Not quite a horder - decluttering
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Saltlmarsh - You're doing much better than I am. I lost my forward momentum. Although I do have two stuffed 42 gal contractor bags ready to go to the shred company.
What I'm avoiding now is photographs. I have 8 large moving boxes totally mixed, in addition to 20+ photo books and 30+ framed snapshots. I know it will not be easy, but I need to throw away a ton of them. I have one son who is not having children and doesn't want any more pictures. So I should just keep what pleases me the most right?
After that I have to tackle letters from 4 life time correspondents. I wrote regularly with each & saved all their letters - some 50+ years worth. I may go blind reading those on the old flimsy blue air letters written in pencil - but I can't toss w/o reading. Some are from my friend who was in the Peace Corps and another batch from one moved around the world in the service.
I do have a Zoom meeting tomorrow night so I too must tidy up at least what the camera will see in my office & hang another picture or two.
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I took 5 garbage bags (kitchen garbage bags) of clothes and some serving bowls with tops to the thrift store yesterday. I have some books packed up to take and my granddaughter took a bunch of books. I have a bunch to do yet.
It seems that everybody is decluttering, the thrift shops are looking over stocked. I hope they don't stop taking things.
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My husband made a big effort this spring to sort through our son's stuff. We took a little bit of it to him (800 miles away), trashed some, donated some, and YES! there is still some in our basement!
Other than that, this year we've just been getting rid of the occasional small pile of things. However, husband asked me a few weeks ago, what stuff would I want to move with me if we moved across the country? I thought about it. There sure isn't much. Mostly I'd be glad to get rid of it all. It would be a pain to buy all new at a new place, but would it be more of a pain than moving it? I doubt it!
I guess that gives me the marching orders for a new round of decluttering, doesn't it? Where should I start?
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I'm also frequently rounding up stuff to be picked up this year (so as to avoid the tough to go through basement work, kind of). I have a pickup coming Friday so will be working on some room to room sweeps.
Some days I like the idea of getting rid of everything and buying new!! 😉
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Get rid of it all and buy 1/4th as much.
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Yes!!
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Getting rid of 90% and not replacing any of it!!!!
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I've slacked off lately, got to restart. I'm trying to find a way to make sure I do some decluttering/cleaning every day. Creating new habits and routines is hard work!
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That's what I need to do, create new habits and routines. Then I won't end up back in this mess.
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If only it was as easy to do as it is to say.
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If you break it down into smaller tasks and goals it is easier to make the changes. Pick a spot or area that annoys you most and start with it. The rule is everything has to have a "home" and it must "fit in the allotted space". If it doesn't then you need to decide if it is "necessary". If not, it goes; if it is then you must make it fit there or rehome into another space. I just tackled the undersink area in 2 bathrooms and purchased from Walmart 2 tier organizers (with enclosed shelves) that fit. I had used a basket before but found that you couldn't see the contents and I want to visualize without having to dig. They were not that expensive and I used 3 in one bathroom (has 2 sinks) and the last one in the other bathroom. They hold cleaning products and tools nicely as well as extras of deodorant, body wash, tissues,etc. It makes taking inventory of what we need easier as well.
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I agree with tackling clutter by breaking things into smaller tasks. “Chunk it down” is what I call it. Just dumping out contents of one drawer and sorting it out is progress. My criteria for what to tackle first is “what is draining my energy most?” I once had stacks and stacks of photos spilling out everywhere. I kept waiting for time to sit down and put them into albums and every time I looked at those stacks I felt tired. It finally dawned on me that I really didn’t want to put time in to making albums, so I bought pretty colored photo boxes, filled them with the photos and stacked the boxes in a cabinet. It was energizing.
