# Decluttering - Where did all this stuff come from and how do I get rid of it?



## Lee Sinclair (Dec 19, 2010)

One of my projects for this year is to declutter my house and my life.  I started off fairly well in January getting rid of stuff but have let myself get sidetracked.  So I thought maybe if I start a thread about decluttering, I'll be inspired to get back on track...or at least get guilted into it.

I'd like to blame my clutter problem on my hoarder genes that I inherited from both sides of the family, but a lot of my clutter is caused by procrastination and not finishing things.  In other words, letting myself get sidetracked.

So do you have a clutter problem?  How did it happen?  Are you doing anything about it?  Do you have any advice or other thoughts about it?  Has anyone out there successful dealt with a clutter problem?

Lee

P.S.  If you do have the solution to clutter, answer quickly before that huge stack of papers, magazines, unfinished projects, etc. tips over and crushes me.  It's starting to teeter.


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## JimC1946 (Aug 6, 2009)

I think clutter and disorganization is a common problem. At least most people never reach the level of "hoarder," which is definitely a mental problem. The TV series "Hoarders" (A&E channel) shows what happens when people stop caring about clutter. It's scary to watch!

My wife and I found the best bet for us was to get enough shelves and other storage devices to organize our stuff where we could find it when we needed something. That's been fairly successful.


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## Marguerite (Jan 18, 2009)

I have family members that have clutter problems.  I sometimes do too, but not as bad.  The first piece of advice that I can give you is to only tackle one space at a time.  If it has been a long time, start with something that you think you can get done in a couple hours, the hall closet, for example.  Anything that you find, that you have not thought about for a year, has to be donated, sold, or thrown out.  Of course I don't mean the family photo album or the silver.  You know what I mean.  Make it a point that anything brought out of the area is put away, or gotten rid of, before the job can be called finished.  If you finished fast tackle another but only if you can complete it that day.  There is nothing worse than having to live with clutter you took out of one area just to live with it in another.  When you have done all that you can FINISH within your allotted time, reward yourself and set another date with yourself to tackle something else.  Good luck.  You will feel serene and accomplished when you are done.


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## Someone Nameless (Jul 12, 2009)

My goal for the new year was to simplify (and declutter).  One of my biggest problems is papers.  Receipts for this or that, advertisements that come in the mail, things we print off the computer, recipes etc.  And the next thing I know, we have an avalanche of items that need sorting.

I also have a closet purge regularly.  My advice is to be ruthless and let go of stuff!


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## JimC1946 (Aug 6, 2009)

Kindle Gracie said:


> I also have a closet purge regularly. My advice is to be ruthless and let go of stuff!


Yard sales are great for getting rid of stuff. Your junk may be someone else's treasure.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

I agree with you about procrastination, it is one of my biggest weaknesses.

I still own a lot of items I will probably never use again, but its much less than it used to be. For years my husband told me to go through all of the boxes and get rid of stuff. I told him I would when I was ready. It occurred to me at some point a few years back that someday I would die, and some poor soul would have to go through all of the _stuff_ I had accumulated. I didn't want anyone to have to go through all of it.

I talked to my neighbors, and decided we would do a neighborhood yard sale. I called it the Decluttering of Hickory St. I went through a slew of boxes, started tagging items I hadn't looked at in years. I hauled it all out to the street on the designated day, as did several of my neighbors, and we had a great sale. I got rid of a ton of items, made about $900, then hauled what was left back inside. We did it again the next two years, and I got rid of a majority of my unused _stuff_. After the last sale, I vowed not to bring anything left over back into the house. We loaded up the back of the SUV, and hauled every last item to the Salvation Army.

Last year we moved in the Spring, and that gave me cause to get rid of a lot more items. I gave many things away to my friends in the neighborhood, and more to the Salvation Army. Having my Kindle allowed me to donate all of my physical books to the library.

I still have things that I cannot get rid of. Some old stuffed animals (down to two bags from what used to be eight). A boatload of rubber stamps and other stamping paraphernalia. (I keep thinking I'll pick that hobby back up.) But I am pleased to say that the amount of clutter I do have left is well under control.


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## Marguerite (Jan 18, 2009)

I once had a boss that threw stuff away that I couldn't believe.  Her philosophy was that if she could get a copy of a bill or receipt with a phone call or internet search she threw them away.  I learned that almost anything can be found like that and I stopped saving that stuff too.


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## Barbiedull (Jul 13, 2010)

Kindle Gracie said:


> My goal for the new year was to simplify (and declutter). One of my biggest problems is papers. Receipts for this or that, advertisements that come in the mail, things we print off the computer, recipes etc. And the next thing I know, we have an avalanche of items that need sorting.


 This is a BIG problem for me. Add in school papers, coupon booklets/magazines, or papers my Husband may need for work (that I print out for him)...and it's a paperwork overload!


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## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

We've lived in the same house for 30 years. I redecorate a lot and hate to throw anything away (you might need it again!), so we've accumulated a lot of stuff. And we raised two boys here who moved in and out during their college years, leaving stuff behind with every move. We're hoping to move within the year, and are working on decluttering. It's not easy!

I have trouble getting rid of anything with any kind of value (monetary or sentimental) or hard-to-find items. Our solution was to rent a storage unit. It has allowed us to get the house ready to sell, and we're loving the new, clean look. For now I don't have to decide what to keep and what to toss. Before we move we'll see what's in the storage unit and decide what we really want to keep. I think that time will make some of the stuff less important and easier to get rid of. It was easy to put in storage, but would've taken me forever to decide what to do with some of it.

Trash the newspapers and magazines! I subscribe to a few magazines, and sometimes they start to pile up. When that happens I get rid of them. It frees me from the burden of feeilng like I have to read them. Sometimes you just have to move forward. You can always look online for information you need.

Here's a cautionary tale might help:



> Homer and Langley Collyer were brothers who lived in a Manhattan row house in Harlem in the early part of the 20th century. Their story is bizarre and illustrates the depths people will go to hold onto anything and everything.
> 
> The discovery of just how bad the Collyer brothers' hoarding was came to light in March 1947 when an anonymous person reported there was a dead body in the Collyer residence.
> 
> ...


