Not quite a horder - decluttering
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So interesting reading all these updates - very inspiring!
Divine Mrs M - wow, $900 in coins - that is a lot of coin-rolling and heavy, too. When my daughter was in elementary school, we had a "penny war" at her school - each class tried to bring in the most pennies to win an ice cream party. So all those coins had to be counted to determine a winner. Then all that money had to be rolled and taken to the bank.
Congrats on getting the home movies on DVD. So great that you were able to edit them. That probably saved you some money, too. We did something similar recently but we were not able to edit them. I am envious of the young parents today with their ability to film the kids on their smart phones and take umpteen billion photos without a care of how to store the pics.
I hear you regarding your daughter donating her clothes. How old is she? I tried to teach my daughter to think critically about any clothing purchase - did she need it? where could she wear it? what will go with it? did she love it? etc But still she likes to shop and regularly purges her closet. She's away at college now, but there is a Plato's closet near her that has lots of "cool" stuff so she and her friends often go for fun. I hope your daughter will see the light soon. ((Hugs)) because I know how frustrating it can be when the kids make knucklehead decisions. We love them so much!
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Zills, I share your problem. Clean up and where did I decide to put that? It can be frustrating.
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Today, I finished an odd organizing chore. We had dozens (hundreds?) of memorial folders from attending funerals over the years. We had just put them in their own drawer but I decided to get two small binders, 5x8 inches, and alphabetical dividers. I got my 3-hole punch and moved two punches to the correct setting for these binders. Then, I punched holes along the bottom edge of the open folders and filed them. Half the alphabet in each binder. Now, we have a drawer available and I got a history lesson and smiled at the ones with photos. Mostly I said "How could it be ___ years since he/she died?" Easy to find a particular one and see who and when, etc. I thought of this task when I wrote my obit and at about the same time DH was trying to find one particular folder for someone's full name. Even if my DH lives a hundred years after me, he'd never do this. Ha!
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Wow Mudd that's awesome.
Mom could your DD send them to a consignment store like Platos closest and get credit for her new needs?
Walmart has summer on clearance. Bought shorts and tees for $1-$3 each for next year. More crap to store but think of the savings! Maybe spent $30 for $100.
Still haven't found the uniforms and racing again tonight. Argh!
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Some food for thought. I do have a couple of my son's artwork pictures framed and hung upstairs, but I was able to go through the school paperwork I'd (sort of hoarded) and kept only enough to fill one small box, condensed down from about six boxes.
Throw Your Children's Art Away
Childhood is short-lived. It's okay if kids' drawings are, too. An Object Lesson.
MARY TOWNSENDSEP 16, 2018
Link to article:
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/09/throw-your-childrens-art-away/570379/
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I am not sure how I have missed this thread in the past.
One good way to de-clutter is to move, which we have done 5 times in 5 years, and twice this last year. I would not recommend it.... super bad for the stress level, but each time I have purged and purged and purged. We are a blended family with four kids in college, and have been together for 10 years. (Not long after getting married and moving into together, I started purging my husbands "stuff".... probably not very nice of me) I very literally think I have been to Goodwill 200 times in the past five years. I am finally feeling like everything I have now I really love, or it means so much to me I can't part with it.
However - Divine (great to see you!) - loved the article on kids artwork. I have several of my boys artwork dating back to preschool in frames.... and lots more in boxes. I can't seem to purge them! What's worse, I still have two big boxes of their baby clothes! I know I am insane. My poor husband wonders why I give away all of HIS clothes and keep my children's tiny little Patagonia snow clothes. Anyway, the article made sense..... now that we have moved for the VERY LAST TIME (really!) and are just getting settled, I should probably get rid of most of it. My own mom went through a phase where she sent ME all of MY grade school artwork, and I think I promptly threw it away, so I know neither of my boys are going to care if someday they inherit their own...… I guess I am just clinging to the past (theirs and mine) because sometimes I wish I could just go right back to it.... I miss those little boys, and I miss my pre-cancer days.
Thanks for sharing all of your ideas and tips!