I experienced a similar thing when trying to edit a very large amount of home videos down into dvds of watchable content. I wanted to separate dh’s side of the family from mine to give family members dvds. It was a very time consuming process. I kept waiting to have large blocks of time to do it. Finally, I realize those large blocks were not going to be forthcoming. So I jumped on the computer 20 minutes here, 20 minutes there. Even if that was just once or twice a week, I still made slow but steady progress, and over time was able to complete the project. So sometimes it helps to look at the task from a different perspective to see if there’ a better, simpler approach.
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So, DivineMrsM (and anyone else), how would you "chunk it down" for this situation, which really does drain my energy: At least 15 file boxes full of papers. Some are horrid piles of every kind of paper all mixed-up, and some are organized or categorized in some way. But even many of the latter need to be weeded and some papers discarded. (There are papers of cancer research, insurance papers, house buying and selling, other financial, home improvement, previous employment, education, tutoring, hobbies, etc.) Some boxes have items that are a couple years old and some are twenty years old. All have been sitting around since we downsized. I got rid of all but one filing cabinet when we moved, not having room for them and thinking I would whittle the papers down to what would fit in one small cabinet plus my desk's file drawers. But that does not seem realistic. As you know, sorting papers is very time-consuming and so is shredding them. I don't feel like I can spend the time on them, but the boxes are in my living space and I want my whole house for living in!
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ShetlandPony, paperwork is one of the worst things, but it's doable. If it were me, I'd start with the goal of getting rid of some of it. You don't have to "decide" on every single piece of paper. But pick a box or a stack. Any one of them will do. Grab a handful of papers, and do the same thing you would with anything else. Here you'll keep 3 piles. 1) keep, 2) shred, 3) recycle. Keep anything you're not sure of. It doesn't matter, because you'll still choose to get rid of a lot of it. (I might keep a 4th pile of KEEP HANDY stuff. This would be documents like car titles, current life insurance policies, and so forth, that realistically could be needed in a moderately urgent way.)
Here's an article from AARP on what to keep, scan, or shred. https://www.aarp.org/home-family/your-home/info-20...
If you want to shred stuff, see if your community has a "shred day." Mine does once or twice a year, a time you can take a paper box or 2 to a municipal building, where a shredding truck is parked. You can get rid of a lot of paper that way without feeding it all through yourself.
Another way to get shredding done is to ask at your branch bank when you go in, if you can add a few documents to their shred bins. I've never had them say no. If you're accessing your safe deposit box, there's probably a shred bin right there for your use, without you even needing to ask.
So just chew away at it a little at a time, just like any other decluttering task. I'll bet you'll get rid of 3/4 of it or more, without a lot of mental energy needed for decisions. Remember, anything you're not sure of, you can keep.
Once you've gotten all the way through, you can start over (if you can stomach it) and refine what's left. Then you can worry more about sorting by category, purging some more, making sure your needed-in-case-of-death etc documents are handy.
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You can do a macro sorting of papers by organizing them by category. Even doing this may identify papers that can be sorted into keep, or shred versus trash. Then in small increments 20-30 minutes at a time you can then perform a micro sort to identify papers that must be kept either because they are neccessary versus those that have some sentiment attached. Setting aside just a short period of time daily can lead to accomplishing your goal without feeling overwhelmed. I try to set a daily goal for organizing or other chores I don't want to do but need to be done. I know after 30 minutes I can stop if I want or if I am okay and motivated, I can also keep working.
I just did a macro sort of genealogy records by family line into smaller plastic file bins (from Staples cardboard boxes) and was able to identify some papers that could be trashed. I will have some downtime coming in the near future and also planned to use snow days where I cannot get out to perform a micro sort (keeping only relevant records). The long term plan also includes a future for the micro sort being that I can finally complete the family histories I have started. Anything not relevant to these histories can then be trashed as well to streamline what is neede to document/support these stories.
I had a large file cabinet (4 drawers) of work related papers, old school records, old sentimental records, medical records, etc that I tackled last spring. I have reduced it to just about 2 drawers (not full) and my husband actually burned out an older shredder getting rid of my discards. I did a macro organization and later went back to perform a micro organization for all records including medical by type of care and getting rid of any record older than 10 years. Most of the sentimental records were revisited, I kept those that really brought joy or recognized a significant memory and tossed the rest. My children do not want these and I did this purge in recognition of what they would have to do with all this stuff.
