Let it GO! Decluttering (simplifying) your life of (people, places or things) success stories?
Replies
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peggym4640 wrote: »I did a very large purge over July 4th and ended up processing some old emotional baggage as well as the physical. It lasted about 10 days and I'm better for having processed both. I went through my workout stuff yesterday which I never give up. Very happy to say I did let some go. In a few weeks, I'll start on the paper. There's no room for the new with the old taking up so much space. Well done, everyone and thanks for the tips.
Wow, I REALLY appreciate your post so much. Something about you using/experiencing the term "process/processing" send a kinda joy/delight/understanding/light bulb moment to/for me. How ultra cool of you to "purge" your heart/mind/life/surroundings of a lot of excess/unnecessary/nice but I won't use it/space devouring/extra/old/it's time to let it GO "stuff"--that's just powerful. To "process" the old baggage, instead of just pretending/ignoring/down-playing it is the stuff wise champions are truly made of or at the very least, learn and do. Thank you ever so much for contributing to this thread--you ROCK, period.
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I'm cleaning our loft and found a lot of kids duct tape, art supplies, and paints. So, I looked up online where to donate arts and crafts things, and it turns out there are a lot of places. Some of the most noticeable ones are to rape crisis shelters and Domestic Violence shelters but also art therapy places.
I also scheduled a donation pick up from Vietnam Veterans website. And it was as easy as entering my address online. I'm making great progress de-cluttering.10 -
JulieAL1969 wrote: »I'm cleaning our loft and found a lot of kids duct tape, art supplies, and paints. So, I looked up online where to donate arts and crafts things, and it turns out there are a lot of places. Some of the most noticeable ones are to rape crisis shelters and Domestic Violence shelters but also art therapy places.
I also scheduled a donation pick up from Vietnam Veterans website. And it was as easy as entering my address online. I'm making great progress de-cluttering.
What kind of donations does the Vietnam Veterans website take/need?
I need some of your ambition!0 -
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JulieAL1969 wrote: »I'm cleaning our loft and found a lot of kids duct tape, art supplies, and paints. So, I looked up online where to donate arts and crafts things, and it turns out there are a lot of places. Some of the most noticeable ones are to rape crisis shelters and Domestic Violence shelters but also art therapy places.
I also scheduled a donation pick up from Vietnam Veterans website. And it was as easy as entering my address online. I'm making great progress de-cluttering.
What kind of donations does the Vietnam Veterans website take/need?
I need some of your ambition!
I am on Summer break so I have the time. I also have been purposely avoiding shopping because I don't need one more item in my life. So cleaning is a great alternative. VV take clothing especially - I'm giving them some books too, sheets and towels. On their site, they state what they need.3 -
DebLaBounty wrote: »Somehow I ended up being the designated Keeper of Memories. When my great uncle died, I was given all his photo albums. When both sets of grandparents died, and my mom downsized, I got the boxes of generations of photos. Then my mother in law insisted I accept a box of loose unorganized pictures of my husband’s entire life. Ugh!! I don’t scrapbook, but I have over time made some photo albums for myself and thrown away boxes of pictures. There were dozens of duplicates and scores of pictures of people nobody in the family could even identify! There were so many pictures of landscapes that were taken on other people’s vacations . None of these had dates on them. Now I’m left with just one storage tub, and have room finally for my own things in my sewing room closet. Such a huge relief!!
I have inherited all of this from 2 set of grandparents, 2 sets of Great Grandparents, 1 Great Uncle and my parents. It is such a daunting task! I did the same with a lot of pictures, I have more to go. I got rid of the old parades, landscapes, horse and tractor pulls but I'm having such a hard time with the old people that I don't even know who they are!3 -
Snowflake1968 wrote: »DebLaBounty wrote: »Somehow I ended up being the designated Keeper of Memories. When my great uncle died, I was given all his photo albums. When both sets of grandparents died, and my mom downsized, I got the boxes of generations of photos. Then my mother in law insisted I accept a box of loose unorganized pictures of my husband’s entire life. Ugh!! I don’t scrapbook, but I have over time made some photo albums for myself and thrown away boxes of pictures. There were dozens of duplicates and scores of pictures of people nobody in the family could even identify! There were so many pictures of landscapes that were taken on other people’s vacations . None of these had dates on them. Now I’m left with just one storage tub, and have room finally for my own things in my sewing room closet. Such a huge relief!!
I have inherited all of this from 2 set of grandparents, 2 sets of Great Grandparents, 1 Great Uncle and my parents. It is such a daunting task! I did the same with a lot of pictures, I have more to go. I got rid of the old parades, landscapes, horse and tractor pulls but I'm having such a hard time with the old people that I don't even know who they are!
