Not quite a horder - decluttering
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I read all the time, but don't buy books. The library is a block from me, and it belongs to a consortium of many libraries in Ohio. I go online to place holds on books and if it is at another library in the consortium, they send it to my library and I pick it up. I also use their system to get free books for the kindle app on my ipad. So I don't have too much trouble in that area. We had many childrens books that we got for ds when he was small, but as he's in his 20s now, I was okay to edit those books down to the really special ones.
My car trunk is loaded with things I didn't sell at the yard sale. Will take them to Goodwill tomorrow. Two other tables in the garage have items I consider trying to sell at one more sale in the fall, but am still going back and forth whether to have one more sale. I also would be okay to donate this stuff and be done with it all!
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We can request books online from our library, too. Immense waiting lists for anything popular. I think we may need more books. My last book club choice, I was 187 on 5 copies. See what I mean?
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Thats way too long to have to wait, Wrenn, for a good book! The library in my town is part of a consortium of 92 libraries all over Ohio, vastly increasing the availability of even popular books. I wouldn't have much selection if confined to the local library inventory. The majority of books I read is nonfiction, lots of autobiographies and bios. Waiting for me at the library to pick up is the one by "Caitlynn Jenner" and Sheryl Sandberg's "Option B", both currently in the top 15 best seller list. I definitely am super grateful to have access to this treasure trove of free books and would be remiss if I didn't take advantage of it.
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One thought about clothes, getting rid of and keeping. While it is good to empty out the closet and get rid of stuff you don't need or wear, on the other hand, if your closet is full, it is easier to say to yourself: I can't buy any more clothes, I have no room in my closet!
My brother has a plan that I admire - when he acquires a new item of clothing, he gets rid of an old one.
I too am in the retirement years. My professional wardrobe, some items of which I spent good money on, just hangs in the closet. But, items do get pulled out here and there for special occasions. I can't see getting rid of it all. Who knows whether or not I'll need things down the road. It is easy to get rid of stuff sometimes, but not as easy to re-acquire it.
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Divine, An oddity about the library is that the large print line moves faster. I think it's because people who have to read large print really love to read and finish books right away. My only beef with the large print is that they are very heavy.
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Makes me wonder if those minimalist type people have brains wired differently from those of us who are sentimental about our things. I do not need excess, but I don't think I could live that sparse minimalistic lifestyle. Seems a bit cold and even uncreative, tho maybe not. But doesn't what we own define us in some ways?
Well, dh and I decided to donate everything thats left from the yard sale rather than have another sale in the fall. We had a productive evening tonight reorganizing one wall of the garage where he crams all kinds of stuff next to his boat. With the boat in the driveway because of the yard sale, it was the first time in years we could really address that part of the garage. We rehung some ladders, moved a table saw, got rid of what I call junk-ity junk junk, meaning all kinds of miscellaneous crap. Got a huge pile of trash. Packed my car trunk full of stuff for Goodwill. Will have to make a few trips. Thats okay, it feels good to get rid of so much.
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Good Morning, Declutterers!I just found out that renting a 2 yard dumpster with one pick up per month will only cost $34 a month.$19 for an extra pick up. Next to nothing, to my way of thinking.Got on the waiting list for a dumpster, that will let me declutter and clean out at my own pace, and circumvent the problem of where to put the bags of trash and stuff between curbside pickups.Not to mention not having to buy special bags at #1 a pop.
DivineMrsM--people seem to fall into one of two categories, those who love the physical book experience, and those are content with digital books. Important to know who you are when decluttering. I just found out that the nearby Goodwill store has closed. I was counting on that store for things too good to throw away but don't have a place in my life anymore. Next closest is a half hour drive away as opposed to that one that was only 5 minutes away. Guess I'll have to do some more looking around and see if I can find a more local place.
Flaviarose--good point, it can be harder to re-aquire a clothing item than to give it away. I do a lot of I'll-need-that-when kind of thinking with clothes, need to come up with a strategy before I start on the closet. Some things will be easy enough to let go of, others will be more of a struggle.
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Native, great to hear about the dumpster. I think that will be motivating to see it at your place and think, hey, I'm gonna see how much I can put in this thing.
The city wide clean up week is next week here, and it, too, motivates us to assess what can be pitched. Lots of people drive up and down the alleys in town that week looking for all manner of things. Some collect metal, some take porcelain, ect. We have had fun doing it, too, and got a whole set of redwood furniture one year that we used at the lake when we kept a camper out there.