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## Someone Nameless (Jul 12, 2009)

JimC1946 said:


> Yard sales are great for getting rid of stuff. Your junk may be someone else's treasure.


Our Home Owner's Association does not allow yard sales. That's one of the reasons I was secretly happy to move here. I've done so many yard sales in my younger years. They are WORK.....to give your stuff away. Now I mostly take my stuff to Goodwill or give it away on Freecycle.


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## Someone Nameless (Jul 12, 2009)

OMG!  Poor Homer and Langley.  I guess you just never know when you might need a pickled organ.

Reading this makes me want to go tackle a small declutter project right now.


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## JimC1946 (Aug 6, 2009)

Kindle Gracie said:


> Our Home Owner's Association does not allow yard sales.


Our neighborhood (four streets) actually sponsors a neighborhood yard sale once a year. It works very well and tends to discourage people from having their own yard sales throughout the year.


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## Lee Sinclair (Dec 19, 2010)

Wow, this seems to be a pretty hot topic.

I've held several yard sales in the past 5 years--one was a neighborhood sale and the others were joint sales with one or two other neighbors.  Every single time I hold a yard sale, I swear it's the last one I'm ever going to hold.  Then the stuff piles up faster than I can donate it....  I'm now working very hard to not acquire stuff unless I really need it.

It is hard for me to let go of stuff that I might need or might use later because for most of my life, I've been pretty poor, so being frugal was a necessity.  Now I'm borderline poor, which means I'm not rich but I'm above the poverty level and don't need to cling to every single thing that comes into my possession.  So a lot of the solution to my clutter problem is making a shift in attitude.  I've also been an information saver all my life, but with the internet, I no longer need to save all that information.  Besides, things change so rapidly these days, the information quickly becomes obsolete.  So that's another shift in attitude I need to make.


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## N. Gemini Sasson (Jul 5, 2010)

My parents were children of the Depression, so they saved _everything_. ("That plaid polyester pants suit might come back in style, you never know.") The ping pong table in the basement was eventually covered with old clothes, knick knacks, unused kitchen appliances, table games, lamps, craft sets, etc. To them, it all had value because it hadn't worn out and most of it was still functional. My dad eventually began having garage sales, but he also started going to other people's sales and bringing home more stuff. My mom would buy clothes because they were on sale, not because she needed any new ones. They weren't quite hoarders back then, but it was headed that way. My mom has since passed away and I haven't gone down into my parents' basement in the years since then. I'm too frightened to look. I dread the day when I have to go through it all.

About fifteen years ago my aunt died and my mom and I had to sift through all her stuff. Some we sold, some we divided up, some we sent to Goodwill and the rest went in the trash. Fortunately, my aunt had spent much of her final year giving things away ahead of time and she was good at boxing and labeling things, so it wasn't too bad. But still, it was an accumulation of almost 80 years.

When my husband and I moved from our first house to the one we live in now, I became a 'pitcher' of stuff. I didn't want to move all that junk, so what we didn't need was set out by the roadside and people would come along and load most of it up in their cars before the trashman arrived. To this day, once or twice every year I go through parts of the house and purge. It passes a dreary winter day and the end result is a clean room/closet/basement where I can actually find things.

Most of all, it's liberating to purge, I find useful things I forgot I had (like tools) and I feel good knowing that I am not going to burden my children with that much more 'stuff' to sort through when my husband and I are no longer around. That last one is my main incentive.


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## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

> My mom has since passed away and I haven't gone down into my parents' basement in the years since then. I'm too frightened to look. I dread the day when I have to go through it all.


DH's parents also lived throught he Depression. They never threw ANYTHING away. His mom passed away 23 years ago, but when his dad died a few years ago, we were astounded at the stuff he had. We found EVERY bread bag and twist-tie that had ever entered the house. Food in the fridge that was years old. I got paint-by-number kits DH and his sister started when they were kids. I have DH's grade-school lunch box. And his Cub Scout uniform. Did I mention DH is 59?!?

After he cleaned out his parents' house, we vowed that our kids would never have to deal with that much crap. That's what started us on de-cluttering.


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## Marguerite (Jan 18, 2009)

My mom is a recent widow, just about 9 months.  He was a hoarder but then again so was she to a lesser extent.  I went to visit to help her de-clutter and she just broke down sobbing.  It's stressful to live with all of that junk but it was so much harder to actually get rid of it.  I left it there knowing that when it is her turn, I will have to back a giant dumpster up to the house to clean it out.


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## ◄ Jess ► (Apr 21, 2010)

N. Gemini Sasson said:


> To this day, once or twice every year I go through parts of the house and purge. It passes a dreary winter day and the end result is a clean room/closet/basement where I can actually find things. Most of all, it's liberating to purge.


That is exactly how I feel. My mom can't throw ANYTHING away so once I moved out on my own, I don't like to keep anything I don't have to. A couple times a year I purge everything I haven't used in awhile and it feels wonderful. My boyfriend hates it though, because he thinks I'm getting ready to leave him or something. Honestly, I just don't like clutter!


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## candggmom (Oct 27, 2008)

I had to go through my Mom's stuff too and what really got me was the collection of Hardee's styrofoam coffee cups and the folded up sheets of aluminum foil!  The best thing I have learned was from FlyLady.net.  She taught me to set a timer for 15 minutes and start flinging things out.  Instead of getting overwhelmed and doing nothing, I have found I can do anything for 15 minutes!  Just try it for 1 week and you will be amazed at what can be done in 15 minutes!

Kathy in NC


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I spent yesterday morning disposing of many old magazines and other paperwork that I just don't need to keep.  The recycle bin will be full this week.  And my desk area is much neater and there's room to put the things away that I DO need to keep!


