I'm tired of too much stuff

[This Busy Mom]

If I didn't have a clingy baby, I'd be tempted to rip my house apart next week and get rid of half of what I own... at least.

I'm tired off all this stuff I have that never finds a place to be. All it does is get strewn all over the house. I already have a van load of stuff to take to goodwill from my workroom in the garage and if I did another pass through there... I could probably load it up again. I've been dumping off stuff there once a month and I need to get more serious about it. I'm drowning in clutter.

argh!! I've been holding sick kids for 3-4 days and the house is a disaster. I'm ready to purge.

[tempus vernum]

When sickness hits clutter seems the worst :hugheart

As soon as you are all better, we should have a "clutter challenge" and keep count of how many bags/boxes we can throw away. Did I just type that :shifty

[This Busy Mom]

lol, yes, you did and I may just have to hold you to it ;) .

I really need a bigger house... I don't see it happening in the near future.

I'd settle for a dishwasher.

[tempus vernum]

lol, yes, you did and I may just have to hold you to it ;) .


Well, then, I'll be waiting :hug

Can you pay your oldest child to be "dishwasher" or is EVERYONE sick :hugheart

[This Busy Mom]

Everyone's been sick. He's still coughing and snotty... and his attitude is really stinky. I could probably bribe him, but then it would just be easier to do it myself. He has his own stuff to do. Now, the nine year old is a different story.

[mom2jolakeil]

I'm in :shifty

[mommyTay]

I would join you for the purge challenge, but it would probably be the same bag refilled more times than I can count. :hissyfit The kids tend to pull everything back out before I can put it away correctly or get rid of it. :shrug
I think I still have 2 bags of clothes in the back of my van for a month or two that I keep forgetting to drop off somewhere. :blush
I am desperately thinking I need a Nanny for about a month or so. Than maybe I could get the clutter under control and recover from my current emotional status. :crazy2

[Katherine]

I'm in!

ok, well, truthfully I've already started. :giggle I had 5 years of backlog... tons of junk and "stuff" that I desparately need to go through and get rid of. What is this part of me that just *clings* to things thinking I'll eventually be able to use them for something or other?? :doh I have had to combat a literal, physical sense of inner resistance while throwing things away or literally talk myself through it out loud... :O

I think it's a combination of growing up in a penny-pinching household and having great admiration for my grandparents who lived through the depression and were extraordinarily frugal about everything. (That, and my dad is a cpa.. I got some sort of tight-wad gene from him :giggle)

I will say it has been AMAZINGLY wonderful to just let go of stuff. I've taken 3 van loads to Goodwill and thrown away more bags than I can count, and I still have LOTS to get rid of. It's all just not worth keeping. The house is starting to feel better--a little more peaceful and orderly.. (and we can find our way through rooms now) :O All the upstairs closets are pretty much cleaned out.

One thing I really struggle with is clothes. I don't really have much decent stuff to wear in my current size, but I have *some* clothes in about 5 different sizes. Having 3 babies in 4 years, my weight has been all over the place, and between maternity clothes, and needing various sizes as I slowly lose back down over the course of a year or two... (chest size while nursing being a major issue).. ARRGH! I have a lot of clothes, but can't use most of them at any given time, b/c I only have a limited amount in each size.... and I'm keeping my nicer pre-kid clothes thinking that I'll need them again once I stop "popping out babies" as dh says. :rolleyes :lol How do you handle the multiple sizes of clothing thing?

[This Busy Mom]

How do you handle the multiple sizes of clothing thing?

Don't have any more kids :giggle Sorry... I'm up too late and the little ones won't stay asleep long enough so I can get the easter stuff done (i'm done now... didn't think I was going to get it done though).

