You have too much stuff

JellyBean

Yeah, I'm talking to you.  You have stuff in your house that you don't need, don't use, and don't like.  Get rid of it.

That packet of soup mix at the back of your pantry?  Throw it away.
Those pants that you haven't worn for two years? Throw them away.
Your old, ugly, tattered underwear?  Throw it all away.
Three copies of "Boondock Saints"? Get rid of two of them.

Post your victories over household clutter here!

http://youhavetoomuchshit.com/

http://www.unfuckyourhabitat.com/

http://www.peterwalshdesign.com/

JellyBean

I have a baby-size quilt that my great-grandmother made for me when I was born.  I have hauled that thing around for several moves. I just couldn't bear to get rid of it due to its sentimental value.  It had become one of those "invisible" items in perpetual storage.

Yesterday I pulled it out of storage, washed it, and am packing it up to ship to my cousin who just had a new baby girl.  This way it stays in the family and will get used and loved.

What's your decluttering success?

mrsozzy

I enjoy decluttering. I used to read "Clutter's Last Stand" for entertainment.

Recently, I went through old photos and got rid of duplicates and ugly frames. The remaining ones are waiting for a Groupon or something for a photo digitizing service.☺

However, the biggest decluttering victory recently was Ozzy's decluttering of the garage to fit two cars. I still enjoy that one every day.☺

Jen_Kay

Yeah, I'll admit to being a Peter Walsh groupie. Doing a 31 day de-clutter with him and I really need it. There's so much crap I walk past every day and don't even see it any more. 

Maria

Not a fan of throwing away stuff that's still good. I try to find ways so that what I don't need anymore get used by someone who does.
Today I carried two heavy bags of books to the district's book swapping point.

But then I don't have a lot of clutter although I have a lot of things :-) 

_io

While I was decluttering, I think I single-handedly kept the Goodwill in business.  My home is now well-organized and clutter-free.  It doesn't naturally stay that way though. I have to constantly stay on top of it.  I'm not naturally organized. At all.  So I'm always battling my natural tendency to stack and pile.  

Edit: One of my most difficult challenges was books.  This actually took several years of gradually winnowing them down.  I'd get rid of a few more every time I'd go through one of my decluttering frenzies.  I'm now down to just a couple hundred books that fit into one bookcase.  Okay, one big bookcase and one small bookcase.  Okay, one big bookcase, one small bookcase, and a cabinet in the garage.  But you should have seen it before. Kindle has been a life changer for me.

Edit 2:  Kindle and Pinterest.  I have thrown away all my shelter magazines.  This was very painful.  But Pinterest is much better for collecting and editing images.  And you don't have stacks and stacks and stacks of magazines cluttering up every corner of your house.

Maria

Lol, I'm anything but a hoarder. I need lots of space to feel comfortable and anything cluttered makes me nervous (although, minimalistic rooms make me nervous, too).  I love to organize cabinets and am very orderly.

To me clutter are broken items that don't get fixed (or would be not economical to be fixed), superfluous things (three sieves), or stuff that just takes away space, gathers dust and is never used. I have none of that.

But I have old letters, numerous, incredibly beautiful sets of china (in daily use), books in three rows in our wall-to-wall bookshelves - and wouldn't have it any other way.

In order to not acquire clutter I stick to Morris' rule:

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.
I'd like to add that is not of high to acceptable quality.

We so often buy something because it's cheap - and then it gets shabby so quickly. I prefer to buy high end stuff, but fewer of it. Costs the same at the end of the day.

*steps down from soapbox*

SaigoTakamori

we live in a tiny space, tiny possessions.  How ever...My Bride is a reader  So Guess what?

I thank the invention of e-books.

Crashaxe

SaigoTakamori said:

I thank the invention of e-books.

+1,000,000!!!

Maria

I practically live in our library and take home a basket of reading material once a week.
Not only books, but also magazines.  Books after all one typically reads a couple of times - so it makes more sense to collect them after all, magazines just get stacked and collect dust.
So freeing to leaf through them and give them back after two weeks

JellyBean

I also love to read.  Although I like my iPad Kindle app, I still prefer real paper books.  GE and I both read a lot and have fairly extensive libraries.  I even have a 1st edition Hunt for Red October.

So, instead of stressing over our book collection, I start with other stuff.  For instance, how did I end up with 35 pillow cases?  Over half of them are stained or torn or have a weird smell even when freshly washed, so buh-bye. 

