Not quite a horder - decluttering

Gingerbrew

Meece, yes! I work so much better with someone else around to encourage or discuss things with. Just not someone who is being bossy, then I shut down.

Yeah for you getting things done with future DIL. She must be a great girl.

Ginger

MariannaLaFrance

This is an awesome post. I struggle with keeping my house uncluttered. I work full time and have 3 kids, ages 9, 6, 4. I've been reading through here getting some amazing tips! I feel like I can take some steps to getting some zen into my life! I am a neat person at heart, but cannot seem to control the clutter that occurs at our home. With the kids, dog, husband (not really a very neat person), I cannot get out from under the clutter.

I've wished that I could hire an organizer, but we can't afford one, so what little hours left I have in my day, I will have to come up with ideas for my decluttering! What a good source I have found here.

Now, where to find the 2 hours extra I need in my day??? 

Anonymous

MarianneHB, not 2 hours, only 15 mins a day.  Pick an area or a corner and work diligently for those 15 mins.  You can increase the time if you want but don't try and find 2 hours.  With 3 kids under 10, DH and a dog it just ain't gonna happen.  Start small, you can do it.

Teka

^..^

dougieswife

Oh, my!!!  I need to declutter and CLEAN!!!!  The last 6 months everything has been survival mode...doing only what needed to be done at that moment.  

Back story...When my DH and I got married, we each had our own houses..between the 2 of us, we had 7 sets of dishes...full sets...some for 12....no one needs that many dishes!!!  We did have a yardsale and got rid of some...I think we now have just 4 sets...but one is my grandmother's china.  Then came baby, add MORE stuff to the mix, then we moved to a 100+ year old house with ZERO storage.  Fast forward 3 years and my mom passed away...I have a lot of her things.  I have held on to most of those things just for memory's sake...not because I will ever use them or wear them.  

I think I am ready to start getting rid of some of those items...especially the clothes.  I got some new cookware this week and I tossed some of my old, nasty pans that just needed to go!!!  I have a date set for a yardsale, so I have to stick with it.  AND...after the yardsale...I'm using that money to get my house painted...so I have a reward that I am working towards.   

Anonymous

And, in order to paint you have to move everything out of the way - another way to declutter as you can get rid of stuff instead of packing it away somewhere.  Yes your mon's stuff is precious to you but you can keep one or two really special items and bless someone else who can use the rest.  Your mom lives in your heart.  Today my mom would have been 89 years old.  None of her stuff can ever replace her memory.

I know what you mean about nasty pans.  Why do we keep them?

dougieswife

And I know she would be okay with that, Patoo!!!  : )

I can still hear her saying to me..."You can do it, you can do it, if you set your mind to it".  It would drive me nuts when she would say that, but, now that's all I hear, LOL!!!  

Again..with the nasty pans...we had so many between the 2 of us...uugghh!!!  Oh...and baking dishes..really....how many do we need???  We must have 5 or so...I think 2 or 3 MAX....and mixing bowls...getting rid of a TON of those, too!!!!   

ptdreamers

It does seem almost overwhelming. I also have four sets of dishes, numerous pots, baking pans etc. There are only two of us now and we certainly don't need all this stuff. We also have tons of our son's belongings and he is clear across the country and not good when it comes to asking him to let us know what we absolutely must save for him. Oh well, we will do what we can. Did get the office straightened up and a fair amount of paper shredded or recycled today. Tomorrow I'm going under the stairs to take out all the Xmas stuff we never use anymore and put in the charity box or sale box.

Good night all.

3jaysmom

well, with hand surgery, the big "may" date isn't going to work for me so well.. but thank you, patoo, for your reminder.. i CAN do 15 mins everyday. havent even gotten everything away from the house being tented, et.. but, like with like IS happening, albeit, slowly...3jays

Gingerbrew

PTDreamer

I have 4 grown kids. I boxed up their things and began giving them to them when they were at the house. Then, we began shipping them to them as they moved across the country. We shipped our DD books to her at book rate. Less than a mover.  You might want to begin shipping your DS things to him. Don't ask just start doing it.  I had one son who kept leaving his things behind, once even with the excuse he couldn't fit this medium size box in his car because it was a sports car. Seriously kiddo, it can fit in the passenger seat.  What finally got us all cleaned out from the kids things was moving across country.Our stuff ALL got moved because others packed us because I had BC DX just as we were packing and I had surgery there so I couldnt pack.

I hope you can get your sons stuff to him. 