[tempus vernum]

Well, Paula, I started too already ;) with my remodeling, my livingroom, playroom and bathroom are ALMOST all decluttered but I have plenty more to do :phew I am just kind of glad and at the same time kind of afraid of having accountability :doh

Clothing sizes - the never ending battle. WHat I do is get buried in clothes :blush

:ot Seriously, right before Savana got hospitalized, I was in the middle of bringing down clothes. I ended up with 4 bins of clothes that needed sorting, 2 garbage bags that needed packing away and 7 loads of laundry that needed folding :jawdrop

Now, it's a little worse because Luke is on steroids and is bulging out of everything but I can't tell if in 3 weeks when he's slimmed down again if he'll fit in this spring clothes I have for him :hissyfit :hissyfit

So. . . this week, I actually gave away a bunch of clothes - stuff that I know will fit SAvana and I gave it away anyways :P~ I am just tired of it all. My attic is half full of hand me downs.

Okay. . . .back to the real question and off of my kid clothes tangent .

I just threw away all my "fat" clothes. I kept one pair of jeans each size (I think) but I was seriously thinking of getting rid of those too and my maternity clothes I don't wear them anyways because I barely show (gain it all in the butt :rolleyes).

[RealLifeMama]

I would join you for the purge challenge, but it would probably be the same bag refilled more times than I can count. :hissyfit The kids tend to pull everything back out before I can put it away correctly or get rid of it. :shrug
I think I still have 2 bags of clothes in the back of my van for a month or two that I keep forgetting to drop off somewhere. :blush
I am desperately thinking I need a Nanny for about a month or so. Than maybe I could get the clutter under control and recover from my current emotional status. :crazy2


Oh, man, could I have written that!!!?? Except for the nanny, I'd rather just have someone come in and get the clutter under control for me! No fair she would get to have fun with the kids while I slaved away at clutter!

WakeMeUp, ITU!! I used to think a bigger house would save my problem, but now we live in a big house, like 2000sqft (that is huge to me) and it has just made the problem worse! Stuff that used to be somehow invisible just has a way of crawling out of the deep recesses and all over the place, over a much larger area!

[Momma of 7]

What about finding another Mommy to swap off watching kids with so that you both could have some time to purge? Or even better, I had a mommy come over and she helped me go thru stuff. It so helped me having someone say do you really need that? when did you wear it?. We just let or kids play in the play room or outback and we worked in 15 minute spurts. We did this for 2 ours one day and she even volunteered to drop stuff off at Goodwill on her way home, so I couldn't go back to it. We did this on 3 occasions and it really helped. I got thru my kitchen, play room and kids clothes. I of course now need to go back and redo that, but I told dd1 and dd2 that they are going to help this time.

[The Tickle Momster]

Momma of 7, I do this too! It's so much more fun to do it with someone.

My clutter problem is papers! Everywhere! We have a ton of books too. Spilling off bookshelves, counters, tables, etc. How do you all control the paper clutter?

[Momma of 7]

The paper controls me!!! I just decided today that I need to find my office. DH can't even do his work in there, because I have papers everywhere. First I am going to get 1 BIG box and put every piece of loose paper in there. Then, I am going to get a garbage bag, a bag for things that need to be shredded and a few boxes. One for all dh business papers (then at least I only have to look thru 1 box to find them) and one for my ebay papers and one for my school papers. Then I will just sit and go thru stuff. After i do that, then I will tackle my file cabinet and reorganize it and put all dh stuff in there. I have found that if I at least have a box to dump things in that i can come back to later (even if later is 6 months) at least it is in 1 area. I am a very bad procrastinator and my dh really likes to see flat surfaces with nothing on them, so my goal is at least to see the flat surfaces again. i asked dh to put some bookshelves downstairs for all my books. If i keep them around me, they end up all over the place. Finally just sent some to the local christian thrift store also.

[The Tickle Momster]

I do that too, sometimes. :blush It gets out of control so quickly though! We sound a lot alike. My dh likes to see clear flat surfaces too. Every time I find them, they disappear within a week! I did finally create a file box for stuff for me, that I'm not ready to part with for whatever reason. Weekly ads, so I can plan shopping, coupons for fast food places for that occasional "I don't want to cook night", etc. It helps, but I have no good place to store it. Right now it is under the piano bench. I also procrastinate, way too much. That's what I'm doing right now. I don't want to do dishes, or tackle the paper mess I made yesterday, cause I don't know what to do with it. Maybe I'll just put it back into the bin I took it out of. At least then it won't be run over, torn or lost by the kids (or myself).