Some local museums/historical sites like old photos, might be worth looking into.3 -
Snowflake1968 wrote: »DebLaBounty wrote: »Somehow I ended up being the designated Keeper of Memories. When my great uncle died, I was given all his photo albums. When both sets of grandparents died, and my mom downsized, I got the boxes of generations of photos. Then my mother in law insisted I accept a box of loose unorganized pictures of my husband’s entire life. Ugh!! I don’t scrapbook, but I have over time made some photo albums for myself and thrown away boxes of pictures. There were dozens of duplicates and scores of pictures of people nobody in the family could even identify! There were so many pictures of landscapes that were taken on other people’s vacations . None of these had dates on them. Now I’m left with just one storage tub, and have room finally for my own things in my sewing room closet. Such a huge relief!!
I have inherited all of this from 2 set of grandparents, 2 sets of Great Grandparents, 1 Great Uncle and my parents. It is such a daunting task! I did the same with a lot of pictures, I have more to go. I got rid of the old parades, landscapes, horse and tractor pulls but I'm having such a hard time with the old people that I don't even know who they are!
Some local museums/historical sites like old photos, might be worth looking into.
That's a good idea - thank you.2 -
JulieAL1969 wrote: »Decluttered my clothing in all the drawers and closet of bedroom. Made a mountain of donations. This morning, I woke up, and I opened all the drawers to admire them. Everything was folded neatly and in order. I'll keep going ... not to part of the basement.
I did the same thing in April. Now i keep a garbage bag in my laundry basket. When I fold something I don't like, or doesn't fit, it goes in the bag. When the bag is full, time to donate. Helps me stay on top of it.
I have been doing that for a couple of years it makes a big difference!3 -
Snowflake1968 wrote: »DebLaBounty wrote: »Somehow I ended up being the designated Keeper of Memories. When my great uncle died, I was given all his photo albums. When both sets of grandparents died, and my mom downsized, I got the boxes of generations of photos. Then my mother in law insisted I accept a box of loose unorganized pictures of my husband’s entire life. Ugh!! I don’t scrapbook, but I have over time made some photo albums for myself and thrown away boxes of pictures. There were dozens of duplicates and scores of pictures of people nobody in the family could even identify! There were so many pictures of landscapes that were taken on other people’s vacations . None of these had dates on them. Now I’m left with just one storage tub, and have room finally for my own things in my sewing room closet. Such a huge relief!!
I have inherited all of this from 2 set of grandparents, 2 sets of Great Grandparents, 1 Great Uncle and my parents. It is such a daunting task! I did the same with a lot of pictures, I have more to go. I got rid of the old parades, landscapes, horse and tractor pulls but I'm having such a hard time with the old people that I don't even know who they are!
Your town newspapers and libraries and historical societies may want the pictures for their archives. They may even be able to identify people or occasions.
CJ3 -
I love looking at old pictures..even when I don't know who they are.2
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Kids and I cleaned out their bookshelf last night. They got rid of half of the books! (they have lots, we are all very much into reading.) A third of that is already packed up in boxes and will get sold. About another third will be donated and the rest we'll keep for a little while in my parent's attic - sentimental fools ;-) As we don't have much time on our hands at the moment, this was a surprise success and therefore even more satisfying!7
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NewLIFEstyle4ME wrote: »Since April 2015 when I started at MFP, I've lost 80 lbs and kept it off for 20 months. In that time, I've thrown out loads of old crap.
While I was losing weight, I had the pleasure of "shopping" in my wardrobe for skinnier clothes that fit me again.
I now fit all my favourite skinny clothes, and I've thrown out all my fat clothes. So many bags of clothes donated to the op shop!
I've also done a lot of spring-cleaning and de-cluttered the whole house, because I've become very active, and much less lazy.
NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis calorie-burning for the win!)
I've thrown out loads of books, and worn-out linen, and kitchen crap. The house feels so much nicer to live in.
I think my decluttering inspired my husband, as he's done a lot himself with his things since I started.
I love this thread, it's a refreshing topic!
THANK YOU ever so much for posting this. It made me smile inside and out and is so very helpful, insightful and super encouraging! I really LOVE what you've said about "NEAT" ( NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis calorie-burning for the win!) I've never heard of this before and again, I LOVE it!!! Also...just the way you've phrased everything is so powerful and joy inspiring. How I have to "blush" about "thrown out loads of books, and worn-out linen, and kitchen crap"...wow--likewise!
