The Summer of Decluttering Thread July 19-August 2, 2016
Hello.
Are you thinking about getting rid of stuff?
Do you need to clean up, toss out, donate, re-purpose, or move somewhere else things in your house, car, drawer, closet, under the bed, studio, desk, garage, backyard, kitchen sink?
Do you need to clear your environment to better help you keep to your foodplan, to make sticking to your food commitments easier and more pleasurable (do you need to clean that fridge? I know I do!) then consider joining in this two week round of getting to those jobs that are really really tough for some of us. Tell us what you'd like to get done and let us know how you're doing with that. It feels as good as pounds lost to get these items off the to-do list.
Would it be ok if I tag along with you guys again?
I did not get much (any) decluttering done yesterday, as I spent the evening cooking for the family and keeping up with the regular housework.
This week's goals: finish cleaning/organizing bedroom, clearing out all drawers and removing/filing the paperwork from the 'urgent' piles that have accumulated. Convince DH to empty out one of his boxes of papers that I removed from our closet. Find and remove items from basement in preparation for another garage sale. Next major target area: DS2's room.
SeeMyFeet welcome! Glad you're here. While I can't start yet, I'm in for major decision making concerning my stuff time for some real action and progress. I'll need your encouragement for sure !��
Hello again. I'm still working on the front garden. It's taken second place this year because I've been working on the back (looking quite good!) and now you can really tell.
Continue getting rid of worst of grass in flowerbed along the wall. I'll remove the rest when I lift and divide the perennials in the autumn.
Weed out the montbretia/crocosmia from the bed under the sitting room window. 2/3 done.
My to-do list is pretty big. I'm a very lazy and messy person, which isn't fair on my daughter. I want us to have a nice home together.
1. Clear the front room/Kitchen.
2. Make a bigger start on my room.
3. Clear DD's room again.
4. Clear the passage way.
5. Ring my dad so he can come do the garden.
6. Put together our furniture that's been sat in DD's room since last September =o
I worked on our bedroom last night. The Get-To-It-Later pile of papers and stuff is now smaller, and several items were walked to their permanent homes in areas that have already been organized, so that is a bit satisfying. The pile is not that large, but includes items that difficult to organize. (I could have, and should have, done much more, but I shall focus on the progress made and avoid chastising myself.)
That is a nice list LunaMerm. Hope it's getting smaller.
Feeling apprehensive on a 100F Friday evening. Many boxes of items are placed on tables in the garage in preparation for a garage sale tomorrow, and "looking forward" to an early, early Saturday morning of organizing and setting up. Hoping for breezes tomorrow. Hope, hope, hoping that things walk away. And bigger hopes that the nosy neighbor across the street will find the strength to stay away.
One more nano-declutter success: I stopped at the laundromat that I'd used a few years ago when our washing machine was broken to return the card that I'd purchased there loaded with money to run their machines. It didn't contain much money, but I couldn't throw it away since it did contain some money. So the card managed to surface every time I shuffled all the plastic that isn't carried in my billfold. Now it's gone! Sometimes clutter can be really small yet take up space in the brain.
Good one, Bill! I have gift cards in my wallet...need to use them.
The garage sale went pretty well! ~6am to 11am with a steady stream of visitors. Things were sold, given away and (gasp) stolen. Who steals at a garage sale? 'specially at ours, where we just give things away! Oh well, glad the stuff found a home where it's wanted.
Now the garage is aclutter with the remaining items, and the areas of the house that I just cleaned/organized have collateral damage as well. So those areas are on todays To Do list, which will delay the work I still need to do on the bedroom. Working this weekend as well, so it will be a challenge to get everything done.
Hello, all! I've been reading "The More of Less: Finding the Live You Want Under Everything" by Joshua Becker (many may know him well from his blog, Becoming Minimalist ... and many of the ways the thoughts are expressed and explanations reached me so much more than the whole KonMari stuff ... I read her book and liked some of it, but like everything, take what works and build on that. This book really had me thinking deeper about WHAT is enough. What is too much ... and instead of expecting everyone to "CLEAR IT OUT!" ... it has me really thinking WHAT is enough? Do I need three cake stands? Do I need four? One? One because it was my favorite of my mom's and gorgeous, and one white one and one this or that or WHAT? Now I'm thinking, why am I really holding onto clothes that don't fit? Because I love the clothes themselves? Because I hold that time in my life up as feeling that I had more self-worth? Because of the money I spent on those clothes that I don't want to re-spend? (yes, yes and yes). He's not asking these questions - maybe he does, I'm only halfway through.
