Not quite a horder - decluttering
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I really miss not having a basement. We had one in Jew Jersey and in Idaho. Here in AZ there is no place to store anything except the garage. As for the attic, I did put a few things up there but with temperatures in the l00's and above the attic is too hot and some things have disintegrated and turned to dust. Even fabric gets yellowed and brittle. And plastic get brittle too.
The boxes are all stacked up against the wall again. Now I can pull the car in again. We do have a 2 1/2 car garage, but even with storage shelves I feel constrained. I don't have fewer boxes, but they are sorted out now as to who gets what. A couple of the boxes aren't full, but that was what needed to happen. I want to keep somethings for my daughters and they have indicated what they want to keep. I just feel sad sometimes that I have to constantly get rid of things.
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My DIL grew up in AZ and is always throwing things out. It is a different lifestyle. I even offered to keep my sons Boy Scout sash because she doesnt keep sentimental items. Her house is always orderly I will say that, better than me. I still can't get with the idea of everything goes, I do intend to always keep certain items.
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ginger: i know how you feel.. everything is replaceable to my son: but not to me!!!maybe its a generational gap!!i do have less than my mom had, he has way less than me.. guess he skipped a generation...
my problem is, the only storage we have, is an enclosed " fla room" as i sort, ive color coordinated bins.. when we;re done, we plan to make a kind of window seat that the bins go in, and cover it, then a cushion on top.. but, the way we're going, that'll be 3 years from nowlol..
i cant believe your neighbor was so rude!!! ple think in terms of hoarding now.. thats NOT the same !!
i would love to put everything out under a tent, and go thru it, my condo would throw US out!!!so, the only way to do it is, put it all in the liv rm and go thru it... .. what a PIA; at least we can say we're doing it...3jays
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Hotandcold, most of the garages in FL look like a storage bin... and they park the new cars outside. The "newbies" that move here aren't prepared for smaller storage and they bring everything with them from a two story w/basement house.
I on the other hand have lived here most of my life.... no excuses although I can park my car in the garage and I have stacked boxes on shelves. I also have my DD's furniture that wouldn't fit on the moving van... LOL We're going to have a talk about donating to Habitat 0 -
We have a lot of those plastic bins with lids, and we keep things like xmas decorations, ski clothes, and things we only use once or twice a year packed in those. The xmas decorations go up in the attic so they are out of sight. We have cabinets along each side of the two car garage, so it is really only a one and a half car garage now with extra storage. My DS parks his racing motorcycle in there as well because we have a gated community and it won't get stolen.
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Thanks for the comment about your DIL gingerbrew. It is different here in AZ. Samsue that would be my house. The garage looks like a storage bin and we park our cars outside. FL and AZ are both similar. I wish we could use the attic more. A/C in the attic? A lot of my neighbors are wealthy enough that they rent storage units. One neighbor rents a 10x8 and keeps all her Christmas there. I'm sure it costs about $80-$90 a month as I looked into one. That's about $1,000.00 a year.
We have a combination of plastic bins and cardboard boxes. There were just some things that wouldin't fit in those plastic bins. I have the whole wall covered and 3 metal shelves with platic bins that run parallel to the wall. It is things like their girl scout vest, dress, and t=shirt. Other stuff too, like their blessing dress and 1st communion dress and then a couple of favorite dresses from when they were like 6 or 9. I do have a bunch of Christmas stuff, but some of it is sentimental, We have our use once a year stuff out there too. Snow boots, ski stuff, Boogie Board for beach. etc. My husbands yard tools and house tools. Paint that matches inside and the outside of the house.My garage really does look like a storage bin, but what's a woman to do?
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I found it difficult to get my kids to get all their stuff out of our house. Finally when we moved we got them to take almost all of it.
One of the kids we finally left a box at his brothers when we were leaving to move across country.
kids.......
Ginger
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The only time I ever had a basement was when I lived in Michigan. When I first saw it I thought...what will I ever do with this huge space...lol....by the time we moved it was wall to wall with stuff!
Before we moved to Florida we had a huge garage sale and got rid of it all! Since then, I've kept it simple. Moving a lot helps. Over my lifetime I think we've moved about 25 times to different homes. I was in real estate and couldn't resist a good deal. Now I'm staying put!
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Kaara, I haven't moved in the last 21 years. I have read that to declutter you shold think like you were moving. We actually plan on retiring in this house. Maybe I can buid a huge closet in one of the bedrooms. I still wish I had a basement Teka, but clearing out space does feel refreshing. My parents basement is full and my Mom is fussing about cleaning it out. So many of my friends (50ish) I and have been talking about decluttering and freshening up the house. I think it is indicative of our stage in life. When we were younger we were in the acquisitions stage. Acquiring a house, furniture, stuff we thought would enhance our life and hobbies, kids, and kid stuff. Now we are divesting our selves of the excess and pairing it down to make ourselves comfortable.I wish I would of acquired less and put some of that money in savings.
Taking 2 more bags to goodwill the weekend. Here's to all of us living the life we dream of.
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HELLO LADIES,
I can so relate to all this clutter and decluttering. I am literally swimming in junk and stuff. My space is cluttered and so is my brain, partially due to my mess. I was DX wih BC in august and 2 weeks later a hurricane came through and flooded the river near my home. We ended up with 4 feet of smelly water in the garage and first floor. My DD lived there and the garage and laundry room were storage areas. Much of the storage ended up in my living space upstairs. 2 BR's are full of s--t. still in the process of rebuilding. Walls and floors are done.need shelving and cabinets and the energy to get it done. I have no motivation. I'm engrossed in BC but I'm getting there. When I declutter my home maybe I can declutter my brain. thanx for listening while I vent. I'll keep reading here and getting more ideas to this process.
