PurJuly 2015 Day 1

So, day 1 and I'm already cheating. (I actually did this purge Sunday night...my excuse for breaking my own rules is that July is shaping up to be CRAZY busy for me...and I make the rules, so I can break them!)

Cabinet: Before

Anyway, if you're following along on the FB event, you'll know that this is the "After" of the banner photo. This was the cabinet that had gotten so outta hand, that it was opening itself back up after I closed it. Soooo many glass jars, lids, etc, etc....

All the contents laid out

Anyway, here's what got purged outta this cabinet:

The canning supplies went back with
their brethren in the garage, the jars
 and tins will be given away or recycled/trashed
 and the mixing bowls will go to
my nephew who is moving out on his own. 

And here's how the cabinet looks now:

I actually think I could purge a bit more,
but, for now, I'll take this as a victory.

 Bonus tip: Did you know some peanut butter and mayo lids fit canning jars? You can see this in the foreground of the last photo. What items do you reuse in your home?

PurJuly 2015

Train of thought: My arms are flabby...must look into one of those 30 day arm challenges...those are sorta fun...*Google Image arm challenge*....Suns Out, Guns Out, that looks like just what I need...What's this? Conquer the Clutter? I've been wanting to do that, too....40 bags in 40 days, huh?...well, I don't really follow Lent, obviously....but, I could revive the PurJuly Challenge. I've been thinking about doing it anyway....*Posts on FB asking if anyone is interested*....whoa! There's a ton of interest....*Thinks about it for the next 24 hours solid*

So, that's how PurJuly was revived! I tried the PurJuly Challenge awhile ago, (Whoa...just figured out it was 4 years ago...) but didn't really stick with it. What I did do was pretty awesome, though. So, without further ado, here is the PurJuly Challenge for 2015:

1. For every day of July, you must *make an effort* to spend 30 minutes tidying, sorting, organizing, etc *1* spot in your house. If you'd like, fill out your name in the PurJuly area planning doc and start filling in your 31 spots.
2. That's about it for rules. I know that guilt is a poor motivator and since that's not really how I roll, I want this to work for you. Think about a goal that you've set for yourself in the past. What "rules" did you put on yourself to get there? Use those. We're all different and have different motivators. For some, it's competition (that's so NOT me...) Whatever works for you-use it!
3. If you want to take pictures and send them through to me, that would be awesome. You could also be awesome and fill out data on your purged items using this tracking form. Or not. Whatever works.

If you are going to be posting pictures for the PurJuly Challenge, please tag them with #PurJuly so we can create a tagboard later on. The pics on this post are some of the terrible areas that I'm posting so that I will be forced to see this through.... Scary!

If you need a little motivation, I'll be posting various blogs and resources throughout the challenge, but for now, check out this one that one of my good friends and colleagues, Erin, posted when I was asking on FB if anyone was interested in this.

Scary? Hell, yes. Needed? Again, hell, yes. Do I think I'll actually stick with this and post every day in July? Probably not. Do I care? Not really. It's the thought (and effort-however imperfect) that count. Come be imperfect with me? (and perhaps a tiny bit tidier/less stressed/calmer?)

Wow. I'm truly touched!

I recently gave my presentation entitled "Recycling doesn't matter....and what to do about it" to a class at Clark College. My friend/colleague Erin has had me present to her class a few times now. After my presentation, she asked her students: "What was your favorite part of Terra's talk? Which idea or suggestion did you like of hers the best or are you most likely/excited to implement in your own life?"

Here are a few of the answers:

I'm so happy that I could be inspiration for positive behavior changes. These words are precious to me. Thank you, Erin! Thank you to the students in her class for the participation and willingness to listen to this crazy gal who is super passionate about lightening the load we're putting on this planet in a nonjudgemental and encouraging way!

If you have a group that you think could benefit from this presentation, please email me. I love this work!