Getting rid of some clutter!

As I had mentioned a week ago, this week was one of getting rid of things at our house! It was so nice to go through stuff and down size. Though I don't know that you want to see all our stuff that headed out the door, I do have pictures of a lot of it.



My main ways to get rid of stuff were:

• Return everything that belonged to someone else.


• Give stuff away to someone else that might enjoy it.


• Throw stuff away and recycle stuff.


• Box stuff up for a garage sale or giveaway.

The top pictures was my Sunday stuff. Returning some stuff, taking a magazine to my parents to read and a newspaper to our international student because her picture was in it.

On Monday we did some major going through in both kid's rooms. I don't have any pictures but we came up with a huge tote full of stuff, as well as a bunch of trash and paper to recycle.

On Tuesday I gave away some Maple syrup and gave a (good) book to somebody else to read.

This is a whole box of stuff is stuff I lent to a student friend who was wanting some props for her pictures. A bunch of stuff to go back to Mom and Dad's and also some cleaning stuff for the church building.
I find fun Magazines hard to get rid of, especially when they have neat tips that I might want to use later. I really enjoy both of these magazines (Martha Steward Living and Family Fun) but decided if I needed anything in either of them I could find it later online. I gave them to a friend and my sister and hope that they have as much fun looking through them as I did (and then they can pass them on or recycle them).
It is amazing to me how fast we can get a bunch of stuff to be recycled. It was so nice to get all of this out of the house!
Library books are ready to go back! Part of my cleaning spurt was actually inspired because I had gotten an e-mail saying I had a book over due. It was called "Spirit of the Northwoods" and I thought it was a kid's book. We totally went through the kid's rooms and pretty much everywhere else upstairs but now success! Finally I found it in my office, on my desk. Turns out it was a quilt book! Some stuff to return to a friend as well as some thank-you gifts and card.
Well I can't say these were causing to much clutter but we did have fun getting them ready to send out. I also enjoy thinking about how happy others might be to get a letter. This week we also had fun getting some presents ready and delivered. It is so much fun to share with others! The kids really enjoy it too.

Is your house ready for summer? What have you been up to lately?