Page 2 of 9 FirstFirst 1234 ... LastLast
Results 11 to 20 of 88

Thread: Setting a Decluttering Goal in Units of Time Using Flylady's Timer Method - July 2017

  1. #11
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Nevada
    Posts
    12,889
    EM: wow you got a lot done! When I as working I would never do it on a work day either because I was too tired. i would wait for a day off or weekend, etc. I have done it in small chunks too but sometimes once I get going I can't stop which can be a good thing) One thing that has helped me from buying something new is that I ask myself if I will be hauling it off to a thrift store in a few years. That mostly stops me but not always.

  2. #12
    Geila
    Guest
    I'm currently tackling a bunch of big projects and I've found that setting 6 hour sessions works really well. I take a small break in the middle, usually outside, and have a snack to keep my energy up. The 6 hours gives me enough time in the morning for my regular stuff (walking dogs, etc) and still finish early enough to have enough energy to enjoy the evening.

    One thing that really derails me is being online (!) For whatever reason, being online makes me lose track of time and make me really settle into being sedentary. I'll sit down to do 'one quick thing' and 45 minutes later I'm still online and I haven't done anything productive at all. There's some kind of brain voodoo that the internet does to keep us locked in!

    I second the Marie Kondo tip. Last year I did a pretty major purge and I find that it gets easier and easier as time goes by. I had a bunch of stuff that I kept 'just in case' and 'cause I spent good money' and 'it makes me feel nostalgic' and this past week I'm like, "Get rid of it already! It's not adding anything positive to your life." The emotional attachments seem to be decreasing more and more.

  3. #13
    Yppej
    Guest
    I found the Kondo book at the library last night. Thank you for the recommendation.

  4. #14
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    3,737
    There are a huge number of Marie Kondo inspiried Youtube videos. Including an interview and a audio recording of the whole book. There are people of all ages who demonstrate what they have done using the method.

    It inspired me to go thru books and I have a huge pile to go to various organizations. It has also inspired me to stay out of stores.

  5. #15
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Vermont
    Posts
    14,635
    Quote Originally Posted by sweetana3 View Post
    There are a huge number of Marie Kondo inspiried Youtube videos. Including an interview and a audio recording of the whole book. There are people of all ages who demonstrate what they have done using the method.

    It inspired me to go thru books and I have a huge pile to go to various organizations. It has also inspired me to stay out of stores.
    I had great success with a Kondo book purge. I was suspicious of her rule that you have to put everything in the middle of the room before sorting, but it worked. I was able to give over 200 books to our local library for their biannual book sale.

    I haven't done the clothes purge yet, because I have to get DH on board. He's the worst offender. He has clothes he hasn't worn in decades the "might come in handy."

    But I do fold my clothes in the little rectangles now, and I LOVE it! For the first time in my life I feel like if anything happened to me and people had to open my drawers, they'd think someone REALLY organized lived there. And it really doesn't take that much more than regular folding. You just have to get used to it. My favorite drawer is my lingerie drawer. It makes me feel so together to see the little shoeboxes with everything in its place.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
    www.silententry.wordpress.com

  6. #16
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    1,463
    I'm loving hearing all your thoughts on dealing with stuff.

    I haven't read the Kondo book yet because I feel like it addresses a level of decluttering so much more ahead of where I am - like in my piles, I'm still finding junk mail from several months ago! But I do think I could use her method in some areas - like to go through my clothes, which I've been successfully paring down bit by bit over the last several years.

    I can do short time periods of decluttering for straightening up the house and getting rid of little messes. But for major decluttering projects, I find knowing that I have a long stretch of time, like two hours, very motivating. The bottom line is I'm a borderline hoarder and still have extensive clutter throughout my house. Over my winter break from teaching this year, I successfully decluttered my whole upstairs hallway which was filled with boxes of stuff I didn't know what to do with. Then I remembered I had some boxes of clutter from when I moved into this house six years ago (when 8 1/2 months pregnant!) out in the storage shed in the backyard. I thought there were about four boxes of clutter - turns out there were 12! I moved those boxes into the recently decluttered hallway, thinking I'd tackle them bit by bit while working a regular schedule this spring, but I never did. Now they are my project for this week - or maybe for the next two weeks!

    I have a dream for this year that, maybe, for the first time in my life, I could live in a home without clutter. I'm not at the Kondo point of saying, "Oh, I have six pairs of jeans, but I could really live with just three." I just want to live in a house where everything has its place and everything is in its place and there are no boxes or drawers of just unorganized papers and junk. It seems like an impossible goal, but I'm chipping away at it. I know even if I get there, I will backslide from time to time, but it would still be huge for me to not have pockets of disorganized clutter because I've had them all my life wherever I've lived to some degree.

    Anyway, I put in an hour yesterday - so two hours down!

  7. #17
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    3,737
    ejchase, I did not do it totally her way mostly because it would take a huge space and a lot of time just to get all the books in one place. But I addressed each shelf and handled each book. Now I am on my second wave since I realized that many books duplicated the same info.

    The other thing that really helped me was to put everything that was the same together. Office supplies are all in one desk, pencils and pens in one big container on the desk. All my patterns are in totes or lateral file drawers sorted and in categories. Took a long time since this was a 30 year collection but when I saw the duplicates and triplicates and number of totally similiar things, I could release many of them for new homes.

  8. #18
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Nevada
    Posts
    12,889
    I did not empty my closet when I did that but did handle everything and look at it. It helped me get rid of more then half my clothes. I have used the same approach with book, nic-naks, etc.

  9. #19
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    1,463
    I did two more hours yesterday, so new total is four.

    At this point, I am feeling COMPLETELY overwhelmed by how much there is to do and how many things I'm finding that I just don't know how to make decisions about. But I'm telling myself to just put in the time and to try not to worry about solving every problem immediately. I think in the past decisions have come easier once a certain amount of the clutter has been cleared away. I have been able to take a couple grocery bags of paper to the recycling bin.

    I'm going to try to put in a lot of hours over the next 3 or 4 days. I'm just thinking that if I make a big push sooner rather than later, I will gain some momentum and it won't feel so tortuous. Also, I'm going to be out of town the 20th through August 11th or so, so if I'm going to meet my goal, I have to put in a lot of time this week.

  10. #20
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    1,463
    Well, I only got through an hour today for various reasons, but because I've been feeling so overwhelmed, I decided to focus on just getting some things out of the house. I had a box of books to sell or give away that's been in my bedroom for about six months, and I finally dealt with that. And I had a box of things for Goodwill in the trunk of my car, and I dropped those things off. I also started a new box for Goodwill.

    It wasn't much, but it was something. New total: 5 hours.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •