Lent is quickly approaching and with it my chance to simplify again and part of that is letting go of extra stuff.
Two years ago I did my first 40 trash bag challenge and then last year I did it as part of Lent. I found that doing the “letting” go as part of Lent worked well for me. Lent is a time of letting go and looking closely at our lives and getting rid of those things which interfere with our ability to focus on the most important things.
So, once again, the 40 trash bag challenge:

I started the 40 trashbag challenge in order to declutter my house.
How it works:
1. Pick what size of trash bag you want to use. I used tall kitchen bags (use what works for you, paper sack, grocery bag to lawn and garden bag).
2. Each week day for eight weeks fill one bag (or equivalent). It can be a bag of toys, clothes, papers, collected junk mail, 1992 tax forms — whatever you have too much of. Equivalents count: anything about the size of a trash bag counts: a box of books, an old TV, a computer system. Anything that you can count as clutter or excess is fair game.
3. Make it go away. Donate as much as you can, sell something if it has real value (but don’t count it until it is gone) don’t be afraid to trash things.
4. Update on your blog or leave a comment here once in awhile. Let someone know how it goes.
5. Have fun. This means feel free to rewrite the rules to fit your life. Letting go of stuff is liberating — yes, it is a chore, but it is a good thing.