Let it GO! Decluttering (simplifying) your life of (people, places or things) success stories?

RubyRed427

After reading several comments on here, I was inspired to go in my basement. Although I've only been in this house for four years (after decluttering my previous home after a divorce), I still accumulated a fair amount of holiday decorations.

I also was ruthless when it came to my "memories" which were old cards from former students who were so sweet. Cards from 20 years ago were nice to read, but I don't want to burden my own family with them, so I said "thank you" to each one and discarded them.

Some memories and cards (and letters) are so personal that they have meaning to me, a stranger would not find them as sentimental. Hope that makes sense. So, I pitched them.

Gisel2015

Hi @ RubyRed427
Good job about the cards, and it does make a lot of sense!
I have 2 or 3 large boxes full of cards (birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, and more). I ditched many of them during the pandemic but my ever-sentimental sweetheart that I have for a husband got attached to many of them, especially if they were sent by his mother or other family member now deceased, and he doesn't want me to ditch the cards.
I don't think that my children or their families would ever appreciate or relate to them either. But for the time being I am savings them; however, cards sent by friends get ditch quite often.
If possible, I save the front page of the cards and I mail them to St. Jude's Ranch for Children. I get satisfaction knowing that the cards will have a second life and a good purpose.

StayFITTer

Didn't even know this was a thing....

https://stjudesranch.org/recycled-card-program/

Thanks for sharing.

@Gisel2015
@RubyRed427

Gisel2015 wrote: »

Hi @ RubyRed427
Good job about the cards, and it does make a lot of sense!
I have 2 or 3 large boxes full of cards (birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, and more). I ditched many of them during the pandemic but my ever-sentimental sweetheart that I have for a husband got attached to many of them, especially if they were sent by his mother or other family member now deceased, and he doesn't want me to ditch the cards.
I don't think that my children or their families would ever appreciate or relate to them either. But for the time being I am savings them; however, cards sent by friends get ditch quite often.
If possible, I save the front page of the cards and I mail them to St. Jude's Ranch for Children. I get satisfaction knowing that the cards will have a second life and a good purpose.

Gisel2015

Greetings everyone!
I am taking a short break from organization, cleaning, and de-clutting plans and goals noted in my-to-do-list, in order to tackle other routine daily chores.
I selected this week some books that I will not read again for donation. I am planning to stop at the library in the gated community where I live tomorrow. If the library doesn't take them (they are picky…), I will drop them at the donation center because I am too lazy to make an especial trip to the Public Library.
I also reviewed a couple of baskets where I keep magazines and brochures, and I discarded the old ones in the recycle trash-bin. This is an ongoing project that I tackle every month and doesn't deserve special credit.
Last week I was checking inside my closet and I decided not to remove any more items at this time. I can keep wearing most of the clothing, and there is no need to spend money or time in new outfits right now. Many items had not been worn for a while (remember the pandemic?), so it is time to put them back in circulation.
Well, that's all for now folks. Wishing all of you a nice week ahead. G.

Sand_TIger

Gisel2015 wrote: »

Hi @ RubyRed427
Good job about the cards, and it does make a lot of sense!
I have 2 or 3 large boxes full of cards (birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, and more). I ditched many of them during the pandemic but my ever-sentimental sweetheart that I have for a husband got attached to many of them, especially if they were sent by his mother or other family member now deceased, and he doesn't want me to ditch the cards.

Right now the cards have a good purpose if they give him happy memories - at least they can be neatly boxed and put away. Good thing he's not collecting motorcycles or something! I can't imagine having enough cards saved that I'd need even one box, that's amazing.

ElfBodGoals

The author of "Goodbye, things: The New Japanese Minimalism" also lost weight when he decluttered. His name is Fumio Sasaki. People who think Marie Kondo wanted them to get rid of literally everything they owned should read his book to see what that really looks like, lol.

I guess none of the trouble we get ourselves into is an isolated incident. Once I research the best ways to get rid of the stuff I've been clinging to, it's gooone. I hope it takes my weight with it!!

Gisel2015

@Sand_TIger
It is more than one box neatly stored in my closet. Inside the boxes are also cards that we sent to each other in different occasions thru the years. We will be celebrating our 58th wedding anniversary in April, and that can give you an idea of how many cards were saved. Even if some were already discarded due to our several moves.
He is not collecting motorcycles (over my dead body), but he still has in the garage cabinet a box full of personal stuff that he packed when he retired back in 1996, clothing in his closet that has not be worn (and wouldn't fit anyway) in more than 10 years, plus electronics that we are no longer using. It is a lost battle with him. But he is a great husband and partner so I choose the battles that I can win very carefully.
However, since I control the inside of the house all the rooms are in perfect order. More power to me!!

Sand_TIger

Gisel2015 wrote: »

He is not collecting motorcycles (over my dead body), but he still has in the garage cabinet a box full of personal stuff that he packed when he retired back in 1996, clothing in his closet that has not be worn (and wouldn't fit anyway) in more than 10 years, plus electronics that we are no longer using. It is a lost battle with him. But he is a great husband and partner so I choose the battles that I can win very carefully.

I love that perspective and those priorities. :-) My own spouse has trouble letting go - we both came from histories of poverty and deprivation so I get it. But she's also pretty great!

Gisel2015

@ElfBodGoals
Thank you for the information about that book from F. Sasaki. I will check it out.
I don't embrace everything that Marie Kondo practices and recommends, but I did learn few things from her that I already follow with good results. But I don't discard things that I haven't used in a year or two (especially if they still bring me happiness) . Sometimes I don't wear a special clothing because the opportunity or the occasion didn't present itself. I have nice looking pants and tops, very classic that can be worn in special occasions, so I keep them until the occasion comes.
It is not easy for me to find something that fits me well, since I am short. When I find something that I like, a good price, and classic, I hold on to it for life.

