Not quite a horder - decluttering
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Hi Mel!! **waving***
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Mel- welcome to our thread. Couple tips that help me when I need to get stuff out of the house and also with where to begin.
With the bags, just put them in the car. It will force you to get them out of the house and to somewhere to drop them off. If you don't have time to take them anywhere, there are many organizations that will come pick them up. Big Brothers and Big Sister, the ARC, and other charities that are located nationally. Maybe some others in your neck of the woods that can help you with pick up?
When I started cleaning things out, I did so by two approaches a) what type of decluttering/items am I focused on and b) where can I begin that is doable to start? Begin small and work your way to the larger tasks. Find a pile, a corner, a bookshelf, a drawer. There are times I just focus on my closets and end up with things to go to consignment or to my favorite women's charity. Or I might clean out my tupperware cabinet, the linen closet, or some storage in the garage. Other times I just focus on paper work filing, purging, shredding. I find I cannot do more than a couple hours at a time.
I find it to be a continual process to keep my house clutter free now. I have been doing a big clean out for over a year and have just some odds and end left, but am always re-evaluating if it is time to throw something out, donate it, give it away, or shred it.
Good luck getting started!
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The Tidying up book gives an order to the decluttering process. The author says to declutter by category not by room. Sounds good in theory, but to make it work for me, sometimes I have to do it a room, drawer or closet at a time.
Yet her ideas still work. She says to tackle clothes first. While she wants you to do every piece of clothing in the house at one time, that overwhelmed me. But one morning i pulled all my clothes out of the dressers and closets in my room and put them on the bed. From there, I put back the stuff I still wore, discarded or put aside for donation the stuff that no longer fit and that did not spark joy. Folded things neatly, rearranged a few dresser drawers and got the closet organized as previously stated. It made so much sense to do it this way. And while I'm not gonna fold undies, they get tossed into the drawer, I now fold my socks and keep them in a shallow drawer instead of tying them in a knot and keeping them in a deeper drawer
The order to the Tidy way of decluttering is: clothes first, then books, papers, komono (miscellany), and lastly, mementos. If you start with mementos first, the theory goes, you may get bogged down in sentimentality and lose focus or give up. Clothes do not have the same emotional pull, so you can make a bigger dent in the clutter right off the bat by tackling them first. Then that gives you momentum to continue.
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She even talks about clothes you bought and have never worn. She says that perhaps their purpose was to give you joy when you bought them and you can send them on to make joy in someone else's life.
Books are our problem. We both read and re-read. If I really like a book I will read it at least twice.
We agreed one time we could each move out to different places and take everything we wanted with us. The house would still be full.
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Wren- I have a great consignment store that loves my items I have never worn with the tags on them. Everyone loves new stuff, even in consignment clothing stores and the stuff sells fast. I have some more to take her this month.
I often buy clothing end of the season and save it to the next year. I love going into the closet the following season and finding new things. Like shopping but I already own it! But sometimes those things I buy the end of the season before have less appeal for some reason.
When I work on clothing, I try to do it all at once. It can be daunting. Sometimes I just work on my bureau, then my closet, then another wardrobe where I store sweaters. One space at a time.
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Hey thanks Divine, that was very timely info for me! It does feel wonderful to unload. I am a glass and jewelry artist and finally decided I was no longer going to make stained glass due to the mess, time consumption and chemicals. So today I donated a HUGE amount of glass to an artist coop that is making a LIFE SIZE whale out of stained glass. They were elated! It felt so good to help them out and my "final frontier" as Jazzy put it is way cleaner already! Also, just spreading the family heirlooms (including photos) around has been fun and feels good for the heart as well as the house.
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Nice list Devine.
Artist that is great. It always makes you feel good when you know you are helping others.
Heading to town in a little bit to donate a bag of clothing and a box of miscellaneous stuff. I started a habit a few months ago where I put a box in a spare bedroom and as I come across something that I want to get rid of, I go and put it in the box and when I fill the box, I donate it and start on a new box.
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cowgal, I do the same thing with a box and instruct my husband and son to place any items, usually clothes, that they no longer want in the box
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Hi, back, glennie, jazzy, wren, divine, artist and cowgirl. I'm seeing lots of familiar folks on this thread! I was out of town over the weekend and now it's already Wednesday...how does that happen??? My local library has the Tidy book and it was checked out when I looked on Friday, so I need to log back in and see if it's been returned. Thanks for all the tips and encouragement, ladies! I actually feel good about my clothes...that is mostly what is in the bags waiting patiently at the front door. Tomorrow is my day off and I am going to tackle some paper piles in my office area. I'm conveniently skipping over books...have some I can't part with, so I'll have to read the Tidy book and see what she says about books before I tackle them. I'm just so ready to get rid of the papers! I like the idea of doing the momentos last...very smart. I will report back how things go tomorrow. Have a great night
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Mel- sounds like you have a good plan! Books are hard to part with. I try to ask myself sometimes if the books I have will be used in the future (reference type books) or just novels I read and won't read again. I find passing along books to friends makes me feel good. I sell some of my hard cover to the local bookstore that buys books resale. Special books people give me remain with me forever. Good luck on your day off getting some things done!
