This is the year. How many times have you said that? This is the year I’ll lose weight, get organized, get in shape, get my finances in order, and on and on.
For many years now, this was always the year I would clean out the basement. Except it never actually WAS the year.
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Oh for sure, there were attempts. Every so often, I would spend several hours on a weekend trying to make a dent in the mountains of boxes and bins, only to end up frustrated that I didn’t seem to be making any progress and bitter that I had missed whatever I had skipped that weekend to work on the basement. Whatever progress I made was soon erased as new items came into the house and old ones made the journey to the basement -- rarely to be retrieved again.
We have lived in our house for ten years. It has a big basement, but since the day we moved in, it has been the dumping ground for everything we weren’t currently using -- from holiday decorations to sporting equipment, out-of-season or outgrown clothing, and bin after bin of forgotten items. Our original plans to create a living room area in the basement were shelved, right along with all of the other stuff.
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To be honest, I had basically given up on the basement. But our three children are getting older and that extra space began to feel increasingly more necessary. Teenagers need a safe place to hang out with their friends -- one with supervision, but also a little separation. We were lacking that.
I began to reconsider. Could I actually clean out the basement if I really, really tried? How hard would it be? How long would it take? How much would I have to get rid of to make it work?
I love all of those decluttering TV shows where the expert comes in and helps you go through all of your stuff and then redecorates and surprises you with the finished space. But that’s not real-life. If we want it done, most of us have to do it ourselves.
And that’s how The Clutter Project was born.
I gave myself two weeks to devote to decluttering and reorganizing the basement, and I made video diaries to share what I learned along the way.
To increase the odds of success, I recruited two of my favorite decluttering experts to give me their best tips -- Cas from Clutterbug and Dawn from the Minimal Mom. I love both of their YouTube channels and their down-to-earth, practical advice. They’re both moms too, so they understand the challenges of kid clutter and sentimental items.
To say it was a journey would be an understatement. I uncovered a lot in those two weeks about myself, my clutter, and why it’s so hard to let go of stuff. It was funny, emotional, and very eye-opening.
I hope this show will help and inspire you to tackle your cluttered spaces, whether that’s the basement, the garage, your closets, or wherever! We all have parts of our house -- or our life -- that are a little messy. Let’s dive in -- and finally make THIS the year.
You can watch The Clutter Project, Monday at 8:00pm on Local 4+.