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

RubyRed427

BexB42 wrote: »

Update: Still decluttering. I had a few months to recover my exhausted body between jobs and I mostly rested. I did a few decluttering days. Now, I realize I have more stuff than I thought. As a mother, I kept a lot of the kids' artwork, schoolwork, etc. I have decided to put them in separate totes, take them out with the boys and sort them out. Perhaps they may want some of it back, who knows? I have a lot of ideas and zero motivation, unfortunately. My dresser is my first task. I ordered a new one, filled it and stopped progress. My follow up stinks. So, New goal? Finish one project at a time!

Anyone else overwhelmed with nostalgic stuff and want to let it go? I don't like letting the memories go, but the actual items are probably not as important as I think.

You can take pictures of the work and create an album. Then, you can purge. I found that even my kids don't want their childhood art work. I saved some- but just enough to fit in a small storage box.

nossmf

In my house, 3/4 of the clutter actually has a designated place for it already, it's just a matter of getting my teenagers to actually put stuff away in the first place! If/when that happens, we'll be ready to ask questions about the remaining stuff not yet accounted for in terms of allocated storage.

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Kiwi2mfp

I have found that weight loss and other journeys tend to happen together and take pretty much the same techniques. It could be decluttering one bag at a time, becoming debt free with the snowball effect, becoming sober one day at a time, stepping out of the cursing habit one conversation and slip up at a time, learning to dress differently (I recently learned to get comfortable in. Dresses and skirts)....Everything we do needs to be done in slow and steady paces in order to create a new habit and not to become over whelmed. Once we start disciplining ourselves in one area, it seems that other areas tend to follow.

RubyRed427

Regarding Flylady! That is terrible to be spammed! I never joined her email list- I guess I'm lucky- but I look at her website sometimes. What a shame she sold out to spammers!

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AlexandraFindsHerself1971

I honestly prefer Unf*ck Your Habitat to Flylady. The lady who wrote UFYH is much more understanding of the issues that come with chronic physical or mental illness, and of the paralysis of STUFF EVERYWHERE. Flylady felt very cutesy and a little overly religious to me. I'm sure that works for some people, but it doesn't fit comfortably for me.

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Gisel2015

There are many Christmas decorations that I could do without, including a very large fake tree that takes a lot of room in the garage and in the hallway when it is up. My husband is more of a Christmas person than me and he is in charge of setting the tree. Something that we haven't done since 2019 (I wonder why ....). I am trying to convince him to get a smaller one and donate the old one, but so far no luck.
I may do an inventory of Christmas decorations after the holidays and decide what to keep and what to give away. I don't think that he will notice if something is missing.

LoveyChar

I am off of work this week until Saturday. So, I'm going to try and declutter/purge/organize papers (recycle, and trash what I can't recycle). Stacks of papers, sadly, that have accumulated over several months to possibly include years.

I've said it fifty times before and I'll say it again; but, I need to do this on a daily or even weekly basis and not a yearly one. It would not seem so overwhelming if I did...

Gisel2015

@LoveyCharley

You can take the papers to an Office Depot location for recycling; they charge a small amount according to weight but it is worthy if you don't have a shredding machine at home. Everything goes inside a locked trash bin, and weekly picked up by a professional shredding company. At least that is the case where I live (southern California).
I think that having a shredding machine at home is worth the money. My husband got ours at Costco several years ago. Not only is convenient and efficient to get rid of papers in a timely manner, but it also protects our identity.

Crochetluvr

This past week I went into my spare room (I have a 2 bedroom apartment) to finally tackle the total chaos. You could barely walk into the room. I finally had enough and realized I had to do something. The first day I was in tears and had to walk out and shut the door. The second day, for some reason I got some motivation and I went back in and got serious. Took just about everything that was on the floor out of the room just so I could see what I was doing. I had a bunch of empty boxes (since my car was totaled, I order most everything I can from Amazon) that needed attention so I put them in a corner of the living room to break down later. I started consolidating, throwing some things out, making a box for donations, and organizing. I saw a lot of progress on the second day and felt motivated to finish on the 3rd day, which I did. What a transformation! Everything is put away and in its place. I can WALK around the room now! The only things on the floor now are my exercise bike and my portable sewing machine. I even got the ambition to reorganize my hall closet. I am getting everything done before I get ready to decorate for Christmas. It's a HUGE weight off my shoulders. But it's only half the battle. It's the 3rd time since I moved here that I have done this.....I have to KEEP the room neat and organized now so I don't have to go through this anxiety again.

