Not quite a horder - decluttering
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Octogirl--congrats on the move, and on the decluttering done in the process! I hope the house you are contracted on works out well for both of you.
Mominator--what a great way to manage mice!
Zills--I never thought of steel wool in holes and gaps, I can do that!Need to find some steel wool, now. . . Next year you'll have to keep a log of what you buy as you go!
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Happy Thanksgiving bc sisters and fellow de-clutterers. I found myself unexpectedly decluttering a box of old recipes I have been hauling around for decades this am. I went to look for a recipe my mom gave me for sour creme apple coffee cake (which I did not find yet), but found my old recipe box stuff with lots of magazine cut outs, cut outs off of boxes and containers, some hand written things I have no idea about, and more. I was able to sort through a lot of stuff I never even made nor have memories of who gave it to me. Lots of stuff with no meaning went in to recycling, but found some real keepers of recipes I have come away with from friends when celebrating holidays together, or during their visits.
The ones that are most special are the recipes on the old index cards that my mother wrote out for me. My mom was a great cook and taught me many things about how to make meals and bake holiday treats through the years. Although we all miss people this time of the year during the holidays, it just made me smile today and that she was somehow here with me on this Thanksgiving morning. Some sweet memories of our time together in the kitchen baking and cooking together were my gift today. I am thankful!
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Just discovered this topic today. I decluttered my B-C folder today...now it's only about 3 inches thick vs. 5 inches earlier.
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thrdage--THAT"S PROGRESS!! Celebrate the progress! That's what it's all about!
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Greetings of the season to all.I think I did pretty good keeping the clutter down and made good choices with Christmas purchases.
First, I did spend about $12 on gift bags and boxes, even tho I had some already. And I bought $3 worth of tissue paper—225 pieces—it will last for a couple more Christmases plus I use it for various presents year round.
But I did not buy any gift wrap, bows, ribbon, gift tags or even tape. I made it a point to use up odd colored tissue paper that I've had for years, and use up the odd pieces of ribbon left on little spools here and there. I still have plenty to get through another year without buying any more.
Since dh and I had to make some large purchases during the year (for example, needed to replace the electric range (stove-oven), I insisted on no major gifts for the two of us. I really liked it that way!
I see there is a show on Netfilx in January about the Kondo method of decluttering! I plan to watch and hope it is great inspiration!
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Hi Divine, I am still seeing all the pages and went back one page and could see those posts from November and up until now. I hope it gets straightened out for you.
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from my iPhone I can see the pages to this thread, too.
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Thanks, ladies! As soon as I posted it, the rest of the posts came up. Apparently, nothing was showing on my ipad it because I was making the first post on the next page. Anyway, I deleted my comment and added my thoughts on December decluttering above.
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for the first time that I can remember I bought nothing on Black Friday nor purchased any paper, tags, ribbons, etc in the after Christmas sales.
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I only bought one gift bag after Christmas in anon christmassy pattern. My daughter gave away a lot of gift bags and tissue and bows as presents. Used a boatload of to/from tags to decorate a Chinese takeout box for me.
Trying to get the boy motivated to clean up today. Have several things to drop off at goodwill and the humane society.
My goal for the new year is start AND finish the kids scrapbooks. Will remove a lot of clutter and storage boxes. Hope chemo brain doesn’t fail me.
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Yeah Zills, on the scrapbooks.
I also worked on keeping the clutter down. I let DH purchase the Christmas gifts for our 3 children. He used the wish list on Amazon for DD1 and what DD2 and DS had been asking/begging about for the last few months.
I also did not buy any gift wrap, bows, ribbon, gift tags or tape. I have a good stash and I've been using it. Some of the wrapping paper I have was a little thin, and I could see some words through the wrapping paper. So I developed a technique where I wrap the paper around a present twice. I'm a very good wrapper, and the presents looked just fine.
I still have plenty of everything to get through another couple of years without buying any more.
We have a little tradition of re-using gift tags. It started one year when I got the prettiest gift tags that have angels on them. I also have a collection of other cute tags. The tags are paper-engineered, with several layers of paper, different colors and textures, and glitter. We collected the tags as we opened the presents. It's just the 5 of us.
Here's our cute tags:
We usually travel the day after Christmas to visit family during Christmas break. We don't put up the tree those years. This year, hubby got sick the day before Thanksgiving, and I got sick a few days later. We decided no travel for either Thanksgiving nor Christmas. About two weeks before Christmas, I said how much I missed our tree. Hubby brought down the tree in bunches and assembled it. He then put on the lights. He was still too sick to bring down the boxes of ornaments. I often pick up a few angel ornaments each year, but this year I also resisted the urge to buy any more ornaments.
