Not quite a horder - decluttering

3jaysmom

STILL working at a snails pace in the liv/dr but we are making progress. there's so much to do, and so little enrgy!!!everyones been sick with a beterial pnemonia, and are just getting better. we di rearrange shelving, and got bookcases moved into the liv room. we bothlove our little "treasuresaaa' and our books.. so it was a good compromise.. i continue to hit it a little everyday.. at least, xmas is down, packed, sorted, and put away, so thats; progres!!!im not sure we'll keep all we have, but it'll go up, and we;ll see then how " cluttered" it looks... hmmm...3jays

Anonymous

chef127 - thanks for the giggle!

samsue - you have the desk because we keep stuff, why else?

Meece

I came home Sunday night and opened my pantry and smelled a horrid odor.  I was sure there was a dead mouse in there or something.  So I proceded to take everything out.  I finally located a bag of flour that I had set in a gallon zip lock.  There had been moisture in it and it was "rotting".  That odor was so pungent it is still in my nose!

On the upside, most of my pantry shelves got a good wipe down.  And reorganization.

chef127

Meese,

I once found magots in a bag of potatoes in a plastic bag. YUCK.....Glass storage and open air baskets are the way to go. OUT OF SIGHT OUT OF MIND.

Meece

I usually keep my flour in the fridge in a plastic storage, but I had extra flour for Christmas baking and evidently water got in the plastic bag.

chef127

THE FRIDGE is the best thing to do but mine is small (and cluttered). I've been collecting OLD mason jars and use them to store Rice, beans, spices, all my dry goods. I keep them on a bakers rack and I love them. Some are blue and very pretty. The lids are Zinc and some are glass. I try to get rid of all the cardboard containers but the jars are not big enough so I use 2 jars. My friends think their too old fashioned and don't like them. I also use them for some left overs. I no longer use tupperware or plastic but I did love them too.

Meece

I have a couple of those old canning jars with glass lids.  I used them for display and to hold my pie weights.

Anyone know where Suz is?

Teka

^..^

Meece

I just heard from her.  No big problems.  She's a busy woman.  We can relate to that, can't we.

GramE

A gold star for me --   Old car cleaned out, lots thrown away.   New car with bare minimum in - snow brush, umbrella, cell charger, kleenex.   Trunk is empty.

One box of books for son - will go into the trunk of the car.   Income tax stuff all in one pile.   I had to brag a bit.  Now a shower and clean myself up !!!!!!

Meece

You go, GramE!

Teka

^..^

Anonymous

As a Feng Shui consultant and de-clutterer lover, I adore this thread.  I find that it's much more difficult to get my energy together to keep things as tidy as I did before my dx but this is inspiring...especially hearing the "today I'm going to do..." sharing. 

So, today I am going to go through all the paperwork and multiple binders of info I have collected over the last two weeks (especially during my whirlwind time at MDA last week) and get it all consolidated.  That alone will clean off my desk and dresser top!  If I feel up to it after that, I may mop the kitchen floor!

This may be posted somewhere already (I'm still reading my way through the thread) but the 3 most helpful things I learned from my FS and de-cluttering studies are to get rid of anything that: (1) you do not LOVE; (2) is broken; (3) is never used.

I guess with a BMX and recon coming up, I have some closet and drawer cleaning to consider, as well.  = )  Thanks for a great thread!

Blessings2011

Hello, fellow ClutterBusters!

Right before my surgery in December, we had new carpeting installed throughout our house. We had to pack everything up as if we were moving. The house was bare, but the Tuff Shed in the back yard and the garage were stacked to the rafters.

The problem was that once the carpeting and major furniture got back in, I didn't want any of the crap that was in boxes to come back in!

So now our house is fairly de-cluttered, but the shed and the garage are going to be a nightmare to sort through. I am just now at the point where I can lift stuff, so I think it will be a busy Spring for DH and me.

(Every time we open the doors to our 3 car garage, and see just my one car squeeeeeeezed in there between boxes and junk, I just know one of the neighbors is going to call "Hoarders"!!!!!)

My dream is to have a wall of storage cabinets with doors.

As for the Christmas stuff, that's all up in the attic DH built above the garage right after the house was built. Ay, ay, ay!!!!

Meece

Blessings, I'd swear you were talking about my place!  I really need some shelves in my sewing room so I can put little boxes of stuff in order.

suzwes

Hello everyone!  Thanks Meece for getting me back to this terrific site and thread!  I've just caught up and you all have been so busy and inspirational as always.  Welcome to everyone new here!  I need to do some major decluttering again (and always).  My goal tonight will be (after taxes are ready to go) to clear my Hope Chest of all the junk laying on top of it (yes, yes, yes, from Christmas)  Geez!  Maybe I'll try to update the top of our topic today too!  Someone mentioned flylady again a couple of pages ago so I'll make sure there's a link to that webpage.  Any other suggestions, let me know.

Anonymous

I have "stuff" on top of a desk in the den and more "stuff" on top and in the cubby's of another computer desk that I have not touched in a few years.  I would really like to just sweep it all into a trash can and be done but then I'm afraid there will be something I want and it will be gone.  Really, if I haven't needed it in several years will I ever?

Meece

Hi, Suz!!!

Dilly

BIG Gold Star GramE!

Meece, do you have (room for) a dresser in your sewing room? I use an old one and have the drawers separated into trims & notions, and small boxes of various craft supplies.Shelves would be nice but haven't happened yet. I just have to remember which drawer a little box is in...

