that wasn't washable.

Second, in collecting the laundry basket full of peed on stuff, I realized that at least 3/4 of it would not be missed if it were to quietly go away. So I'm going to wash them and then sort through them and give away things that aren't loved.

Third, even the cradle full of stuff that wasn't peed on has me thinking. Of that, again, about 3/4 of it doesn't get played with. So I'm going to wash them too (since they are rather grungy - maybe that's why the cat thought they were good to pee on?) and then work on culling a bunch of those too.

But did you do the math there? Yup, a half garbage bag full, a laundry basket full (I should mention it's a large laundry basket and it's now overflowing with toys) and a cradle (large) full. That doesn't include what dolls and stuffed animals my daughter has in her room. And I only have two kids. Whoa.