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

AMR76 wrote: »

RubyRed427 wrote: »

I grew up in a spotless house. My mom would stay up late cleaning many nights. I think it set an unrealistic expectation for me as an adult. My brain got wired to think it was the way you live .... with zero clutter.

My mom, grandmother, aunts... all have beautifully decorated homes. Where they hide their clutter, they've never passed on the secret! I am like your husband.... My mom says that even as an infant, before I could roll over, I could destroy a perfectly clean room during my sleep.

I wish I weren't like this because I know how distracting the clutter is to me and know that it places a deep emotional burden on my mind and can lead to financial and emotional distress which can lead to other things, like excess weight.

I'm not saying your husband is wrong in how he is, but I am curious - does he ever feel overwhelmed by all the "things" he has? I feel like all of it just gets in my way of enjoying life. I spend more time cleaning up after myself than anything!

I'll spend an entire day de-cluttering and scrubbing and enjoy a stress free / clean home for 1 day... then the cycle starts again.

Hi there! Here's an update. I recently moved into a ranch home and now it is much harder to maintain the clutter. Upon moving, I placed things in certain places but now can't find anything. I am finding it hard to clean a whole house; I'll have to start a new cleaning routine. I agree with you that clutter cuts deep and affects our mind. I am finding this house a little unnerving and missing my apartment but I think that once I truly unpack, reorganize I will feel much better emotionally and start to love the new house. Hope you are well!

Last Friday I reached a healthy weight according to the BMI. While I still have weight to lose, my reward for this milestone was to go through my wardrobe and try EVERYTHING on, decluttering along the way. I had a blast! So many things fit well, and I was able to farewell some hardworking but now too-big items. I still have a couple of aspirational pieces in there (like the silk dress I wore on my first date with my partner...twelve years ago) but on the whole it's such a good feeling to open my closet and know not just that it almost all fits, but it's all things I love!

I find decluttering like this, going through and touching/holding/assessing items has a very strong psychological effect of reminding me that I actually have everything I need. Powerful stuff!

mrsmikerd wrote: »

Has anyone found that your spouse has so much stuff that it overwhelms you and you're powerless to do anything about it and he is too connected with it that he won't let it go?

Yes, I have. Mostly in our home- office where he keeps a lot of papers that should be discarded/shed, and also in the garage. The rest of the house is in perfect order because I exert a dictatorial control, and honestly, he doesn't like disorganization or mess in the rooms. I wish he had the same attitude for the office and the garage.

I have no recommendations or suggestions for you, sorry to say. But I wish you good luck!

mrsmikerd wrote: »

Has anyone found that your spouse has so much stuff that it overwhelms you and you're powerless to do anything about it and he is too connected with it that he won't let it go?

Yes. Eventually he hoarded so much that there was no room for me and I had to leave him. That was my first husband. We're still friends, and it broke my heart to do it, but I was suicidal, and that's not okay.

Part of what I do every night after Boyfriend goes to bed is a wind-down putter around the house just to put everything small in order. And in the process my phone goes on the charger, my desk gets tidied, stray glasses get returned to the kitchen, random socks go into the dirty clothes hamper in the laundry room, and the cats have a full water bowl and dry food dish for the night. As well, I make myself 40 oz of hot tea and put it in a thermos for tomorrow morning, and set up the coffeepot. It sets my head up for going to sleep, keeps me from being anxious about anything I forgot, and starts my following morning off right.

Madwife2009 wrote: »

So, you know that stage you go through when sorting stuff out and you think to yourself, "Well, I'll keep that because it might come in useful at some point?"


It's a shame that my lovely husband is still in the "Well, I'll keep that because it might come in useful at some point?" stage . . . he keeps all sorts of random stuff, like old keys. He's not ready to let go of it just yet. I just have to be patient about it.

One of the small things I love about Boyfriend is that he's not a keeper by nature.