Lastly, my decluttering AND weight-loss quest and new mind-set as done something absolutely tremendous to my hubby and my relationship. We are soooo much closer now. We've always been very tight and deeply in love with one another, but we are just on a whole nother wave-length now and our entire way of communicating with each other is ultra FUN now and more COOL than ever. Relating to him now, our communication, respect, admiration and frankly love for each other and just our entire lives are blooming in ways that I can't fully explain here and I just love that!
Thank you again and again for contributing this most excellent reply--you so ROCK, period.
Orphia posted this sometime ago, and I was especially blessed by her introducing me to the idea/most excellent way of exercising for me (burning cals, being more active (my daily exercise) in a more natural (for me), while/as I declutter my life of excess and messy "stuff" and at the exact same time, getting "stuff" done (where I can see immediate results (cleaner, prettier, more organized and sanity boosting surroundings, I love that.) So what Orphia taught me what I was actually doing is called:
NEAT (I LOVE that), it stands for: (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis). This NEAT business is so helping me burn fat and "get down to size",so to speak, much so much more--helping me to move this body of mine in ways that are not only helping me declutter and maintain my deculttering (daily), but helping me LET GO of a LOT of pounds and ounces in ways that are so helpful to me. I've been reading a thread on NEAT that is the bombdotcom on ideas and suggestions on how to get more NEAT in as we are decluttering the mess out of our lives.
I wanted to put that thread link on here, so in case you haven't seen it--get ready to be supper blessed and get some doable and tremendous ideas on burning more cals and getting slimmer and trimmer in every area of our lives, as we pursue the fabulous & fun "business" of being all about "NEAT"...literally and figuratively=BOOM! Here's the thread...check it out:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss#latest
P.S. one of my NEAT activities(besides daily household chores) is walking to the store(instead of driving), carrying the groceries back. It's about a 2 or 3 or so mile back and forth and makes me feel like a champion too--walking to the store is so old school--I love it, it's "NEAT".
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Small progress yesterday. I cleaned out the drawer under the microwave. We have a couple small tables and I realized 2 of them had empty drawers. Consolidated card games and decks into one drawer. (I hadn't realized that I had cards everywhere.) Its funny how you can look at things for so long that you no longer see them.7
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I like the post and link about NEAT. I think some of us do that naturally. I always try to park far from a store. I also try to do planks through out the day. I never knew there was a name for that type of activity. Thanks for sharing the link @NewLIFEstyle4ME and @Orphia1
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@NewLIFEstyle4ME I like how you walk to the grocery store. I think our brain needs that type of experience. I once heard Deepak Chopra speak about vibrations and how all the electronics/tv/phone/car/machinery produce so many hidden vibrations that we need to get away from that as much as we can.1
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One last thing... for the last week, I have done major decluttering of my stuff. I respect my husband’s stuff even though he has a thousand piles around the house. Anyway, de-cluttering allowed me to hire a carpet cleaning service. The young man work solo for 3 hours on my carpets that havent been cleaned in 10 years sadly. Today, i woke up and the carpets are fluffy and spot free. I’m so happy. I am going to work on my closet today. I have drawers in there with books, journals, and things that dont belong in a clothes closet.15
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JulieAL1969 wrote: »@NewLIFEstyle4ME I like how you walk to the grocery store. I think our brain needs that type of experience. I once heard Deepak Chopra speak about vibrations and how all the electronics/tv/phone/car/machinery produce so many hidden vibrations that we need to get away from that as much as we can.
Thank you so much Julie for posting this 2 -
I have been enjoying this thread from the start--thanks OP-- and finally have one to add, with a bit of mortification and a chuckle. I have done the deep debulk and donation of multiple truck loads of stuff in the past but apparently always skipped one area. Today I decided to clean out the two shelves in the bathroom that are designated for things like bandaids, extra razor blades, soap, cold medicines and so on. And I put on my granny glasses (apparently for the first time) and found to my embarrassment I had multiple expired items, meds, visine, etc. But the worst one was the Calamine lotion. It expired in 1994!!!!! This bottle of calamine predated the birth of 3 of 4 of my grown children!!!!22
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Letting go of my "Fat clothes" is my current struggle. I have clothes that are now too big for me stored in 3 different bags in the closet. One is the "just in case I get fat again" bag, one is the "fat clothes that I wished still fit me" and the other one is "stuff I would never wear again" - I am going to start by throwing this one out today.
Anyone else hoarding their "fat clothes" ... I think until I get closer to my goal, I will be too scared to ditch these things.