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One trick that I learned when I was getting ready to move with a toddler was to tackle one space per day and get that space in shape for moving. Some days it was a drawer, and some days a whole piece of furniture, or closet, or a shelf.
That way the days I had more time and energy, I could get more accomplished, but every day I was moving in the right direction.
That was many years ago since both my kids are adults now, and there has been a good deal of clutter in my house over the years, but there is always at least a small bit of the house that is clean and organized.
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Welcome chef127 - easier also when the brain is decluttered so vent away, it's part of the reason we are here. I've stuck to my decision to delay any more decluttering until Spring (only a few weeks away, right?)
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i know for me, as i de clutter, it seems im more at peace.. i think the mind is in chaos, as the house is.. here's hoping well pick up the pace when i get feeling better. still manage a little everyday, but im chomping at the bit right now!!!3jays0
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After getting frustrated going through my closet today, trying to find a pair of pants that fit since I've lost weight, I decided to take all the oversized pants and put them on the top shelf that isn't being used. Now I have a lot of extra room in my little closet and some extra hangers. Does this mean it's time to hit the sales again...no....because I haven't actually given them away. I might grow back into them:(
Somehow, even with all the vitamins I'm taking, I caught a cold! Ugh! I was just starting to get my old energy back. We'll see how long it lasts...think I got it from DGS who was over on Sunday.
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Sort of a good idea Kaara to set them aside but mine will go into a bag to donate. We're not going to grow back into them - no, I refuse and am really trying to find a reason to shop so that's going to be it.
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Tomorrow I think I'll start to bring some of my clutter back down to the first floor. My son is visiting so I'll put him to work. So then I can declutter one area only to clutter another. Time to throw out the non essentials. But I love STUFF. borderline horder. Is this how it starts?
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patoo: I'm really conflicted about that. I gave away clothes that were too small for me and now I wish I had them back! It's hard for me to believe I'm going to stay at this lower weight which I haven't seen for 20 plus years, but with the new rabbit food diet we're on, that's possible! I'll give it a year.
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I am very excited that I have hired a cabinet maker to install pantry selves and bins into a large closet off the laundry room. Hooks for jackets, shelves for canned foods, higher shelves for large purchases from Costco, like TP paper and paper towels. Finally might get organized!...he is also installing pull-outs in the kitchen!
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I need to declutter my pantry. Maybe then I'll have room in there for food!
Kaara, that's a good idea.
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I turned my coat closet in the hall into a pantry. One shelf has canned goods, coffee, and beverages. The rest is clutter.
I barely put a dent in transferring my clutter to the first floor today. I moved 2 boxes. Then I took a nap.
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I'm in the middle of digging out the tax paperwork so the table is a mess again! I did find two file sorters to corral most of the paperwork today and it's much better. I like to work on the paperwork at the dining table instead of the small office desk I have in the spare bedroom. I feel so confined in there. Wondering why I have the desk at all....
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STILL working at a snails pace in the liv/dr but we are making progress. there's so much to do, and so little enrgy!!!everyones been sick with a beterial pnemonia, and are just getting better. we di rearrange shelving, and got bookcases moved into the liv room. we bothlove our little "treasuresaaa' and our books.. so it was a good compromise.. i continue to hit it a little everyday.. at least, xmas is down, packed, sorted, and put away, so thats; progres!!!im not sure we'll keep all we have, but it'll go up, and we;ll see then how " cluttered" it looks... hmmm...3jays0
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chef127 - thanks for the giggle!
samsue - you have the desk because we keep stuff, why else?
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I came home Sunday night and opened my pantry and smelled a horrid odor. I was sure there was a dead mouse in there or something. So I proceded to take everything out. I finally located a bag of flour that I had set in a gallon zip lock. There had been moisture in it and it was "rotting". That odor was so pungent it is still in my nose!
On the upside, most of my pantry shelves got a good wipe down. And reorganization.
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Meese,
I once found magots in a bag of potatoes in a plastic bag. YUCK.....Glass storage and open air baskets are the way to go. OUT OF SIGHT OUT OF MIND.
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I usually keep my flour in the fridge in a plastic storage, but I had extra flour for Christmas baking and evidently water got in the plastic bag.
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THE FRIDGE is the best thing to do but mine is small (and cluttered). I've been collecting OLD mason jars and use them to store Rice, beans, spices, all my dry goods. I keep them on a bakers rack and I love them. Some are blue and very pretty. The lids are Zinc and some are glass. I try to get rid of all the cardboard containers but the jars are not big enough so I use 2 jars. My friends think their too old fashioned and don't like them. I also use them for some left overs. I no longer use tupperware or plastic but I did love them too.
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I have a couple of those old canning jars with glass lids. I used them for display and to hold my pie weights.
Anyone know where Suz is?
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I just heard from her. No big problems. She's a busy woman. We can relate to that, can't we.
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A gold star for me -- Old car cleaned out, lots thrown away. New car with bare minimum in - snow brush, umbrella, cell charger, kleenex. Trunk is empty.
One box of books for son - will go into the trunk of the car. Income tax stuff all in one pile. I had to brag a bit. Now a shower and clean myself up !!!!!!
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