Not quite a horder - decluttering
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Even just a bit of decluttering feels good. Clean up week in town was this month so we tossed a bunch of dead shrubs we'd pulled out of the ground and some other miscellaneous crap we had piled up behind the garage. Then dh used the weedeater on the tall weeds back there (its a three feet wide fenced in space the length of the garage) and now it's all cleaned.
I tossed around the idea of having a small garage sale but due to unheavals that life throws our way, I instead took the donate route. Gave a set of four green outdoor folding chairs to the City Rescue Mission. Other than some rust on the frames, they were in great shape, the fabric had zero holes, very well made chairs. But I'd had them about 15 years and updated to grey porch furniture.
Along with the chairs went a bunch of dishware, Correlle I'd had 25 years as I recently updated to all white Correlle. Other dishes, glasses and miscellaneous decor.
There's a household hazardous material collection the end of next month, so I filled a box with stuff to take, paint, lime, floor adhesive, ect. Asked dh to look at the stuff on his garage shelves for anything he wants to get rid of. I'm sure I'll have to remind him numerous times.
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I had some books trickle back in. I took them out of the bag, two came from a friend, then I got a few craft books from the thrift store.Books are like the tides, I guess.
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I like the idea of books being like tides!
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Hi ladies- I was into my media this weekend and was staring at a plethora of CDs and thinking "shoot, I have a lot of CDs." I love my music and still old school with listening to my CDs (got rid of the vinyl and most of the other things awhile ago (but still have a few cassettes around). Still listen to CDs at home and in the car. Anyways, I told myself time to reduce the volume and started playing my music this weekend to listen to what I have so I can create a stored vs. donate pile. Sort of like wearing the clothes you think you want to donate, but wear one more time to be sure. I can just take some to donations every time I am close to my fav thrift store.
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Jazzy - we copied our favorite songs from CDs and put them in our iTunes library.
Now that summer is here and the Hot weather, it is time for me to resume my tasks of cleaning out. It just that it seems like too much is going on and have so many things demanding my attention. Sigh!
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My dad took a bunch of stuff (clothes & books) to Goodwill for me. I had packed them up in bags and boxes but hadn't gotten around to taking them somewhere. My parents are visiting from out of town to help out a bit.
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I went to help a friend pack up her 4000+ sq ft house last week for a couple of days. In spite of the fact that she had hauled load after load to various charities & used record stores & Habitat for Humanity before I arrived, there was still a ton of stuff. She's currently staying in a small 2 bed/2 bath while she decides what she wants to do when she grows up (ha ha, we're both over 70) and she furnished that when she moved there to help her daughter 3 years ago. So most of the things in the big house are going to friends, cousins, neighbors or charity - except the things she can't part with and they are moving to a storage unit. This big house was built shortly before her husband died of cancer and was her fifth move since I met her 40 years ago. Sad to see the things she hadn't unpacked from the last two moves - like her Mother's china. Hard to watch her deciding to toss things that were once so meaningful. Harder to watch her decide to pack them up for storage. Like 3 sets of china (in addition to her Mother's mentioned above). It was a real eye-opener for me since she was under a deadline.
The fact is our kids are grown and have their own places and they don't want our old stuff. Her daughter only wanted two TVs. Her son only wanted his Dad's hunting stuff and a custom bench from the front door. Nobody wants the books or CDs or old vinyl. Nobody wants Grandma's rocker or Auntie's cedar chest. Nobody wants crystal they have to wash by hand.
I've conceded that I won't get rid of any more books w/o re-reading. And likely will still keep many author's full sets to read again in 10 years. But it certainly gave me more emphasis to start moving out lots of other stuff.
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I worked as an investment officer with a bank trust department. The trust officers were the ones who dealt most directly with most clients. Many of them were elderly and in the position of moving from home to nursing home, or other drastic downsizing. Of course some of our "clients" were estates, for which the bank was named executor/administrator. Often there weren't family members to inherit, or the client had specified that most things were to be sold and $ distributed.
The trust officers, for both dead and living clients, often had to go through every item of the person's estate to determine best use. So much had to be thrown away, so much auctioned at pennies on the dollar value. So little had much monetary value.
I would see the trust officers take on this task over and over again and it really made me commit to the idea that I won't do that to my children. I'll try to deal with all my "stuff" so they won't need to. My dad did that for us; my mom and step-dad did not. If we'd hired a dumpster to deal with my mom and step-dad's stuff, we would have saved a lot of time and effort.
Anyway, that helped me understand what happens to people's things when they die. Keep what actively is useful or important to you. Most of the rest can go away.
Hugs to all working through this. It's tough stuff.
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MountainMia, what an interesting perspective you have due to your job. About 20 years ago, both my parents, my grandmother and an elderly aunt with no children all passed away within 4 years. My mom had an apartment, the other three each had homes they'd lived in for 50+ years. My siblings and I had to sift through each household to determine what to do with what.
