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

I am now finished setting up my art room that was being used by everyone as a store room back into a art room/home office. I start back to work remotely in a week from today. Basically there is not much different from a desk for work and a desk for my art room. This job is for a limited time so when I am done with it or start back into the office I will have a place to do my art.

I had already taken a small load to good will earlier but after going through it all and recycling and throwing away stuff I had 5 boxes of kids art supplies from teaching art during the last economic downturn. I contacted a local art organization that has classes for adults and kids and asked them if they wanted my supplies. They did and Friday I set up an appointment to deliver them. They took it all even the straws. I had a project where the kids made looms from straws. They were happy to get them and I was happy to get rid of them. I had colored pencils, paints, brushes, crayons, construction paper, palettes, beading supplies.

Then I started decluttering the basement hallway so I could get into my art room easier and the bathroom. I sorted towels and linens. We remodeled our main bathroom upstairs and I got new towels so the old ones went to the basement. We had over the toilet shelves we took out of there too. I had my husband put them in the basement bathroom. I rearrange the shelved in there and was able to put all the old towels in the basement bathroom. Then all the linens that don't go to beds upstairs I put in some hall shelves which I had my husband move away from the art room door so I could get in it easier. He also set up the desk in there. I put all the art stuff away and then I had office supplies which I organized and put away ready to use. We vacuumed. So now the basement is decluttered for the most part and I have a home office/art studio now. I have a corner of the living room that I have been using as a home office. I can now put the office supplies etc. from there downstairs thereby decluttering the living room even more. However I will still be using my home laptop there a lot. Yay! my living room will actually function as a living room. All of us have space to do work so we don't need to use the living room as a project work space.

Basically we are finished with decluttering our whole house except for our garage/converted to a storeroom and 1 small basement room. My husband needs to do a few things in the office upstairs. So this feels good.

AlexandraFindsHerself1971 wrote: »

What I have found is that once you've had an area cleared for a while, not having it cleared off will bug you.

I really like order, and it's SO nice to be in a household where the other people in it also like order and, even though I'm the main housekeeper, they aid and abet the creation of order. (I'm not talking about the cats. The younger one is named Nyx, Daughter of Chaos for a reason.)

I like order too. I used to be the one to put things away. I hate how people leave things on the kitchen table. At some point though I gave up the fight. So then we needed to declutter everything. It was really my daughter who got us going. Now we need to have an agreement where everyone puts things where they belong. Or every Saturday morning we set aside a time and all do it together.

Anyone want to really declutter? Adopt a couple of kittens! As they grow more independent and playful, the'll love to knock down any stacks of things you might have, so quickly said stacks will be at least put in cabinets or behind closed doors! I recently needed to move my work from home setup into another room of the house because of an employer requirement so out of the living room and into my studio I go. My part art studio/storeroom/ cat room is now a home office. Time to get rid of a bunch of old junk in my filing cabinet, get rid of massive amounts of dead pens and old mail, and set up a new workstation. I did some decluttering in the meantime. I left one of my old 8 pound dumbbells in there so I can do quick exercises during downtime.

I clean each room once a week, and in the kitchen that means that I will take one drawer or cabinet, remove the items in it, wash the inside of the cabinet and polish the outside, and if the shelf paper needs renewed, I'll do that then too. It also gives me a chance to sort through the items in the cabinet and make sure that there's no junk in there, just useful items in a good useful order. By doing this week by week, I get through them all over a three month period, and it never becomes a huge burden to do it; it's just ONE drawer.

In the library/dining room, we have a large built in bookcase. Again, when it's that room's turn for weekly cleaning, I take one shelf, take the books out, and dust and polish the shelf and the books thoroughly. One shelf isn't terrible, and it lets me make sure nothing's misfiled, and I can see if I want to let any of them go. (If so, we have a bag those go in; when the bag is full, it's time to go to the used bookstore.) I do this with the drawers in the bedrooms, and it really makes keeping the clutter out of the corners easier, and I feel better knowing that things can never get too bad.