I have been on a mission to declutter and prep Natalia's room for her arrival in late July. I have to admit this task has been a little daunting because we are also preparing to put our house on the market at the same time...so needless to say my decluttering calendar has been moved up. I really had to ask myself what was needed on a regular basis, what was really just clutter and what did I need for her when she arrived - to assist with determining what needed to be put into storage and what needed to just vacate our lives lol. So, this past Friday night I decided to tackle the massive amounts of office supplies I had in the room. See, 13 - 14 years ago I had embarked on starting a consulting business in another city. After determining I really wanted to move back to Nashville, I packed all that stuff up and moved it with me. Four moves later and the stuff is still in this house and still primarily boxed up. I decided to go through each of the boxes and realistically determine if I was going to use the items or not. I found so many supplies that I didn't know I had it was unreal. I even found some colored stickers for my moving boxes that I was about to go and purchase! I tell you the truth!!! So, I decided to take everything whether slightly used or not and make a decision - Keep, Donate or Trash. I am proud of myself in that I didn't really keep very much. I then decided to have a little contest on facebook for the box of donated items to select a person to receive the donated items for free. I was so happy, I found a wonderful home for the supplies and feel better about how they will be used going forward.

During this supply dump I also determined that I had a ridiculous collection of pens. I'm not quite sure where all these pens came from, but I knew it was wayyyy more than I could ever use. I embarked on what I like to call Pengate LOLLLLLLLL yes I am special!

[caption id="attachment_3764" align="alignleft" width="300"]<a href="https://thehappinessbucket.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/best.png"><img class="wp-image-3764 size-medium" src="https://thehappinessbucket.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/best.png?w=300" alt="THB Pengate" width="300" height="300" /></a> Wave one of THB Pengate[/caption]

So, I again developed my three categories, donate, keep and trash. The process although it appeared daunting went very quickly. Here is what I ended up with during wave one of pengate. Initially, the pink vase was completely filled with writing utencils. Yes, I had a problem.

So after completing wave one I then moved on to wave two. Wave two consisted of another blue box (really about the same amount of pens as wave one).

All in all, I can now say that I have a manageable amount of pens in the house and I feel good in that I was able to donate useable pens to a friend starting his own business and to the winner of my impromptu teacher contest. Although pengate was a seemingly small task it cleared two spaces in my room and allowed me to get rid of unnecessary clutter.

Overall, I went through majority of the supplies in the room and was able to declutter many of those items I would never use. This process was a little overwhelming at times because I had to think...what will happen if I need this after I get rid of it. Really??? and then I had to be honest with myself...if I haven't used it in 14 years I don't think I need it now and if I do I can always go purchase a new one...yes I would be spending money but in reality what is more important in our life today? To hold on to supplies I MAY use in 5 more years...or to clear the space I know we will use tomorrow?

Decluttering is about being honest with yourself...come on and join me on this journey to Happiness!

Did you like the information we shared with you in this post?  If so, please signup to receive our posts via email or join one of our social media sites.  We would love for you to be a part of our THB family.