At the time, my siblings and I were able to use a lot of the stuff. And we had young adult kids who took some stuff. But not heirlooms. A refrigerator, microwave, bedroom suit, a car, kitchen table and chairs, and much more were dispersed to whoever needed it most.
But....four households in four years was draining, even if we were able to make use of many items. I don't want to burden my son with too much.
And when you say things are often sold for pennies on the dollar...we should all consider that when we think about spending unnecessarily!
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A woman on our street died suddenly and her sons have come down to Florida to clean out the house. They seem to have resources they need for the job. For example, they have taken out carpets and hired movers. This reminded me that I have three pieces of furniture that I don't like in the guestroom. They are somewhat heavy, but I think they come apart in pieces. They may be my Elephants of De-cluttering!
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Hi. I've had a busy summer which has resulted in a lot of decluttering. We remodeled the 30+ year old bathroom. Our master closet is also part of this project. So everything, and I mean everything had to be removed. Plumbers had to cut out a lot of sheetrock to get the old shower out and the new one in. New vanity and new beautiful light fixture. Husband spent days replacing the sheetrock and getting it ready for painting. Then painting every square inch of the bathroom and gloriously empty closet. Then getting new flooring. The other two bedrooms were packed, ha ha. Anyway, I told him were were only going to put 50% of the stuff back. He's a packrat but he actually agreed!! We did it too. I am very pleased. He took many large boxes of clothes to Goodwill and we tossed a lot of junk. I tossed some sentimental things too, but I made myself be tough. I did move and carry a few things, but I am not able to do heavy work so he had to do most of it except plumbing and flooring. Poor guy.
Next, we got a new bed. I'd been using a sort-of-hospital bed from the home health supply place. Not too comfortable. So, here we go again. Almost everything in the bedroom had to come out so we could deep clean and rearrange for an adjustable king bed. Our current bed had to go somewhere so we put it in son's old room which meant his twin bed had to go. It was like one of those puzzles where you slide the tiles and try to get the image in the proper order! All this took days prior to the new bed being delivered. I had already pared down a lot of the under bed storage but this time it's almost all gone. Anyway, today he took the twin mattress and springs away.
I have only one more room to tackle. I am not doing as well as I was so I hope I have time and strength to get it accomplished. We're both taking a short vacation from this kind of work after weeks and weeks of being all at odds and ends. My goal is to have as much of this house in order as possible before I die. Getting rid of a lot of unnecessary junk and painting the rooms nice, clean, neutral colors for ease of selling if that's what he decides to do. So, maybe in a few weeks I can report that we finished that last room. Fingers crossed.
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Wow, Muddling, you have been very busy! I love hearing about how your remodeling adventures gave you the nudge—or maybe push—to go through and eliminate a lot of unnecessary stuff. I be your husband felt just as good as you about taking so much to Goodwill and tossing junk. Really, it is one of the best feelings, decluttering!
You're smart to take a break before you tackle the next room. Why burn out on the process. You can see it with fresh eyes once you've recovered from all the work you've been doing. But it sounds well worth it!
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Muddling—. Wow. I think I am worn out just reading about what you have accomplished. Huge congrats to you, what a task to have completed.
My decluttering is at a stand still as I spend my days off still going thru my mom’s house. We planned a huge garage sale for Saturday which turns out to be one of the hottest days this summer. Going thru her stuff has definitely opened my eyes about sentimental items I keep that mean nothing to anyone else in my family. You threw things out and do must I. Going to remember Ms Divine’s words about best feeling when declutterin
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Muddling, I'm really impressed. I think you'll enjoy being in the newly uncluttered space and that will motivate you to tackle the rest (after a nice rest). I hope you enjoy your adjustable bed. My friend got one recently and loves it.
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Wren--getting stuff to Goodwill is, indeed, a job all in itself!
Minus Two--Wow, what a lot of stuff your friend has to sort through! What a huge job that must feel like. Things have changed so much in the last generation or so, what was once important is no longer looked at that way.I have a set of china that I got from my Grandmother, I love it and won't be getting rid of it, but can't think of anyone who will want it when I'm gone.It's sad. Don't blame you for keeping the book sets, though. I re-read books a lot, have a list of go-to favs for when I need to unwind, relax or just kill time.
MountainMia--what a great bit of insight!Thanks for sharing.
Mrs. M--four deaths in as many years, what a lot of sorrow and work that must have been!
MexicoHeather--there are times when it's worth it to spend the money to hire out a job!
Muddling--Wow, that is a lot of work accomplished!Good for you! No wonder you are both tired.Praying you find the momentum to get that last room done.
Dodgers--hang in there, decluttering two places is really hard work!
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NativeMaine, good point about two places to declutter being hard work. Dodgers, your tackling your mom’s house first is partly an educational experience and you will approach your own household decluttering with a better vision for what you feel is worth keeping and what may be better off letting go of.
The period of time in the 90’s when my parents, grandmother and aunt passed within four years of each other was heartwrenching. The end of an era. In hindsight, I wonder how I got through it but at the time, you just do what you gotta do.