[Momma of 7]

Isn't it amazing how they disappear so quickly. I just found (buried in my office) a set of stackers that hold papers. I am putting them in the office marked -bills, my junk, his junk and kids. I (at one time and it worked for a while) had a milk crate and those hanging file folders in them. I labled then with each kids name, my name, bills, dh name, coupons (you get the idea) and then I put it in my kitchen in a little area I had. then when each kid brought something home from school that I neeed, it went there, the ads from Sunday went there, church bulletin........ It worked for about 3 months - the longest anything has worked. Maybe it is just us laid back Waonians (sp????) :shrug
I however, did find my office floor today and all my ebay stuff(to list). DH invited friends over! HE HE HE HE

[tempus vernum]

um... nothing posted :shifty

ANyways, I am on a huge roll. I am tossing everything in sight :shifty

I also just put together a household notebook in a 3 ring binder because I have notebooks for everything under the sunand they are so disorganized :rockon I am so thrilled. THe more I get rid of, the more I want to get rid of. DH is going to have to tie down his stuff :giggle

[This Busy Mom]

I dropped a load of stuff off at Goodwill today. I am not getting any time to work on anything because the little ones have not been feeling very good.

[Katherine]

I am cleaning out today!!! FINALLY... the basement is the one place I can *never* get to b/c dh works from home and all his hobby stuff (computers, keyboards, R/C helicopters, and all other things technological) are down there so it's off limits to the kids.

Today we had arranged for the older 2 kids to stay with my parents so we coudl go to a wedding, but Ian is not feeling well, so I stayed home with home.

I'm giving to goodwill:

ALL.. absolutely ALL (and I'm talking boxes and bags) of my scrap fabric, sewing patterns, quilt bunting, and half-finished projects. I haven't laid a hand on them in years and that's not going to change any time soon.

My old winter coat that I avoid wearing.

a box of other various odds and ends.

The thing I'm struggling with is still clothes. I have some really nice blazers that I'll probably never wear again... why can't I let them go? :think :scratch :/ I have several nice formals from high school that I wore for special events/ceremonys and I can't bring myself to just take them to Goodwill... not sure who else would want them since they're not "in style" and are quite modest per my christian school's dress code. :giggle Things (like dresses) my mother made for me or that I made myself when learning how to sew, I just can't seem to give away...

We didn't get many new clothes growing up, so when we got to pick out something new or have it made, it was very, very, VERY special... I guess I still feel those emotions and that attachment when I look at the clothes themselves. Oddly, I wouldn't mind giving them to someone I knew needed them or would appreciate them, but I feel a little embarrassed and silly assuming that someone else would treasure a dress as much as I did.

(I'm getting tears in my eyes just typing this out... what is the *deal*?! :hunh :lol :O )

[tempus vernum]

((((((((((Christa and kiddos)))))))))) Praying you are all better soon.

Paula :hug I wish I could give you some great advice but I really really struggle with emotional attachment to everything :blush Luke got about 20 stuffed animals during his first 6 months of treatment and i can't bare to part with any of them. then we went on his wish trip and each child got about 4 more (they left us presents in our room everyday as a "treat" for wish families"). ANd then there are all of Alyssa's animals she got duringthat time. SO, we probably have close to 40 stuffed animals that have attachment just from the hospital. I can't bear to part with any. I am going to *try* to take pictures of them with Luke and some kind of hokey sign like "no more hospital stays" :giggle and then toss all but one each kid but just typing that gives me a shiver down my spine.


