This week I tackled my laundry room which may seem like a strange place to go on only week 2, but my laundry room is right off my kitchen and because of that is a catch all for…well ALL.  If it does not fit in the kitchen or panty- it will fit in the laundry room!  If someone needs to put something away but they don’t know where it belongs…it will fit in the laundry room!  Need to hang a hat, coat or bag…it will fit in the laundry room.  Some days I think everything has found it’s way into my laundry room making it hard to fit actual laundry in there!

So I started by taking everyone out of the room and evaluating whether I need to keep it.  I literally asked myself

“Do I use this?” or “Do I love this?“

This was surprisingly hard because- it’s the laundry room for crying out loud.  There should be nothing sentiment in there!

Then it hit me- I have incredible guilt when it comes to getting rid of stuff.  Someone spent money on these things!  I feel awful getting rid of them.  So then I asked myself my other question,

“How does this space make me feel?“

Guilty, Unproductive, Chaotic.  Just looking at the room as it was caused me anxiety.  This question helped me remember that my goal is not just a clean home, my goal is to simplify and create a happy home.  For that to happen these things need to go.  I don’t need 2 ice cream makers, even though they were both very generous gifts.  I don’t need to keep all those towels and cloths and rags.  We don’t use those extra workbooks I bought the boys.  We don’t paint.  We don’t juice anymore.  Why do I have 2 different cordless vacuums and why am I keeping my old cameras???  Do I need 31 Thirty-One bags?  (I told you this room is a catch all!!!)

Part of my guilt is also that I hate to be wasteful.  I hate throwing things away so I bagged all the towels and rags up for the local animal shelter.  I am donating the juicier and ice cream machines to a local thrift store that helps support women of domestic abuse.  I called my friend who runs a daycare to see if she can use the art supplies.  I also recycled many of the old electronic stuff so that they don’t clog the landfills.

Week 2 is officially in the books!

Now I have a laundry room I can actually walk into.  The only things in there are things we actually use.  I actually have empty spaces on some of the shelves!!!  Now when I look into my laundry room I feel Calm, Productive, Organized!

What project did you work on this week?

Feel free to join my 52 Weeks to a Happy Home support group on on Facebook!  We can keep each other accountable and motivated.

52 WEEKS TO A HAPPY HOME

Here’s to a happy home, one week at a time!