Not quite a horder - decluttering
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Ignoring her to work is the best option. Can the owner find a doorgate for you to use? If you are desperate, tieout IN the house will work. Teach her "wait" if she does not already know it. Then give her lovies when it is time to take a break. The more you yield to her demands.....
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Thanks MCBaker, it’s ok though, it’s just a couple of days. She’s a young pit mix, very high energy and needs to be watched. We are dog people but DH will keep an eye on her while I sort through papers in another room. Also, marking up large items today for the dumper, I think it’ll be easier for DH and the friends helping.
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Misty--your Mom sounds a lot like my Mom! Jumping from thing to thing.I remember saying "Lets finish filling this box before doing that" many, many times.We'll get through it, though.
Mara--it is amazing what can be found at the Dollar store that is good for organizing and decluttering! Pretty bags!
Good Job, Illi!
Good advice, MCBaker.
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I saw this thread referenced on another one...it looks a bit dormant but thought I'd come and look around, get ideas, complain...you know 😉
My first goal is to stop thinking I'm sorting when I need to focus most on donating and just pitching some things. Of course I'm more of a thrower outer and DH is a sentimental keeper. As we near retirement it's time to try harder. 👍
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Welcome Reader. Keep going, I think it's harder after retirement. Save sentimental for last. I liked the advice that I don't have to organize it if it's gone. I have a stack of sewing fabric that I'm trying to find a home for. I get back pain after sewing for just a short time so I'm probably not going to go back to making most of my clothes. I already took out the fabric that could be masks. It's getting to be a chore to take it to Goodwill. Sunday the line of cars wanting to donate was 5 blocks long.
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Reader - welcome. there are lots of good ideas here. I'm not sure, but maybe even ways to motivate a recalcitrant DH.
As I'm sure you've all read, Houston has been through the mill the last week. The problems were solved for two wives with frozen pipe leaks from the attic. In one case, the leak was only in the garage & this couple is in their 50s. She was ecstatic that he would finally have to clean out the garage. He didn't think it was quite so amusing that his 'treasures' were trashed.
In the other case, the husband is an actual hoarder with pathways through stacks "junk" all over the house. You can see the stuff piled up in the garage through the small windows that are 6 ft up. They are in their 80s. I talked to the daughter and they actually had to move her parents out due to leaks. She thought it is a blessing in disguise, although the cost to repair the house will be frightening.
Wren - wow, waiting in line to donate? Most of our places stopped accepting at the beginning of Covid. Some are open again, but limited days a week & not as many hours. The place I usually go supports battered women and is now only open 10-2 on Thurs & Fri.
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Minus, Interesting stories about the two Houstonians. Not the best way of course but I guess one way to move, particularly the elderly out. I worry about a former college roommate of mine who is moving fast toward unliveable conditions. She is single and her family has started getting involved which will hopefully be of help to her.
Continuing work in my office as it's low lying fruit so to speak.I've scheduled a pick up for a week from Thursday so I have a target (and a few bags started). Our local goodwill is also open and accepting things but since pickups have started back up I took the opportunity.
Good idea about leaving the sentimental stuff to a bit farther down the line. Thank you!
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Reader--this thread has some quiet times but isn't totally dormant yet. I hear you about the sorting versus getting rid of. I have to go after the process looking for stuff to get rid of, one way or another, or I just move stuff around.
Wren--wow, that is one long line at Goodwill. At least someone is benefitting!
Minus--wow, that daughter really has her hands full. It may be a blessing in disguise, but it is very well disguised!
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Wrenn, for the fabric, see if there are any local quilt guilds to donate it t. They might come pick it up.
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Yes, Melissa. Our charity guild is rather bare of fabrics since the obsession with masks. Many quilting groups are probably short on fabrics for the same reason, and would love to be able to pick through your trove for the 100% cotton.
Luckily, our local quilt shop owner is disinvesting of fabrics to go full-time machine quilting, and we will be replenished.
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I came up with 5 large bags to donate for the pickup tomorrow, including books I needed to "release" for others to enjoy. I had my eye on a section of the basement, but alas did not even start due to work in the office and one large bookcase downstairs.
One day at a time...🗑📦📦
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My TV room/den is getting piled with things to donate. I take most of my things to the Battered Woman's home, but they now only accept donations on Thurs & Fri from 10-2. Since it's across town, it's frustrating that I don't have doc appointments on those days. I may end up calling Salvation Army. They pick up in my zip code every week.
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Minus I do alternate as there is a Goodwill near by that is open and has a drive through drop. I scheduled this pickup from my porch as the weather was bad and it seemed easier than driving. Now that I'm chipping away I didn't want to stop progress.