Had a tough time with DH telling him the children would most likley have to rent a dumpster to get rid of his "keeps" since he is a "what if I need it" saver. Told him if we could still purchase it then he could toss it. Some items he pared down to smaller amounts but he was keeping old electronic tubes (really?) that had outlived their use and would never be needed now. His photo would be in the dictionary under packrat. So with him it is baby steps but he is beginning to see the light.
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Mia & Betrayal are right. It really does help to sort into categories - but along the way you can do the first purge. Because I have never moved in 50 years, my attic became a repository for boxes full of old papers - in addition to culling 3 four drawer file cabinets down to one. I had not only my old tax files from 1966, but I was executor for 3 family members and my best friend - so numerous boxes for each of them.
I started with one full, 'mixed' box & worked with two empty boxes beside me - trash & shred - and sorted the preliminary keepers into piles like "bank, credit cards, insurance, house, instruction manuals,family mementos, recipes, etc". Then I took each pile & put it is date order & discovered I could shred a lot more. For some 'keeper' piles I made preliminary file folders. Others I put in gallon zip lock bags. I found an old banker's file box for all the preliminary folders & kept that in the living as I attacked the next mixed box.
One old box revealed my Mother had kept every thing I'd ever mailed to her - along with all the hallmark cards that just said 'love' and the florist cards attached to various gift flowers over the years. Needless to say the cards could go immediately in the trash. Letters I decided I really needed to read first. Again, I put them in date order in shoe boxes & set them aside while I continued with something easier - more large mixed boxes When I got back to the 30 years of letters (and I usually wrote once a week), I read them sitting at my computer. Rather than scanning them all into my computer, I created a word file & typed just a few snippets from each one. Other people would have edited differently, but I saved what appealed to me. Not that anyone will care but me, but I now have an interesting selective history from the time I got married until my Mother's massive stroke.
I've sort of lost momentum, but I did go back to the shredding company yesterday with 3 full 42 gal contractor bags. And I did leave a box of papers sitting beside my recliner in the living room. The goal is to get started again October 1st.
After the papers, next up - photos. 15-20 albums, 50+ framed pictures, 8-10 large boxes of jumbled pictures. After that - several boxes with correspondence from three life long friends who were dedicated letter writers way before computers. I guess I should be grateful they didn't save my letters I wrote to them. I'm saving those until last but I really don't want to trash w/o reading. Or if I don't ever get to that, it will be an easily identifiable two boxes for my son to trash.
And last but not least - I've been active in my neighborhood association for 40 years. I have a shed full of boxes that people who were moving left here, as well as boxes from prior officers who had died. Some are sorted w/file folders, most are just papers dumped in boxes. I'm determined to tackle those 30-40 boxes this winter.
Then as Mia said - I can start over & refine. Long term goal. I know for a fact that my son doesn't want any of this. Other things that distant cousins might want, I'm sending now.
Hang in there.
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Shetland, do you think you can sort through one box a week? I would glance inside each box now to see if there are any that require less sorting, say if there is one or two already semi-organized, and start with those. Getting a bit of momentum right away is a moral booster.
See if you can give 20 minutes at a time to the task. I like to watch a Netflix show if it's through the day or sit at the sofa sorting things while watching mindless tv (i.e., Wheel of Fortune) with dh in the evening. Maybe you prefer to listen to music. This is one way to take some of the drudgery out of it. And sometimes I just prefer quiet.
I would save all the shredding to do last. I'd just shove that stuff in a big black plastic trash bag till you've gone through all the boxes. Like someone said, some businesses shred for a fee. I bought a shredder for I think about 100 bucks and shred a little stuff at a time for a few days….okay maybe it was weeks, till done.
