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No, I don’t mean the movie! I mean cleaning out the unnecessary things from your house and your life! With my Fiancé and I moving soon (hopefully), I have spent the last few days taking a good look around the apartment at stuff we need, and stuff that is just clutter..

The beginning of the year is a great time for getting rid of the clutter around your house! 
How many things do you have around the house that are just there?
They don’t do anything.
They don’t hold a memory.
They have no purpose at all…
And yet there it is! Cluttering up your house!
Now take a good long look around..
How many items do you have like that?
Enough to fill a box up?

What about those clothes you never wear?
Some are too big.
Some are too small.
Maybe you’ll fit into them eventually..
Or maybe you won’t. 🤷‍♀️
Maybe it’s your favorite shirt!
But are you ever going to wear it again?
No! Because you’ve outgrown it, and you have a new style now!
It’s time for it to be someone else’s new favorite shirt!

How about those old boxes in the closet full of junk?
You know, the boxes full of stuff that never had a place.
The stuff you ‘might need someday‘.
The toys you kept for the kids you might someday have.
The old picture frames you were someday going to use.
The old notebooks and sketch books you were given that still remain blank.
How much of that do you ‘really‘ need?

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Why should I purge and how does it help me?

1. It makes your house look cleaner! Getting rid of all of the old junk cluttering up your house makes it look cleaner and less cluttered.
2. It helps those in need who could actually use those items! Getting rid of your old clothes and dropping them off at a local thrift shop or homeless shelter can be a big help to those in need, especially in the winter months when warm clothes are a necessity!
3. It can make you more productive! When we declutter our surroundings, we declutter a part of our brain too! People are actually more productive in cleaner work environments. So, if your house is cleaner, your brain and body feel more energized to do whatever it is that needs done around the house!
4. You make more room for new stuff! Hey, I never said you would keep the house clean! Sometimes getting rid of your old stuff just makes room for the new things in your life! If you get rid of the stuff you don’t need, maybe you’re really making room for the stuff you do need!
5. It can help you move on from the past. Memories are great! But what about that old box of stuff from your exes in the back of your closet? Do you really need that? Or is it just taking up space in your house and your mind? It’s time to move on and give those items a new home. Donate that old hoodie from your ex! Give those old stuff animals they won you at the fair to some kids who will cherish them! And throw out those old movie stubs, you truly don’t need them!
6. It gives you more time for other things! Less stuff in the house means less you have to clean! And less time cleaning means that you can do the stuff that you love, not the stuff that you have to do.

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What can you purge?

• Old clothes (that you no longer wear)
• Clothes with holes in them
• Dishes (that you never use)
• Coffee Mugs
• Old Games (that you never play)
• Old Craft Supplies (the ones you save for that project you’ll never do)
• Random Toys
• Broken Items (You’ll never fix them, trust me!)
• Books (The ones you’ll never read and don’t need)

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Now, I’m not telling you to purge EVERYTHING…
If you think that you’ll use the item again, great!
But if you’re never going to use it, and it’s just sitting there collecting dust, maybe it’s time to let go of it and let someone else have it!
Bring it to your local thrift shop and maybe someone else will discover a use for it!

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What I have Purged:

I have gone through all of my old clothes and filled up a rather large box of them that I no longer wear and/or need. I have also filled up a small box of random junk that we didn’t need anymore. I have gone through the kitchen and cleaned out unnecessary duplicates (why do we need three cheese graters?!) and I even found a few books I can part with (because I no longer need guitar music books or pre-algebra how-to books)! Another thing I went through was home decor we no longer liked. We found a few things here and there that we decided to get rid of, but the majority of our stuff was clothes.

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COMMENT BELOW! Do you do a purge of your stuff every year? What are common things you get rid of when you do? What are you doing to make your new year a productive one? I want to hear your thoughts!

And as always, smile, have an amazing day, and Happy New Year!!! 🥳🎉🎊