Summer Declutter Challenge - Day 1

I don't know about everyone else, but I have a hard time keeping the clutter gone on a regular basis.  It has a tendency to build up until it's completely overwhelming.  Things get shoved into boxes, bags, and totes, then shoved into a closet or basement or garage where it's "out of sight, out of mind."  Since we put the addition on the house, our old dining room became my new office.  Unfortunately, the office has become the collecting ground for anything and everything that doesn't have a home that no one wants to take to the basement or to the garage or can't find a closet to shove it in.

It seems overwhelming to me to try to get the entire house clean in one fell swoop.  Whenever I try to take on a whole room, I bite off much more than I can chew.  I drag everything out in an effort to sort it out and organize it, but run out of time for one reason or another, and everything just gets shoved back and ends up being a bigger mess than it had been to begin with.

I was reading a blog that I could relate to with the demands of having children in the home, homeschooling, having children with special needs, and all the normal chaos of daily schedules.  Add into that mix a 3 month old baby, and it's almost impossible to find a large block of time to get anything significant done.  Especially when said baby has finally (after 10 weeks) mastered nursing.  And now refuses to take a bottle from Mommy.  Period.  Add in the cystic fibrosis and he wants to feed more than your typical baby.

I know I'm not going to go from clutter to clean and organized overnight. I need to do some every day, but how do you define "some?"

In the above mentioned blog, she had attempted putting 100 things in their place each day.   "In their place" includes garbage, recycling, storage, etc.   The thought of that many items alone overwhelms me!

But her effort has inspired my personal challenge.  Same idea, different number.

Now the Rules:

1. The magic number is 20 items - must be put in the donate box/bag, thrown away, or put away. (Or have a garage sale, then donate whatever doesn't sell!)
2. To help with this, the 2 older kids (5 and 11) must each donate/throw away 5 items per day.
3. More than 20 can be done in one day, but if I do 50 today, I still have to do 20 tomorrow.
4. I must photograph and post my stuff each day to keep me accountable to myself.
5. Items may be from any room, as long as it gets DONE.

I suppose I should get started - Today is Day One, so here we go :)

Want to join in on the challenge?  Let me know what you got rid of today!!