I also settled on a style of decorating that I like. I like Medieval, with touches of the Arts and Crafts movement. And that's a very clean-lined, simple, unfussed and uncluttered style. That keeps me from keeping too very much. Even if I could make something, if it's more on the "shabby chic" or "farmhouse" side of things, I'm not going to have it in my house because it won't match. Also, we really tend to decorate in Book. Part of the reason we got this house was the massive built-in bookcase in one room. We made it the library, of course.

barbp7 wrote: »

I can definitely identify with your post. Being a clutter-bug has been a lifelong struggle, same as my weight. Don't have any tips yet, but I hope to be going through my clothes closet after a few more pounds. Struggling to decide if I should get rid of the too-big clothes. Hard to let go of anything. Ya never know when ya might need it

I got rid of my size up clothes and then I quit smoking. I also started meds that are prone to adding on weight. Then I had nothing to wear. After getting some clothes that I can wear and make me feel good, I chose to space saver bag them next time as I lose weight. I will just try to be frugal about what I save (and buy) and make sure I keep the basics. Everything else in my house is getting decluttered.

I've been having fun getting rid of some of the various miscellaneous plastic storage containers - recycling them - and slowly replacing them with Pyrex or equivalent. Quality dishes like that make meal prep easier and more fun. Gets rid of lots of clutter too!

I have been working on losing weight, paying off debt, and decluttering. I struggled to set up exercise when the gym closed with the pandemic. I did it and started losing weight again. Even though I was put on furlough I kept paying off credit cards and got down to one which I was making progress with but my husband has some but he is working from home. We made some progress on decluttering working on the upstairs office and kitchen which is too small. I got a handle on my clothes in the process since my closet is in the office. I felt this was a good time to declutter the house but then Goodwill etc. closed for donations and the transfer station for throwing away things did too. My husband did do some decluttering of a basement room. Now Goodwill is open again but sometimes it closes if it gets too much. I waited to avoid long lines. I got laid off this summer. I wanted to declutter my art room also in the basement in the daylight part. Others kept putting things in it. My son took it over as his music room and then his study room for law school. He has moved out. I cleared out some things and then my daughter took over his bedroom and put things of his in my art room.

Since I was not working I could start doing my art again if I had a place to work. Then I got a very good job that will be remote until the office opens again. It starts in 3 weeks. So now I am working on my art room to be my home office. I finally took some boxes to donate and the lines were gone. It was very safe. I opened my trunk and told them what to take and they did it. In order to get those boxed I had to go through many boxes sorting out recycling, trash, and papers for shredding. I just sent pictures to my son for the few usable items I want to keep to see if he wants us to save for him, send to him or we can use them. Some will come in handy for office supplies in my home office. I am doing everything I can on my own and now my husband will be motivated to help with the bigger items since I am going to be helping bring in household income again. I am not worried that my art room will be my home office since it will be all cleared out and ready to work in once I start back to the office. In the process I will be going through some things in the hall way outside the door and getting those things decluttered too. This job is not permanent but pays well. So it won't be long for me to be home with an art room and time to work in it.

I feel good. We refinanced our home recently with the low interests and are getting rid of all credit card debt. I have lost almost 20 lbs since the pandemic and still working on that. We have made progress decluttering our home. We are almost empty nesters and went from a large home to a small one. We are now getting rid of things we don't need anymore now that our kids are grown. I have been using a corner of the living room as a makeshift office space as needed. I will get that cleared out and put it in my home office. That will then declutter the living room. I will use my personal laptop where ever I need it. My new job comes with a laptop, large screen and a work cell. My husband has his home office set up in our office. Most of the clutter there he needs to take care of (getting rid of old computers). My daughter just built herself a computer so we are going to get her relatively new desktop she used while she was in school for Computer Science so it is a relatively powerful one. It will go in the office and he also has a work laptop.

I feel that these issues are related. We have gotten rid of excess baggage and are continuing to do this. The issue now is to set up a workday schedule that allows me to exercise and cook at home. That is really why I lost weight. I started to meal plan and cook at home to be safer. Now I need to stream line that process so I can do it with me back at work.

Musclemassass wrote: »

This thread makes me feel better about severing all relationships with friends and family. I still feel a bit guilty, but the fact that I coincidentally also experienced major weight-loss... maybe I'm okay with myself for doing that. There are billions of people on this earth, I'll mingle with the awesomeness that is you all!

I don't know why you needed to sever those relationships but I agree, sometimes it's sadly needed. If those people aren't treating you properly, for example, or if they are toxic to your life and won't stop their behaviors, well then I understand the need to protect yourself. I'll bet at least half of that weight loss is due to a reduction in stress! Congratulations on your increased health, and for doing what it takes to be your best self.