I went through my closets this past weekend as part of the seasonal clothing exchange. I found some more stuff to take to consignment, but she told me she is full up this month with appointments! She said "I think everyone is doing the same thing you are." I will go in November but also found another new consignment shop near where I live and going to stop by and see if they are taking items this month and what types of items they are looking for. My fav consignment shop is going to be sold anyways end of the year, so I cannot depend that the next owner will be as good at taking things. I plan to stop by that store later this week.
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Next Monday, my bedroom carpet will be pulled on and the room will be tiled. Finally, the end of carpeting in my home!! So now I have stuff everywhere in preparation for the job. Once that is over, and the room is back in order,, I can get back to decluttering!
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Glennie- good luck with the new flooring! I pulled all my carpeting out and put in hard wood floors last year. Pulling everything out of the rooms made me take a hard look at things. Hope you get more purging done soon!
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Always something to slow me down--I fell and gave myself a major black eye and split lip---nothing is broken but just don't feel that good so I am going with how I feel and taking it easy.
And then--the dolls I bought my daughters for what seemed like a fortune in the 1990s (about$80) seem to be worth well over $700 each on ebay. So I will hold onto those dolls and figure out how to sell on ebay....if you hold onto anything long enough, it seems to become valuable.
Anyway good luck with your flooring projectGlennie--it sounds daunting.
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Mandy- ouch, I am sorry that happened. Are you okay?
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Thanks Jazzy for thinking of me. I was walking home by myself after dinner with friends and I managed to sweep the curb and side walk with my face. I gave myself a thick lip (literally --my lip is double size) and a an amazing black eye. Right now I have a magnificent head-ache to go with the black eye, but the good news is that I do not have an orbital fracture (had xrays for this) and this too will pass. I've been checked out by dentist as well as doctor. Meantime, I have the usual aches and pains that follow a fall so I am trying to take it easy (which is easier aid than done--I have someone coming to dry-wall in my house tomorrow and I have to move paintings off walls etc.). But I will do what I can do and just pay him extra if he has to do the moving of things. Thanks again or thinking of me. As always, hubby is out of town.
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Mandy- I hope you can ice some of the areas. Lavender oil can help a lot too, but must be careful around the eye. Feel better sister!
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Ugh, Mandy!! Hope you are feeling better soon!!
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Thanks Glennie and Jazzy for your kind thoughts. My eye feels quite a bit better though it still looks pretty gruesome. I canceled a trip on Sunday for a meeting because I thought my appearance might be distracting to all. The good news is my dry wall man showed up and began the job--he said I'd moved more than enough for him to get done. He comes back today and Sunday to finish(it was a big job). Unfortunately when I started clearing things out of the room, I did it the right way---sorting and getting rid of things--with several bags of books, clothing, and stuffed animals going to a charity thrift shop. But the past two days (post fall), I just jammed everything into bags and moved them to the next room to get them out of the way. I figure when I put them back, I will sort through them as there is no need to keep moving things we don't use back and forth. The amusing thing is that I found a pair of never used shoes--this is my daughter's room--so I took a photo of them and sent it to my daughter and yes, she'd like those shoes up at school...they'd just kind of disappeared in the muck.
Hope everyone has a great day.
Hugzzzz!
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Mandy- glad you are doing better. I find so many things that get lost around here, especially in the closets! Part of the reason I am focusing on them right now. I want to be able to see everything. Going to continue on that path this weekend!
Speaking of that, I think I mentioned my favorite consignment store is going to be sold so the owner is working with the buyer to transition through the rest of the year. When I called her this week about bringing some things in, she said she was booked up with apts into early November. As she has some limited hours she takes items and I am about to start new work that will conflict when she can take things, I thought "hmm, I need a Plan B."
So today I stopped by another consignment shop near where I live that is part of a well known consignment group here in town. I went in today to see the store and she has some GREAT STUFF! I made an appointment for the 24th and she told me she would take up to 50 items! My other place would only take 20, so I found if I was doing a larger purge, it took several trips. So I think this will be my new go-to place when I am doing my seasonal clean out of the better things. I am not sure I have 50 things to take, but do have a bag of scarves, some shoes and some other clothing items and will count it all up this weekend. I hope she likes my stuff as I would like this place to be my new go-to place for better consignment items. Wish me luck!
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Hi, all -
I got a lot of paper decluttering done on my day off, but haven't had much luck since then! I'm hoping to get some more done tomorrow. Jazzy - great idea about the consignment shop. I hadn't thought of that and will have to see what we have around here. Glad you found another one that will take more items. Mandy - hope you are continuing to feel better. We have those bags around our house - the ones you described where you just put everything in it and move it to another room. We call them "bags of shame" lol!!
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Mel- consignment shops are great for the better items in your closet. Things you may have worn once, or still have the tags on them, or maybe you lost (or gained) weight and some things don't fit work anymore. They are really great for holiday wear in the fall too, to both take things or if you need something nice for a holiday party and don't want to spend a lot of money.