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We finished getting flooring installed last week which kind of forced a super-purge. The guys were great with moving things to work, and not as good with moving it back particularly in our cluttered basement. The end result is we're making a bit more progress as they unearthed some more things that need to go! Donation pickup again next Thursday. 🙂
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Reader- I redid my floors about 5 years ago and decided to have the whole interiror of the house repainted too. Big time purge when you have to take everything off the walls and floor. Great that you have a pick up scheduled.
Doing more consignment and donation work this month. I took in some clothing and jewelry items the beginning of April and already have $600 in my account from that. I have more going next weekend to take a bunch of summer clothing items and shoes. I also put six bags of donations in the car and tried to drop them off at my fav place but they were having a plant sale today and no way to be able to do that. They are staying in the trunk and will try again next weekend.
A friend asked me for some donations for a shelter she works for and gave her a back pack and sleeping bag today.
Going to work on the garage in the coming month and already eyeing things there to go.
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Jazzy great you can donate directly to a shelter. I always feel good when I can give useable items to those who may actually need them. Consigning is a great method too. In this metro DC area if you consign it seems like it has to be pretty appealing to compete with local high-end shopping so I have not ventured into that.
Now that the middle level of the house is in really good shape due to the flooring and subsequent purge, it's back to my office area to keep deciding about various types of paper to deal with. I think I struggle more with storing/throwing paper things than other types of items. Last and worst will be the basement.
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Hi Reader- I used to donate directly to the shelters here, but prior to the pandemic, some of them seemed less interested for some reason and some had hours that made it impossible to drop off. Anyways, my fav place is back open today and going to stop by tomorrow to bring some things to them. I also saw Big Brothers and Sisters has their donation truck open near me again on the weekends so I think I am back in business with my fav spots. Got more purging to do in the garage, but need to get some things I have been putting together for awhile somewhere first.
I have been doing really well with my consignment stuff and have about $600 plus in my account right now!
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Jazzy you are doing so great decluttering. I have a lot to pack up and take to the thrift shop. Hopefully I can get motivated to get started and keep going till its done.
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Since the entire house is being repaired & painted, everything had to come off of shelves & out of the closets too. I've managed to find homes for several large pieces of furniture and gradually working on what I had to box up in a hurry. Frankly I'm to the point that I don't ever even want to open the boxes or ever see any of the stuff again. Even the old photos, But of course I'll have to go through them.
Salvation Army picked up 15 huge bags early in April. They're coming again in mid June.
So today was the linen closet. It appears in 50 years I never culled the old pillow cases when I got new sheets. I have no king pillows anymore. I have only one "baby pillow" left. I live alone. Yeah, maybe once a year my son comes to town to visit for 3 days. Maybe once a year a friend who is in town for a dentist appointment spends one night. I do like a fresh pillow case half way through the wash week, but I could go 16 weeks w/o washing pillow cases (4 months!!!). How truly embarrassing. 90% of the list below went into the bag today for Salvation Army. And I probably still kept too much.
7 King cases
6 baby cases
34 standard pillow cases.And the hand towels. Oh my. Where did they all come from? I do know a bunch of them "moved" here after my parent's died. But still.... Those are going to Friends of Barc to use for rescue pets or at the "pound".
Hope to be able to start on the clothes tomorrow. Everything has to be 3ft up from the floor before they lay the new carpet and all my pants were hanging. I still have 6 different sizes of pants due to weight loss with chemo. I wasn't up to sorting them at the time, but "now" is here. Some will go to Salvation Army, but some of the nice things to "Dress for Success" or the Battered Women's Home.
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Minus--WOW, you have accomplished a HUGE amount! Good for you!!!
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I...need to join this thread. XD
I have some combination of stuff I've held onto that I do not use, stuff I've inherited when my mum died, and stuff we brought into the house when my husband's mum died that we'd like to pare down/purge. (There's also a ton of his own stuff my husband is hanging on to that could use sorting and purging, but that way lies danger, and I steer clear of it lol!)
Putting this here as a record of what I'm committing to working on, here's where I know I have room for improvement/"issues" in terms of clutter:
- our linen supply
- paper -- I have a paper problem
- crafting supplies
- sewing materials
- china sets
- front entryway/shoes
- antiques
- framed art from our moms
- unlabeled boxes in attic
- unlabeled boxes in basement
- jewelry (his mom's)
- old furniture odds and ends
- former owner's left-behind stuff in attic
- cookbooks
I'm also reminding myself here that I should do "before" and "after" photos for my own sense of accomplishment.
. Normally, I get inspired to clean or declutter and only afterwards think, "Darn! I wish I had a photo of what this was like before for comparison!"Edited to add: OH, RIGHT. And our medicine cabinets should be on this list as well. We are not normally sick, so why we have such overstuffed medicine cabinets is a mystery and that is definitely one potentially fun area of "attack."
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Soooo glad this topic has been revived! I REALLY need it! We lived in our home 41 years and I have been decluttering for the last 10! Both kids moved out long ago, have homes and families of their own, but never quite took all their "stuff!"
