Decluttering in March

[Float On]

Spring is here and then it isn't and then it is again and then not again. Just when I get into an outside project I'm driven inside again.
This week I really need to declutter my laundry and sewing room. It has acquired a pile of projects than need finished and a pile of stuff that I need to go through for the thrift shop. My boys leave things in there they don't want or can't fit into anymore.

A big project this month is going thru the studio and getting it cleaned and decluttered. Colors in frit or bar that we haven't used in years I'd like to list as supplies on Etsy or Ebay. My packing room is an explosion of bags, bubble wrap, and boxes and has a lot of our show supplies are crowded in there as well. Everything has a place.....but it all got jumbled up when my husband returned from the Florida shows and had to unload the truck in freezing weather. What a mess.

[Float On]

Can't believe I forgot my biggest decluttering challenge this month but I was sure reminded when I walked into work this morning. Our church was in a 50/50 partnership with another church, we've bought out their half of the property and they have left their rooms (offices/storage/SS classrooms, etc...) full of stuff for us to go through. Its a huge job and I'm already hitting the Zertex since I'm getting hives from all the dust.

[danna]

March 01
I usually start the month with 5 items a day and then if I am doing great with the decluttering and quit counting at some point.
So here I go again
1--holey sock to garbage
3--phamlets to recycling

4 items to date

Edited to add Float On we are seeing NO Spring here yet...lol

[redfox]

Sent 14 pairs of shoes to consignment (half of them my Mom's). I have about 3 dozen garments to take in as well, and am sorting them by season. Despite the temptation to trade them at 50% for stuff, I opted for the 40% of value in the form of a check.

[nancibt]

Arghh! I forgot that I had told Amvets I had things for them to pick up today. So now I get to keep the clutter AND the guilt. :-(

[fidgiegirl]

I sent several garments to the charity pickup. Well, they are still sitting in the living room but they are packed and as good as gone. I am feeling very much like I have too many clothes. If they can't ALL fit in my dresser, it's too many. I do a seasonal swapout but my current clothes should fit and they don't right now.

Interestingly, many of them are like new and were "deals" I got on the REI Outlet, especially, or clothes bought by my DH as gifts for me on that site. I love him and I know he means well, but maybe clothes should be off limits. I return the vast majority of what he gives me but even what I keep I often don't use that much and eventually it ends up out the door like this. Some things are a home run, though . . . oh well, at least I have the gumption to return the things that I really know I'm not going to wear or that clearly don't fit right. A good lesson because even at a deal they are still usually in the $15-30 range per garment and some I only wore once or twice but just didn't like.

I feel better for having unloaded them. One I was going to alter, and wasn't getting around to it . . . now not only is the item gone from my life, but the related to-do is off my list. Yeah.

Want to work on this hard this spring. We had a realtor come through and told us we had waaaaaay too much stuff. We know that, and I'm really feeling it. I want to pare it down by at least half. Problem is, it's antiques my husband has lovingly collected over the years. He's attached. Oy.

[fidgiegirl]

DH has considered listing some of his antiques on eBay! Yippee! He is still thinking about a few, but they moved upstairs out of their normal location. That is a very positive first step.

I was telling DH about the "outbox" concept I read about in Apartment Therapy (thanks to whoever recommended that book on the old boards - it's awesome). Basically if you are skittish about just giving something away, but you know it can't "live" where it currently lives, you can move it to an area of your house that is your outbox. There, it can sit for a while. You can think about it. But because it's out of where it was always used, or sat, or whatever, you break some kind of mental bond with it. You took the first step, and now it is easier to make a decision on what to do with it, whether it's give away, sell, store, etc. We already kind of have that in our upstairs junk room. Some stuff goes in there to live for a brief while, and some hangs out for a looooong while, but very few of the items in that room are ones that we plan to keep permanently.

I think the realtor visit really got him wanting to act on his stuff. And since we are of the mind that if you have to do stuff to your house to sell it, you might as well do it right away, while you still live there and can enjoy it yourself, we are kind of renewed in freshening our place - fixing all those little things, getting rid of stuff, etc. Let's see how it goes.

What I really want to avoid with this is him feeling like I'm telling him to get rid of all his things. He told me that he knows rationally that it is not fair that I moved in and have not had a chance to basically have any say in the decor, but that also, when he thinks of getting rid of things, he is sad. Today, he was contemplating selling a cool basket. "Do you want me to sell it?" I said, "I'm not going to tell you what to sell. They are your things, and I don't want you feeling like I told you you had to sell them." Hopefully we both win in the end . . . I wouldn't want our next place to look like this in the whole house like it does now (antique North woods). A room or two, ok. But we wouldn't be able to take all of it and still both be happy.

[Rosemary]

I finished 3 winter projects that involved decluttering and organizing: old photos, bookcases, and files.

[Lainey]

Thank goodness for big trash pickup. It's 4x/year in Phx, rotating by area, and ours starts on Monday. So I'm putting out 4 chairs, one broken wooden box, and other misc. items out on the curb. Couldn't be more convenient - our tax dollars at work!

[janharker]

Today I cleaned out my closet. Two bags of clothes, a couple of travel bags, a few odds and ends, some junk jewelry. The thrift shop isn't open until Tuesday, but the wall in the hallway leading to the garage is lined with things ready to go. We bought a new lamp for the DH to use at his reading chair. So the old one is also waiting for the thrift shop.

In two weeks my DH will be gone for several days. While he's away I'll get rid of more. Not his stuff, but stuff that if he saw me planning to get rid of it he'd complain. It'll be stuff that he never sees and never uses, such as flower vases, baskets, office supplies. He's one of those "we might need it someday" people. I'm not.