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## Lee Sinclair (Dec 19, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I spent yesterday morning disposing of many old magazines and other paperwork that I just don't need to keep. The recycle bin will be full this week. And my desk area is much neater and there's room to put the things away that I DO need to keep!


I usually only have a small about of stuff in my giant recycling bin, maybe about 25% filled up. But after my big push in January, I managed to top it off. And it was just old paperwork and clippings, etc. I also have a foot high stack of magazines that I need to take to the magazine exchange place at the library. And I haven't even started on my writing magazines. Then there's all the stuff I've been piling up in my spare bedroom that I'm planning on donating. At the rate I'm going, it'll take two trips to Goodwill to get rid of it all.

The sad thing is, even with all the progress I've made, I still have way too much stuff and need to keep working on it. However, starting this thread did get me back on track. I'm trying to work on it at least an hour a day.


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## Marguerite (Jan 18, 2009)

You should be proud of what you have accomplished and are on the right track assigning small bits of time per day to the task.


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## N. Gemini Sasson (Jul 5, 2010)

Lee Sinclair said:


> However, starting this thread did get me back on track. I'm trying to work on it at least an hour a day.


You made yourself accountable and you should feel good about what you've done already. Keep it up, Lee!


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## NapCat (retired) (Jan 17, 2011)

So glad to see this thread....

I have been very busy this year and been home less than two months...living out of a suitcase for so long, on my last "visit" home i realized just how much "stuff" I have. I started "thinning" everywhere.....clothes to Salvation Army, books, CD's, DVD's to the library.....lots just to the dump.

I will visit here often for inspiration........


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

I have lots of stuff to get rid of, but even once it's gone I'll still have a lot of stuff!  I'm not going to get rid of books...  CDs...  LPs....  crafts and sewing supplies....  photo albums....  and all that takes up a lot of room.    

My stuff to get rid of is about 2/3 paper from an old business (dozens of storage boxes full) and 1/3 various inherited collectibles that should go to a consignment store or on EBay.  It all takes time to deal with.


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## Lee Sinclair (Dec 19, 2010)

N. Gemini Sasson said:


> You made yourself accountable and you should feel good about what you've done already. Keep it up, Lee!


I've made myself so publicly accountable now that I'll have to slink away in the dark of the night if I fail. Besides starting this thread, I also made a post about it on the group blog I'm a member of, announcing my problem and my intention of trying to deal with it. If anyone's interested, the link is http://boomersandbooks.wordpress.com/2011/02/02/clutter/ and it's called "Clutter." It's the first of 3 posts. The second one is going to be a book review for Peter Walsh's book called "It's All Too Much" and the last post will be later in the year where I 'fess up to my successes and failures. (Gulp!)

I'm a little nervous about putting it all out there, but I really want to succeed. I haven't reached the hoarder stage yet. If someone walked into my house, they probably wouldn't realize how bad my clutter problem is because a lot of it is hidden away. But I was losing my battle against clutter and on my way to becoming a hoarder. So it was time to do something about it.


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## Sienna_98 (Jan 26, 2009)

I have a tendency to hoard and it was kept in check early on because I moved frequently and so each purchase was made with the though, "Do I like this enough to pack and move it in a year's time?"    Later on  I lived with a true hoarder for 4 years and all I have to do is think about that house and I have no trouble throwing stuff out.  I've lived in the same house for 7+ years now and am going through a purge as I have discovered it is too easy to accumulate stuff when you have the room.

I also watch those hoarding shows and they are another reminder why I need to let go of stuff I haven't used or even looked at in years.


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## caseyf6 (Mar 28, 2010)

I have a tendency to collect things-- notebooks, books, pens, etc.  They just gather.  Now that we've been in this same house for nearly 5 years, we are in need of a de-cluttering like I usually do before I move.  lol

Two things I have learned:  The 15-minute declutter/clean works pretty well as long as you aren't just opening drawers and stuffing things inside.  Flylady also does a 27-fling boogie where you get a bag, go through the house, and pitch or donate 27 things.  VERY useful.

The second thing I have learned has more to do with personality-- if you are a visual person, and need to 'see' your papers, a standard filing system will not work for you.  Try a mail sorter (one of those boxes with the open compartments).  Leave one of those to be sorted through every month (you can shred old bills when the new one comes in, or shred receipts after the money has cleared the bank if you don't need them).  Have the others be in normal categories (kids, taxes, health, car, etc).  Sort through those on a yearly basis.


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## Chris Northern (Jan 20, 2011)

Hi Lee, I also inherited the hoarder gene and struggled with it mightily over the years.

My ultimate solution was to move home frequently. Anything that gets stored up while I'm settled gets stored or ditched when I move. The first few times, many years ago, I took everything with me. For example, 2000 books. That was too much of a chore and they have now lived with my brother for many years, permanently welded to his own collection. After years of moving I got it down to a single car load of 'stuff.'

Sometimes I slip and buy a housefull of new 'stuff' but when I go, it goes. The discipline finally began to pay dividends. I acquire fewer possessions, knowing I won't be keeping them. There is a downside; how many duvets is it really necessary to buy in one lifetime? How many kettles and vacuums? I've bought scores and abandoned them all ruthlessly.

When I arrived here in this house where I will now live I had the 'stuff' down to 1 laptop and 1 suitcase of clothes and essential paperwork. When I leave it will be with not one item more.

I do not own 'stuff'; and the 'stuff' does not own me.

Of course, you may want to persue a less radical solution. But when I am old and finally pass away those detailed to sort through my effects will find no odd rolls of wallpaper or broken toys of childhood. That stuff is all at my parents house, where it belongs.


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## Hoosiermama (Dec 28, 2009)

My in-laws kept a LOT of things. After my FIL passed, we had to go through the house when MIL moved out (she was his second wife). We found: veggies canned in the mid-1960's prior to DH's mother's death, an old bottle of whiskey hidden in the basement (so the second wife wouldn't find it), TONS of boxes (you never know when those might come in handy), yards and yards of old musty fabric.