XO
Andrea
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I'm learning to watercolor and I throw a lot of my paintings away. If it's a special scene, I'll keep it. Or if I think I did it really well, I'll put it in a mat. But the fun is in the doing, not the keeping. DD bought a wire and installed it on the wall in the hall. The boy's latest creations are put there so everyone can enjoy them. I'm not sure what she does when they come down, but I'll bet it's not keeping them.
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Hi Andi! Great to see you, too! Wow, five moves in five years! I imagine constant decluttering during that time was a way to save your sanity.
Wren, I love the idea of revolving kids' artwork on a wire.
It’s the first time I read an article with this perpective on how to handle our children's creative efforts. When I woke up this moring, I reread it, and realized that altho I severely condensed ds's schoolwork down, I have a good sized box filled with “comics" that he created. And that was pared down from several boxes I had. For several years he drew and wrote his own comics with different recurring characters using spiral notebooks. Now I plan to revisit that box and try to condense even more.
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At breakfast, I was explaining my de-cluttering and the donations. "My boxes have tiers." My husband said, "That would make a good Country song: My Boxes Have Tears..." Have a good day.
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love reading this thread.
Like so many here, I am working to declutter my home. Been here over 30 years. Amazing at how much stuff can sit in closets, drawers, corners, etc for years.
I seem to go through phases. I wake up on morning ready to give it all away only to be followed a few weeks later feeling like I am throwing my life away as things that hold memories or bring back an event are tossed out like a dirty cat box.
Of course I don’t want my family to have to go through all this unnecessary stuff after I die but the task is not an easy one, for sure.
I kept some things to pass on to grandkids as I recall how special those kinds of items were to me from my grandparents. But I have no grandchildren so no sense in keeping so many “things”.
I have started taking digital photos of items that remind me of something. I can look at them on my phone more frequently than pulling the actual item out of the back of a closet.
I hope to condense my Christmas decoration boxes this week.
Thanks everyone for sharing. Helps me see the big picture—- it’s just stuff.
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Heather, yes, sounds for sure like a song!
Dodgers, taking photos is a great idea.
We've lived here 29 years. I can safely say I've given my house, basement and garage a good decluttering over the past several years. It feels like I removed unnecessary emotional cobwebs. Things still get cluttery but I am much more on top of it these days. For one thing, most of those strong emotional tugs at the heart in separating and sorting were dealt with the first go-rounds. When I declutter now, it is more matter-of-fact and I'm not bogged down by long-ago memories.
I feel good that when all is said and done, I'm not leaving decrepit, worn-out, broken-down, out-dated garbage-I-think-is-priceless-tho-no-one-else-does stuff for my son to sort through. Yes, there is certainly still plenty of stuff, but it's edited and coukd easily be sold thru an auction or estate sale.
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I am taking my de-cluttering activities to my neighborhood now. We have a lot of wind blown trash where I live that is often strewn along the bike trails where I walk. I have started walking at dawn before work in this cooler weather and make a commitment to pick up at least 3 pieces of trash on my walk each morning (today was 3 but several of them were small). Things that don't belong along the lovely bike trail that need to go somewhere else.
My dumpster gets fed every morning. I am a woman on a mission!
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Dodgers girl, I gave my next door neighbor's children a tea set from my childhood. I ran into the father yesterday and he said the girls love it and are really into tea parties. They made thank you cards with a lot of stickers. It gave me a good feeling to hear this. All my GS are boys and no GG children are in the works. I'm happy it's gone.
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I have my mother's old doll which has a china head. The best part about her is her handmade clothes. She isn't worth a lot of money so selling her would be more trouble than it's worth. So my plan is to donate her to the history museum in Michigan - the state where my mother grew up. I looked online and learned that I have to fill out a form, give background information on the donation and include a picture. The museum will decide if they will accept it. If they do not, I will look into doll museums in other states. I discussed this with my mother yesterday and she is on board with this idea...for now. Next I have to discuss it with my sisters, but I think they will both give me the green light to donate.
Jazzy Girl - great job cleaning up the environment. That's a nice gift to the community.