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Btw, I'm surprised to hear your closest Goodwill closed. It seems to me they are usually successful. But, hopefully, someone will sense there is a niche that needs filled in your area and open a donation center. We have several churchy type places here that also accept them.
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Native - try Salvation Army. They pick up in my neighborhood once a week if you call for 10 boxes/bags or less. They schedule larger items about 10 days out. That way you don't have to transport anything. I just leave the stuff on my front porch the night before.
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With clothing, I'm getting rid of the things that I don't feel good in. Like the nice T-shirt that made me feel fat and dumpy. It's a mental health expense IMHO. Next things are going to be the things that just need a little something to work - and have been that way for 5+ years. Or the perfectly good long sleeve shirts that I wear once a year, wash and re-hang until the next year. It's just not my look.
NativeMainer, Try calling Goodwill to see if they have a donation point closer than the 15 mi away store. Sometimes they have a donation spot separate from the store.
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Wrenn, those are great reasons to get rid of certain clothes. We should wear what we feel good in, it makes a difference.
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Wren - I had a really soft. comfortable T-shirt with large vertical stripes. I only wore it to work in the yard since it made me "feel" fat. Then one day a 50 something neighbor said I looked like Gilligan in Gilligan's Island. T-shirt GONE.
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MinusTwo--I will check into the Salvation Army and see if they pick up in my area.I live in a really rural area, lots of business don't come this far or charge extra, but it may be worth it to be able to leave the stuff out for pick up.
Wren--another great idea, I will check into that, too! And that is a great set of criteria for getting rid of clothes.I will probably steal your list.
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I am not a fan of tshirts, either. Being short and busty, they have always made me feel like a sausage when I wear them. They do not do anything for a short neck and short arms.When I worked as a school aide, occasionally they would give us school tshirts to wear for a field trip or end of year school picnic I would hem the bottom several inches and the sleeves as well to try to look presentable.
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Here is an article that popped up on my pinterest feed. I use articles like this to inspire me and not make me feel badly if I don't think I am making the kind of progress the author is making. If I can come away with one tip or one new insight or just the feeling to stay on track, it is worth the read.
Unlock Abundance Through Decluttering!
Alexis Donkin May 8, 2017 home, Intentional Living, mind
I'm so pleased to have coach and writer Hayley Forster on the blog today. In this post, she shares about her decluttering journey and how it allowed her to make space in her life for all the good things she deserves (and will do the same for you)!
Rewind my life back by 4 years and you wouldn't even recognize me. I was stressed, depressed, overweight and generally unhappy.
I was working an unprecedented number of hours, I was juggling relationships with my husband, my children, friends, family, and co-workers. My work and personal schedules were out of control. There was so much 'stuff' happening and there was not enough of me to go around!
Something had to change. I knew I needed some help.
That is when I started my journey into minimalism. Some people look at me with skepticism when I say that decluttering turned my life around.
"How is that even possible Hayley? I cleaned out my cutlery drawer the other day and I felt no different. Are you seriously telling me you started living a different life because of that?"
It is difficult for people to connect the dots on this.
The Role of Clutter
In truth, clutter plays a significant role in how we feel about our surroundings, our situations and ultimately ourselves. It makes sense, doesn't it? We are always wanting more, bigger, better things in our life but we have tons of unused, old pieces of crap taking up our already precious space! This clutter constantly signals to our brains that our work is never done, which leads to us feeling anxious because we're never sure when we it will ever end!
Why does it cause so much stress?
- Clutter makes it difficult to relax, both physically and mentally. We are always trying to find those things 'lost in the pile' and trying to locate things quickly.
- It distracts us by drawing our attention away from what our focus should be on. Clutter inhibits creativity and productivity by invading the time that people need to think, brain storm, and problem solve.
- Clutter creates feelings of guilt and embarrassment because we feel we should be 'doing a better job'
If you're serious about making changes, here are some ways you can start to physically and mentally declutter your life.
Declutter Your Life for More Space
This applies to the physical space you are surrounded by: your home and workspace (even your car!) There are two areas to address:
- Donate, throw away or recycle anything you don't use anymore. If it offers no practical solution – you don't need it!
- Eliminate any items that are not useful for you in the next chapter of your life.
The best place to start with this is to picture the vision you hold for yourself. Where do you want to be? What do you not want in your life? What does success mean to you? This automatically leads you to the question "does this dress that is two sizes too small, still need to be in my life?"
Go through every room, every cupboard and every box in the house and ask yourself this same question. When you physically remove these things, you create space, not only in your home but in your mind.