The best part was removing the ceiling in the basement and finding nearly 1,000 in bills float down from the ceiling. All dated from the 1920's through 1940's.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

My dad, who does live in a nice, neat house, still is a bit of a packrat for items that can be useable again. When we remodeled my kitchen a few months ago (in the house I grew up in that he moved from), he took all of the 30+ year old cabinets to put in his basement at his new house. (Do you _know_ what I _paid_ for those? Yes, dad, but they're 30 years old and falling apart.)

He informed me recently that he lost some weight, and can now fit into pants he had in the 1970s! My first question was _why on earth do you still have pants from the '70s_?


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## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

> He informed me recently that he lost some weight, and can now fit into pants he had in the 1970s! My first question was why on earth do you still have pants from the '70s?


And why on earth would you want to wear them NOW?!?


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## N. Gemini Sasson (Jul 5, 2010)

Hoosiermama said:


> The best part was removing the ceiling in the basement and finding nearly 1,000 in bills float down from the ceiling. All dated from the 1920's through 1940's.


That was an unexpected bonus, I bet!



> Don't hold on to stuff because you think "I can sell that and make a lot of money" or "It might be worth something someday". If you really will sell it, then do it. If you can't do it yourself, hire someone to put it on ebay. If it's going to sit in your house collecting dust for ten more years, just give it away.


Powerful story, T.L. I read every single word. When my mom died, for the first year afterwards my dad would either drop by my house or call me up and tell me to come by, that he had 'some things' for me. At first there were a few valuable or sentimental items: jewelry, pictures, artwork of a family barn. Later it evolved into electrical appliances several decades old that no longer worked, boxes full of porcelain figurines that were worth a fraction of what she paid for them and dry-rotted panty hose. I did what a friend suggested - instead of telling him I didn't want anymore 'things' I just took them, sorted through them five minutes after he left and threw 90% of it away. If I'd done that in front of him, I'd have never heard the end of it.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

4Katie said:


> And why on earth would you want to wear them NOW?!?


You - apparently - have not seen my dad. He has _no_ sense of aesthetics. Any patterns, any colors; if it fits and it's clean he'll wear it together.


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## glindaharrison (Feb 3, 2010)

This is a great thread! As we are all a group of readers, has anyone found any books on decluttering that they have found helpful? I have been pretty disappointed in most of the books and blogs out there. Any recommendations?


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## Lee Sinclair (Dec 19, 2010)

glindaharrison said:


> This is a great thread! As we are all a group of readers, has anyone found any books on decluttering that they have found helpful? I have been pretty disappointed in most of the books and blogs out there. Any recommendations?


Was Peter Walsh's book "It's All Too Much" one of the books you've read? I'm in the middle of reading it right now. It does seem to have some helpful things in it, although like any book that's about solving a problem, it's no magic bullet. The magic bullet is always oneself and what one does with the information.

One reason I decided it was time to do something about my clutter problem is seeing pictures of my mother's house after she passed away. I was lucky that I did not have to deal with it, like some people here on this thread have had to. Fortunately, there were other siblings who lived closer, and they took care of everything. But they sent me pictures of it and also talked about the bags and bags of trash they threw out - stuff that was once worth something but had been damaged by mold and mildew from being stored in every nook and cranny. Looking at the pictures of her bedroom and other rooms, all piled high with stuff, made me think, "I don't want to live like that." But that was the direction I was headed in. So now I'm changing that direction.


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## Jen Bluekissed (Jan 22, 2011)

That's why I love my Kindle.  Such a space saver.    Now, for an electronic version of all the other stuff I own like off season clothes, shoes, purses, extra bedding, pillows, etc.


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

I, too, have way too much stuff. I grew up in a home where my mom never threw anything away that could possibly be used again. I don't keep nearly that much stuff, but I still have a lot of my daughters' things here, as well as things that my husband and I have accumulated over the 29 years that we've lived in this house. 

To top it all off, I have things that I got when my mother passed away in '88. My MIL died in '03, my dad in '05, my sister in '07, my FIL in '08, and my BIL moved to Ohio last year, leaving me with 25 boxes of things that he couldn't/wouldn't deal with or look at. I was really looking forward to decluttering my life last summer, but my BIL and FIL's sales were held the day after my school was out for the summer, and the "stuff" that ended up at my house after their sales is/was unbelievable. Seems as if I've had to put a lot of my own decluttering aside so that I could deal with the things from my BIL and FIL. Yikes! 

I manage to throw out 5 or 6 large trash bags of stuff every week or two, but I still have a lot to do. It's hard to even sit down and relax when I know that there's so much that needs to be done. It's positively overwhelming at times, but I'll get through it. Good luck to all of you who face the same battle.


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## glindaharrison (Feb 3, 2010)

Lee Sinclair said:


> Was Peter Walsh's book "It's All Too Much" one of the books you've read? I'm in the middle of reading it right now. It does seem to have some helpful things in it, although like any book that's about solving a problem, it's no magic bullet. The magic bullet is always oneself and what one does with the information.


I think that I do have that one. Maybe I should look at it again. Sometimes it is a question of when you read something as well. Thanks, I'll take a second look.


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## glindaharrison (Feb 3, 2010)

T.L. Haddix said:


> The two hardest things for me to go through are papers and pictures. Papers because they take soooooo blasted loooongggg. You have to look at each and every paper. Pictures because they are distracting, although you don't throw them out.
> 
> I think decluttering is like writing a book in a lot of ways. It is hard work, will challenge you in ways you don't expect, requires a stubborn, persistent nature, and if you don't do it, it will never do itself.


Great analogy. Only, most times, I think writing is easier, LOL!


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## Lee Sinclair (Dec 19, 2010)

glindaharrison said:


> I think that I do have that one. Maybe I should look at it again. Sometimes it is a question of when you read something as well. Thanks, I'll take a second look.


Definitely true. I think you have be ready to deal with your clutter and willing to do whatever it takes for his book (or any book about it) to be worthwhile. The thing about his book is it's about getting rid of stuff and then organizing what's left. Some books are just about organizing stuff. And I'm way beyond that. Organizing my stuff is not going to solve my problem.