But I had an "ah ha" moment reading it late into the night ... It's ok for me to pass on things with perceived collector value. I keep thinking, If I lose my job, I can work to sell these things on ebay to bring in money. Does anyone else have that thought? DH's mom saw that I had a few Lenox pieces. That I truly treasured. they were bought YEARS ago with my first babysitting money. Mom had me set aside some for savings and I could spend the rest as I liked. So I saved up and bought a few inexpensive Rose Manor pieces. I thought they were the height of elegance. In a 15-year old's bedroom, no less. Anyway, she came over one day with a Lenox vase of a different pattern, with raised curves all over and not my style at all. She said she picked it up because she knew I loved Lenox and it was worth $30 but she found it at Goodwill. So I've saved it in a cupboard and never used it lately. I feel guilt when I see it. I pulled it out this morning and will either 1) wrap it for Goodwill and let someone else enjoy it or 2) bring it in with a few fresh flowers for a coworker who loves fresh flowers on her desk and ask her to pass it on (she puts flowers on others' desks now and then)... it could be interesting to see how it's passed around the office if that's the case It's one small vase, but it represents so much that I hold onto because they were gifted to me. She also bought me a HUGE crystal vase - it's too bit to fit on any cupboard, hutch, anything. So it sits on the floor. All I can do is put gladiolas in it if I strip off the bottom blooms. I don't want it. I wonder if I can pass that on, as well. I used to get a christmas arrangement at a florist to put in it (leave the vase and pick it up filled) but I had to figure out how to transport it, etc.
The guilt, sentimentality, perceived future money off potential selling are all holding me back from passing on things. I want to work on that this summer. Today it starts with a few extra things packed up or folded up (clothing) and moved along. Thanks for letting me work things out in my mind here...
I am working everyday either in the studio, or at a farmers' market, until a week from this Thursday. Then I will have a day off. Then it's markets again and then, probably a trip out of town for a couple of days. I am not getting to my decluttering in any big way soon. It will be September before I really push it again.
But this doesn't mean I do nothing. I can still fit in a 15 min session here and there and so I will scale back and plan to do that. Today I will do 15 minutes in the kitchen again. I'll just start once I am back tonight. Maybe before bed. If I did 15 min before bed every day I'd get a lot done. I'll start that tonight and report here.
So glad to have a new declutter thread, I am now getting sewing stuff organized and have splurged on some storage cabinets for my living room- they will be installed August 10th. Until then I am just reorganizing things all over the house, this week I will have to work more than usual but will see all of you on the next thread (if it continues) after August 5.
Meanwhile good luck and keep on clearing it all out!
Lisa
I'm continually amazed at how much 15 minutes per day moves me forward. I'm super busy with projects and work but house remains reasonably clean and decluttered. Last week in Glenwood I spent 15 minutes in DH's "shed" and made great progress! I have a roofing project today but made a sweep through the yard and removed all creeping bellflower "flowers" and a few ready to bloom thistles. Figure I saved myself 15,000 new weeds in 5 minutes. lol
I've gotten several boxes cleaned out in the garage.
My bedroom is all clean ... and my bed is made (every day since Friday )
I mailed out a big box of videos.
Now I'm thinking, why am I really holding onto clothes that don't fit? Because I love the clothes themselves? Because I hold that time in my life up as feeling that I had more self-worth? Because of the money I spent on those clothes that I don't want to re-spend?
The nail has been hit squarely on the head. I'll add one more....so I can hold on to that future memory, of a triumphal experience, when I will try them on and they will fit...
Oh, if people would just stop bringing us gifts....
Not much in the way of decluttering to report since the garage sale, unfortunately. Just trying to keep up with the usual. But I'm inspired to hear how much you guys are accomplishing in 15 min intervals.
The Summer of Decluttering Thread July 19-August 2, 2016
It's one small vase, but it represents so much that I hold onto because they were gifted to me. She also bought me a HUGE crystal vase - it's too bit to fit on any cupboard, hutch, anything. So it sits on the floor. All I can do is put gladiolas in it if I strip off the bottom blooms. I don't want it. I wonder if I can pass that on, as well. I used to get a christmas arrangement at a florist to put in it (leave the vase and pick it up filled) but I had to figure out how to transport it, etc. 
)
