Does this picture somewhat resemble your own bookshelf at home? If so, then perhaps it’s time to do some clearing out!! And what better time than now, right? So this is your challenge, today is the day you tackle your bookshelves at home, or even at work for that matter! And lucky for you, I’m here to encourage you in the process with step-by-step suggestions.

First thing’s first, and the first thing you need to do is completely clear off your shelves. I’m talking, taking every single thing off.

The next thing you need to do is get a dust rag and some cleaner, and clean off those shelves from the very top to the very bottom. Wow, look at all that dust! But it will look so much nicer, and is now all ready for it’s new display.

Now it’s time to really get down, and go through every single book, one by one. Make three stacks (if you have big boxes that would help), one for KEEPERS, one for SELL/DONATE, and one for NOT SURE.

• KEEPERS: These are the books that you find yourself reading often, or referring back to regularly. If you haven’t read it in years, no matter how useful you think it might be one day, you probably don’t need it.

• SELL/DONATE: These are the books that are in good condition, that you don’t need anymore.

• SELL: You can sell these books at a local bookstore, on ebay, Craigslist, or on sites like Cash4Books.net. Or you could always Yard Sale them.

• DONATE: If you have some books that you like to read, but don’t really read very often, consider donating them to your local library. That way they will always be near when you want to read them again, but not taking up space in your home.

If you have some good Christian books that you don’t read very often, see if your church has a library that you could donate them too. You can still check them out to read when you’d like to, but again they aren’t in your home just wasting space, and you will be able to bless somebody else by sharing the book. If your church does not have a library, maybe you could suggest that they start one! You could even organize a book drive

Of course you can always donate to charity, or list for free on Craigslist or in your local paper.

• NOT SURE: These are the books that you aren’t sure if you are ready to part with yet. Once you have gone through all of your books, and have them all in their own piles, go back through your “NOT SURE” pile and make your final decision about what you want to do with these. Really try to lean towards LESS!

• And of course if you have books that aren’t in such hot shape anymore, recycle them.

So, now that you have your KEEPERS lets put them back on the shelf. Hopefully you have significantly less books than you did before. If not, then maybe give it a day or two, and then revisit your KEEPERS pile to see what else you might be willing to part with.

Now, don’t just line your books back on the shelf in any old way. No, this is the time to beautify it!

Doesn’t this bookshelf look so much nicer than the first?! Here are some tips to get this look:

• Leave space between the books to put pretty little trinket, candles or picture frames.
• Place books together in descending order; from tallest to smallest, or vice versa.
• Place some books vertically; stack some horizontally.
• Use baskets, totes or other decorative containers to store items on the shelf.
• If you have magazines to store, consider making a magazine organizer (out of a cereal box!). This is a great way to keep all of these flimsy stacks neatly displayed. Use a cute scrapbook or wrapping paper to make it chic and fun!

Nice and tidy, now that’s so much better!!

Now it’s your turn, and I would LOVE to hear how you did! Just write a post on your blog, and then link back here to share with the rest of us, or you can tell us all about your job well done in the comments section. And as always, you are welcomed to share with us any other way that you have minimized your home as well. Encouraging each other to simplify our homes, one section at a time! Thanks for joining in!

Okay, I realize that this isn’t exactly a “priority” area of the home to be decluttering, nevertheless, if you have kids, then you probably have the same problem as I do of stacks of used up coloring books and buckets of broken crayons. In my home, cleaning them out was long overdue! And since I just cleared out my daughter’s collection of useless coloring paraphernalia, I figured I’d pass along some helpful little tips.

My first clue that her coloring books needed to be tossed, was when she would sit down to color and would flip through the whole book, then complain that there were no clean pages to draw on. Why in the world did I keep putting it back into the overstuffed coloring box? I finally got the hint, and went through all of her coloring books. The books that were mostly colored, I pulled out the pages that were still good. And the books that only had a few pages that had been colored on, I pulled out the used up pages. Here is my before and after:

These are the ones that I tossed, and the pages that I pulled from them that were still useful. Now I can actually close the plastic container that holds all of the coloring supplies! And Jada doesn’t have to flip through twenty books to find one clean page to color.

Next I took a look at all of her crayons filling their box. Just about all of them were broken, mostly into tiny little pieces that I know she wouldn’t pick up and color with. I decided they had to go. I set aside two sets of big, full sized crayons (two of each color), then I took the rest out. Now her little box is nice and tidy, and she doesn’t have to swim through waves of broken crayons just to find one big enough to color with. Here’s my before:

I did not get rid of the broken crayons though. No, I have another purpose in mind for them. I filled up three large yogurt containers with these crayons, and put them in the craft drawer. For Jada’s next birthday, I plan on her helping me make Crayon Muffins with these, to give to her guests as party favors. I think she will really enjoy making them, and I think it will make her feel good to give her guests something from herself.

Glad that little project is over! And now Jada can actually sit down and color without having to sort through a bunch of trash.

Maybe you’ve been inspired in some way to clean out the junk from your home as well. If so, I’d love to hear from you. Just write a post on your blog, and then link back here to tell us about it! Hope to have you join in! Minimizing our homes, one section at a time.

Okay you guys, it’s that time again! This week my challenge to you all is to clean out your jewelry boxes! Somehow most of us girls end up with a ton of jewelry, the majority of which we really don’t wear. Now, I know some of you LOVE to accessorize, so maybe this is a two-part challenge. If you are one who loves a lot of jewelry, remember what the Lord told us in 1 Peter 3:3-4, “Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God”. Don’t you see? You don’t need to dress yourself up with flashy jewelry. It is so vain to carry pride in how you adorn yourself. Perhaps it is time for some of us to begin embellishing ourselves with the beauty of who we are inside, instead of hiding behind some sparkly “bling”!

So hopefully now we are prepared to purge the unnecessary. Now, I’m a pretty simple girl when it comes to jewelry. I wear my wedding band, and my hoop earrings. Everyday. That’s it. Well, except for special occasions. But, I still had a lot of jewelry just hanging out in a big jewelry box that I’ve had forever. When I started getting my yard sale stuff together a few weeks ago, I decided it was time for that big ‘ol jewelry box to go, along with most of the stuff in it. (Sorry I didn’t get a picture of the purge when I did it, but I’ll try to make you feel like you were there . When I started going through my jewelry collection, I was really surprised at how much of the stuff that I had been keeping was actually things that I have not really worn in many years. Here are some of the things that I was able to clear out:

• Jewelry from ex-boyfriends.
• Stuff that I’d been hanging onto just because I’ve had it forever.
• Duplicate style things (ie: blue stone necklaces, dangly diamond earrings…)
• Things that didn’t “go with” any clothing that I own.
• Broken pieces; an earring without it’s match.
• Stuff I haven’t worn in the past year (or two).

And here are the things that I kept:

• Anything legitly sentimental (like jewelry from grandma).
• Things that I wear often.
• One or two sets of fancy jewelry for special occasions.
• One or two casual, cute pieces for times when I just feel like wearing a little more.

And now is a great time to be purging your unwanted gold. I ended up with a palm full of gold necklaces, rings, bracelets and earrings that I plan on selling for a little extra mula. Here is an excellent resource for how to sell your gold jewelry wisely. I haven’t sold mine yet, but I’m anxious to see what it’s worth.

And, like always, if you revisit your jewelry box again for a second and even third purging, you may, like me, find that there are even more things that you are willing to let go of.

Thanks for reading along, and if you have joined in the fun, I’d love to hear from you! Just write a post on your blog, then link back here to share your accomplishments with us all! Minimizing our homes, one section at a time. I can’t wait to see how you did!