I returned his book to the library today, along with dumping off a foot high stack of magazines at the magazine exchange box at the library and donating a huge bag of books to the library's used bookstore. The bag was so heavy I could barely carry it. But it felt so good getting rid of that stuff. And I've just started sorting through some of my books. The terrible thing is, after a month of working on it, I'm still getting rid of the "easy" stuff. That's the stuff where all I have to do is look at it and I know I don't want to keep it any more.

Anyway, Glinda, if you don't have that book, I'm planning on writing a review of it for our Boomers and Books blog and that might help you decide if it's worth reading. I can let you know when I post it, if you want.


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## glindaharrison (Feb 3, 2010)

Lee Sinclair said:


> Anyway, Glinda, if you don't have that book, I'm planning on writing a review of it for our Boomers and Books blog and that might help you decide if it's worth reading. I can let you know when I post it, if you want.


Sure, Lee, that would be great. Thanks! Meanwhile, I will go through my Kindle archives and see if that's the book I have.


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## Lee Sinclair (Dec 19, 2010)

glindaharrison said:


> Sure, Lee, that would be great. Thanks! Meanwhile, I will go through my Kindle archives and see if that's the book I have.


I signed up on our blog's posting schedule for Monday, February 21, for my book review. Now all I have to do is finish writing it before then.


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

I might have that book by Peter Walsh, but I have no idea where I put it.  Flylady's methods work well for me.  Can't go through everything in one day.  That would make me sick and give up altogether.

I went through one small area tonight.  Spent about an hour on it and threw away a garbage bag full of stuff plus papers.

Lee, would you post a link here to your blog after you write the one about PW's book?


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## Lee Sinclair (Dec 19, 2010)

mlewis78 said:


> I might have that book by Peter Walsh, but I have no idea where I put it. Flylady's methods work well for me. Can't go through everything in one day. That would make me sick and give up altogether.
> 
> I went through one small area tonight. Spent about an hour on it and threw away a garbage bag full of stuff plus papers.
> 
> Lee, would you post a link here to your blog after you write the one about PW's book?


I'll definitely post the link here. You can look for it on Monday morning.

I know I'm making some progress but it sure seems slow. I have to remind myself that it took years to reach this stage, so getting rid of it will take time. Ironically, limited time is something which is really helping me to get rid of some things. I don't have time to do everything I'd like to do. So if I have two projects that I've been holding on to because I'd like to do them some day, I ask myself which one I want to do more. Then I get rid of the other one because I know I'll be lucky to find the time to do one of them, much less both of them.


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## Holly B (Nov 15, 2010)

candggmom said:


> I had to go through my Mom's stuff too and what really got me was the collection of Hardee's styrofoam coffee cups and the folded up sheets of aluminum foil! The best thing I have learned was from FlyLady.net. She taught me to set a timer for 15 minutes and start flinging things out. Instead of getting overwhelmed and doing nothing, I have found I can do anything for 15 minutes! Just try it for 1 week and you will be amazed at what can be done in 15 minutes!
> 
> Kathy in NC


FlyLady is awesome! I have to say I've used this technique a number of times. Hubby and I have recently started a new Saturday tradition that we call The Most Hated Thing. We each have a list of things that bug us and every Saturday, we tackle one of those things on our list. Sometimes it's a small thing, like go through a box of books, and sometimes it's a big thing like re-organize the shed, but the feeling of accomplishment is great! By only doing one thing, we don't get overwhelmed and it's really nice to scratch something off the list.


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## NapCat (retired) (Jan 17, 2011)

I have just returned home after another long business trip, and should be home for quite a while.  Thanks to this thread, I am  determined to finally get this place organized?? But where to start?  My guestroom has become half sorting room and half storage, my office is littered with stack of files, The kitchen looks fine until you open a drawer or cabinet.  Gardens are a mess and we will not even talk about my workshop.  And then there is that unused RV that is supposed to turn into a model railroad.....

Its all overwhelming !!

I'd better have some cookies and milk, take a nap...and think about it.  Ha ! (see why it never gets done?)


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

Find someone else close by who also wants to do a de-clutter and swap homes for a day so you can de-clutter each other's places. 

But don't ask me - as I writer who also writes historical fiction I never know what ancient bill, receipt or dog tag might come in handy   But then again, what is google for?


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## NapCat (retired) (Jan 17, 2011)

NapCat said:


> I have just returned home after another long business trip, and should be home for quite a while. Thanks to this thread, I am determined to finally get this place organized?? But where to start? My guestroom has become half sorting room and half storage, my office is littered with stacks of files, The kitchen looks fine until you open a drawer or cabinet. Gardens are a mess and we will not even talk about my workshop. And then there is that unused RV that is supposed to turn into a model railroad.....
> 
> Its all overwhelming !!
> 
> I'd better have some cookies and milk, take a nap...and think about it. Ha ! (see why it never gets done?)


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## Lee Sinclair (Dec 19, 2010)

So NapCat, did the two posts indicate that you're still napping or does it mean that you woke up, looked around at the clutter, and then decided to have some more cookies and milk and take a second nap.  You know, I think I'm feeling a little drowsy myself.

I took a break from dealing with some of my physical clutter to work on my computer clutter.  I get tons of emails and they tend to pile up in my inbox in a big jumbled mess.  So I've been trying to weed some of them out by saving the important ones to file and deleting the junk.  I also came up with a new idea.  Most of the time I try to answer emails right away because otherwise they get lost in the pile and then I forget about them or have trouble finding them again.  So I created a special subfolder called "Action Needed" where I immediately file an email that needs an answer but I either don't have the time to answer right away or I need to get more information or have to wait a short time before answering it.  I've just started doing this but I think it's really going to help keep my emails better organized.


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## NapCat (retired) (Jan 17, 2011)

Lee Sinclair said:


> So NapCat, did the two posts indicate that you're still napping or does it mean that you woke up, looked around at the clutter, and then decided to have some more cookies and milk and take a second nap.