I am a big user of colored folders. For myself, I wouldn't do detailed sorting as I go through the first time. For important documents like birth certificates, passports, marriage license, ect., use one colored folder, say blue. Insurance papers for car, house, whatever, stick in another color, say red. All banking and investments, green. Medical bills, reports, ect., orange. Home improvement stuff, yellow. And so on. All colors are your own preference. No particular order in the folder. Even if some of the papers in boxes you open are in already in folders, take them out and start a new color coded system. This is just a big general sort, When one folder fills up, use another same color folder for same category.
I like color coding because you can see at a glance what goes in what pile. even when you go through a different box on a different day, the colors keep things consistent.
Focus on what you get done, not how many more boxes you still have to do. As the saying goes, “Back to work". Look in front of you at what you are tackling and have finished, not back at what still needs done.
After the big sort, you can take time to sort down further if you want. I have separate folders for house, car and boat insurance, but they are all the same color. I broke my medical stuff down into different folders like prescriptions, billing, test results, all the same color folder but not the same as the insurance folder colors. My home improvements receipts, which are many because it's been 30+ years in what was once a true fixxer upper, are not in any order, they're just tucked into a few folders of their own color. I don't often need to access them but can go through to find what I need if necessary.
I hope this helps. Lots of great advice from others here, and after you've done a few boxes, you will learn what tips work best for you and probably come up with a few of your own ideas.
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Thank you for your ideas, MountainMia, Betrayal, MinusTwo, and DivineMrsM. I agree, MM, papers are the worst! As I think about them, I realize that I can encourage myself by remembering that years ago, an important part of my JOB was finding, sorting, and weeding informational papers, and deciding on the best schemes for organizing it all so it could be accessed. And I was very good at it! And I weeded a huge long bank of filing cabinets, one drawer at a time, maybe an hour or two a day until it was done. Of course, these cabinets were big enough to hold everything and they were not blocking access to the space in my home. Still. I know how to do this. I think it's more of a mental block I am dealing with. These days, at home, I live with such a low budget of energy and time and have so many things to do, and I am always behind on it all, so I feel overwhelmed and I feel like it will take forever. There is also the idea that my time feels so limited and valuable, which makes me not so interested in delayed gratification. But if I can see progress, as you say, Divine, it will boost my morale. I like your idea of starting with boxes that can be sorted more quickly. What shall I sort into? I can't decide whether to buy a cabinet and find a place for it, or line up file boxes on the table. I don't want to tie up the table because I just got it cleared for dining with friends, playing games, and doing projects. But I don't know how many file drawers I will end up needing and where exactly to put a cabinet.
You are all advocating doing a macro/gross sort by general category, and then a micro/fine sort. This is an interesting idea. I could work faster, not stopping to decide everything right then. The gross sort alone ought to enable me to reclaim some space, which would be morale-boosting.
Thanks for the article on how long to keep things, MM. Another part of the mental challenge is not knowing what to keep.
I am afraid to save the shredding for later. There are already bags of items to be shredded sitting around here. That is a problem. I thought I could get someone to feed the shredder for me but so far no luck. Not sure I want to hand it to a stranger at a shredding place, or go through finding the place and hauling things there.
I often use Rachel Hoffman's 20/10 approach (work for 20 minutes, rest for 10 minutes, though I do 15/15) from her book Unf*ck Your Habitat, to get myself to do housework. I have used it for some paper sorting but have not been able to achieve any consistency. My desk is covered again. Sigh.
I don't think I can watch or listen to anything as I sort, because I will need all that's left of my brain to decide where things go. But maybe I will try music.
I love organizing by color. Actually that sort of thing provides some motivation.
Thanks again. Still open to any other tips, discussion, etc.
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In Seattle, Office Max offers shredding. I don't think they charge a lot.
I read somewhere that I should save medical paperwork. This seems overwhelming since my HMO gives you a summary after every appointment. I do have the paperwork from my mastectomy and plan to keep that. But I don't see why I need to keep stuff when I go in with a backache or a sprained ankle. What do other people think?
