Decluttering Tableware and Decor – A Journey to Sparking Joy

Welcome back to this week’s Decluttering Series as we read through The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo and share our experiences as we declutter our homes.  These last two weeks we have decided which spaces we will be working on; next week we will be wrapping up this journey of tidying and share how we felt about this journey to sparking joy. These lovely ladies have been a part of the fun and have some wonderful tips to share as they have worked on thier spaces.

A Journey to Sparking Joy:
Anderson & Grant
Making it in the Mountains
DIY Passion
Dwelling in Happiness
Zevy Joy
Cupcakes & Crinoline
Lost in the Found
The Happy Housie

I chose to work on our cleaning up our tableware and home decor this week.  Last week I worked on our kitchen (which has been wonderful to enjoy) but really did not include our fine dishes and garage that is also filled with tableware.  We are the lucky recepients of many beautiful sets of family china or serving pieces.  Since I mostly use my China or dishes (of this nature) for decor, I also decided to include our home decorations as part of this week’s assignment. Both of which, reside in our side garage that serves as a multi purpose laundry room.

This has been something that I have dreamed of organizing and making a cleaner space for our home.  The dishes started out on shelves stacked carelessly with risk of breaking or falling at any time. A solution was necessary if I wanted to keep most of these things. Truthfully, it is something I had already started working on these last few months.  I did decide though, since reading this book that I would apply what I have learned as I move forward in this garage space. That is exactly what I ended up doing this last week.

Last summer we had added nice boxes and baskets for storage.  Even though storage is not highly encouraged when decluttering, it was necessary in this space because these were important family pieces I was not willing to part with.  The same goes for the decor I keep in our garage, I change most of it out seasonally and it gets used regularily throughout the year in our home. By putting these things in boxes and baskets I was able to protect our dishes and make the space feel more organized. The one major difference this time around when working on decluttering, was that it was so much easier for me to know what I wanted to keep because of my new criteria for tidying.  It freed up so much space in this multi purpose room and has given me a little more joy when it is time to do the laundry.

I wish I could say that this entire room was complete and clean to the standard of the book’s expectations, but it is not.  I will still need to be cleaning and organizing.  The biggest take away this week (similar to last week) is that I feel a confidence now as I declutter.  A easy process where I run through a simple checklist in my mind when deciding what to keep and why.  I am looking forward to sharing some more final thoughts on this decluttering process and hope you check to see how these other lovely ladies’ weeks went. Thanks so much for stopping!