Aha !! You're on to me !!


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## CaitLondon (Oct 12, 2010)

I carried double and triple jobs for years and stuff stacked up. It didn't go away and now I'm working with it, too. Along w/old family photos, I take a lot of photos that I want to keep, scanning some, but read some insurance tip to put them in suitcases so they can be picked up easily in case of fire. So that's one thing.

The Scouts offer some shredding services for out of date tax stuff, which is good. Call for their local places and times.

Then I had a yard sale for everything I didn't want/need. Ok, on this yard sale stuff, you have to take it in layers: top layer, then next, etc. It won't go away all at once. If you donate, don't forget to get a tax receipt. If you have friends/family that want something, it's a whole task to ask, ship, ask someone else, whatever.

Decluttering is a real mission for me. It's ongoing. I thought I'd be done by now, but once the top layer went, I reorganized, and saw I could so more. So it's a layer thing. And you have to take breaks, esp. when dealing with emotional stuff like from a deceased loved one, whatever. 

So for me, I think the mental prep of knowing that it isn't instant and that it's something that is ongoing is the first step. I was surprised on that first yard sale that I didn't even miss the stuff that went out, donated, etc.


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## NapCat (retired) (Jan 17, 2011)

Help! Help!

I've decluttered myself into a corner and can't get out !!


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## Lee Sinclair (Dec 19, 2010)

NapCat said:


> Help! Help!
> 
> I've decluttered myself into a corner and can't get out !!


I hate when that happens. 

And CaitLondon, I agree. It is a layer thing, and it is something that takes time and is ongoing.

I've posted my book review. It's kind of long but I wanted to give people a good sense of what was in the book.

http://boomersandbooks.wordpress.com/2011/02/21/peter-walshs-clutter-book/

While clearing out my old emails, I came across one where I told someone about a free Kindle book about organizing/decluttering so that means I probably have it. Now I just have to find it and see if there's anything worthwhile in it.


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

My goal this year is to get our house decluttered. I started yesterday with the garage. 3 minivan loads to Goodwill, 1  to the shed, and 1 trip to the dump later we're able to park both vehicles in there for the first time in years.

(Of course when hubs left for work this morning, he walked out into the driveway and had a mini-panic attack when both of our vehicles were nowhere to be found... Took him a minute to remember..)


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## daveconifer (Oct 20, 2009)

I am one of the world's greatest de-clutterers.  I just engaged in this activity yesterday.  Step number one is to make everyone else leave.  Then, pick something up, decide if anybody has acknowledged it's existence at any point in the past two years.  If not, goodbye.  

I learned this technique after years of coming across things I hadn't touched in years, marveling at my luck, and then putting it aside never to be seen for another set of years.  I'm sentimental when called for but not with junk that nobody wants.

Chuck stuff out -- it's uplifting!

p.s.  It's good to have a "limbo" for those items that you're not sure your wife or husband will freak out about when they find out what happened.


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## Lee Sinclair (Dec 19, 2010)

Did you hear that loud clunk?  That was me falling off the wagon.  First I stubbed my toe on some DT books that I just couldn't resist ordering from Amazon.  Then when I bent over to look at my stubbed toe, I tumbled completely off the wagon.  Next thing I knew I was browsing Amazon and Ebay looking for several household items I was interested in.  After having been really good about not buying anything new for almost 2 months, I ended up ordering several things.  Plus I haven't gotten rid of hardly anything in the past week--just a couple dozen old magazines.

Even worse, there are two big used book sales coming up in the near future.  One is this Friday and the other one is in the middle of April.  I can never resist going and I always buy some books.

This afternoon I did flog myself into picking out 11 books to donate.  If I stick with my policy of getting rid of 2 books for every one I buy, then I need to find one more, just to cover the books I ordered from Amazon.  Sigh.  Then there's the other stuff I ordered....

I'm now limping along with my stubbed toe and a skinned knee, trying to catch up with the wagon so I can crawl back on it.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Go throw _something_ out. You'll feel better.


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## Lee Sinclair (Dec 19, 2010)

pidgeon92 said:


> Go throw _something_ out. You'll feel better.


Yeah, I'm thinking that throwing out an empty Hagaan Dazs ice cream carton might do the trick. Or an empty Pepperidge Farm chocolate fudge cake box.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Oh, dear. I think you should throw them _both_ out.


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## NapCat (retired) (Jan 17, 2011)

I picked up 6 large plastic totes to put use as "sorting bins"...of course there is no room for them as I have dozens of cardboard boxes saved for the same purpose.

I am really becoming concerned that there may be a guest trapped in my guest room........


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## busy_91 (Feb 22, 2011)

I am also in the process of de-cluttering my apartment.  I managed to do the bedroom and the bookshelves in my living-room. Then I ran out of steam.  As far as my bedroom went, I threw 80% of whatever was in there away.  This means clothes, paper...just about all if it. Whatever books were there, I either put on my shelf, threw away or donated.  My living-room is proving to be much harder.

I know all those shows tell you to make piles, do it this way, do it that way, but it is easy when there are 3 or 4 people helping, it is another when it is just you, it can be overwhelming.

The best way I found to do it was to do one corner/section at a time. In my bedroom I started in the far right corner and worked around the room in a square. It took me about 4 days (2 hours a day).


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## Lee Sinclair (Dec 19, 2010)

Those shows can be so misleading.  Like you said, they have lots of people working to clean up the mess--people who are professionals and have no attachment to the stuff.  They swoop in and attack the problem with a ruthless focus that is hard for the average person to copy.  And since they usually deal with people who have severe hoarding problems, it makes you think that getting on top of your "minor" (in comparison) problem should be easy and not take that much time.

But if you only have a "minor" clutter problem, that probably means that you have gotten rid of most of the easy stuff in the past.  So the stuff you have left may be the things you have the most trouble letting go.  And for every problem category you have, there is usually a different reason or belief you have to address before you can deal with the things.

