CLUTTER challenge - anyone still decluttering?

[tempus vernum]

I am in the process of trying to get back on track after our vacation - it's really been tough :phew Probably because I was also sick for so long.

I thought if I started a thread maybe it would help me get motivated????

So, anyone decluttering these days?

[RealLifeMama]

Um, :hiding

I so wish I were! That is how I wanted to spend Mother's Day- decluttering as a family, but my family had other ideas!
My house is way more cluttered now than when I said I would start!

Getting back on track after vacation is so hard. You can do it, though!
And I am so glad you got to go on your vacation! :tu

[Strumbelina]

:rockon

I feel like I am always "trying" or wanting to declutter. One cabinet at a time, ya know?

[Mama Bird]

Yes! I'm decluttering right now. My mom is a serious collector. She can't send me back to my own home without a box or at the least a small grocery bag of stuff. My cabinets were stuffed! I have some extra motivations, as my inlaws are coming in two weeks, and my MIL is a neat freak. I'm also pregnant, so it helps that I get all nutso about tidiness when I am.

[The Tickle Momster]

I'm wanting to. Got a couple of friends coming over in 2 weeks to help me jump start. dh is taking the kids for the day and we are going to clean and declutter! I can't wait!!!!

[WI Mama05]

:hug2 I Just got home from a week away from home too and am completely overwhelmed. My advice, start with putting everything away from vacation and when you put something away in a closet or whatever, maybe go through that area before putting anything else in :shrug. One thing at a time! You can do it.

[JJsMom]

:raise I'm also decluttering, I'm actually letting go of stuff that I didn't think I would be able to! :tu

[mom2threegirls]

I'm decluttering right now! :yes I got rid of about 4 huge black garbage bags of stuff a couple days ago from my older daughters' room. It has been so easy for them to keep it clean since then! Last night DH commented that I must have spent all day cleaning it up because it looked nice and when I told him, no, I hadn't cleaned it up at all he :jawdrop . It's AWESOME having things decluttered and organized! :rockon I'm decluttering more today and am trying to decide if I should keep my fold up booster seat and fold up pack n play for when a friend with a baby is over here and could use something like that or when I'm watching a baby for a few hours (which is VERY occasional- maybe once every 6 months) :think Hmmmm

[crunchymum]

i guess i'm doing intensive decluttering right now! :phew

i've so far gotten rid of 3 contractor bags - and i have a "to sell" pile. it's all so overwhelming right now for me because there is stuff all over the house (well, except the "done" areas - laundry and master bedroom).

i like the idea of having a certain amount of time everyday (even if it's just 20 min) to spend decluttering. :)


the kids room needs a MAJOR purge. *sigh* it's my most intimidating room.

[Havilah]

Yes! It feels so awesome, too :rockon

My mom came up last weekend and helped get me kick-started. That was such a blessing. :heart

[phathui5]

I just posted our Exersaucer on freecycle!

Added: A lady is on her way over to pick it up. Freecycle is fast!

[frenetic_turtle]

Count me in. I just started cleaning and decluttering our catch-all room. It's a combination piano practicing/library/file storage/my dh can't part with these items room. There's also a twin bed in there for good measure. :giggle I just tossed a large garbage bag full of stuff, put away toys that had found their way in there, reshelved some books, well, you get the picture. It's not perfect by any means. I still need to go through the books and give away about 200 of them, but I become a selfish 2 yo and scream, "Mine, mine!" when it comes to actually parting with them. It's a start.

I'm trying to alot an hour/day during the summer toward decluttering and organizing. Note that I said "trying." I'd accept an accountability partner on this one.

[tempus vernum]

Well, I got one bag loaded into the car. Where does this junk come from or as I clear spaces are my standards changing? :scratch

I am super unmotivated and tired and not doing much but I am trying. . . . . . .

glad to hear others are still working at it.

[crunchymum]

((((jodi))) :heart

[Close2MyHeart]

I'd like to... can we do a challenge to focus on one room/week?? List what you are decluttering to give us ideas too?! :grin or are you ladies already doing that?

[Garnet]

Me! I threw away a very old stroller today, and am bagging up kids clothes left and right. Thinking of possibly having a yard sale.

[Marzipan]

We had a garage sale two weeks ago, and everything that didn't sell was either taken to goodwill, or to my church (the teens are having a fundrasier next weekend). I still have a pile of sell stuff that I probably should have gone ahead and gotten rid of, and I cannot figure out what to do with dd's HUGE stack of HUGE artwork...but I'm getting there...

[tempus vernum]

I'd like to... can we do a challenge to focus on one room/week?? List what you are decluttering to give us ideas too?! :grin or are you ladies already doing that?


