Tuesday, May 3, 2011

14 April Challenge: Project "Purge" {Wrap Up, Random Info, a Video and a Link Party!}

Maybe it's the fact that I haven't been getting much sleep.  Or the fact that life just smashed me with crazy busy greatness {are you kidding, baseball season, spring concerts, home demolition!  More on that in a minute!}.  Or the fact that I just am, that random.  Yes, I know that last week's inspiration post was random, and today is dose numero dos of randomness.

So let's back up.  Last month I challenged everyone to a life simplifying purge.  To purge at least thirty items within the month.



I shared tips and purges from our Entry, Living Room, Kitchen, Bedroom & Bathroom.  And boy did I start out strong on the selling front!  Seriously, I made a total of $308.56.  That's like two weeks worth of groceries.  Or $308 dollar menu items.  Or $308 worth of excess clutter I had taking over our home that wasn't being used.  And yes, some things are still lingering on the Craig's famous list.  And I still have a pile of bedroom items to take a moment to list on eBay.  And a giant bin of items to take to Goodwill.  But at least the room's are purged!  What a WONDROUS feeling!

In fact, I only listed and sold items from my first couple room purges, and then life hit us with a crazy storm and the selling process got delayed a bit, but I can't wait to see what else I can heave on out of here with a little play moola in my pocket to boot.  It's so addicting.  In fact, the amount of items I still have left, is calling for a garage sale.  And our town holds a giant festival along with garage sale days, so we have until June to get one set up.  I will absolutely blog about our triumphs or errors as we go!

So back to this big fat stack of 308 dollar billz.  As some spied in this post here... I splurged on a mini reward!



Yeppers, because FLIP is shutting down shop, I found a pretty decent deal on it, it was down to $180 from the original $200 price tag, plus I found an additional 15% off coupon code and free shipping... so total it was around $165, for a total savings of $35 on the 2 hour 8gb model.



Leaving $143 dollars to spare.  And the flip takes up oodles less space than the rug, canisters and baby items that I purged!  It tucks neatly in a dish on top of our shoe station for quick and easy grab and shoot access!


I am pretty excited all that purging paid off and I was able to gain a little reward.  And although I haven't played with it much yet, it will be a great addition to this here blog!



And a button for you:



IHeart Organizing






I can't wait to see all of your success and feel your happiness in letting go of the clutter.  It's so freeing!  I am keeping the link up party open extra long this month to give everyone a chance to finish up!  I know, it doesn't happen over night or in a month.  Plus, don't forget to take note of the things you said goodbye to and why.  And remember, we can purge at any time, it's great to do a quick purge sweep of each room, each month to ensure we don't let clutter engulf our homes!

So let's talk about May.  A new project?  A new challenge?

Well, I have some SUPER DUPER exciting news.  Maybe more for me than you, but none the less, this month WE ARE GOING TO BEGIN REFINISHING OUR BASEMENT!  That's right, for those of you newer to this blog, last year our lower level flooded and it took out our carpet, trim, doors, furniture, etc...  We have been working on assessing the problem and planning on ways to future proof it from happening again.  We will be installing new flooring, painting, installing trim and doors and redoing the stairs leading to the lower level {the stair carpet also had to be pulled}.  And we will be starting over the next few days/weeks.  This means that our house and world will be crazy busy flipped upside down and chaotic, and I CAN'T WAIT!  Plus, the kiddos bedrooms are going to finally get finished up as we begin moving things around again, so there is a lot in store for our family and you as blog readers!

So I am deeming May, "Project: Projects".  That's right.  We are tackling projects of all sorts this month.  Painting.  Organizing.  Building.  Oh my.  And the party at the end of the month will be all about linking up this months completed projects.  No limits.  Any single project accomplishment is worth acknowledging, so the link party should be grand and fun and full of ideas and inspiration.  I am SO excited I could squeal with delight!!

That being said, we have been running around like chickens with our heads cut off {all though, I have never seen what that actually looks like and the thought is quite disturbing}.  Please forgive the fact that I am a week out on emails, lacking sleep and a tad flighty.

I have a lot of comments to get back to from the last couple of posts, but one trend was "How do you keep your home so clean and organized with three kids?  How do you get them to help?  How do you keep them out of your things?"

Well, that's absolutely deserving of it's own post, however, I will leave you with this "says it all" funny little video I found that my kiddos made with the new Flip, while I was vacuuming one day.... {you may want to turn your sound down, just a warning}


Note: credits were cut off.  Realized it way to late in the game to fix it, so much to learn still.  And what's up with the baseball glove?  Michael Jr?  And sorry for my little screamer mocking the most annoying sound in the world {flash back to the movie Dumb & Dumber}.  It's fairly typical around here.  Hopefully all you mommy's can now see that life is just as crazy here as it is there {or more so}  And I adore that!