I work in a school and my last day is June 16. June 17 I am beginning the decluttering AGAIN with gusto! I hate junk, I hate clutter, yet I have so much of it because I personify things! LOL Seriously, is getting attached to things we don't need normal? I understand sentimental value, but I am not talking about that. I am talking about just feeling attached to things for no real reason! Whatever, I have done this for most of my life and it is time to STOP!
About a month ago the "obvious" smacked me in the face. I thought I wanted to move to a new home that had more storage. Then it hit me, I don't need more storage, I need less "stuff!" Yes, my home is a small Cape Cod style, but it has 4 bedrooms and 2 baths, which is more than enough for my husband and I!
I am so in the mood to declutter! If it isn't sentimental or useful, out it goes! I have kept so much stuff with the assumption I would "use it some day!" Some how whenever I need one of those keepers, I forget where I stored it! LOL
I am definitely coming back to re-read posts here to keep me inspired!
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Tackled the clothes today - specifically the pants. My legs are longer than my body so I've always has trouble finding pants that fit. Then chemo - and I lost WAY too much weight. Went from a size 16 to a size 4/6. Last time I purged the closets, I got rid of all the 16s and sent the 4s & 6s and most of the 8s & 10s to my niece. Fortunately I never grew back to size 14 - but I'd saved the pants just in case. I stayed at my normal Size 12. Since I live alone, all these pants just moved across the house to the closet that was my son's before he grew up.
Unfortunately I only saved one 8 and one 10. You guessed it - I am now a perfect size 8. I'm saving only 2 pair of each size. Everything else is bagged for either Salvation Army, or the really nice clothes for the Battered Women's Home. Tomorrow I'll continue with the tops. And then the shoes.
BTW - I was NEVER a shopper until I tried to quit smoking in 2007. Because I couldn't smoke in stores, I became a dedicated shopper. I never bought anything that wasn't on sale but that made the shopping more intense. Embarrassing to have so many clothes when all my life I had 2 or 3 pair of pants - and that was plenty.
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Good job on the excellent progress Minus! I can relate to those reviving the effort -- after the deaths of my husbands parents and my dad the "normal" setpoint (too high to begin with) went way up. During this pandemic year I took a short decluttering workshop then have been tackling small areas.
An unexpected bonus of recently doing our floors was the main livingroom area got sorted. I hadn't realized it but my carpet had become so worn/old etc. That I had sort of quietly given up and stopped really caring about that area. While a nightmare to get through, now that wood floors are down it's been a minor transformation. I guess since I had to do it and was excited about it it just got done.
Welcome to those i haven't "met" before. My next area is "my" corner of the basement. DH's area is another story. 😉 I too get sentimentally attached to certain things but he's worse. Onward 👍
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Saltmarsh--that is a great list to work from! I may steal that approach from you. The before and after pics are important, and I keep forgetting the before ones, too.
Mavericksmom--I hear you about the attachment to things that isn't sentimental -- I suffer from that, too. I'm still trying to figure out why I get attached to stuff I don't eve look at!
Minus--I need to tackle clothes, too. I have way more than I need but keep wearing the same old things, and resist wearing the newer stuff. Got to start tossing the old, worn, not even good enough for rags stuff!
Reader--I just stop seeing some of the clutter in some places, then start ignoring those places. Its so easy to do that.
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Just noticed this thread and what timing! We are in the midst of decluttering mixed with all our other activities and work! Trouble I have noticed is keeping motivated to keep working on it 😂 we did go through our clothes and donated a ton and started to tackle our shed. We bought the cutest shed ever and want to make it into a bunkhouse for the kids to come and visit and “camp”. Unfortunately it is full of our crap. We did make a good start and have everything sorted into piles to start going through. We do have a huge pile of toys from when our kids were little. Now to just pick out the super fun stuff the grandkids will have fun playing with. The girls do love Polly Pocket!!
Looking forward to starting this journey!!
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I just threw out two of my mother's (broken) sewing machines. Some stinky sofa covers. A pair of shoes, have more pairs put away that need to be tossed. I am planning on moving and really need to cut back.
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MinusTwo- good job!
Everyone else is going gangbusters too. I took about 7 bags to my fav thrift shop a few weeks ago. Naturally I am looking at more things to go to both consignment and donations. I have $700 plus in my consignment till right now.
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Laugh for the day. My lingerie drawer had 9 half slips of various lengths from ultra-mini skirt to full floor length. Lovely things - anti-cling with lace trim in whites & tans & blacks. Oops my closet has only TWO dresses left. Disconnect.
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Oh, Minus, that is funny. I used to have so many slips myself. I recycled them years ago to the Goodwill. I was just looking at a very pretty pleated polka dot skirt - navy on white. I decided not to purchase it because I don't have a slip that will work. Slips are hard to buy now!
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