I'm not going to lie, I love my Stitch Fix Box opening day every single month!

I love that they make me feel kind of cute as a forty-two-year-old-mom-of-three-with-one-kid-in-college by sending items that I would never pick myself and are a wee bit fancy for me. 🙂

I love that they force me a wee bit to step outside of my comfort zone.

And I love that someone else does all the shopping for me, and everything fits just right. 

BUT.

They are kind of pricy.

They're not always totally perfect. 

(Like this blouse. It's way too fussy with too many buttons and ties, and a little too low/big for me.)

I TOTALLY know that I'm paying for them to style me.

And for convenience.

And at this season of my life I absolutely love it and I will clip coupons every single day if it means I can splurge on something so frivolous.

However, there is no way on earth I would have splurged so big. for the first forty-ish years of my life 

So, this one's not a passiontely-penny-pinched deal.

Or some crazy amazing sale.

It's just one honest girl's thoughts on a serious splurge today.

Here's what I got this month . . .

White Kerianne Tie Back Halter $48 or $36 if you keep all five items after 25% off savings – I kind of like this one but don't think I'll really wear it? My 15 year old wants to try it out so we'll see . . .

Blue & White Tie Front Knit Top $38 or $28.50 if you keep all five items after 25% off savings – I LOVE THIS ONE!

Kellan Wide Leg Pant $90 or $67.50 if you keep all five items after 25% off savings – these are the coziest pants I've ever worn in my life but that is wayyyy too much for me since I'm not sure I'll wear them right now

Maroon Morocco Wrap Front Top $38 or $28.50 if you keep all five items after 25% off savings – I didn't like this one at all

Mackenzie Split Neck Sleveless Top $38 or $28.50 if you keep all five items after 25% off savings – I really like this one but they sent me a really similar one a few months ago that's not sleeveless, so trying to decide if it's worth keeping or not?

And, in all honesty . . .   I'm thinking I may only keep the tie knit front top and send the rest back (since I need to use my $20 styling credit on something, that one is perfect to keep. 

Because we've got some dream-crazy-big-now financial goals, I can live with just one fun little splurge, and send the rest back today. I definitely did love them all (at least a little!), but I'm okay without them all right now.

As I’ve shared before, there are 3 types of folks that I feel like need to consider a trying a Stitch Fix Box: 

1. those who have $20 to try it out as a gamble (the $20 will go towards any item you keep) and have enough self control to say NO to things that aren’t really awesome in their box (right now they’re offering a free styling fee, so you just need enough self control to send it back if it’s not in your budget and you don’t love what you get!)
2. moms who work outside of the home and need to feel pull together enough for work
3. anyone who needs a decent pair of pants or jeans that fit perfectly (they have the best jeans EVER, if you struggle with finding pants Stitch Fix is worth a shot at least one time!)

I'm soooo stinkin' excited about this!

Last weekend after cleaning out my in-laws home (as well as while listening to a Present Over Perfect on Audible . . . ) I was completely inspired to really do a serious clean out in our home.

I had no time for it, no energy for it, and truly no business tackling it during such a crazy busy season.

(Um……. I have an 18 year old heading to college in 10 days, a fifteen year old heading back to high school next week and an eleven year old beginning middle school . . . and I had just gotten home from a 17 day road trip.

Clearly I'd lost my mind.)

But I know all too well that once I get the itch to start de-cluttering nothing else will do, so I went ahead, let my work (and laundry!) pile up all around me, and decided to just go.

I (think?!) I'm so glad I did.

I spent about 1-2 hours each day (so much more time than I had!) and cleared out the dining room, the kitchen, the pantry (my girls helped with that!), the basement kitchenette, the basement storage area, entertainment center and guest bedroom closet . . .

. . . and goodness it feels so good.

 THIS MORNING . . . YIKES! For the record ~ my crazy girls do gymnastics on those pitiful mattresses ALL WINTER LONG. I made the mistake of letting them do that the first year we moved to Ohio, and they pull them out and play on them ALL the time. I did let go of the queen set today but am keeping the twin mattress ~ and am going to try to find some regular mats for them to do gym on from now on because it would be worth the expense (I'm afraid they'll hurt them selves on those after seeing how pitiful they were today!)