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my mom’s passing has taught me so many things and definitely showed me that stuff is just stuff. I feel like she showed me how to pass over and how to let go. Painful lessons but I so see the bright side of what her death has taught me.
She always wanted to be a crafter and had a room full of Cricuts and the likes. Hope people will come out early tomorrow for the garage sale. Already started putting stuff together for a second sale which will be cookbooks and kitchen stuff along with some nice clothes and new shoes.
Then my DH has surgery and won’t be able to put any weight on her leg for a few months. I will be taking care of her so mom’s house cleaning will be paused. Could be a good time to take stuff to Salvation Army from my house!
Divine— can’t imagine losing 4 people so close together. Hugs to you. And as I typed the words about my daughter’s surgery, I was reminded of your foot surgeries and tell myself, “ this, too, shall pass”.
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Yikes, Dodgers! I only went a week without weightbearing on my foot so a few months will be an adjustment. You are right, to, it passes in time and we just get good at riding the wave!
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Divine M- I feel for you with your losses. I had double losses (father and brother) back in the early 1990s and then my mother and her sister (very unexpectedly) within two months of each other in 2012. I was diagnosed with cancer later that year (oh sure why not.....)
Both of those double losses that were between 2-6 months sent our family (and me) reeling for quite some time. We had things to deal with around all of them afterwards too for all by my aunt. Too much loss at once is really tough.
Hugs sister
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Today I carefully went through jewelry. It took 3 hours and I found some things that needed repair. I decided I need better storage for about 10 pairs of earrings and 6 bracelets. Basically I did a purge 3 years ago, it was just cluttered.
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Good job, Heather!
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Started the culling of vinyl records & CDs this week. Now that vinyl is popular again, I have an appointment with the manager of an indie record store next week. I'll be taking 100 records and 50 CDs to start. Even if I don't make much money, this needs to be done. LOTS more I wasn't ready to part with yet so I'll start again once I see how this 1st trip goes. Every album has songs that have specific memories.
Climbed up to get in the top of the spare room closet and pulled out boxes of kids records & books. Some are already mailed to my niece for her boys. Some are piled for my nephew for his girl. And I decided to buy my grand-niece a cheap record player for her birthday so someone can enjoy all these fun kiddy records.
Also in the top of the closet - a bunch of Halloween decorations & costumes. 90% directly to the trash.
Next up - trip files. Used to be when I got home from any vacation I immediately sorted out the maps & brochures and filed what I wanted to save. Somehow AAA bags full of 'exciting' info got dumped in the bottom of this same extra closet. I set them in the middle of the room so I can remember to sort & toss & file.
Have another 3 bags of books ready to go to the library & two bags of clothes for the battered women's home. As you can imagine - I have to walk around boxes & bags in every single room in the house. But better than putting them out of site (and out of mind).
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Minus - impressive work! Those albums are heavy, too. While I wouldn’t like the upheaval- leaving stuff in sight is a good reminder to keep chipping away at it. I should do that. When I’m away from the house I think about the stuff we have in cupboards and closets, etc but when I’m home I burn precious time on Facebook and Netflix.
Right now I have a room upstairs with a very large pile of my mom’s stuff that she had in assisted living before her long hospital stay. (First all of her stuff went to a storage unit we rented). After she moved back to Assisted living ( whole new location) we moved her furniture from storage to the new room and a limited amount of her stuff. So the remnants are at my house so she could stop paying for storage. She gets overwhelmed with too much clutter (as do I). I chipped away at her stash and threw out honest to goodness garbage (that was 2 big bags). Can’t be too aggressive with tossing in case she asks for something. Oh the wrath! Hah
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I am not decluttering for myself. My quilting club has accepted donations of fabric that is not appropriate for quilting. I have used up much of it in making doggie blankets for our local shelter. Now they are decluttering form their stashes at home. Going to have to call the shelter and ask how much is too much.
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MCBaker - that must be so rewarding knowing you are helping the animals at the shelter. Maybe you can make decorative pillows or throw pillows for Habitat for Humanity or similar organization? Or potholders? My mom helped me make potholders for my fiancée ye
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well, my message above got cut short. I edited it and still it doesn’t show the whole thing. Anyway, I’m sure you can tell the potholder thing was a long time ago lol
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I messaged her, and she said that there will never be too many doggie blankets. The churches of the county are developing a plan for sheltering homeless families, so I am sure we will be getting some assignments for that.
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Minus Two--love the trick of having to walk around something to keep from forgetting it.I have a really easy time of forgetting what I don't see. That was a lot of work, GOOD FOR YOU!!
GoKale--how is it that FB and Netflix can so captivate our attention and eat up our time? The only thing harder than decluttering yourself is decluttering someone else!
MCBaker--great idea to make doggie blankets!
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As a shelter volunteer, I can tell you we go through doggie blankets like wildfire. They make the dogs more comfortable and I think sometimes they chew to comfort themselves. Our shelter launders massive amounts of blankets and towels every day. All that come in are appreciated.
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