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Every paper they give me is duplicated on their portal. I can look it up whenever I want.
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Agree, Mary. All my medical paperwork is on the portal now. I got rid of almost everything when I sorted last year.
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Shetland - when my Mother died and my son volunteered to burn lot of the sensitive paperwork, it was a nightmare with paper clips, etc. He ended up taking things to a shred service, which I think he paid for. I am lucky that a company 1 mile from my house has free shredding Wed & Fri from 3-5p, They even unload the containers from your car - although you have to take back the containers - boxes or bags. They do not shred in front of you, but they will give you a certificate of destruction if you need one. I've decided I have to trust them - to the tune of almost fifty 42 gallon contractor bags so far.
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I have taken larger volumes of paperwOrk to Staples for shredding
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I'm always nervous about getting rid of hard copies. I shredded a bunch a bank statements from a closed checking account a while back that were over 10 years old, and this took a lot of deliberating. It was a very basic account that never had much activity and I mainly used it for rent and utilities so long finished business. I finally took the plunge into the shredder aaanndd, then later discovered an organization I had recently renewed a relationship with insisted I had an outstanding balance with them from a little over 10 years.
We disagreed, and there is a statute of limitations on debts in my state which had long passed in any case, but they refused to budge unless I could prove I paid the debt, and the statement this proof of payment would have been on was the last I had shredded.
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OH NO WC3. I've been having nightmares that I might need some of the data from 10 or 15 years ago - but it's gone. Last night I was looking for my old "Medicare & You" book from 2009 to see the benefits of my medigap plan. It is no longer offered but I can keep is as long as I don't change. Really I just wanted to compare with what's new for 2022, but no book anymore. Oh well.
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MinusTwo: see if this will let you have access to the Medicare and You 2009 book. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC27906...
WC3: Sorry but I am not sure that I would want to reconnect with an organization that claims you owe them money from 10 years ago. If you did, I am sure they would have either written it off (if small amount) or turned it over to a collection agency (if a substantial amount). Can you contact the bank or credit card company for copies of this record? I would really think it is on them to provide proof that you did not pay it other than to just state that you didn't. I'd also consider reporting it to the state since they may have done this to others in addition to you. Their lousy bookkeeping is not your issue.
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MinusTwo:
I currently have a grandfathered plan that is no longer offered which they have made benefits changes to over the years and sometimes trying to figure out what is covered is like navigating a maze.
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Thanks Betrayal. I'll look tomorrow. Yup WC3 - I have Plan"I" and I* love it. Really doesn't matter, I was just curious how it compares.
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I don't know if this will help anyone but I thought I'd post a photo of my file drawer with the colored folders. I blurred out any personal information but you can get an idea of how I chunked things down. I took a couple of years worth of secretarial classes in community college and learned lots of great tips, some of which I follow. They didn't teach chunking down, it was about keeping good files to be efficient. [I actually learned "chunking down" when I was in my 40s and an instructional aide in the local school system. It's something many teachers seemed to repeatedly remind the student about, and I began applying it to my life in general.]
I always file the most current papers in the front of the folder. Also, my very first folder contains a calendar and its where I keep bills to be paid. Some people like to give their folders clever names and while I am creative in some ways, when it comes to paperwork my mind is cut and dry,no-nonsense. But one trick is to tailor it to your own personal style. My son is very comfortable doing a lot of stuff on his phone or computer. He's a software engineer, so it comes natural to him. I need the hard copy of things, prefer most of my bills to come in the mail as well as bank statements, etc.
I have a file box or two in the store room with some collections of old papers I still feel the need to hold on to. I also have a big, heavy, clunky fireproof file box with important documents in it.
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I love colored folders too. I color code lots of things and can find things pretty easily. When I was working, I put everything the doctor (male) needed to sign in a pink folder. That really stood out on his desk.
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