See, another tangent post.  I have a feeling this is the new trend.  So how much did you rake in last month from purging?  Any fun splurges to reward yourself?  Who felt incredible once their rooms were simplified?  What project{s} are you going to tackle this month?  Anyone taking on a big landscaping project now that spring has sprung?  Spray painting with delight after months of withdrawals?  Want to see more videos?  Who else has kid's as crazy as mine?



I decided a little challenge would be fun! This month we are spending the next thirty days saying goodbye to thirty things!  Wanna Join in?  Take photos and blog about your awesomeness as you go!  I am hoping to do a giant, "We did it!" celebratory post where we can all link up our purging success stories at the end of the month!

14 comments:

  1. Congrats on your purge and reward!

    I had a yard sale this month and got rid of quite a few things. Some were just clutter, some were outgrown kid clothes, and some were tearjerkers like my mom's china set. BUT they all have new homes, and the couple who bought my china were excited about it!

    I'm using my proceeds from the sale ($161!!!) to fund my playroom/guestroom redo. Hopefully I'll be able to link up that as a completed project here in May!

    Can't wait to see what projects you'll be doing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was just thinking to myself, how does she have a vase with rice untouched within the reach of her boys when I saw the gloved hand take the plunge. That's how. Ha!

    Congrats on your successful April and good luck in May.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've taken 3 car loads (I drive a yaris hatch back so there's not a ton of room) to Goodwill. And I've already filled up another box. Later today we're taking 2 more (hopefully final) boxes to Half Price Books to sell back. We'll probably only get about $10 for 2 huge boxes full but it gets them out of my house and I don't have to move them.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wahoo for purging purchases! I've sold a few items to the tune of nearly $100, but I'd like to have a yard sale within the next few weeks, so maybe we'll have more.

    SO EXCITED YOU'RE GOING TO RENOVATE YOUR BASEMENT!!! You'll do such a great job and I'm excited to see how you tackle it. Any white trim in your future? ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Where did you find the Sale on the flip? Or the coupon code?

    ReplyDelete
  6. @Hilary - I just googled for it, you can see the code used above in the pricing "savings15". Thanks!! :)

    xoxo,
    Jen

    ReplyDelete
  7. I finally got my post up on how I purged around the house last month. Your entire blog inspired all the purging I did!

    The reward? Peace of mind and knowing everything has a home!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Purged every room in our house! Made $172 at our yard sale and then took most of the remaining items to goodwill. Still have a few big ticket items to sell on CL but i will be dragging my hubby to Ikea next weekend to get some expedit shelves for the kids rooms.So excited! Thank you for the inspiration!!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh Jen! Thank you for posting that video clip! I honestly thought you had 3 children who were so well behaved, didn't make a mess or muck about. I am always so in awe of the tidiness in your home but watching that makes me realise my kids are 'normal'. Thank you!

    Am looking forward to your post on how you get it all done with the 3 boys. (I've only got 1 boy - and a daughter - and that's one too many! LOL)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Jen,
    I just wanted to tell you that I am a fairly new recent follower and I LOVE your blog! It is one of my new favorites!
    -Kristi :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Your boys are absolutely adorable!! Can't wait to see you use the flip right here on the blog :) Yay on your new purchase - great savings!

    ReplyDelete
  12. We took on the challenge! At the end of April we hosted a 4 family garage sale and our grand total for all 4 families was over $1,000.00!!! We still took a large load to donate but our nice little profit went towards our vacation this summer!! As a group we purged and made decisions to clear out a lot of items. It felt good and made us all vow to be much more careful with our spending. Thanks for the motivation to get the ball rolling!

    ReplyDelete
  13. You inspired me to research and see if a few things I had were worth selling on eBay and so far I've made $290 and have more items to list this weekend! We're getting ready to move across country so we had some items listed on CL because I just want to have LESS and we made about $800 there so far. We also took two car loads of stuff to Goodwill. Thank you for the inspiration to simplify.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I was wondering where you got the picture of the Love keychain that's above the shoe cabinet in this picture? My last name is love and I would adore it for our house!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for taking a moment to join in on the conversation! I read and appreciate each and every comment, however, I will remove any comment that I believe to be inappropriate, malicious, or spam-like. I would love for this comment section to be used as a place to engage in purposeful dialogue, I only ask that everyone remains constructive and considerate.

All comments will be moderated and may take a moment to appear.