For a long time I put off getting rid of some china I had inherited.  It was a lovely pattern of gold filigree and just didn't fit my lifestyle, so it was in the storage box in the closet "for special occasions."  I justified holding onto it because I inherited it from my grandfather, because some of the pieces were stamped "Made in Occupied Japan" which was rather unusual, and because it was pretty.  When I finally decided to get rid of it I tried to sell it to a china reseller but they said that pattern was not in demand so they didn't offer to buy.  I considered eBay but I don't have the patience to sell it piece by piece.  I eventually freecycled it to a woman who was setting up her son't first apartment.  I was surprised that they wanted fine Noritake china for this task but she told me he was absolutely thrilled to have high-end dining pieces.  It makes me happy that those pieces are being used and loved and are no longer taking up my valuable space!

After our move this summer I actually found a few pieces of that china set that missed being given away.  The gravy boat now lives next to my stovetop holding bulbs of garlic and shallots.  I like having a single piece -- it fulfills my sentimental need without the obligation of storing full service for 12.

If the books are hard for you, start somewhere else.  You surely don't need all those tiny bars of soap and bottles of lotion from your hotel visits, do you?

Maria

Don't you just use them up after coming home?
If not, they really need to go. Lotion gets so nasty after a while, anyway, and can't be used.

JellyBean

Jen_Kay said:

There's so much crap I walk past every day and don't even see it any more. 

^^^ This is huge! 

Do you have the invisible corner where crap gets piled and it has been there so long you don't even notice anymore? 

One thing that helps is to take pictures.  If you think your room is clean and clutter-free, take a few photographs and look again.  It's amazing what you see in a photo that your eye just skips over in the room itself when you are used to seeing it.

sasha

If this thread isn't the universe bitch slapping me upside the head to get me to take some action, I don't know what will. thanks jellybean!

Point, I need to purge like a mad woman and I'ld like to contribute to the successes.

The sewing machine my grammy and mother gifted me on my 21st bday... the one that's a pain to use and most often doesn't work, I put out by the curb. A tool guy picked it up.

Now how to tackle all my creative "stuff". The projects, the supplies, the tools. I'm still trying to get my head around a mantra that works with all of these things.

I'll read your recommendations for inspiration. thanks

mrsozzy

Hey @sasha, I've been wanting one of these for all my crafting/jewelry supplies:


http://www.theoriginalscrapbox.com/products/scrapboxes/the-workbox-1250.html

It's all the craft storage you could possibly need and a folding desk. It all folds up into a 3' X 3' armoire.

If I got this, I could consolidate mine and my daughter's craft supplies from about ten different locations throughout the house.

Soooo tempted.  

never_again

I'm curious about the "Books after all one typically reads a couple of times".  I don't.  I think I've only read one or two books a second time, in my life.

I did maintain a pretty big collection of books, mainly from my favourite authors.  Got rid of all of them except the rare ones, and there are few of them.  Haven't been able to develop an attachment to my Kobo, though it is good for downloading out-of-print books off free sites.

The library has become my new favourite place.  The used bookstore my second favourite.  And I'm not so proud that I don't stop in at the charity shop a couple times a month just to see what treasures I can find (usually an appliance that I have a short-term need for or hard to find items that might show up).  Most recent was a pressure cooker and a lid for a piece of Corningware which I had previously broken.

Maria

  @never_again,
well, we all have different reading habits

I do reread my favourite books; I know some people don't. What I meant was: Books, especially hardcovers, are made for keeping and being used, while magazines are typically  of short-termed interest. Especially fashion and life-style magazines, so for me it was a good solution to get them from the library.
With books I differentiate: Thrillers and other "light" stuff I practically march through in a day I don't buy, but borrow; I buy only books I know I can't live without.

My husband however reads books only once, but he goes back to his car and motorbike magazines a couple of times. He tells me those from the 80ies are now of historic interest to him and he studies tables and charts religiously.

Maria

@Chief_TC,
Great, that's a steady income for the next 10 years!

Maria

Do you have a lonely-sock-sack?

I have one, and every time only one sock comes out of the washing machine I put it there and match it with its partner as soon as it turns up.
Only, some never do.
And my sack is full of odd socks that will stay single forever.

Once in a while I take a heart and throw them away (and unfailingly, the next day the other one materializes, but that's another story).

I need to do that again.

Angeline

Maria said:

Do you have a lonely-sock-sack?

I have one, and every time only one sock comes out of the washing machine I put it there and match it with its partner as soon as it turns up.
Only, some never do.
And my sack is full of odd socks that will stay single forever.

Once in a while I take a heart and throw them away (and unfailingly, the next day the other one materializes, but that's another story).

I need to do that again.

Maria, I'm pretty sure I have all the mates to your stray socks in my stray sock basket.

Isn't that where they go when they spirit themselves out of the washing machine? The other side of the world?

Maria

@Angeline,
the secret washing machine underground railway!
Should we create a sock-matching thread?
In Money and Materials or Success Stories? Or probably Moments of Zen, because I'm always strangely happy when I find two socks that match.
I have these things



but noone in my household uses them.