PDA

View Full Version : Continuing to clean out...........



CathyA
2-23-11, 2:40pm
I just can't believe how much junk I've bought in the past 30 years!! I finally got to the point where it was just suffocating me and I've been continuing to clean out.
We have a place in our little town that helps people who are having big financial problems, and its a great place to send stuff.
Recently, I sent about 4 bags of stuff, and today I took about 8 bags! It feels GREAT to clean this stuff out!
Its shameful on how much over-buying DH and I have done in the past.....but that's over now.
There are still miles to go before I sleep...........but at least the process is well on its way. :cool:

sweetana3
2-23-11, 4:10pm
I am also working on the decluttering. It has helped me to sort by activity and all matching things go in one place. For example, I had three or more sewing baskets. Never had all i needed in one place. Combined everything into one big container. All my pens and pencils are placed in one big pottery container. We all know where they can be found and where they are to go.

I found four containers of paper clips, a huge stack of note pads, picture hanging supplies all thrown in a drawer, etc. All are organized and I gave the paper clips to someone who wanted them.

I got rid of all the excess Xmas decorations (we have not done any for 10 years.). If it was truly special or I wanted to remember the person, I kept it but all the excess was out the door. We filled a car with all our excess stuff and donated it to a local thrift.

I still have full closets but am going to make a second pass.

CathyA
2-23-11, 4:25pm
Good for you sweetana! I'm like you.......its like peeling the layers off an onion. I have to do one layer at a time. Then think about things, and go at the same piles again....hoping to thin it down even more.
Like my SIL once said, she likes 'to only be left with a few meaningful things. The fewer of them there are, the more meaningful they become.' I'd like to feel that way.....but its hard!

seekingsimplicity
2-23-11, 5:50pm
Once my oldest daughter has graduated from college (in May)I am looking forward to unloading a lot of her stuff on her and cleaning out my garage! She is a packrat so she will probably take a lot off my hands!

Greg44
2-23-11, 5:56pm
We are expecting a big snow fall here in the Valley and I just happen to be off on vacation this week - so I am offering my dd the "box" fund raiser. I have some boxes I bought several years ago especially for this occasion. I use to pay them $ 5.00 a box to fill - but now I am going to have to up the $$. I let them lose to fill the box out of their stuff in their rooms - stuffed animals, clothes, books, games, etc. and pay them for each box. Great way to help get the junk out of their rooms.

seekingsimplicity
2-23-11, 6:06pm
great idea! bribery at its finest! love it!

Miss Minimalist
3-1-11, 1:23pm
LOL, Greg44 -- what a fabulous idea!

A great side effect of decluttering: it makes us much more mindful of what we buy NOW. Before I purchase anything, I consider how much of a hassle it'll be to get rid of down the road!

CathyA
3-1-11, 2:47pm
I just came back from the Caring Center again. This time I took about 5 bags of stuff. I always seem to need to have a little panic attack on the way home......but I get over it! One good thing about getting older and having a bad memory, is I forget what I even got rid of! haha
I'm just flabergasted at how much stuff I have bought in my life. Its shameful. But like you said, Miss Minimalist, it really does make me extremely careful on what I buy/bring into the house now, because it is so hard to get rid of!
I'm just loving the feeling of simple surroundings. I'm no where near there yet, but I'm on my way!

Bastelmutti
3-9-11, 5:16pm
Greg44 - That is brilliant and may be just the tip I need to declutter toys in our house.

fidgiegirl
3-9-11, 6:27pm
Sorry to hijack, but yeah! Miss Minimalist is back!!

Miss Minimalist
3-10-11, 10:39am
LOL -- thanks so much, fidgiegirl! The blog and book keep me busy, but I'm trying to stop by a little more often these days. I love this community, and was thrilled to see such a smooth transition to the new site. :)

pinkytoe
3-10-11, 11:09am
With the change of seasons, I am looking at my clothes and thinking where does all this stuff come from that I never wear. I keep trying to downsize the clothes but they keep reproducing it seems. I would give anything to have all that money back spent on seldomly worn clothes and shoes. However, I am now ruthless about getting rid of the clothes I will never wear. Someone else will love them and my closet will look spare again.

Tradd
3-22-11, 10:48pm
Read through Miss Minimalist's blog and book some as well as Fawn's count three and HER blog! Needed some inspiration. Things had gotten piled up over the winter and were beginning to make me nuts. Got rid of tons of paper, some ratty clothes that didn't fit anymore, two broken purses. Set of Pyrex glass bake ware going to a woman at church. Have offered several items via email to several people, just waiting for them to say if they want them. If not, they will be donated.

Feel much lighter this evening! :)

Selah
3-26-11, 9:03am
You've all said such helpful things. In a cross-country move in November, I cleaned out and thinned down my stuff like never before. Now that we've settled in, at least until March of 2012 or so, I am MUCH more careful about acquiring objects. I have found that the fewer things I have, the better I take care of all of them and the easier it is to keep track of them. Since I know I only have one eraser, for example, I remember where it is and am not tempted to buy another one, thinking I don't have one! So much of what I got rid of was just duplicates of stuff I already had! How embarrassing!

As an aside, a few boxes of books I mailed from the old place to the new place got lost in the mail. I have managed to replace the ones I REALLY missed, via Amazon.com, but out of those three boxes lost, I think I've only replaced about one box worth. Quite a difference from the SEVEN full bookcases I started with!

redfox
3-26-11, 10:33am
I would give anything to have all that money back spent on seldomly worn clothes and shoes.

Is there a consignment store in your area? I'm taking stuff there.