Hugs Ginger

Meece

I have 3 boxes in the garage that as I come acrossed something of one of the kids', I put it in their box.  When the oldest comes to visit he always gets sent home with a box.  The youngest will get married in Nov, and my wedding gift will be getting his boxes out of my garage.

Have you ever noticed the nasty pan doesn't seem so nasty until you have a replacement on hand?  Then you can't imagine ever using the old one!

Meece

i had to chuckle as I re-read my last post.  It sounds as if I ONLY have 3 boxes in the the garage!

Kaara

Why do kids always have to store their stuff at OUR house!  I currently have my DS's motorcycle in the garage which I have to tiptoe around each time I go out there for fear of putting a scratch on it!  It's not insured and he doesn't want to keep it at his place because it is exposed and might get stolen.  He comes by to ride it a couple of times a month, so at least I get to see him once in a while...hehe!

Meece

Maybe that's why we keep their stuff.

dougieswife

Exactly, Meece!!!  I'm a Pampered Chef consultant and it was time for me to get the goods, LOL!!!  As I get new stuff, the old stuff goes...I don't care how long I've had it, where I got, who gave it to me, it's gone.

I think this whole BC business has made me want to start new and fresh with everything...this could be a good or bad thing... 

Gingerbrew

Meece I think you are on to something there. My MIL keeps the kids around by feeding them at anytime of the day or night. She is good at this and it mostly works well for her.

Before I knew him my husband left a piano in my MIL's garage. Not so bad you say? Wrong, the piano was in pieces. He had picked it up from someone who had planned to rebuild it, and didn't. My DH thought it sounded like an interesting challenge. When inlaws moved, piano went to junk yard.

He finally threw out his JUNIOR HIGH papers when we had been married about 10 years. I am sure his grad school work is somewhere about the house still. 

I have some old things but my things are of course relevant and important, right? 

Ginger

Wren44

My DS swore he had removed all of his things from our house. Then he came for a surprise visit in the winter and we went into the attic looking for more blankets. Surprise! Opened 3 boxes which contained his stuff! Now he's married and has kids. He won't let us leave so much as a toothpick in his garage although we visit once a month.

ptdreamers

Ginger , I think we still have our college work in a  box.LOL That was forty years ago. Think we might ever need it? Why do we keep hanging on to this crap. I am going to get up the courage and get some boxes and start with DS stuff but I think I need to get rid of my excess stuff first.

Blessings2011

i recently ran across a box of old stuff from my moms house (she passed in 2009) and found a collection of stories my fourth grade class had written.

reading mine was fun, but what was even better was reading DHs! we were neighbors in the 1950s and went to all the same schools. got together at our 30 year HS reunion; marrried in 2005.

sorry typing is funky. slammed the car door on my thumb yesterday and yanked it out while the door was still closed. a gory sight to be sure. parking lot looked like a crime scene. but i didn"t faint!

have a fractured thumb and am typing left handed. no cleaning house for me - boo hoo. 

Teka

^..^

ptdreamers

Blessing2011, Ouch!

Teka

^..^

ptdreamers

Hall closet and coat closet, too much stuff and longer than fifeteen minutes.

Teka

^..^

Anonymous

Thanks for the laugh with your stories of storing stuff for the kids.  Planning on downsizing in a couple of years and DS already says if he doesn't come with me can I take his stuff because he probably won't have room for it.  He's a Disney fanatic so has lots of plushes, snowglobes, statuettes, 'stuff', including video tapes (yes, VHS format) and other collectibles.

Blessings - ouch!    ptdreamers, but you got it done - way to go. 

Having busy weekend but will try and get some more stuff moved tomorrow evening.

Gingerbrew

Patoo you could sell the Disney SnpowGLobeson EBay, they have some value. You could fund yor move that way.

Wren you could just leave a box on the front porch, ring the door bell and run. 

Hugs Ginger

Meece

I have three huge boxes of Star Wars stuff from DS3.  He is looking forward to having a man cave where he can display the treasures.  Better his home than my garage.

Blessings....Owie!!! Hugs

Blessings2011

Anonymous

Gingerbrew, DS has threatened to find the worse nursing home when my time comes if I dispose of any of his Disney stuff.  So when he goes out on his own with him will go all the wood shelving units and, hopefully, the china closet that now houses his snowglobes and figurines, etc.  If he doesn't have the room he will need to forego a BR to sleep on the floor among his "stuff". 

Okay, off to church.  Have a great day all.

Kaara

Every guy should have a man cave...it would save a lot of arguments.  My BF has his office/man cave and I never go in there or touch anything.  It looks like a boar's den...I just close the door and forget about it.  I sacrificed a guest room in the house so he could have it.