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Hi ladies- Happy New Year! Here is to all the work done here this year to de-clutter and simplify our lives on every level.
I am learning to keep my holidays simple by de-cluttering holiday expectations by others whether it is traveling to see people, sending everyone Xmas cards every year, expected gift exchanges, etc. I also spent some time at the end of the year really re-evaluating some relationships in my life and realize many people from my past are simply acquaintances now vs. any real connection. Mostly people from the past who had their place and time in my life, but those times have come and gone.
I have mentioned the one friend from the past who always sends me things for my house that do not fit nor do I have space for. I tried 2X now to let her know no more gift exchanges and she keeps sending me things saying "I know you said no gift exchanges, but you need this...." Although it is not like me to do this, I now have to just go radio silent and not even going to reach out to thank her. This would be an example of someone from the past that no longer fits in my world.
Yesterday, I put six bags of clothing & shoes in the car and went to take them to my favorite donation place, but discovered they were closed now until into the new year. So I told myself these bags were going to go somewhere today and remembered the Big Brothers and Sisters drop off truck that is parked at a nearby parking lot on the weekends and they got dropped off today. Those bags were NOT going to ride around in my car for another couple of weeks.
Wishing everyone a wonderful start to the new year and good health and happiness to all! I enjoy this thread and will continue on here with you in to the new year!
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My decluttering contribution this season was to use old postage stamps. My Mother (who's been gone since 2014 and was a vegetable since 1992 - to give you a time line) used to buy blocks of stamps when they first came out. None of us got the 'collecting gene' so they came to live in my desk drawer. Of course the post office isn't interested in a refund, so I've gradually been trying to combine them on mail. Almost all of my Christmas cards this year had 6 or 8 or 10 stamps in various combinations. Friends were surprised. I got rid of stuff and saved money. I still have a "boat load" of 6 cent stamps and assorted 5's & 4's. Not to mention the 1 cent & 2 cent stamps I bought myself every time the cost went up. With 'forever stamps', they are no longer needed. I'll try to buy some larger denominations so I can combine what's left.
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MinusTwo- good jobs with the stamps. I just read the postage is going up in January from 50 to 55 cents too.
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Mominator--the tag collection is so pretty!My Mom used to reuse boxes. In our house what was ON the box was not necessarily what was IN the box. Some boxes became well known and looked for every year.Mom had a "box box" in the attic where she stored the boxes from year to year.
Jazzy--so good you could find another place to drop off the bags of clothes!
MinusTwo--it would be very surprising to see a card come with multiple stamps like that! I remember when that was a common site. Thank goodness for Forever stamps, though.
Teka--Love the perfectionist pic!!!
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Mominator, the idea of reusable gift tags is terrific, and your tags are lovely! It seems so sweet and sentimental. How are you and your dh feeling after being sick?
Jazzy, it’s a great idea to declutter holiday expectations of others. I’ve learned to do that, too. I had 20 people in for Christmas Eve. Plenty of food yet I did no cooking. Store bought sandwiches and snacks. Gone are the days of me slaving away trying to make it all perfect. Working smarter, not harder. One of my sisters is so judgemental. Like I’m not doing it right if I don’t put forth herculean effort. Too bad for her.
MinusTwo, I got a great chuckle out of your stamps story. I love it! Like NM says, seeing envelopes with a bunch of stamps on it used to be a common sight.
Teka, ha, ha, love that procratinator perfectionist diagnosis!
NativeMaine, reusing boxes and bows is something I’ve done, too. I love that your family had a few special boxes that were looked for year after year.
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I saw those tags and thought they would make cute decorations for a little table tree someday. We re-use boxes and have a drawer with paper and ribbon for all occasions. DD uses decorative bags. Lots less work to make pretty.
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I enjoy reading all the tasks you've all done for Christmas-related things. I had organized gift bags, wrap, and bows in the fall so it was easy to use. I made myself put away this year's bags and bows in the new system on Sat. even though I didn't have much energy. Having it all put away helped. Today I put away most of the decorations. We hadn't put up much. I sent DH out to change the garden flag from Christmas to a winter one. While I had the box of flags out, I sorted through and tossed three flags that were too worn or faded to keep. I got a battery organizer box and spent a little while today getting all the batteries out of those bulky clamshells and into the sorter. Now I'm pooped but glad to have a few small chores done. Also, any family that came to my house over Christmas was "encouraged" to take something. I'd gathered several things for my sister and while DS was here I got definite answers from him about many things such as sets of dishes from both his grandmothers etc. He also took copies of our legal documents we had gotten from our lawyer in late summer.