Wren - so nice that the dad of those neighbor girls mentioned how much they are using the tea set.
DodgersGirl - so true about it all being just "stuff". I got rid of a bunch of baby stuff a while back. It was painful, but I tried not to think too much about what I was doing. I also thought about how "fair" was it for the toys to just sit in a box and not being played with when instead they could go to another home and gets some use. That's sort of silly, but that's how I did it. I also wondered if my future grandchildren could use any of these things, but I decided that by the time I had a grandchild, the item might be rusted or somehow unusable or there were things we could easily re-buy. Now, I did save one big plastic tote full of clothes and small toys and books. I also have another box of artwork. We have gone through it and thrown some out. I will have to get my husband to read the article, too. I love your picture idea and will have to do that when we get going again on tossing.
DivineMrsM - I bet the comics your son drew are fun to look at. I think I would save those. One day you can send them to him, perhaps.
Another thing I did recently was pack up some knick knacks in a box and put them in a closet to see if my husband would miss them. (or if I would miss them). It didn't take him long to notice one particular item so I won't be able to toss that. But I haven't missed any of it so maybe we can donate the rest.
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Thanks to all of you, I am on a roll! Even after 5 moves in 5 years, still so much to purge. (the best was seriously moving all of it to California this last January - putting it all in storage, thinking we were going to buy a house there and stay a few years, and then finding out in June that in fact, we were moving back to Colorado.) The boys art work, books that I have been toting from house to house, clothes, pottery, lanterns, sheets, pillows, EVEN THE BOYS BABY CLOTHES that I could not part with even though it's pretty clear they aren't going to wear them again. My husband can't believe it. I could have one gigantic garage sale, but I don't want the stress of it; better to just donate.
When my grandmother died, all of the grandchildren drew straws of different lengths. (I think they were straws... something) There were 10 of us. Then whoever had the longest straw (or maybe it was shortest) went first.... we went through her house one by one choosing the things we wanted. The next size straw went second, and then the third... I am sure you get the idea. She traveled all over the world and had beautiful things.There were a few things I had my eye on that I didn't end up with because someone with a shorter or longer straw got it first. Even though I think it was the day of her memorial, it's actually a very dear and almost fun memory; spending several hours with my cousins, choosing different objects and talking about the stories behind them, or us girls choosing jewelry and the tears over how much it meant to us and what an amazing grandmother we had.
Sometimes I like to think about that.... (okay, "like" might be a little strong....) … that my family and friends will go through my clothes, jewelry, mementos from traveling, art, etc... and each choose something to remember me by.
XO
Andrea
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MexicoHeather--your husband has a point!
DodgersGirl--decluttering is an ongoing process, and it does have phases. I struggle with some of the things I have that are family heirlooms with no one to leave them to.
MrsM--Good for you!
Jazzy--I love the imagery of feeding the dumpster!
Wren--so great the tea set found a happy home!
GoKale--historical societies are a great place for some things to go to. Especially if there is info that can go with it.
Andi67--that was a great way for the grandchildren to get together, remember and move things to places where they are cherished.
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I just read The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning that was recommended here. I LOVED the book and the author, and will be sharing with with several friends. Good idea to start with the big things and leave the letters & photos for last. I also liked the idea of assigning a shoe box called "private - throw away" for the few things that I just can't' let go. So far I still have 4 or 5 good sized boxes of letters & diaries. I'd like to read them again, but most will be of no interest to my son. And the families of some of my correspondents probably don't need to know how close we were. And that doesn't count the two 5 drawer file cabinets. Maybe if I get rid of tables & dressers & chairs I will be able to see the paperwork more clearly.
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MinusTwo, the book was insightful, wasn't it?
In a manner of speaking, I've been “decluttering" my flowerbeds and shrubs. The yard isn't big-I live in town so there's a house on each side of us, a street in front and alley in back. But, I have a green thumb and great soil, so stuff grows like gangbusters. The overgrown hedges around the long front porch got trimmed down two feet and all around. Huge improvement. A large flowerbed on the side of the porch got cut in half when I dug up half the flowers and ran pavers down the middle, then planted grass seed on the lawn side to seamlessly blend that section with the yard. Way less weeding which makes me very happy.