DH is a builder & maker-of-things, and he saves everything that might be useful someday, especially broken stuff. He has his space (shop, shed, "bone-piles" of metals and woods) and as long as I don't look at it, I can be delighted when he builds something from all of what looks to me like man-clutter.  Shelves are on my wish list, but he just built a portable wood-burning heater to protect our small orchard from late frosts... so shelves are waiting their turn.

Blessings, we sort of did that when we moved to this house and the clean, airy feeling we got was very calming and soothing.  One thing I did and I think it helped the vibe or FS, was I cleaned every thing that came into this house. Everything. Washed, polished, etc. It took months to do it right, but it felt sooo good.  Now seven years later, I need to re-paint, and will go through the whole process again, I'm sure.  Funny how clutter builds up. I like to do a big spring cleaning, we'll see how this year goes.

When we lived on our 30' sailboat, there was a saying among boaties that if you didn't watch out, you built up stuff to the level you needed a foot bigger boat every year.  That lifestyle was my best de-cluttering mode, but 30' was so small that whatever you needed had somehow migrated to the bottom at the back, even if you just put it away on top....

You women rock.

Today I'm going to work on the garage again, with the thought of  why do I have this if it's in the garage....

Kaara

Very lazy day....went to the little clubhouse pool in our community to get some vitamin D!  Sure felt good...practiced my meditation while I was there, and now I'm ready for a nap.  Not much getting done in the house, but it's a "take care of me" day.

Have a great afternoon and evening ladies! 

Meece

I have a dresser, but put it in the closet and have some of my fabrics sorted in it.  I need to use up more of my "supply" instead of bringing more home.

Blessings2011

Hi, Meece!

We actually had this house built, and instead of a four-car garage, one of the bays was converted into a long, narrow interior craft room. That was the selling point for me! All those years of clipping Michaels coupons - I had TONS of craft and scrapbooking supplies. So we went to the hardware store and purchased ready-made cabinets with shelves and doors, and shorter cabinets with drawers.

I put them together in a nice arrangement along one wall, and ended it with two bookcases. On the opposite wall, I have a twin bed made up as a daybed, then my craft table, and above that a flat screen TV. Finally, I have my computer desk and hutch and matching printer stand. I put the bookcase that went with the set on top of the printer stand.

I got most of my crafting supplies put away, then never used them!

Three years ago, a friend got me into a quilting class, and now that is my only craft. I emptied out the drawers in one cabinet and put in my small fabric stash, with supplies in the other cabinet. Extra fabric went in bankers boxes stacked on top of the bookshelves up to the ceiling.

I now have two sewing machines (my Mom's old Singer 301, and a computerized Brother) on my craft table. I can look out the window, or watch TV. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but I still have TONS of old craft supplies out in the shed or the garage! When I dig them out, I will donate them.

What do you sew?

Blessings2011

Hi, Lost_Creek!

I know what you mean about clean and airy being calm and soothing. We had this house built and the entire grand room is full of windows so it is very light. Plus the ceilings are high, which is nice.

To move into a house where I didn't have to scrub someone else's dirty toilet was a dream come true for me. My other house was very old when I bought it, and stuff never really came clean.

Coming home from the hospital (after my BMX) to new carpeting was SO nice. It's soft and cushy and warm and feels good on the feet. We're being a bit obsessed about it, wearing "indoor shoes" and "outdoor shoes"......we even spray Lysol on the soles of our shoes when we've come home from hospital and clinic visits.

Oh my - you lived on a boat! Now THAT requires discipline, doesn't it? To not bring more stuff in unless something goes out? I've never been able to stick to that rule for some reason!

Gingerbrew

I have a problem with any flat surface next to where I sit or sleep. I seem to create piles and even when I clean off the pile it is back again so quickly. My DIL never has piles she is schooled to always put things away. It is a good discipline but I have never gotten the habit. It is probably a reflection of how little I move around. um, the fix?

Ginger

Blessings2011

Gingerbrew - If someone is coming over, I just sweep all the stuff off flat surfaces into a bankers box and label it "Current Stuff".

I think I now have about 20 boxes labeled "Current Stuff" and I have no idea what's in any of them!

Teka

^..^

chef127

Gingerbrew,

I do the samething. I've lost (misplaced) so many important papers that way. I do eventually find them but THATS GOT TO STOP.

Meece

It is so funny.  I have gone through so many craft phases in the past few decades.  About 20 years ago I was doing beading.  That stuff was boxed away until I got it out a couple of weeks ago while embellishing a crazy quilt  It just enforced why I was happy I kept things.  Dang!  I wish something would enforce how I will survive without them.

GramE

I have a stash of fabric that I have forgotten what I was going to do with it.    It is mainly pastel shades and all cotton.    It was not for a quilt, maybe some pillows for "decor"...    I do not remember !!    

Yarn stash is being used for scarves using Knifty Knitter.   10 hand/wrist  surgeries so this is easy for me to do, but does take a bit of time.    A friend got a white, silver and black scarf for her birthday, only one week late and everyone loves it and wants one now...    

Anonymous

My knifty knitter is in the donate pile (I think it's still there).  I tend to think I like a craft, buy the items and then decide I don't have the patience.  Anyone want a knifty knitter, let me know.  If I can find it, it's yours.  Maybe that's a thread we need - 'give away stuff" - but then it just adds to someone else's clutter.