I still have "that" closet hanging over me, but I am going to it a couple of times a week and removing an item or two at a time, but the easy things are mostly gone and the real work is coming into play. LOL!
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Those sound like good projects to me. I didn't know they made battery organizer boxes. What a good idea!
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Wren, go to the website for that shopping channel that usually goes by one letter and search 'battery organizer and storage case'. That's the one and I like it so far. Takes up much less room that those big packages. I knew not to have them loose and rolling around in a drawer- some fire danger- so I'd keep them in those packs even if there was only one or two.
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I was making deviled eggs on NY Eve and realized my paprika was 'best use by' 2007. Well I don't really believe that something will poison you after that "dreaded" date. Even though my grown son refuses to drink milk after the "sell by" date, there weren't dates in earlier times & we could tell if it was bad by smelling it. We never considered canned foods had to be thrown out unless they leaked or had a dent or "pooched out". Canned peaches are canned peaches even if a little bit more of the 'sunshine' disintegrates after the "best" date, and it makes me very sad that such things can not even be used by the homeless shelters or food pantries.
Never-the-less, 11 years is a pretty long time for a spice to sit open, so I tossed the paprika. Along with cleaning all three shelves of the cupboard. I ended up with a lot more room and will only replace a few things since I no longer cook the same way I used to.
Happy New Year to all & successful decluttering in 2019.
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I wouldn't have worried about the paprika either. Probably it wouldn't be as potent, so should be tossed. They say spices are good for about 3 years. We usually buy them in the bulk section and only have to buy a little bit at a time.
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Muddling--good for you for keeping up the momentum with "that" closet! That's the way to go, one little step at a time. And it's amazing how much smoother life goes when you've done the little chores like taking the batteries out of the horrible plastic holders and having them sorted.
MinusTwo--I grew up with the same approach to canned goods. I've eaten "expired" canned goods many times, didn't get sick, didn't notice any big change in taste either. But, with so many people so quick to sue these days I guess the companies have to have some sort of protection. It is sad that all that food that is still edible and safe can't be used because of an arbitrary date stamped on the can.And I agree, 11years is a long time for a spice to be open, it's probably lost some zest and maybe time to replace it.
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I lust looked through my spices, and found a few that were old enough to discard, although none that old. Except for the few that didn't have "Best by......" at all. Hmn......
I have had some deep personal property losses in my life, so I have learned to keep things pruned; makes housekeeping simple, and eases the grief if I were to ever lose more.
Not a hoarder; a pruner.
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I love synchronicity. While I was reading about your spice clean out stories (I did a big purge of mine about a year ago), this was on the Today show:
https://www.today.com/video/fun-ways-to-add-more-s...
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Great ideas! I love just looking at the tree with lights. I’m waiting for the kids to go back to school before taking down the ornaments. It’s an all kid tree so things need to be checked and separated.
Also have a huge tote of clothes for DD. Mostly hand me downs. I expected her to be bigger by now.
Chemo brain got me at the post office. Instead of buying 4 books of stamps. I bought 8. Glad they are forever. I remember multiple stamps on envelopes. Stinks postage is going up again.
Netflix has a new series just in time for new years resolutions
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Happy New Year! This year I have decided to pick one word I stead of making resolutions. My word is declutter! Which is for my home, my life and my mind! I also got a new day planner for the New Year and it has a page for goals each month. January is my kitchen month declutter goal. Yesterday I got 5 cabinets done! I'm off to a good start and hope to accomplish a lithe every day. I think by making my goals by the month it will be easier.
I did the samething with my Christmas wrap to! I always match my wrap to the tree and wrap each grandchilds present in the same wrap. So that's 6 different wrapping paper! Not this year....used what I had to get rid of it. Another thing I do with my wrapping paper use it as table runners and under the buffet I set up for celebrating. It makes a really pretty display and something always gets spilled and it totally doesn't matter!!
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MCBaker--pruner is a good description!
Jazzy--that was a great clip, thanks for sharing!
Zills--thanks for the link!
Vargadoll--I like the one word rather than resolutions!Great approach! Fantastic idea to use wrapping paper as a table runner, too!
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A client/friend is going through the same thing we went through in 2005 where we had to clean out our mom's house & sell it when she could no longer live there. Last night, my friend was texting me about where to take clothing for consignment or donations. She was asking about suits, which of course, most women don't wear in the business world anymore. Some do, but that was a very 1990s thing and donated many of mine awhile ago to an organization that helps get women back in the work force. That place seems to be gone, but I was able to refer her to a place that takes items like this to help women get back in the work force.
I am a de-clutterring adviser now, lol!
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Jazzy - we still have "Dress for Success" here. Maybe there's one where your friend's mother lived.
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