In the backyard, we pulled out five ugly shrubs. The remaining shrubs, which are still plentiful, got massive haircuts. I dug up big clumps of daylillies, black-eyed Susans and hostas, still leaving plenty along with many other perennials. Little by little, I'm attacking the weeds in the flowerbeds that I was unable to tend to this year due to being hobbled by the broken foot bone. As I weed, I'm putting down Preen to prevent as many coming back as I can.
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I just discovered a Habitat for Humanity Restore not far from me. They take an amazing list of items. Click on "schedule a pick up" to see the list. One of the guys in my neighborhood said they have great buys of new or gently used items also if you have any projects going on around the house. Hooray - I've found a place to take extra tools & hardware, appliances, building materials, etc. where someone will need them.
http://houstonhabitat.org/restore/
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MinusTwo- perfect timing ref the link to Habitat as we are cleaning out the garage this week. Thanks!!
Tools, appliances, window screens and storm windows, extra lumber, etc. Really like these things to go to people who need them
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MrsM--sounds like you are getting lots of garden work done! I'd love to see pics.
MinusTwo--There's a couple of Restore's around here, too, I never thought of using them for decluttering donations!Will have to check that out.
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So, this happened yesterday. DH has prepper leanings and could not resist free food grade containers. He picked up about 30! I have no idea where he’ll put them but I know he won’t be complaining about all my Tupperware for a while, lol
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Illimae, Hurricane supplies?
DH recently fixed our oven which had been unusable for over a year. According to the repair person, it required accessing the part from underneath the stove. DS told him it could be done from inside the oven and he was correct. So he opened the drawer under the oven and pulled out huge baking pans. Neither of us can imagine what we would use them for now. In the past, we hosted Thanksgiving and Christmas for the extended family, but don't want to do that now - and the family has scattered. He agreed that we could pull out all our pots and pans, get rid of half, and still have what we need. Now to set up a time to do this and get it done. It's the first time he's been willing to admit he's willing to part with any of them. Last I counted we had 5 large soup pots (for a family of 2). It would help if we could whittle that down to 2. Wish me success in setting aside time to get it done.
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Wren, Hurricane, zombie apocalypse, storage/supplies for our cabin. It was his birthday, so I said nothing and let him enjoy his new stuff 🙂
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Illimae— FOOD SAFE storage... oooohh I would have jumped on that. As I clean out the garage, I could fill up that new safe with those!!
I do try to keep a couple of weeks worth of food and water for the times power goes out for any extended black outs
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speaking of decluttering, anyone have a great place to get rid of extra cast iron pieces??? Want to keep a few but don’t need 20 if them
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Wrenn, my suggestion is to ask your husband if he has half an hour to go through the pots and pans. Or 20 minutes. Or even 15. I've found when I break something down into a manageable time frame for dh, it's easier for him to give me his time. If you work together for half an hour and are not done, ask him if he wants to finish another time, or take a break and continue or simply continue till you're done.
Oh, then I'd bake him his favorite dessert in that fixed oven! And thank him verbally numerous times for fixing the stove and taking time to sort the pots and pans with you. He will be more open to helping next time you ask! Our husbands often don't mind the work if we try to make it fun, and honestly, that's the right approach anyway.
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Dodgersgirl, I agree with some storage. I’ve always had a “disaster box”, for earthquakes, hurricanes, anything and these were filled with flavorings, so now his truck smells like caramel.
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Regarding Habitat Restore, they take ALOT and I have taken a lot of light fixtures when upgrading those, took spare carpeting from the original build of the house, Xmas stuff and more there. They are always glad to have donations, plus Habitat is one of my most favorite charities. Thank you Jimmy Carter!
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A setback for me: local school is no longer accepting books or any other donations.
This is so sad as this is where my kids went to school and is where I now teach.
As far as I know, all our donations have gone into classrooms. The 2nd grade teacher thanked me for the many books she received.
I may ask individual teachers if they want certain books.
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