Not quite a horder - decluttering
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Hi! I just found this thread. My kids go back to school in a week and when they do, let the decluttering begin!!!!!
A year ago I went through all the clothes. SEVEN, each person got seven of everything (7 tshirts, 7 pants, 7 sweatshirts, etc.) Underwear and socks don't count. ;-) However, over the last year people have given us stuff and somehow we are packed to the gills again. I finally notice when I'm doing a TON of laundry that I shouldn't have to be doing. Elmininated unnecessary clothing is on the back to school to do list. (Oh…ok…after my surgery on the 12th. LOL)
My biggest problem is paper. All 5 of my kids at home have Down syndrome. If you have even one child on an IEP at school then you understand the amount of paper involved. Now multiply by 5. Now throw in 20 or so medical specialists we see on a regular basis, county paper work, yada yada yada. I am completely overwhelmed by the paper. Has anyone paid to have an organizer come to your house? How expensive is it? My friend has offered but I really don't want my friend going through our personal papers. I'd rather have a total stranger. All I know is, I have nowhere else left to hide the paper!
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Oh and I would also like to try the 40 bags in 40 days challenge! My good friend did it last year. She loved it so much she continued it to 60 days…then 80! LOL
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Lesspring - I don't know about that challenge. Is it just fill a bag a day?
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Yep, every day fill a bag of either items to donate or trash. I know for me, I would have to also immediately move those bags of donated items to my car or I'd end up with a lot of bags stacked up in my basement. LOL
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Here's how an organized person does the 40 bags in 40 days. It includes printables. LOL
http://www.whitehouseblackshutters.com/40-bags-in-40-days-2014/0 -
About immediately moving things to the car, Noonrider, sometimes that's just not enough--I've been driving around with a box of decluttered donations for over a month! Finally, last week, I stopped at the thrift shop, and she was engaged in decluttering to make room for fall stuff, and can't take my contributions until after Labor Day. That box is still riding around with me everywhere I go. As you might suspect, oodles of stuff didn't make it to the car. I have a laundry bin stuffed full of summer clothes that's sat in the middle of my bedroom all summer. I wonder: Does it count as decluttering if you've sorted it out, piled it up, and abandoned it?
Oh. And now it's time to sort through fall stuff again. Ughhh!
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Yes, I have been known to carry some bags around in the back of my van! We have a Goodwill store near us that I drive by all the time. If I think about it, I can just pull into their drive through, they unload everything, and I drive away. My kids are fascinated by this process and like to put stuff in bags for the "Goodwill Guys".
I am not a girly girl, and yet I seem to have a problem with bags. And luggage. Luggage in very bright colors because when I travel internationally I want it easy to spot. (and I did watch one of my bags sit out on the tarmac in Belgrade, Serbia while workers just kept driving around it!)
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I have 4 summer shirts sitting in my closet. They must be really old because I haven't worn them in at least 4 years. Every time I start to donate them I think I may have an occasion to wear a button shirt (although I can't really think of one). I think, I could wear them open over a cami (which I don't ever wear). I need to figure out what's blocking my getting rid of these.
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Tapering is a great idea. I have a box labeled 'sentimental' which has the bedjacket my mother wore before her death and a pair of velvet patchwork palazzo pants that DH gave me for Christmas. I went on a strict diet and managed to wear them New Year's Eve which is our wedding anniversary. It's worth the space to remember that happy time.
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I decided to wear one of the shirts and see what I thought about it. It gaps a little when I sit, so I tacked that down. I washed it today and discovers it dries quickly without any wrinkles. I'm keeping this one for travel for sure.
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Yes, that's what I thought also.
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They remind me of rabbits with those 2 little stand-up petals.
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Onco-Warrior - "Tapering Off" - love it! That's the only way I can get rid of stuff. Things that had sentimental value last year (that I wouldn't dream of giving away) went straight into the Donation box this year. Fortunately, DH understands. One year I whittled 100 boxes in the garage down to 30. (I had a lot of my Mom's stuff stored in there after she went into the nursing home.) Now it's time for another purge, since we added more
crapvaluable stuff.Oh, Teka - I love any kind of blue flowers, but here in our drought-ridden, 100+ degree temps, nothing like that lasts very long. I do have a nice plumbago bush with blue flowers, but they're kind of pale and washed-out these days. I so envy those who live in areas where all those different flowers thrive!