PS - about to read the NEAT thread, thanks for the share!6 -
Letting go of my "Fat clothes" is my current struggle. I have clothes that are now too big for me stored in 3 different bags in the closet. One is the "just in case I get fat again" bag, one is the "fat clothes that I wished still fit me" and the other one is "stuff I would never wear again" - I am going to start by throwing this one out today.
Anyone else hoarding their "fat clothes" ... I think until I get closer to my goal, I will be too scared to ditch these things.
PS - about to read the NEAT thread, thanks for the share!
You deserve new clothes that make you feel fabulous, no matter your size. Donate them, someone else might feel fabulous in them.9 -
Woke up to a monster thunderstorm this morning. We took a hit. Stove and TV are scrap. Not the decluttering I wanted to do.14
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@snoo61 Sorry to hear that - hopefully you can get replacements that you like even better than the old ones.4
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I battle weigh constantly because I love to eat. I used to be very heavy (size 18). Now I go up and down 10 lbs. But I never let it go over 10lbs. More than that is really hard to lose. Now I am trying to lose the last 5 lbs of the 10 I gained. However, if I starting gaining too much weight I will have nothing to wear. That scares me back to reality because I don’t want to buy more clothes in bigger sizes. Also I do like the feeling of buying something I really like and it fits so that also helps me keep an eye on not gaining a lot of weight. But I definitely think there is a connection between cluttering and gaining weight. I definitely have a hard time decluttering. I almost feel like it’s a fungus that keeps growing so I constantly try to be on top of it. I just find it’s extremely difficult but very liberating when you do. I can see from this post that I am not alone with these 2 difficult areas. Thank you, ladies for your posts. It’s very helpful!5
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allmannerofthings wrote: »@snoo61 Sorry to hear that - hopefully you can get replacements that you like even better than the old ones.
Thanks, I have to laugh because that was my first thought about the stove. 4 -
Spent the majority of today decluttering the Hubby's office/man cave--I started in on "honey, can we throw away some of these boxes and stuff"? The next thing I know, me and the Mr. started tossing so much stuff away, it isn't even funny. His office/man cave is sooooo good looking now. We had FUN doing it together too. For those ladies whose hubby is a major contributing factor to the "mess"...CHANGE the way you treat him (the "negative/sulky/nagging/disappointed, (fill in the blank with a condemning and whack way of reacting/treating him) CHANGE way you think about him--NOT ignore the "bad" stuff...just FOCUSING on the "good" stuff MORE instead, plus as you're getting slimmer and trimmer, he's noticing the change...believe it or not) and viola...the next thing you know, he's in on the decluttering himself and even WITH YOU>!!!!<
Now is this a "guarantee"?!? Uhhhh, ummmmm, NO--it certainly is not...but as "they" say, "try it...ya may like it" the results of the much more "FUN, loving, understanding (cause you/we're a mess too, admit it--it AINT just them...it's us too), calmer, peaceful/more relaxed, patient, "merciful", meek/humble you become towards him (AND yourself too)...the more changed for the better person you WILL become and BAM---help in the decluttering dept happens and THEN SOME. Practice makes better--it may take much more time (then you want it to=NOW or at least tomorrow, no later), but with a big ole dose of these "ingredients" listed above beautiful things happen. REMEMBER, "hurry" is an enemy. Let's continue to take our time and do it RIGHT, in the decluttering and getting slimmer and trimmer dept. too!6 -
QueenBee2018 wrote: »I have been enjoying this thread from the start--thanks OP-- and finally have one to add, with a bit of mortification and a chuckle. I have done the deep debulk and donation of multiple truck loads of stuff in the past but apparently always skipped one area. Today I decided to clean out the two shelves in the bathroom that are designated for things like bandaids, extra razor blades, soap, cold medicines and so on. And I put on my granny glasses (apparently for the first time) and found to my embarrassment I had multiple expired items, meds, visine, etc. But the worst one was the Calamine lotion. It expired in 1994!!!!! This bottle of calamine predated the birth of 3 of 4 of my grown children!!!!
