2016 Decluttering Thread

[disneysteve]

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

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

I agree. The "out of sight" clutter is often the worst, and it frequently has a lot to do with the visible clutter. When drawers and closets and garages and other storage areas are packed full of stuff, it makes it very difficult to put away other things so they end up sitting around on counters, desks, dressers, etc. I think a very important part of decluttering is going through all of the stuff in storage. Chances are, if it has been packed away for ages, you can live just fine without it.

[JoeP]

Chances are, if it has been packed away for ages, you can live just fine without it.

One of the hardest things I have faced during this process is accepting the fact that artifacts kept for 40+ years do not define who I am. Maybe they had meaning long ago, but not any more.

[disneysteve]

One of the hardest things I have faced during this process is accepting the fact that artifacts kept for 40+ years do not define who I am. Maybe they had meaning long ago, but not any more.

Once you accept that, though, getting rid of clutter becomes far easier.

[creditcardfree]

One of the hardest things I have faced during this process is accepting the fact that artifacts kept for 40+ years do not define who I am. Maybe they had meaning long ago, but not any more.

I think that is a good thing to learn! Who really wants to be defined by stuff in the end?

[FLA]

I got all my medical and financial paperwork done a week early. that is a huge relief! I'm annoyed with the lawyer- she specifically told me to get every MD note, every test result and give them to her every 3 mos or so. I got all the papers organized and she tells me she is going to get them and I will be billed. She doesn't trust that I can do this with memory issues. Well, I've done it for over a year, I think she just wants to be able to bill me, IDK. I'm really glad I didn't waste ink photocopying all my stuff, the pile was over an inch tall. I'm going to keep all of it and keep obtaining it, you never know what she might miss.

[snafu]

In my mind, the trick is to know what to keep and how long to keep it! Isn't that the underlying point to 'the life changing magic of tidying up' How can you tidy up and put things away if every shelf, cupboard, drawer is overfull? We can get so overwhelmed by stuff we can't find what we need when we need it! The hilarious reaction is to go to the store and buy the object we can't find!

1st easy peasy mini step if you want to try it out... collect every pen, colored pencil/crayon, mechanical pencil, pencil, marker, highlighter from every nook and cranny. Test to verify operational. Separate each category plus a trash bag for dislike or non functioning, a container for 'donate excess', snap an elastic around the various types and corral in an appropriate sized box.

I acknowledge there are items we must keep by law, lots of stuff we keep for verification, some for sentimental attachment. By all means KM if you like following Marie Kondo's suggested order or whatever category bothers you most. Honestly, it get's almost addictive!

[cypher1]

I acknowledge there are items we must keep by law, lots of stuff we keep for verification, some for sentimental attachment. By all means KM if you like following Marie Kondo's suggested order or whatever category bothers you most. Honestly, it get's almost addictive!

Definitely agree it can become addictive. Last week I went almost every night "purging" stuff. A lot of the stuff I was going through wasn't in the way or anything, but dumped a lot of personal stuff that just wasn't needed or looked at.

While I haven't read MK's books yet, I think a core belief is finding a balance in understanding what to keep in terms of want/sentimentality. I don't believe every item in your household is a use it or lose it mentality (although it probably applies to at least 75% of those possessions). Or if an item isn't on display, it doesn't serve a purpose or bring "Joy".

For example I decided to keep 2 small containers of certain collectible toys, sold almost half of my comic collection, 1 container of misc PC parts, cables, electronics/media, and to 1 container of various personal and financial paperwork, photos, yearbooks, certificates.

Most recent update this week was shipping out some car parts on Ebay, gave away some older DVDs/CDs, older surge protectors, even extra storage containers to some friends.

Although the biggest surprise was giving some older toys, car collection, and comics to my nieces and nephews,then watching them go through them all.

[creditcardfree]

1st easy peasy mini step if you want to try it out... collect every pen, colored pencil/crayon, mechanical pencil, pencil, marker, highlighter from every nook and cranny. Test to verify operational. Separate each category plus a trash bag for dislike or non functioning, a container for 'donate excess', snap an elastic around the various types and corral in an appropriate sized box.

I've done this in the past. It is amazing how many pens/pencils and crayons accumulate. When we were in crayon stage, we had a pencil size box. If they didn't fit...then we didn't keep. After the school year, dump the old crayons out and add the latest ones that returned home to the box. No one can use up two boxes of crayons per year without some serious effort!

I'm to the point where the pens and pencils we own truly are ones I like. Although frugal to keep free pens, they just add clutter as we don't really need than many...especially with computers! We just can't use them up fast enough.

[disneysteve]

Although frugal to keep free pens

One big lesson I've learned as I've worked on clutter the past couple of years is to stop bringing home free stuff - pens, notepads, keychains, flashlights, etc. I would always grab as much of that stuff as I could but it made up a lot of what I've been getting rid of because it was all stuff I never really needed in the first place.

[FLA]

One big lesson I've learned as I've worked on clutter the past couple of years is to stop bringing home free stuff - pens, notepads, keychains, flashlights, etc. I would always grab as much of that stuff as I could but it made up a lot of what I've been getting rid of because it was all stuff I never really needed in the first place.

when I did radiation oncology we treated prostate cancer, so the the drug reps gave erectile dysfunction med samples and piles of crap people would fight over it. I did like the Viagra pens, there's a joke there I am too foggy to connect. People would take t shirts with Cialis ads on them, who on Earth would seriously wear those shirts? And the staff were not taking them as gag gifts. I was baffled.

or go to a conference and come back with bags of crap to give co-workers. Crap is still crap even when it's free.

[creditcardfree]

One big lesson I've learned as I've worked on clutter the past couple of years is to stop bringing home free stuff - pens, notepads, keychains, flashlights, etc. I would always grab as much of that stuff as I could but it made up a lot of what I've been getting rid of because it was all stuff I never really needed in the first place.

Oh, yes. I learned this long ago too! It was very obvious once we had kids how much free stuff is given away at events. Sounds all nice and good...until you get home and wonder where to put it.

[creditcardfree]

Still working on decluttering keepsakes. It's slow going, but progress is being made. One bin in our closet held costumes from oldest daughter's dance recitals. She's in college now and said yes it was fine to let those go.

Many of our keepsakes are cards and letters. We are going through them to keep the best of the best. It was easy for my husband to let go of cards and letters sent by my daughter's classmates while he was deployed. Nice to receive at the time, but not worth hanging on to since we don't know those children any longer.

[kmb501]

help!

I need help in this area, too. Everything, including old food and garbage (I'm being very honest) just piles up. It's like I can't get my mind to tell my body that cleaning is a good idea, and I get overwhelmed with the sight of everything and make the task way more unpleasant than it is. I hate cooking, because then I have to clean or suffer the unpleasant side effects of leaving dirty dishes. It's almost not worth it to me. Things break down and become unusable very quickly.

Now, give me another person's house to deal with, and that's another story. I can clean up someone else's junk and not feel guilty about it. I can also do the work to a professional standard (with supervision and guidance), but I can't find the energy to do my own place.

[JoeP]

Yet ANOTHER trip to the recycling compound today! Dumped 3 full boxes of old textbooks and misc papers. Getting back home, I went through 7 more boxes of old papers and busted up plastic models. Can someone please explain why I had boxes with notebooks from 1981 and pencil end erasers from 1978?

[disneysteve]

I need help in this area, too. Everything, including old food and garbage (I'm being very honest) just piles up.

I responded to your other thread.