Great idea! I think a few people do that here or there. . .. .a new thread or here?

[Katherine]

I put together 2 very small boxes last week that are currently in my car. I need to get back to it in earnest.

The most recent stuff I got rid of was very hard... curtain. :blush I have kept every curtain we've ever bought, b/c I think I will surely use them again, and b/c we paid hard-earned money for them. When I initially bought curtains for our house, I was so horrified by the expense of doing it all that I bought the cheapest thing I could find for both curtain and hardware and I would buy one panel per window instead of a set... and stretch the panel all the way across. So I have several "sets" of curtains that consist of 3 matching panels that I used to cover 3 windows... put up correctly, it would only cover one. :O

Anyway.. I had to talk myself OUT LOUD and (this is embarrassing) actually *breath* myself through getting rid of this stuff. The voice inside my head was saying.. "but these are decent curtains. I got these from Penney's, not WalMart. We paid ____$ for these."
and then I'd hear the other voice... "I'm sick of this color. They've been boxed for years b/c I have no desire to use them. There's only 3 panels here anyway. They're taking up valuable space in the hall closet"

*sigh* I did it though. :phew I'm aiming to put up acceptable window coverings in every room, and get rid of all the extra bits floating around the house . I have tons of hardware, too, that I need to go through.

[tempus vernum]

I put together 2 very small boxes last week that are currently in my car. I need to get back to it in earnest.

The most recent stuff I got rid of was very hard... curtain. :blush I have kept every curtain we've ever bought, b/c I think I will surely use them again, and b/c we paid hard-earned money for them. When I initially bought curtains for our house, I was so horrified by the expense of doing it all that I bought the cheapest thing I could find for both curtain and hardware and I would buy one panel per window instead of a set... and stretch the panel all the way across. So I have several "sets" of curtains that consist of 3 matching panels that I used to cover 3 windows... put up correctly, it would only cover one. :O

Anyway.. I had to talk myself OUT LOUD and (this is embarrassing) actually *breath* myself through getting rid of this stuff. The voice inside my head was saying.. "but these are decent curtains. I got these from Penney's, not WalMart. We paid ____$ for these."
and then I'd hear the other voice... "I'm sick of this color. They've been boxed for years b/c I have no desire to use them. There's only 3 panels here anyway. They're taking up valuable space in the hall closet"

*sigh* I did it though. :phew I'm aiming to put up acceptable window coverings in every room, and get rid of all the extra bits floating around the house . I have tons of hardware, too, that I need to go through.



:woohoo you are so so brave :tu I am impressed. Last night after reading some of the threads here, I logged off and started working on the kitchen again. I got a little ways in. I am trying to figure out how to organize all my herbs and vitamins (as in medicinal herbs). I think I'll start a thread asking for ideas.

[crunchymum]

paula, i know exactly what you're talking about! :hug2 i *still* have that battle with myself, though i think over time that "keep it" voice gets quieter and more under control. for me it's always harder when we are really struggling financially - i feel like maybe we won't have money to get something should we need it in the future, and it makes me hold on to things more. :/

i realized having another person with me, helps, too. if i don't have to touch or hold whatever i'm thinking about giving up, i feel less connected to it, for some reason. plus, another perspective is helpful.


jodi, how many herbs and vitamins do you have? my new favorite things are those bins from target... SO helpful. you can group them according to use, and then instead of rumaging around, just pull the whole basket out. i wish i had a before pic of my supplements and stuff, it was horrendeous - but here's what it looks like now:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v245/mamamolly/home%20integration/IMG_0074.jpg

i pared down alot, and i think i still need another bin or two, but it's working so far. :woohoo (and yes, those *are* all my mental health supplements! :giggle )

same concept, but here's what the bins did for my spice drawer:

before: ( i know, it's horrible, and yes, it was like that all the time :blush )
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v245/mamamolly/home%20integration/IMG_0084.jpg


after:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v245/mamamolly/home%20integration/IMG_0089.jpg

i still need to lable the tops so i know at a glance what i'm looking at, but it's actually really easy to pull the bin out, most of the spices i use together are grouped in the same bin. you could use the same idea for herbs and stuff.