I'm still mostly focusing on my office which is one of the worst rooms in my house, and I'm especially focusing on getting rid of books because I want to donate them to the library before their used book sale in April.  I'm also working on going through my years of old writing magazines so I can drop them off at the library's magazine exchange site when I stop off with a bag of books to donate.  Today, I got rid of 35 paperbacks, 21 software programs, and a couple dozen more magazines.  Unfortunately, I stopped at another used book sale and bought 15 paperbacks.  So I'm still backsliding a  little but I'm heading in the right direction--getting rid of more than I buy.


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## Lee Sinclair (Dec 19, 2010)

I got completely sidetracked by life and lost a bit of ground in my struggle to get rid of things.  But my neighbor is going to have a garage sale and invited me to put some of my stuff in her sale, and that has re-inspired me to get back to work on decluttering.  In fact, I've recently started sorting through all the stuff in my garage.  What a mess.  It looks terrible to me, but I guess I'm not as bad off as some people because I can still park my car in the garage, although that's only because it's a double garage.  

One thing I've noticed is that I can only work effectively for a couple of hours on discarding things before my urge to "save stuff because I might need it" kicks in again.  So if I want to work for longer than that, I have to switch to something like cleaning or organizing what I'm keeping, instead of continuing to decide what to discard.


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## Ilyria Moon (May 14, 2011)

Lee Sinclair said:


> One of my projects for this year is to declutter my house and my life. I started off fairly well in January getting rid of stuff but have let myself get sidetracked. So I thought maybe if I start a thread about decluttering, I'll be inspired to get back on track...or at least get guilted into it.
> 
> I'd like to blame my clutter problem on my hoarder genes that I inherited from both sides of the family, but a lot of my clutter is caused by procrastination and not finishing things. In other words, letting myself get sidetracked.
> 
> ...


*shudder*

I'm a clutterer. It's a learned behaviour from my mother and I haven't yet conquered it, but I'm better than I used to be. I watch Hoarders frequently to make myself throw stuff away, else that's my future, but it's hard to do! Especially as most of my clutter is paper-based and being self-employed, in the field I am in, it's pretty much a given I'll always have clutter. As for the other reasons I clutter, I know why I do it, I'm just too weak to stop lmao. I actually had CBT for 6mos which helped. To an extent. The therapist kept giving me worksheets to take home, adding to my clutter!


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

NapCat said:


> [size=12pt]I picked up 6 large plastic totes to put use as "sorting bins"...of course there is no room for them as I have dozens of cardboard boxes saved for the same purpose.



I've tried that. It works wonderfully until you fill one of the plastic bins with a particular category of item (say, old photos, or sewing patterns, or stuff to give your best friend next time she visits), and then decide to just store those things in it until you can go through them, and eventually you run out of plastic bins and want to go get _more_....


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## Alle Meine Entchen (Dec 6, 2009)

We are getting ready to move sometime in the near future (as soon as we get our house sold) and DH is making noises about getting rid of all our clutter.  He keeps telling me we should be actively getting rid of stuff we don't use.  The problem is, all of my "clutter" has been gotten rid of or sold and what he thinks is "clutter" is really my winter clothes or clothes that DD has outgrown (and we want more kids, so I'm not going to get rid of stuff that may be useful in the future).  Really the only one w/ clutter around the house is him.  One of these days, when he brings up me decluttering my stuff, I'm going to have to tell him that he's already gotten rid of all my stuff, what's left is all his.


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## bobavey (Sep 14, 2010)

Man, do I ever know what you mean. We recently sold our house and are now in a rental, waiting for a new one to be built. I have a two car garage full of stuff and a storage unit full of stuff, and I can't figure out how we'd managed to get all that stuff into a 1750 square foot house.


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## TraceyC/FL (Mar 23, 2011)

I knew there was a reason I hadn't ventured out of the kindle forum.

The guilt.

I have to get thru stuff here.... I still have boxes from a cross country move 7 years ago to deal with. In ,y defense there, I was pregnant, then my parents moved in and things just never got organized. I have the space to have shelves and such, but they never got put up.

Now I'm dealing with post-divorce stuff.... I have less furniture and need to swap some rooms around and ya.... I need to de-clutter more. 

The worst culprit right now is the clothes I need to sort and take down the road to the baby and toddler pantry. Maybe i can get a batch of that done tomorrow.... I really really need to do it.

And then homeschooling paper clutter....

Or I could just go back to the kindle board


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## Ilyria Moon (May 14, 2011)

TraceyC/FL said:


> Or I could just go back to the kindle board


 I knew there was a reason I haven't written more than 2k words this week.


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## Cuechick (Oct 28, 2008)

I am doing this too as I plan a cross country move in the fall. I had a huge yard sale and over the last two days I went through almost all my cloths. I made 4 piles,

Keep
Throw away
Light Winter Storage 
Donate

I am moving to So Cal so being able to get rid of my heavier winter cloths was close to joyful! I took two big bags to a local Value Village along with two boxes of stuff. It feels so good to be rid of it all! 

I still have more to do... I have no ideal where I will live yet when I move, I am pretty sure it will be smaller than my place now, so I am sure I will get rid of more stuff before I go.

I actually had a lady come over who did a "pick" like American Pickers... I have a lot of collectibles. I was unwilling to let go of a lot of stuff but now I am feeling like I can do it! So again, once I know where I am moving, I plan to sell more stuff... it is a process.


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## Debra Purdy Kong (Apr 1, 2009)

After 23 years in our house, with two kids and a lot of pets, I decided last fall that I needed to start decluttering. I had some time after I left my day job and began with the jammed filing cabinets in my home office. It took about 7 weeks to go through ten drawers, but it was a freeing feeling.

A call from a couple of charities looking for clothes, etc. inspired me to go through my closets and get my rapidly growing son to hand over pants and shirts that were too small.

But the real change came when we started a major kitchen renovation project in early May (we'd been planning and saving for 10 years), which involved moving my son's desk and work station out of our family room, which meant cleaning his room. Three more bags of toys and stuffed animals he's outgrown have been picked up.

