2016 Decluttering Thread

[disneysteve]

I haven't read that Marie Kondo book yet, but have been following her principles

Wow. You have been doing a great job! That's impressive.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Clutter is a persistent issue for us but we are getting better. I came up with our own system where small things are divided up by alphabet. Seems stupid but it works with my brain, well. Things we haven't used in a year are either sold, donated or thrown out (with some exceptions). Things we use are divided up by alphabet into bins. Large things exist on their own as we generally don't have problems finding said things.

It seems to work?

[cypher1]

Thanks DS! A friend told me she has new book out Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up. Which I'll probably read the first one first. Although I was told the author has stated in hindsight she kind of regrets being so extreme with the original book for tossing things out.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Although I was told the author has stated in hindsight she kind of regrets being so extreme with the original book for tossing things out.

If true, that's funny. Not to discourage all the decluttering going on, but I have sometimes wished I had a book back that I'd donated.

[snafu]

Several years ago DB and I were required to clear out stuff and prepare our late mom's house for sale. It was a ghastly task as mom had managed to neatly squirrel away 54 years of stuff she loved that invoked endless memories for us in our grieving state.

I'm now requested to help prepare beloved DSIL's condo for sale; she suddenly passed away after a brief illness. I'm totally unprepared for the emotional upheaval as she was a hoarder, everything invoked sentimental memories for her.

I'm determined to avoid leaving a similar situation for DSs. Since reviewing You Tube discussions and reading the Kondo book, I'm hunting for stuff to sell, regift, consign, donate and toss! I'm beginning to think we can enjoy a much smaller condo so long as we only retain items in current use.

[cypher1]

If true, that's funny. Not to discourage all the decluttering going on, but I have sometimes wished I had a book back that I'd donated.

I must have misread my friend's text, as she noted in one of the books the author states in her early days she may have got too carried away with tossing out stuff.

For personal items and keeping a balance, I've been focusing on keeping 1 specific container (or 2 small ones paired off) for that subject/area. That way it's all in 1 specific area and not spread out in various boxes. The more time I think about an item, the more hesitant or find excuses to keep, especially with nostalgic toys. That's why I've been trying to just go through certain items very quickly without thinking about it.

[snafu]

FLA, sent a PM [private message] in hopes of being helpful

[cypher1]

I also disassembled a bunch of drives and have some good magnets from the experience. What do you do with the platters?

I was going to smash them with a mallet so they're at least cracked, or drill some holes before disposing. When I used to get rid of any pc, I'd always pull the drive out. I'm at the point where shoe boxes of old drives taking up shelf space.

[disneysteve]

Clutter is a persistent issue for us

Same here. I think the issue when that's the case, though, is that you're going about dealing with it wrong. That's pretty much the first half of Marie Kondo's book. The first step needs to be a massive discarding. The problem is that most of us, myself included, keep trying to organize everything we have without actually getting rid of all of the unnecessary stuff first. That's an exercise in futility. It's like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. It ignores the root problem. Things don't stay organized because there's just too damn many things. We create endless folders, bins, organizers, racks, shelves, drawers, and closets that we proceed to pack full of stuff we never touch or look at again and then wonder why the house is a mess.

I have sometimes wished I had a book back that I'd donated.

In that case, you can always buy another copy. Unless it was something really rare or expensive or autographed, almost any book can be pretty easily replaced.

[creditcardfree]

I had two medium sized bins of keepsakes from when my oldest daughter(now 18) was a baby and young child. I was able to narrow it done to ONE bin!!

I let go of many, many greeting cards, 3 calendars, art work (one with goldfish still attached, [i]ick[/ick]), a newspaper, the hat the hospital gave her, an outfit, two pairs of baby socks, three deflated mylar balloons, and a plaster handprint (which I took a picture of instead).

The greeting cards were pretty easy to let go of considering most people just sign their name and a simple greeting. Not that meaningful later!

[disneysteve]

The greeting cards were pretty easy to let go of considering most people just sign their name and a simple greeting. Not that meaningful later!

I agree. We stopped saving cards for any period of time a long time ago. We open them and immediately recycle them. We used to put them on display somehow for a bit but it served no purpose. Nobody, including us, ever looked at them.

And if you send us a card with glitter on it, it isn't even coming out of the envelope. That will go straight to the trash.

[JoeP]

Just ran 5 boxes of old texts and papers to the recycling plan again. My garage attic is really starting to slim down! Part of the problem is that stuff I want to keep is scattered among stuff I don't in different boxes and locations. It probably makes sense to get maybe 6 good totes and start segregating.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I got rid of bills as old as 2013 (utilities, credit cards, monthly and quarterly taxes and public services, insurance).

I also got rid of federal and state tax records including instruction manuals going back to 1984. (Still keeping those from 2005 to the present.)

I threw away a copy of a cover letter and resume for the job my husband retired from 6.5 years ago.

Got rid of diplomas and certifications papers from 1980s.

I even threw away some W-4s that had carbon paper built in to the backs of the pages. (Is there anyone here young enough to not know about carbon paper?)

I hand shredded all this paper for the compost.

None of this had been visible clutter. It was all in closets. Out of sight, out of mind.

[JoeP]

Here's a kind of strange side-story from my latest decluttering effort.

I was working my way through a box of junk from around 1990, and stumbled upon a gold American Express card with a name I didn't know. So using the power of Google, I was able to find a good possible match (it was a pretty unique name). I sent a quick email with a picture of part of the signature, and it was a match!

Turns out the card was lost around 1990, and we were in the same city around that time. Neither of us have any idea how it ended up in that box. I promised to cut it up.

I sometimes wonder how many items I lose end up in a box somewhere, unknowingly in the possession of a stranger. I know working in retail in the mid 1980, I opened a box of stuff from China and found a very nice pen, which I lost some time later!

[creditcardfree]

I got rid of bills as old as 2013 (utilities, credit cards, monthly and quarterly taxes and public services, insurance).

I also got rid of federal and state tax records including instruction manuals going back to 1984. (Still keeping those from 2005 to the present.)

I threw away a copy of a cover letter and resume for the job my husband retired from 6.5 years ago.

Got rid of diplomas and certifications papers from 1980s.

I even threw away some W-4s that had carbon paper built in to the backs of the pages. (Is there anyone here young enough to not know about carbon paper?)

I hand shredded all this paper for the compost.

None of this had been visible clutter. It was all in closets. Out of sight, out of mind.

I know about carbon paper. I know I found some when I decluttered paper last January. I showed it to my girls, who seemed uninterested...but at least they know!

You are doing a fabulous job with the paper! It does take up space even if hidden away most of the time.