DURING

After

I still need to finish up the bedrooms and our linen closet, but realized my sanity (well, my husband's sanity), probably couldn't take it if I didn't take a week bit of a break for a few days first. 🙂

Here was my 2-step rules to tackle the STUFF each day:

• Choose 100 items each day for 5 days to get rid of in my home (these could be thrown away, donated, or given to a friend
• Keep only things in my kitchen that were either glass, metal, white or pale blue ~ all other colors are gone (except for water bottles and plastic cups, because my family would kick me out if I got rid of those too!)

As penny pinchers, de-cluttering is hard.

Being frugal by nature, I constantly think that I might be able to use whatever that thing is . . . an old apron that's covered in stains, an extra rubbermaid container that doesn't have a lid, that Dollar Tree container that doesn't hold anything any more.

I struggle with letting go of things, because I worry that I may not have enough money in the future to replace it if I need it one day.

And there's complete value in re-purposing our stuff when we can.

But.

Just because something has value, doesn't make it valuable to me right now.

So I let (a LOT) of stuff go.

I got rid of pillows I've decorated with in the past but really no longer love.

I donated dishes that no longer matched my style.

I passed on chairs that I've picked up at Goodwill for the last few years but no longer use.

WOO. HOO. 🙂 🙂 🙂

(Sidenote: I struggled with whether or not to donate or sell these things especially if I thought I could sell them if they had a little value, and then a sweet PPP reader mentioned that these things might be a treasure to the person who came upon them at the thrift store, so I decided some lucky person out there might just consider my donation a little gift, and that just made my day.)

Having the abundance of space in a few cabinets is glorious.

Finding a few things my son can use at college that we won't have to purchase is just lovely. (I found storage bins, a nightstand, a printer and several stacking baskets plus a huge stockpile of TP, Clorox Wipes and paper towels. SUCCESS!)

It.

feels.

so.

good.

Can I encourage you to consider purging a wee bit too?

If you struggle like I think most of us do with too much stuff, take an hour each day this week and tackle your home.

Throw out things that no one can use at all.

Share with someone else anything that no longer hold value to you (even . . . especially? if they might hold more value for someone else.

And get rid of the clutter that's overwhelming you today too.

(Here's a peek at what I've cleared out this week all in one place!)

If you’re new to the challenge learn more about what I’m up to over HERE, and if you’re like me and could use a little less clutter in your life, I encourage you to take on the challenge with me. It’s such a simple way to feel better about space (and really, just about everything), and I am so glad I decided to get started as soon as I got a little motivation to get to work. Leave a comment and let me know if you’re joining me ~ I love hearing from you!

More updates: 

• Crazy Clutter Challenge Day 1
• Crazy Clutter Challenge Day 2 
• Crazy Clutter Challenge Day 3

Crazy Clutter Challenge Day 3

If you missed my FB live you can watch it here.

It's day 3 of our Crazy Clutter Challenge ~ I'm feeling soooooo much lighter! 

Today I tackled my kitchen, and have a whopping 300 items gone. 

I'm racing against time today so I won't type too much more, but here's a few pics to give you an idea . . . 

Before . . . 

. . . just one of 82 million kitchen cabinets after . . . 

What the countertops looked like during (EEK!) 

And kitchen after . . .

My girls even joined in and cleaned out some loot in their bathroom too. 🙂

And here's my 300 items ready to donate (this doesn't include things going to the food pantry or some anything that made it directly to the trash can, but it gives you a good idea of the craziness we have going on over here!)

If you're new to the challenge learn more about what I'm up to over HERE, and if you're like me and could use a little less clutter in your life, I encourage you to take on the challenge with me. It's such a simple way to feel better about space (and really, just about everything), and I am so glad I decided to get started as soon as I got a little motivation to get to work. Leave a comment and let me know if you're joining me ~ I love hearing from you!