My best friend back east has had vintage business for years and have always loved going to the nicer shops! And if you end up with credit, it is like getting free clothes!
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Mel, Had no choice about those bags of shame since I was ill and had to clear things out quickly. But I will go through them before putting things back in the room. My friend drove me to the fed ex place and I sent out the shoes my daughter did not know she had, 2 special dresses and some books that were my kids to a friend's grand=daughter--even though just a few things, it was nice it is to get anything out. But since I'm still dizzy, I am taking care of me for a bit.
Hope you all have had a nice weekend.
Mandy
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Mandy- I hope you feel better. Sounds like you got a few things done. I am still "mining" the closets for things to take to consignment next weekend!
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Something else that helps me with de-cluttering is getting a couple weekly articles in my email from minimalist websites. I'm not about to live in a stark, plain house, but I like a decluttered space. My son says it's called rational minimalism. Reading the articles helps me stay more mindful about keeping things tidy, and not adding to the clutter. Today, an article popped up with some graphics in it, and I especially liked this one, because I believe its philosophy:
You can see more of the graphics at this link: http://www.becomingminimalist.com/simple-living-images/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+becomingminimalistcom+%28becomingminimalist.com%29
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Divine- thank you for sharing that post. One of the things I always do when going through things is paying attention any memories that go with the item. It is amazing what comes up like "oh I bought that when my mother was so sick, and everything was so hard for us" or "that was given to me by someone I no longer have in my life and would prefer not to remember." We all have those people, right? Then there are those sentimental things I just cannot part with like some of my mothers things (although as time goes on, I realize some of those things don't have real sentimental value. Or a special piece of jewelry from my brother who we lost years ago I will never part with. Stuff does have emotions associated with it.
My other thought this weekend while working on the closets is "with less stuff to deal with, I will have more time to spend doing the things I enjoy like exercising outdoors, working in the yard/gardens, doing music activities. Stuff requires a lot of time to manage, whether dusting it, organizing it, maintaining it, etc. I suffer from TMS (too much stuff) but things are getting cleared out more and more all the time.
Interestingly enough, I noticed so many women after going through cancer treatment of any type seem to have a feel a need to de-clutter. I think it has to do with trying to simplify our lives. What do you think?
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oooo, Divine and Jazzy,, excellent posts!!
I must look at that minimalist site. That is an excellent graphic. And yes,, stuff requires SO MUCH TIME. and I'm so over most of that. Once my bedroom get tiled,,, started today!! ,,, and I get things back in there,, I can get back to my clutter reduction quest. I asked a guy working around here if he knew anyone who wanted a big old box-style TV and he said he would take it for his kids! So I'm thrilled it will have a new home.
And Jazzy,,, the emotional side of stuff,,, is touched on in The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. She really feels that you must touch each item and see if there is a connection or not, before keeping or discarding.
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Many here have donated . Thank you !........Wandering around and cheerleading again
Donate today, make a difference directly in all our lives. By supporting BCO, we support each other. Thanks and Hugs
https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/110/topic/834331?page=1
Link to the mainboard donation page
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Mandy - congrats on getting some things sent out! I hope you will be feeling all better soon!
Divine - Loved that graphic with the quote by Eleanor Brown. I'm going to copy that one and check out the website.
Glennie - the Tidy book still hasn't come available at my library, but they do have it, so I'm waiting patiently for it!
I did finally drop off the bags of things for the Christian Mission...felt good to get rid of those! Am still working my way through papers...that seems to be my worst category. I don't know how it happens. Will be interested to see what the book says about that.
Good day to all!
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Hi ladies!
My regular consignment shop called yesterday to say they had some room to take some things this week so I scrambled to bring in a few items I had put aside for the other place, but specific to what they wanted. I still have things to bring to shop #2 on Saturday too and looking forward to being done with the closets this weekend.
As part of the items today, I took in one of the last things I had of my mothers I knew I did not want to keep. Big step for me, but it has been hanging in the back of the closet for 10 years and finally felt ready to let it go. Both the ladies there have gone through the same thing with their mother's stuff, one woman loosing a mom the same year as I did. They said the coat I brought in will be nice for an upcoming vintage fashion show they are doing. That made me smile, my mom would love that her coat is going to be in a fashion show. I still have a lot of things of my mom's. but won't ever wear this coat.
The good news is the woman buying this shop I was at today was there today and has an E-bay business. I have a high end mountain bike I am wanting to sell and the bike shops here suggested to put it on E-bay for the best price. I asked her about it today and she said she could help me. I told her maybe next spring, I won't get as good a price in the winter as I will in the spring or summer for any bike. Another solution to another thing that needs to go.
After this weekend, the de-cluttering is going on hold for awhile as I have a new contract starting and my focus will be on work for awhile.
Mel- congrats on getting the bags to donations. It is nice to come away with a good feeling!
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My bedroom has been painted and the floor is tiled. Bye-bye carpet! It looks so fresh and clean. Now to get busy and de-clutter!
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