Gisel2015

Another "cleaning" done without planning it.
1) Looking for some information in my e-mail box, I found items that were old and not relevant. They went to the e-trash can.
2) Looking for something else in my night-table, I also found papers, receipts, and other stuff that I didn't know where they came from. I don't remember why I kept them or for how long they have been in the drawers. All went to the trash as well. Nothing was recyclable.
3) Looking for an envelope in the stationary closet in the office, I decided to go further and organize some of the shelves. I found too many unwanted empty envelopes that were used to send payments. All payments are done electronically now, so those envelopes went to the recycling bin.
I kind of like this approach. No fuzz, no pressure, no overwhelming lists to follow, and no more clutter.
G.

SbetaK

@Gisel2015 Hahaha, I read your post and entirely related to it. Yesterday I was looking for an item upstairs in my house, and seems there were LOTS of things in the way of getting to it. So, being the easily distracted person that I am, I started going through that stuff and wondering WHY I had all those things I'm not using, wearing, or what reason made me save them. Impromptu, unplanned cleaning and organizing!

Gisel2015

@SbetaK
We rock, and "impromptu" is king!

Gisel2015

Another cabinet organized today. Some stuff went to the recycling bin, others directly to the garbage can. This is actually and on going project that I do every couple of years or as needed. But I didn't in 2023 so I started 2024 with another accomplishment. It feels good
Hope that all of you have a nice week ahead.

Gisel2015

I clean up/purged some folders in my PC that I don't need anymore and my computer lost a lot of weight . Amazing the things that we (or at least "I") save thinking that we may needed them in the future. Delusional!

Gisel2015

Bumping this thread while trying to inspire someone to post their organizing and/or de-clutting latest achievements.
I have been busy with the tax preparation and in the process I realized that many documents, un-necessarily accumulated thru the last few years, needed to be shredded.
Last weekend, including this past Monday, I worked on selecting what to keep and what not to keep and I shredded things that were no longer needed (with the blessing of my tax prepared person and keeping the IRS 7-years-rule). Three very large boxes kept in the garage cabinet are now empty. I also saved some money because I have a very good shredded that can take loads of papers so I didn't need to take all the papers to a shredding center.
I am not done yet, but this decision allowed me to start de-cluttering the cabinets in the garage and continuing the cleaning and organizing of the stationary closet in the office.
I found a box in the garage with a lot of things that not even my husband knew where they were coming from. Lots of nails, hooks, etc. that are going to Habitat for Humanity this week.
Last week I took two bags of clothing to the donation center and when I asked the manager if she knew of any organization doing "textile re-cycling" in town, she told me that they had their own recycling center where all the clothing that is not sold or clothing that is not good enough to put in hangers, get recycled. I am already preparing a box with these type of items that I will drop next week at the store. I was very happy to find this resource near me.
I hope to accomplish more in the coming weeks since I am really motivated, and hopefully getting my "de-clutting mojo," back in almost full force.

KeriA

My youngest who lives with us wanted to have a 30 year birthday party so we started really cleaning and de-cluttering. We got the basics by the party but we haven't stopped. I thought we had done the living room except for a built in bookshelf we could go through but last weekend we ended up going through a chest we hadn't gone through and we finished our hall closet which has towels linens, first-aid supplies and tools. We have 2 bedrooms upstairs to do before tackling the downstairs but we did some of that for the party. We have set up Mondays for continuing. My husband and I just turned 70 so there is a lot of years of build up. So glad my youngest is helping. So much recycling and many transfer station and good will trips.

I just retired and I plan to go through personal financial papers soon. Earlier this week I put my old computer in my /office studio and set up a surface pro upstairs because it is easy to put away and is newer. I had to transfer files into it.

Gisel2015

It is good to see that this thread is still alive. I was planning to do some posting myself, so here I go. Thank you @KeriA for posting your accomplishments and plans.
I have taken to the local library several old books for recycling already and there are a few more to go. I didn't want to drop them in the recycling bin so I thought that the people at the library would make a better choice on how to dispose of them. Unwanted clothing went to the local donation place twice already, and I continue cleaning drawers and cabinets, as needed.
I know and wish that I could do more because there is much more to do, but my husband is still not helping out or even interested in de-cluttering. I do what I can.
Next step is to clean-up drawers in the office. Stay tuned, and happy and safe Fourth of July everyone!

Evamutt

I finally started cleaning out our old paperwork we no longer need. Some we've had for a lot of years. I've been putting them into plastic bags to be shredded. I have a small shredder at home but it's too much paper to shred it myself & have more to get rid of

babsrobinson517

It's nice to see that I'm not the only one having an issue with clutter. Reading these posts keeps me moving in the right direction: "De-Clutter!" I've been on a shredder frenzy in my home office, breathing a sigh of relief as old, useless documents disappear. Happy Fourth of July!

Gisel2015

Two office drawers cleaned-up/de-cluttered/organized yesterday afternoon in the spur of the moment.
They were in my list to-do this weekend, but I decided to start earlier. Many things went to the trash bin (including a phone-book from 30 years ago ), receipts and paper instructions from items no longer in use, etc., etc. The drawers look nice and items are easier to see and find. More paperwork to go thru still pending, and I may start doing something today.
Happy to see that others are also tackling the organization of their homes. I think that we get inspiration and motivation from each other. Let’s keep it up!