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Well I got up yesterday and cleaned out the cedar closet. It is at the top of the steps and I have mostly bedding in the chest part but the upper part had a ton of older sweat shirts. They were from when I lived in Cali and I have worn them out so I yanked em all and put them in a bag. They rae not ripped etc but I am just tired of them. The closet is almost empty. I have a dreesy pants suit in there I have never worn but will keep it just because. It is really too big but I may just get it altered. Next step my guest room closet. It has my fall/winter stuff in it I never wear anymore. I am going to pick 3 outfits just in case and that is all. 37 items is not so far off.
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Great work, Bunkie. Just please do not declutter BT!The bin of winter/fall clothes I filled in spring is still sitting in the middle of my bedroom and it's almost time to put it all back in my closet. Yikes. If I promise right now to declutter some clothes for, say 20 minutes, over this promised-to-be-rainy weekend, will you all please remind me?
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Oh dear...! I definitely belong here.(sigh)
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Thanks, Teka. One might think I personally lived through the Great Depression after having a look here. I don't know how many times I've "gone through" things and managed to come up with a dinky little pile to give away. What is the secret to success?0 -
If you have not used it in a year, ditch it! If it is broken but you will "fix it later" ditch it! If it no longer fits, ditch it! If you think "someone might be able to use it, ditch it!
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One old hint that I've used a number of times with clothes - if you haven't worn in a year, pack them in a box & put in the attic with a date on the box. If you haven't missed them at the end of the next year - give the box away un-opened. It helps when you aren't holding your "favorite" silk blouse when you have to make the final break. I have friends who can do what NoonRider suggests, I'm just not that strong or ruthless or disciplined about what really needs to go.
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I got motivated when I saw just how much $$$ we got for deductions when we used Turbo Tax.
It works out that our charitable donations keep us from having to PAY when we do our returns!
Now I LOOK for things to donate.
I still have stuff I can't let go of, but I'm much more likely to do it these days.
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Well, because I posted that I'd spend 20 minutes in my closet this weekend, and only because I posted, I did it! In that time I was able to sort through all my T's and tops (found 10 black or navy T's--hadn't been able to locate more than three until now). I half-filled a bin with things I won't wear until next summer, isolated a few (too few) items for the thrift shop, cleared off the pile on my chair, filled a laundry bin whose contents are already in the washing machine, and, in an additional five minutes, ran the vacuum around. Have just taken a shower and am feeling pretty durned proud.
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A major problem with ditching stuff is related to bc.
At time of dx at age 51, I was within BMI, eating like a horse and having no problems working it off with 2 to 3 measly 20-minute aerobic exercise sessions a week. I fit into a pleasantly limited wardrobe of fun things. By the time I got through working F/T throughout 6 sequential treatments that included plenty of nausea and intense vomiting and lots of steroids, I was 25 pounds heavier, with extremely lower testosterone levels that are a strong barrier to building or maintaining muscle. While diet and exercise work better for those who are younger and/or are not truly menopausal, it took me 6 years to lose most (but not all) of that weight. And since then, I've bounced back up and then struggled back down. With aging and retirement, my income is more limited now and I can't afford to not have 2 wardrobes on hand for one person!
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OK have been offline a few weeks. I had some clothes promised to a friend who did not come get them all summer. Since they are summer clothes I am sure she will think I am holding on to them for her next year. Nope. Going gone. I have been busy doing some sorting and then I opened up the closet with all the fall winter stuff. Old sweat shirts, sweatpants etc. Gone. Old coats I never wore.....gone. My goal is 1 working closet with a small other one for seasonal overfill. No more plastic bins full of stuff I never wear.
BT has been a big help with the house stuff and even finding some solutions my contractor overlooked...or purposely forgot to mention. Looks like I have been a little too trusting with a friend when it comes to home repair. Lesson learned. Not looking forward to winter again. They are saying it will be awful AGAIN.
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Yes I am going to sell. Just trying not to give it away so I can get into another place. Maybe a condo this time....in Vegas.
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