Blog with Friends - The KEEP - DONATE - TOSS Buckets

Welcome back to another episode of Blog with Friends. August's theme is to simplify our lives, and I'm gonna do so by decluttering areas of our house by using the tried and tested method that I call keep, donate or toss. 

Because less stuff makes our lives easier!

Since we usually don't go away during our short enough summer break, I try to squeeze in some decluttering. 

And to visualize the process I labeled those movable bins accordingly: keep, donate or toss. 

Sounds straight-forward, right? It is. This is how it works:

• I move them to the area that needs to be cleaned up, let's say the bathroom cabinet. 
• I take everything out and place it in the appropriate bin. 
• "Donate" in this case means *take back to drugstore", and it's where expired meds go. 
• Containers with less than 10% lotion left have to go to the "Toss" bin. 
• Items that are in good shape and have a chance of being used in the near future (now that I am aware of their presence) go into the "Keep" bucket and will be put in the cabinet in an organized order. 

While going through my stuff I try to remember the 8 Habits of organized People:

1. Keep only what you need (and if you haven't used it in 5 years you don't need it anymore!)
2. Give everything a home = a place to live
3. Stock up on organizational gear
4. Write things down (and actually bring your list...) 
   
5. Create schedules and deadlines ("sometime" won't get shit done, as observed personally)
6. Don't procrastinate
7. Clean as you go
8. Purge regularly

I blogged about each of them in 2013, and looking back I can proudly say that I have adapted some of them. 

I extended #1 "keep only what you need" to "keep only what you need and love" because I have some purpose-less stuff that is pretty and makes me happy!

Not only have I internalized on these guidelines, but Colin has picked up on them, too. He has way too much stuff, and it's hard for him to keep it organized. Getting rid of some items literally makes his life easier, he said so himself. Success!

What do you do to simplify your life? Let me know in the comments below.

Now please head over to my friends' blog posts. Here's what they have come up with:

Karen of Baking In A Tornado has a simple and delicious dinner recipe for you Skillet Cordon Bleu Dinner
Dawn from Spatulas On Parade also came up with an easy and yummy contribution Parmesan Ranch Chicken
Tamara from Part-time working Hockey Mom presents the KEEP - DONATE - TOSS Buckets - a simple way that helps you cleaning out areas of your house.
Lydia from Cluttered Genius came up with a way to pimp up her old laundry room: Simple (On-a-budget) Laundry Room Update
Jules of The Bergham Chronicles created a list of Easy Ways to Keep Your Family Organized and on Track.
Rabia of The Lieber Family tell us how to Simplify Your School Year - today is actually Colin's first day as a 5th Grader, so I'll be looking out for this post in particular!