Declutter Your Schedule for Time
We have to admit that we can only do so much. We have unlimited options but limited resources, and because of that we need to make some important decisions:
- Ask yourself which items in your calendar are must haves and aligned to your vision? Eliminate the rest.
- Do you need to do it all personally? Delegate what you can. Ask for help!
- Everything that is remaining, is necessary. Therefore, batch and block your time in your calendar and focus on one thing at a time. If it's important enough to be there, it's important enough to focus and prioritize.
Declutter Your Relationships for More Love
We're all directly influenced by the people we choose to surround ourselves with.
Do you ever feel drained around certain people? On the contrary, you may find others who energize you and fill you full of motivation!
To declutter your relationships, you need to be around people who love and support you. When you're looking to attract the life you desire, surround yourself with others who make you feel the way you want. This may involve some difficult decisions about how to spend your time, but it is well worth it and can make a significant impact on your approach to your journey.
Declutter Your Emotions for Peace
I didn't just stop at the cutlery drawer. I continued. I decluttered every aspect of my life. My home, my schedule, my relationships, my emotions.
In fact, emotional clutter can be just as stressful, if not more stressful than physical clutter! Most of us have had it from a very young age. [Editor's note: this is where forgiveness can make a huge difference. For more on that read this.]
Like anything that's been in your life for a while, emotional clutter can feel good to have around. It can give you the excuse not to start and the reason to hold back. The important thing is to recognize and declutter your emotional baggage so that it doesn't prevent you from seeing and taking the opportunities that are right in front of you. Allow yourself to understand your past and your limiting beliefs. This is the first step to working through them.
Decluttering Gave Me Abundance
My decluttering journey has not happened overnight but it is a journey that certainly paid off! Slowly but surely I simplified my life. Living a minimalist lifestyle allowed me to slow down, take stock, and live more intentionally. This was the key to my happiness.
Life's too short – don't allow things of lesser importance to rob you of the life you could be living. Take a good look at your life, evaluate, and be honest with yourself.
Don't delay – declutter your life! You can do this!
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Thanks for the article!
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Ugh. My mother went to assisted living about three weeks ago. We were given one week to get her apartment vacated. Thankfully my sister and her husband are down there. They handled the whole thing but it was messy. My mother is such a hoarder. They basically just boxed everything up and had it moved back to her house, which is been sitting vacant for over a year. Thank God we had some place to put the stuff so we didn't have to get a rental unit. So, now the house is stuffed with all the crap that came out of the apartment, plus all the crap that was still left at the house. It's probably going to take 2 to 3 weeks to purge and sort.
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DivineMrsM,
thank you for posting this article! I am back in town and a charity is picking up 2 bags of stuff tomorrow but I had hoped to have more ready. tonight as I was going through piles on the laundry table, I couldn't seem to let go of anything and most of it has been untouched for close to 2 years...I am hoping to gain some insight. I need to go to the link that addresses when everything seems to have sentimental value.
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Triple, you have two bags ready to go and that is good. If you get stuff out two bags at a time, that is progress. When the charity picks it up, you will feel good to get rid of the stuff and want to do more.
I have room to store things, so if I am unready to let something go, I box it up and stick it in an old bedroom used for the purpose of storing. Every year or two, I casually reassess what is in there and am able, with the benefit of time passing, to part with some things. Other stuff I will always keep. So if you don't want to give things away just yet, my suggestion is box them up and put them out of sight for awhile. It helps create order and then in time, those things can be reevaluated whether you still want them.
Some stuff I pulled out to garage sale I looked at with new eyes and kept. We had a four-tier metal shelf unit that no one bought even tho it was cheaply priced. Brainstorming what to do with it, dh and I decided to swap out a smaller wooden shelf rack in the garage and replace with the metal one. Its a greatly improved swap! The wood shelf will go out with trash next week which is clean up week. I also had Halloween lights that I used to put around my back door with leaf garland, and chose to keep it and put the garland up this fall. My son chose to take the footlocker for storage in his apt. There were several other things I decided to not sell. It was kind of cool to be okay with putting something in the pile to sell and then seeing it with new eyes and realizing we could repurpose it for current use.
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Great article, thanks for sharing!
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Marie Kondo, of the Magic of Tidying fame, suggests discarding all things first, then organize. It seems to be a good approach for the garage, which is mainly the domain of dh. He sold some things in the sale and then pulled stuff to throw away. Lots of wood...our house had been a fixer upper many years ago, but we will never have big projects to tackle again now that so many home improvements are complete. We hung a ladder and moved a couple others to a more accessible spot. Used hooks to hang the leaf blower and weed eater.