My absolute pleasure and THANK YOU ever so much for contributing to this thread! Way to go winner AND I so can relate to skipping places (for me it was the multitudes of chipped and excess mugs I've "collected" over the years). AND I haven't yet tackled my garage. It's not "necessarily" messy nor has a lot of excess "stuff" in it--but I've got stuff in there that's just collecting dust and is totally unnecesary AND hasn't been dusted/swept/mopped/decluttered in an embarrassingly LONG TIME--your post has inspired me to tackle that immediately if not sooner=tomorrow--FOR SURE) The expired stuff in the medicine cabinet and pantry is sooooo the norm--it's amazing how we can just hold on to "stuff" thinking we "may" need it one day. Like the 1+ year old dressings, condiments, and stuff in the fridge/pantry or cupboards. Girl....that's soooo funny, Calamine lotion from 1994 (older than your grown children) it's real and it's so GOOD to let it go (at last).3 -
Hey gang~
I just thought about something I'd been doing for the past few weeks and wanted to mention it, but always forget (and speaking of forget, I restarted doing this AFTER forgetting about it for years), when my beloved hubby told me a couple of weeks ago that I'm looking "taller"(because I'm losing weight/body fat)--that inspired to to begin to focus on my posture, even as a NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) type of thang....
Holding my tummy in on the regular and practicing good/better posture (even if I'm sitting or "coach-potatoing"). Wow, "practicing" holding one's tummy in, walking with shoulders back a bit and even a bit more "graceful/encouraged/elegant" as I walk and good posture in general (and not to mention the better and positive attitude about myself and others and again, FOCUSING on good posture) does something wonderful in and thru me. The more I practice good posture and hold my tummy in (even if it's just a wee bit) is helping me in ways that are hard to describe. What does this have to do with Letting it GO! Well, carrying myself with better posture is somehow super raises my poise/equilibrium. It makes me feel more beautiful inside and out, which in turns is helping me even more in the area of letting GO of fear and excess negative thinking and being (as walking with poor posture and slump shoulders, etc. seems to encourage negativity, which sparks carelessness/slothfulness and yuck in me more). Lastly, practicing good posture ALL the time, somehow matches with a more decluttered/simplied lifestyle too. Just a thought I wanted to share! Walking tall and confident is truly NEAT!13 -
Letting go of my "Fat clothes" is my current struggle. I have clothes that are now too big for me stored in 3 different bags in the closet. One is the "just in case I get fat again" bag, one is the "fat clothes that I wished still fit me" and the other one is "stuff I would never wear again" - I am going to start by throwing this one out today.
Anyone else hoarding their "fat clothes" ... I think until I get closer to my goal, I will be too scared to ditch these things.
PS - about to read the NEAT thread, thanks for the share!
I got rid of all my 'fat' clothes and it felt great, I told myself that I would never get back to that size. Now I've gained a bit and only have a few pieces that fit. It's okay though, it's motivation to get my butt in gear and lose the weight I gained. I've been working a lot with my psychologist to get rid of my mental 'baggage' that has been holding me back these last couple years. It's not just physical de-cluttering that needs to be done. I have a horrible all-or-nothing attitude and if I can't go at something 1000% then I don't do it at all. I'm learning that a little everyday is enough and to be proud of what I accomplish.
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Letting go of my "Fat clothes" is my current struggle. I have clothes that are now too big for me stored in 3 different bags in the closet. One is the "just in case I get fat again" bag, one is the "fat clothes that I wished still fit me" and the other one is "stuff I would never wear again" - I am going to start by throwing this one out today.
Anyone else hoarding their "fat clothes" ... I think until I get closer to my goal, I will be too scared to ditch these things.
PS - about to read the NEAT thread, thanks for the share!
You are MORE than welcomed and thank you for contributing to this thread!!!
Wow, the "mind (for me "spiritual")-battle" is/was so very, very REAL (dealing with fat clothes and so much more). I love that you've chosen to sort your stuff and found some things to ditch--GOOD for you. I knew, once I gave away or tossed my "fat clothes"...it was ON and POPPING with the decluttering and seeking/going after change and permanent, NO looking back change at that. I'd been "hoarding "fat" clothes" for my entire journey to lose 50lbs (which has taken me 6+ long/vain/UGH years on Mfp). Once I "threw down the gauntlet" with myself, humbled myself and tossed or gave away ALL my terrific (but mostly unworn) fat clothes, something happened in/thru/to me. Today I'm so humbled to see that I'm a big ole 55.4lbs down and 164.4lbs (from my highest weight here on Mfp of almost 220lbs) and I can tell you from my experience, that tossing or giving away ALL my fat clothes (AND no longer "allowing myself" to be looking at plus sizes, sizes with a "w" in them NOR regular size XL clothes. period.) --was just the ticket I needed to MAKE me change. I'm so GLAD I did. I don't miss a thing--BOOM!
I'm cheering you on. TAKE YOUR TIME, when the time is right, you will not only KNOW IT, but more importantly, DO IT!5
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