My kitchen is finally finished which means I now have more shelves and cupboards to put away things that had been sitting on tables and stuff in our dining room. I also pulled out boxes of old games from under the china cabinet and they'll be given away too.

I'm still working on decluttering. It's a long process, because I'm doing a little each week and tackling one area at a time. I hope to be finished by the end of summer, about a year after I started.


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## KeriStevens (Jun 1, 2011)

A child of a hoarder who raised me well  I've told my parents they don't have the right to die until they clean out.

In the meantime - GREAT kindle book on organization by Susan Pinsky. Focuses on organizing for people who are ADD. I bought it for my son's sake, and then I started reading it and HOLY COW--guess the boy comes by it honestly. 

Re: gifts she says...send a thank you note, and then your obligation to gift and giver is OVER. They have no right to ask about it any more and you can do with it what you will.


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## Lisa Scott (Apr 4, 2011)

It is so hard to do.  I do have some attachment to stuff that doesn't make sense.  I get panicky about giving/throwing out something and what if I need it later?  For me, I think it has something to do with the fact that my father died when I was very young.  (4)  I remember being in 2nd grade, unable to throw out the trash from the lunch my mom packed.  I'd bring it home and throw it out there.  I didn't want us to lose anything from our house.  For me, getting rid of stuff actually has a bit of pain attached to it.  So, it ends up just being much easier letting stuff sit around the house! 

But, nothing feels better than a clean, clutter free home.  I love the days after we have a party and everything in the house is still organized and looking good!  (although getting the house "company ready" is not fun.)


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## Sandpiper (Oct 28, 2008)

I can get sentimental very easily over most anything.  Then it's hard to let it go / toss.

And yesterday I went into a couple of storage closets looking for something.  Not there?  Then I remembered I had gotten rid of it earlier in the year.  Hadn't used it for a few years, but now I want it.  Ya hear that, professional organizers / declutterers??


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## TraceyC/FL (Mar 23, 2011)

Sandpiper said:


> I can get sentimental very easily over most anything. Then it's hard to let it go / toss.
> 
> And yesterday I went into a couple of storage closets looking for something. Not there? Then I remembered I had gotten rid of it earlier in the year. Hadn't used it for a few years, but now I want it. Ya hear that, professional organizers / declutterers??


That is part of my problem, and I can't even sAy that the last 2 years is my basis for using something or not. They have been mired in the muck of a nasty divorce and sharing the house with him.

There have been things that i haven't touched for almost 3 years (like my scrapbooking supplies) that I have no desire to abandon, but meet the criteria for getting rid of... But I feel like when i have my hobbies back I will have moved onto my new normal. Right now I'm in "survival" mode still and I just don't think it is the time to get rid of massive dollars worth of stuff.

I'm going to look at that book posted on the other page!


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## Ann Herrick (Sep 24, 2010)

I get sentimental about things, too. While my house is still has that comfortable, lived-in look, I have found I can clear out some stuff by taking pictures of it first (sometimes a photo of a cluster of items). That way I still have the memory and the new-found space in my home!


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## TraceyC/FL (Mar 23, 2011)

On the accountability side of things today....

Over 1/2 of a lawn & leaf bag filled with garbage. Including the remnants of the make and bake Christmas ornaments from my first married Christmas 18 years ago. All the melty beads were in a mini muffin pan... So now I don't need to buy one of those! 

Honestly, I have no clue where that box came from, it was sitting in what is supposed to be my "library".

I can almost get to the walls there to start giving the ex his die cast dragsters, then I can paint that wall and get the bookshelves for it. But the disaster that was the desk hutch got dumped on the floor when he took it.

Baby steps, baby steps..... I missed the blasted baby and toddler pantry hours today, and they are only there on Saturday and Tuesday. I will be out of town on this Tuesday. Ugh.

Ok, back to cracking the whip with 2 kids!!


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## caseyf6 (Mar 28, 2010)

Anyone else have family members who give you things THEY have no space for, but that are "family items" that you're supposed to keep?

Ugh.

I need to just bite the bullet and start getting rid of things.  It will feel so freeing.


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## scl (Feb 19, 2011)

I have a hard time getting rid of stuff, but find that if I give it to somebody who actually wants it or if I sell it on ebay I can part with it.  When we moved to Florida I got rid of so much stuff I can still hardly believe it.


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## Alle Meine Entchen (Dec 6, 2009)

caseyf6 said:


> Anyone else have family members who give you things THEY have no space for, but that are "family items" that you're supposed to keep?
> 
> Ugh.


My MIL is always giving us clothes, toys and books for DD that she's found @ yard sales or Goodwill. Sometimes they are too big or too small (or in the case of books, not something I want to get started, like the whole I'm a princess and you have to do what I say thing). I try to see if I can give them to someone who could use them or I throw them away. We also try to remind MIL that we're moving and we don't need [fill in the blank]. DH also sits her down and reminds her not to buy too much stuff for DD. She's getting better. She went from buying clothes for DD that are huge to buying the size she's in and the next size up (MIL bought clothes in 5 and 6T when DD was in 6-9 months)


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## TraceyC/FL (Mar 23, 2011)

I keep looking at the area the kids and I worked on yesterday and can't believe how much better that area looks!!! 

My garbage can is full and I can't even put the last bag in it because of the animals that roam.... And I'm not sure i can convince anyone to walk it up there. Ok, I don't want to do it, and only one kid is here - and she is doing school work.

I just need to decide what color to paint that wall and then plan a trip to ikea for bookshelves.

I wish i could do something with the carpet - like make it turn into something else.... But it leads to to many areas and I just can't afford to do it all at once. I think it might be the only level area in the living room, so maybe I could do laminate there and plan for tile in the other areas and it wouldn't be that bad.

Hmmmm, might have to plan a trip to home depot and see what I come up with. It would just be sooo much easier to do it before installing 7 Billy bookcases.


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