CathyA
3-26-11, 11:32am
Isn't it funny how much we think we need, but if we lose/misplace it, we don't really miss it? I forget where someone told me this awhile back......maybe here........She said that they were having company and she had to quickly move alot of "important" junk off her kitchen table. She put it in a bag and wrote on the bag "URGENT". Well, she found it a couple months later in her closet. hahaha That's how urgent the stuff was.
Sometimes it helps me to put a bunch of stuff I'm not sure about keeping in bags for awhile. Then when I go through them again, I seem less connected to them and can be more likely to get rid of them.

And like I've said before, I think it helps to give yourself several days in a row of doing not much but going through stuff. You start getting tired of it and tend to want to get rid of more of the stuff, than if you just started the clean-out an hour ago.

sumarie
3-26-11, 5:39pm
I've been cleaning out my own things and helping my sweetie eliminate many things he no longer wants and needs. It's been ongoing for a couple of years now, very steadily, very slowly. At first, the big things that were obvious seemed to give us a big breath of fresh air, but as we've continued along, I've searched for things to keep us pointed in this direction, as we still have more than we would ever care to move into a new and smaller location (which we do plan to do, sooner or later). Last May I vowed to not buy anything new for a year. I can't believe how easy this has been! (I did buy a pair of glasses & a pair of shoes I needed -- these were "exceptions") Two things I've noticed, in deciding to do this: one, I've loved the creative challenge of "solving the problem" in other ways than running out to the store to buy something (even though I allowed myself "used" stuff) -- by making something, by borrowing, by realizing I might not really NEED it right now anyway, etc. and two, it has completely allowed the shopping muscle to go limp -- it's a relief to know it isn't even an issue to have to "decide" to buy something or not. I'm now out of the habit of shopping and instead am thrilled each time I decide to rid myself of something no longer needed or wanted. One practice that has helped, especially initially, was to make a list of things I might want to buy LATER. It's almost as much fun to write the thing down as to go to the trouble of hunting it down & purchasing it. This way, when my "year" is up, I can refer to my list & think again about how much I still want those things.

A few months ago, when it seemed like we were bogged down, I decided I needed proof that we were still on course. At this point I began a list, written, of everything that comes in & everything going out, with the date. At the end of the month, I tally things up & it helps me keep enthusiastic to see that I'm making a net gain (er, I mean, loss).

AmeliaJane
4-22-11, 12:36pm
I'm pretty good on the material objects (living in 4 states in 10 years, always in tiny apartments, will do that for you) but what I realized in church last night was that I desperately needed a digital declutter. Came home and went through the blog reader--removed all subscriptions that I would not miss if the blog stopped publishing--went through the DVR and removed shows that I am not enjoying anymore and recordings that have been sitting for months without being viewed--removed various computer game trials that I was never going to get around to playing. I am a completist, so once I let something into my life, it bugs me if I don't keep up with it.

I feel so much better!

(I did not try to weed books--don't mind those as clutter :) )

CathyA
4-22-11, 12:52pm
I have that to do yet too AmeliaJane. I must have at least 5,000 messages in my email accounts that I need to deal with. Its the same type of feeling.........like I'll lose something important if I delete old ones. And my "bookmarked" list takes about a minute to scroll through!

AmeliaJane
4-22-11, 5:20pm
I hate deleting emails too, other than advertising. What I do is set up folders for different categories, and then then put every email in there as soon as I read or respond (if needed). That means the inbox is only things that need to be acted on, and it seems to keep it under control. I would feel so overwhelmed with a huge in-box, but I don't mind lots of emails neatly filed away. You can do folders for your bookmarks too!

fidgiegirl
4-22-11, 5:27pm
I have that to do yet too AmeliaJane. I must have at least 5,000 messages in my email accounts that I need to deal with. Its the same type of feeling.........like I'll lose something important if I delete old ones. And my "bookmarked" list takes about a minute to scroll through!

CathyA, I use Diigo. First I started with Delicious but later switched. You may know them - they are called social bookmarking. Basically instead of storing your bookmarks on your own computer only you store them online and can access them from anywhere. It's great because you can get them from anywhere. Key to the system is using tags - one word descriptors of each site. Like, if I have a site about teaching vocabulary to English as a Second Language students, I might tag it "ESL," "literacy," "vocabulary." So now I can search my sites from anywhere according to what I want.

It took me a little while to convert them all over, but the service has an import feature, and I slowly went through checking and tagging them. Something to do in front of the TV. It actually didn't take too long.

One piece of advice I would share for anyone starting up tagging - premake a list of tags you think you would use. If you add any as you go, add them to your list. I find that I have too many tags and don't always tag consistently. If I had a list I think it'd be better for me.

beckyliz
5-2-11, 1:44pm
I find a quick way to clear out e-mail is to sort by "from." you may decide that you don't need anythink by a certain sender, so it's just click, click, click, delete.

tgardella
5-2-11, 1:57pm
I have that to do yet too AmeliaJane. I must have at least 5,000 messages in my email accounts that I need to deal with. Its the same type of feeling.........like I'll lose something important if I delete old ones. And my "bookmarked" list takes about a minute to scroll through!

If looking at all those messages is overwhelming or just gives you a feeling of dread, one option is to create a folder called "Backlog" and move everything that is more than a few days old from your Inbox to the Backlog folder. This will give you a fresh start on your Inbox (I call it declaring email bankruptcy!) and allow you to keep the old stuff in case you need it. If you do need it, you'll know where to find it. You could also work your way through the Backlog folder as time permits, but again, you don't need to see it all every time you check your email.