My next project is to organize my craft table and shred the old bills and stuff. But that's the easy part. The big chore is finished!

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GoblinQueen999

AlexandraFindsHerself1971 wrote: »

I honestly prefer Unf*ck Your Habitat to Flylady. The lady who wrote UFYH is much more understanding of the issues that come with chronic physical or mental illness, and of the paralysis of STUFF EVERYWHERE. Flylady felt very cutesy and a little overly religious to me. I'm sure that works for some people, but it doesn't fit comfortably for me.

Since I had Covid my house got out of control. There were piles of stuff everywhere just building up. I couldn't keep up with dishes and laundry. It was like that for ages because I was just too tired, overwhelmed and didn't even know where to start. I had read all the decluttering/tidying bits and pieces, Marie Kondo, FlyLady etc etc, it made no difference.

When I read your post I decided to check out UFYH. The sheer understanding of being unwell, tired and overwhelmed was definitely a first.3 weeks later my house is in pretty good shape. No more piles, dishes and laundry are all dealt with, a car load went to the dump/recycling/charity shop/clothesbank/foodbank. I also got rid of all the knick knacks people kept giving me from their own clearouts or dead relatives and from now on there will be a firm 'no, not taking those things'.

I'm extremely grateful to you for mentioning UFYH as I hadn't even heard of it before. It has definitely improved my life, improved my house and I think it'll keep me good from now on!

RubyRed427

Fit2btied2016 wrote: »

LoveyChar wrote: »

I am off of work this week until Saturday. So, I'm going to try and declutter/purge/organize papers (recycle, and trash what I can't recycle). Stacks of papers, sadly, that have accumulated over several months to possibly include years.

I've said it fifty times before and I'll say it again; but, I need to do this on a daily or even weekly basis and not a yearly one. It would not seem so overwhelming if I did...

I was thinking about something else when I read your post again--It would be so nice if a few friends got together and did a sort of "decluttering and organizing circle," in each other's homes. You take turns helping each other out, crying, laughing, sharing the load, sharing memories, grieving, etc. until each of the friend's homes is done, and there is no more chaos, mess, clutter, etc. to overwhelm the friends! You have a potluck in each home at the end of the job for each friend! Good food, and some nice wine...

I would love to be able to do that, but I currently don't have a group of friends that I know well enough within a reasonable drive to pull this off.

To those people that do have a close group that are nearby (or sisters, Moms/daughters, etc.), I think it would be a great help and bonding experience.

What a great idea~~ And what a wonderful way to spend time together and help each other. I love. this idea!

RubyRed427

I went to Michael's craft store today and saw some cute Xmas decorations. But I didn't buy any. I haven't yet unpacked my boxes from last year, so it's easy to forget some great items that you already have. I also have no real display furniture like book shelves or even floating shelves, so I can't buy any real "table top" type decorations.

Before I got a divorce, I really got rid of a ton of Christmas decorations because I was moving from a big house to an apartment. This was very cleansing. Like Marie Kondo says if it doesn't spark joy, why keep it. Now, I've moved to a house and am not trying to buy any more things to fill it up. It is already filling up. You go to Target and see a bunch of nice housewares that look great in the store but then you come home with bags and the thrill is gone. The rush was shopping but coming home and unpacking bags is not fun for me.

I'm just chatting away right now. I love reading your posts!

I am a teacher and it's so easy to have tons and tons of papers and copies and colored paper, etc. Because you think I may use this some day. My new year's goal will be to make less copies and have the kids use their spirals, make small posters displaying information and things like that.

summerviking1

is anyone decluttering in 2023? I am going to finish this year.

chris_in_cal

summerviking1 wrote: »

is anyone decluttering in 2023? I am going to finish this year.

I am moving, that's always the best time for me to de-clutter.

People get hung up on 'throwing away,' I saw someone earlier write 'relinquish possession.' Exactly! Do your thing, just after you are done no longer have possession of the item.

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