(oops, i guess i should ge find the thread you started! sorry! :blush hth, though! :heart)

[tempus vernum]

jodi, how many herbs and vitamins do you have? my new favorite things are those bins from target... SO helpful. you can group them according to use, and then instead of rumaging around, just pull the whole basket out. i wish i had a before pic of my supplements and stuff, it was horrendeous - but here's what it looks like now:



First, WOW :jawdrop Your organizing efforts are so inspiring to me :heart. I am trying to find bins that fit everything well and figure out where they'll go best. I hate to admit how many herbs and spices and vitamins. First, let me say, I have a HUGE herb cabinet with 47 spices (not counting bottled extracts, vinegars, oils, and anything not bottled). :hiding These are all for cooking and I keep them alphabetized. It is a wonderfully narrow cabinet that is perfect for us as some kitchen herbs I keep in quart mason jars, some in smaller ones and there is very little wasted space and nothing is doubled up. DH needs to replace two shelves and I could probably dedicate one of the new shelves to medicinal herbs for tincture making -- the thought occurred to me because I threw away a bunch of stuff I don't use a few weeks ago (yes, 47 *IS* DECLUTTERED :O). ANd then my thin cabinet could hold our vitamins and tinctures and pre-prepared herbal remedies in nice long skinny bins :think My kitchen just has me so so flabbergasted. The only "centers" I have managed to arrange is "bread making" and "coffee making".

[GrowingInGrace]

I don't think I'm ever going to be done decluttering.

Dh took some books and toys to the donation box today. I am constantly looking for things to pitch out, but there's always more. I don't know how it happens.

We've been in the process of replacing our junky particle board furniture with nicer pieces. This is because we had too many pieces that never adequately covered the needs we have, since we really can't afford to buy a new house.

In the process, I am weeding through the years of junk dh and I have saved for no reason.

We are rapidly outgrowing this house and will eventually need to get another one with a better layout - not necessarily bigger, just a better layout. That doesn't leak water or have mice problems which this house both has and has effectively rendered our 700 square feet of space downstairs essentially useless except as storage for dh's junk.

[GrowingInGrace]

I put together 2 very small boxes last week that are currently in my car. I need to get back to it in earnest.

The most recent stuff I got rid of was very hard... curtain. :blush I have kept every curtain we've ever bought, b/c I think I will surely use them again, and b/c we paid hard-earned money for them. When I initially bought curtains for our house, I was so horrified by the expense of doing it all that I bought the cheapest thing I could find for both curtain and hardware and I would buy one panel per window instead of a set... and stretch the panel all the way across. So I have several "sets" of curtains that consist of 3 matching panels that I used to cover 3 windows... put up correctly, it would only cover one. :O

Anyway.. I had to talk myself OUT LOUD and (this is embarrassing) actually *breath* myself through getting rid of this stuff. The voice inside my head was saying.. "but these are decent curtains. I got these from Penney's, not WalMart. We paid ____$ for these."
and then I'd hear the other voice... "I'm sick of this color. They've been boxed for years b/c I have no desire to use them. There's only 3 panels here anyway. They're taking up valuable space in the hall closet"

*sigh* I did it though. :phew I'm aiming to put up acceptable window coverings in every room, and get rid of all the extra bits floating around the house . I have tons of hardware, too, that I need to go through.


I know what you mean about feeling guilty for getting rid of things you pay good money for. I had the same feeling about a set of curtains I bought from JCPenney that just didn't work any more. I ended up selling them for $5 at a garage sale. But at least I got something for them and probably helped out someone who couldn't afford something to buy it themselves.

[crunchymum]

I don't think I'm ever going to be done decluttering.


you know, i was just saying this to dh and the in-law's last night - i think it's an ongoing process, like having to deal with junk mail (though now that i've signed up for greendimes (http://www.greendimes.com/) we have considerably less junk mail - but i digress). things will always be coming in, so things will always eventually need to go out, if that makes sense. you can get the HUGE clutter problems taken care of, but you will always have to watch out for clutter so it doesn't overtake again. :)


the best for clutter i think is this: clutter is delayed decisions. deciding right away what to do with something can tame the beast and keep it from piling up - when you see clutter, it means that 'forward motion' has stopped, and the best thing to do it asses why it's breaking down and try something new. :)

anyway, just musing to myself.... :blush

[GrowingInGrace]

I don't think I'm ever going to be done decluttering.


you know, i was just saying this to dh and the in-law's last night - i think it's an ongoing process, like having to deal with junk mail (though now that i've signed up for greendimes (http://www.greendimes.com/) we have considerably less junk mail - but i digress). things will always be coming in, so things will always eventually need to go out, if that makes sense. you can get the HUGE clutter problems taken care of, but you will always have to watch out for clutter so it doesn't overtake again. :)


the best for clutter i think is this: clutter is delayed decisions. deciding right away what to do with something can tame the beast and keep it from piling up - when you see clutter, it means that 'forward motion' has stopped, and the best thing to do it asses why it's breaking down and try something new. :)

anyway, just musing to myself.... :blush


muse away, my friend. I guess I agree that it's a process, not a destination. I should check out that website for junk mail. I thought we did something similar, but we still keep getting junk mail.