I did manage to get 3 bags filled up and out the door this weekend! Well, two bags and a box. Ok, and they’re not technically out the door all the way, they’re sitting in the garage until garbage pick-up on Friday. The point is I got some crap out of my house, yay! Old magazines, socks full of holes, packing paper from parcels, all gone, gone, gone!

Photo by Caitlin (me!)

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Reader Challenge!
Here’s a photo submission from Greg of Live It With Less. Greg says:

Got some spare time today, so here are my 3 bags ( well actually its 1 box and 2 bags)
Box is full of old house paint (some of its actually from previous owner), the bags contain the empty boxes from presents, electronic devices etc. Its good to keep these for a little while in case item has to be returned, but it all should go eventually when you are satisfied there is no problem with the product.

All this stuff go in the recycle bin and the paint will be dropped off at our local chemical depot.

Cheers
Greg

Photo by Greg

Way to go getting rid of all that stuff, Greg!

The winner of the The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life ebook is…
olga!
Please contact me within 3 days to claim your prize.

I hope everyone had some fun (or at least some success) getting rid of 3 bags in the Reader Challenge this week!

I usually try not to let my personal life interfere with this blog, but this time it has to.

The post announcing the winner of Reader Challenge will be delayed because I am attending a family funeral today. It will be up as soon as possible.

Thank you for your understanding.

Don’t forget, today is the last day to participate in the Reader Challenge!

Get rid of three bags/boxes (of reasonable size) and post your progress and success in the comments of that post for a chance to win The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life, an ebook by Leo Babauta.

For a simple way to get rid of stuff, check your closet! It’s the change of seasons now, so look through your winter clothing and see if you really want to store it all in your home until next winter. Will you really wear it all next season?

The winner will be chosen by random draw and announced tomorrow!

It’s time for another Clutter Cubed Reader Challenge!
Photo by Cliff

This week, I’d like everyone to get rid of three bags of something. It can be garbage/recycling. It can be clothes. It can be a jumble of things donated to charity, as long as it’s three bags (or 3 boxes) full of stuff gone from your house.

The challenge ends on the 21st, so you have one week. Leave a comment to say if you are participating. You can document your progress in your own blog (leave us a link here so we can check it out!) or here in the comments. Photo documentation is awesome, and can be uploaded to the Clutter Cubed Flickr Group.

Everyone who participates will be a winner, since you’ll have less clutter in your home, but I’ll have a special prize for one random participant: a copy of The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life by Leo Babauta of ZenHabits. (affiliate link). It’s an ebook, so it won’t take up any room in your home at all!

The participants will be highlighted and the winner will be announced on March 22.
Come participate in the challenge!

Yesterday I filed my taxes. Good times, eh?

Actually, it was not too bad this year. I’m very pleased to say that, for once, we were very well organized. On top of that I won free tax software in a blog contest over on VoucherCodes.ca! Yay! That was incredibly nice; I rarely win anything (is there anyone out there that does win things regularly? Ha ha.) so scoring some free tax software made an annoying chore less annoying.

Last year I tried really hard to keep on top of my tax documents, and for the most part I succeeded. I only had to go hunting for one form of my husband’s, and it turned out to be sitting on ePost (Canada Post’s electronic mail delivery system) so it wasn’t misplaced after all (it just hadn’t been printed out yet).
It wasn’t the most creative organizing system, it was just two manila folders labelled “2009 Taxes – Caitlin” and “2009 Taxes – Josh”, plus a folder courtesy of Home Depot containing our Home Renovation Tax Credit receipts (all two of them – we built a fence and put insulation in the garage). Not as pretty as this cute tax organizer, but it worked. Everything I needed to file my 2009 taxes went into that envelope over the year, including our Netfile access codes and other info from last year that we’d need to file this year.

For once, tax filing went smoothly for me. No hunting around for days looking for something important, it was (nearly) all together when I needed it! Slowly but surely, I am working my way toward my decluttered goal. These small victories are really getting me motivated for a big Spring Cleaning push!

Have you filed your taxes yet this year? Were you organized, or do you still need some help?