While he was at work Thursday, I spent more time in the garage reorganizing. It went well. Hung one of those brooms with the wide brush, a wide rake and several snow shovels on the wall. Now they aren't taking up all the room in the tool rack. Looks more orderly. Moved some shelves where a table saw was and put the saw in a far corner as it is rarely used these days. Put like items with like items, a concept dh still hasn't mastered. Four Life jackets in three spots are now all in a container on a shelf. I got the shop vac and vacuumed many sections and it surprisingly made a nice difference. All this was made easier because we parked the cars and boat outside since we set up for the garage sale. What a large, time consuming task, but it feels good to thoroughly go thru much stuff. Hopefully, it will stay better organized.
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Have begun the moving process!! While painting is going on in the interior, I'm working on the "new" garden shed. We took over one shelving unit today, and I'll buy another small one at Home Depot. Then I will have to go thru all my gardening stuff and decide what to carry over there and what to get rid of. The shed is much smaller (especially in height!) than the store room I have here at my townhome, so I will have to be very particular what gets to stay. It is good to see things empty out.
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Glennie, how is the painting and moving process going? That is always a very large project to tackle, although quite worth the effort.
This morning, the sanitation dept (garbage men) picked up the huge pile of trash we put out for clean up week, amd it feels great! I am feeling good about the decluttering we've done the past number of months, selling, donating and tossing as we went. We even picked up a few pieces of junk from the vacant lot across the alley and tossed them in our pile so we don't have to look at them any longer. Looks way better.
We still have plenty of stuff in our house, but it is so nice to have the things what we want to surround ourselves with and nice that its not surrounded by stuff we no longer use, need, is outdated, broken, worn out, or otherwise pointless to keep.
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DivineMrsM--I am looking forward to getting to that point myself, and envy you getting there now! But good for you, especially getting the stuff across the street!
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Here's a question I posted on the lumpectomy lounge. Thought I'd put it here as well since some of you are downsizing and planning to move.
We're trying to sell my mother's house. It's 2000 square foot, in a transitioning neighborhood at least half rental. Worth about $105-122,000. In Mobile Alabama, not a red-hot market.
Here's the issue: the 25 year old Berber carpet is filthy. It covers parquet of unknown condition, except in the den which is carpet over concrete. The real estate agents are divided: clean it and offer carpet allowance; gut it and lay down new flooring; take up the carpet, buff the parquet and offer flooring allowance.
We sibs are divided on this. None of us had bought it sold in the last 20 years, and never in this particular area.
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Based on a neighborhood that's half rental - it sounds like maybe a 'starter' neighborhood - changing back to first time buyers. My vote is to clean it and don't offer any allowance. Least amount of work & least amount of money. That way the new owner can decide if they want to replace and & pick what they want to change down the road. Have the realtors given you a differential dollar amount that going through lots of work & expense will net you at sale?
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To me, parquet isn't appealing to as many people as traditional hardwood. Although certainly preferable to "vintage" carpet, the unknown condition combined with the demographics of the neighborhood sway me towards MinusTwo's recommendation. Are most of the competing homes upgraded and staged or "fixer uppers" shown vacant? That could influence your decision. Good luck!
Lyn
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I'm not sure how the homes are being shown. I suspect many of them have been bought by investors and fixed up. But when I ride through the neighborhood it doesn't seem like ANY of the homes are moving fast. I'm of the mind to just clean it up, price it just a little below value, and get it sold. The floors are the least of the problems. There's aluminum wiring, the hot water heater isn't vented properly (you can smell natural gas!), the kitchen and bathrooms have not been updated. I suspect the sunroom is not up to code. The sliding glass doors look frosted. The fence is rusty. Not to mention that the whole house is FILTHY. The homes on either side were sold to an investor for $95-100K who fixed them up and rented them to a group who has made them into group homes for autistic adults. Parking has been a big problem due to the amount of staff coming and going.
I really don't think Mother can get more than $105K. Of course, she thinks the house is fine, worth a mint because her friend sold her immaculate, updated house in the neighborhood for $114K right before the market tanked. My brother-in-law is really pushing to fix it all up. Four of us five kids are going to meet next weekend and try to come up with some suggestions for Mother regarding selling the house. She is completely paralyzed over the issue. (And did I mention she never transferred title from her husband's name to her own after he died?? Ugh.)
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Wait a minute.....
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