The book helping me get through this is Hannahs Art of Home I borrowed it fromthe library and it has an excellent section on decluttering. I used to think "no one understands" when I read about detaching from your clutter. Now I am feeling motivated. . . now. . . that is. . .who knows about tomorrow or the next day :shifty

[Momma of 7]

Paula :hug I wish I could give you some great advice but I really really struggle with emotional attachment to everything :blush Luke got about 20 stuffed animals during his first 6 months of treatment and i can't bare to part with any of them. then we went on his wish trip and each child got about 4 more (they left us presents in our room everyday as a "treat" for wish families"). ANd then there are all of Alyssa's animals she got duringthat time. SO, we probably have close to 40 stuffed animals that have attachment just from the hospital. I can't bear to part with any. I am going to *try* to take pictures of them with Luke and some kind of hokey sign like "no more hospital stays" :giggle and then toss all but one each kid but just typing that gives me a shiver down my spine.


Could you give the stuffed animals to the hospital or to another orginization? Our police take stuffed animals to give to kids when they take them out of abuse situations or at an accident scene. I gave a few of mine that way.

[Iarwain]

I need a clutter challenge! There is TOOOOO much stuff in this house. I wonder if there's any way to incentivize such a thing to get us really off our backsides... Like if there was a time line and a prize at the end? Hmmm.... :think

[Havilah]

Y'know... thinking about Paula's clothes and Jodi's animals...

I'd go there LAST. Once your whole house is decluttered, then revisit the issue and see how it feels. Really, a pile of stuffed animals can go in a couple of hammocks, and the clothes only take up a few inches of rod space. They aren't weighing your house down *that* much, and if y'all are tearing up even typing about getting rid of them just keep them :hug2 If your house is anything like mine, there are plenty of other areas of clutter to focus on! :O

[greenjellysnakes]

I need a clutter challenge! There is TOOOOO much stuff in this house. I wonder if there's any way to incentivize such a thing to get us really off our backsides... Like if there was a time line and a prize at the end? Hmmm.... :think


Sounds like just what I need!

[Katherine]

Could you give the stuffed animals to the hospital or to another orginization? Our police take stuffed animals to give to kids when they take them out of abuse situations or at an accident scene. I gave a few of mine that way.

or a battered women's shelter. Unfortunately, there's usually a lot of kids there too.

I'd go there LAST. Once your whole house is decluttered, then revisit the issue and see how it feels. Really, a pile of stuffed animals can go in a couple of hammocks, and the clothes only take up a few inches of rod space. They aren't weighing your house down *that* much, and if y'all are tearing up even typing about getting rid of them just keep them If your house is anything like mine, there are plenty of other areas of clutter to focus on!

That's good advice. :yes

And I took a file cabinet and 3 boxes of stuff to Goodwill yesterday... got 2 more boxes ready to go this week. :phew The house is a mess cause I've got stuff dragged out going through everything... but I'm moving stuff out the door! :rockon (2 sets of those plastic shelves from the basement are now completely empty--and the vast majority of the contents went to either Goodwill or trash.) :mrgreen

[tempus vernum]

Y'know... thinking about Paula's clothes and Jodi's animals...

I'd go there LAST. Once your whole house is decluttered, then revisit the issue and see how it feels. Really, a pile of stuffed animals can go in a couple of hammocks, and the clothes only take up a few inches of rod space. They aren't weighing your house down *that* much, and if y'all are tearing up even typing about getting rid of them just keep them :hug2 If your house is anything like mine, there are plenty of other areas of clutter to focus on! :O


:yes That sounds good to me and you are right it's no weighing me down but driving me nuts. I need some animal hammocks for the kids rooms I think :think

ANd yes, there are PLENTY of areas to declutter :lol

DId anyone start a clutter challenge?

[Mother of Sons]

I need a clutter challenge! There is TOOOOO much stuff in this house. I wonder if there's any way to incentivize such a thing to get us really off our backsides... Like if there was a time line and a prize at the end? Hmmm.... think

The prize at the end is the clutter free house! I'm still working on it but our house is easier and easier to take care of the more stuff I get rid of. It feels good! I do have weird attachments to stuff. I always think I might need it.

[tempus vernum]

Started a clutter challenge http://www.gentlechristianmothers.com/mb/index.php?topic=110154.0

Yes, MOS, the prize is a clutter free house and peace when you see your clutter free house :rockon