More updates: 

• Crazy Clutter Challenge Day 1
• Crazy Clutter Challenge Day 2 

Not sure what to do with all the stuff after you declutter? Check out DeClutter and get paid in cash for old CDs, books, phones and more the day after your items are received. Go HERE to learn more!

It's day 2 of our Crazy Clutter Challenge, and I'm a wee bit excited about all I accomplished today (I seriously wish I could spend a full day doing nothing but de-cluttering, because I feel like I'm getting so much done . . . this may extend all month long at the rate I'm going!) 🙂 

Today I tackled our mudroom, and easily came up with 100 more items to donate or throw away. I keep a “donation bin” of items that I find cheaply to donate to our local food pantry, that had that's turned into a donation nightmare in our back closet . . . here's a peek . . .

Before ~ and our donations all gathered up (I should have taken a better picture but have been racing today!)

And after. (Just look at that lovely floor!)

And here's our wayyyyy too full area by the back door that keeps kids school papers, magazines, junk and more . . .

And after.

WOOHOO!

Last but not least this is where I stored ooodles of just junk, and now this area is all cleared out too.

Success!

I'm making room for some glassware that my girls really wanted from my husband's parents home (remember, we're de-cluttering in some way to make room for a few more precious treasures), so I'm thrilled to have some new space.

I just love that.

The best part?

As I was de-cluttering I found $10 in rebates and $20 in Amazon Gift Cards ~ I basically got paid $30 to de-clutter my own stuff. (Can I just tell you how very happy that makes me?) 🙂 

If you're new to the challenge learn more about what I'm up to over HERE, and f you're like me and could use a little less clutter in your life, I encourage you to take on the challenge with me. It's such a simple way to feel better about space (and really, just about everything), and I am so glad I decided to get started as soon as I got a little motivation to get to work. Leave a comment and let me know if you're joining me ~ I love hearing from you!

Not sure what to do with all the stuff after you declutter? Check out DeClutter and get paid in cash for old CDs, books, phones and more the day after your items are received. Go HERE to learn more!

If you've hung out long at all on PPP, you know I love a good challenge.

And a de-cluttering-let's-get-rid-of-all-the-excess-stuff-becuase-it's-making-me-crazy challenge?

Sign me up for that. 🙂 

So, for the next five days, I'm challenging myself to get rid of 100 items every single day, meaning by Friday I'll have a whopping five hundred items in my house gone.

WOOHOO!

The biggest reason I was inspired to declutter this week is because we spent the weekend at my in-laws house going through 60 years of stuff.

And I want to make a wee bit of extra space to bring some of the really good stuff in without feeling overly cluttered too.

We found the neat glass price list from my husband's grandfather's barn (he was a glass cutter in the fifties), and I brought home a jug my mother-in-law has had in her basement since I've been in the family.

(I need to clip some fresh greenery for the jug ~ that's on my to-do list but it's been raining out today!)

We also brought home a few special silverware pieces, and I realized that I've had tons of stuff in my own home that I really don't love, so I wanted to make room for things I really do love in our home right now.

Dining room drawers before and after ~ I promise the pics don't show just how much better it is in there!

I gave away most of the glass and silver platters we received as wedding gifts but haven't used a single time in 22 years.

But I hung onto the kids faux silver tea set because my kids always loved a good dress-up-tea-party when they were little, and I wanted to hang onto the memories of the things we really do use.

I also went through a ton of books and really pared them down too.

And while I was cleaning, I found this happy little plain white milk jar and fun wooden spoons I've had forever and added them to my little coffee corner. I didn't spend a penny, but they've made me happy all day long as I've walked by!

If you're like me and could use a little less clutter in your life, I encourage you to take on the challenge with me ~ it's such a simple way to feel better about space (and really, just about everything), and I am so glad I decided to get started as soon as I got a little motivation to get to work. Leave a comment and let me know if you're joining me ~ I love hearing from you!

Not sure what to do with all the stuff after you declutter? Check out DeClutter and get paid in cash for old CDs, books, phones and more the day after your items are received. Go HERE to learn more!