Not quite a horder - decluttering

Cherry: Congratulations! You have a great plan. Good luck tomorrow!

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Just got back from vacay in Yellowstone. We did see moose, Teka! Keep up the baby steps, Cherry. DH just got rid of a lot of old clothes. Baby steps for him. 

Me Too! It must be some male jean-etic thing in their DNA.  I was just thinking the same thing as I look at DH's treasured pile of a dozen pairs of really truly worn out jeans and I mull "what next." Weeding, sifting, sorting, organizing...

Planning a jaunt to the local farmer's market this a.m., and will drop a big box or two of stuff at the volunteer fire dept thrift store.  Whether it's trash or just overflow, every time I get rid of a cubic foot or more of superfluous "stuff", I feel lighter.    Little things, baby steps.

I have now established several "steamer trunks" for my children & family, and am in process of putting keepsakes, family treasures/etc into them.  I've also bought some acid-free tissue & boxes for fragile linens, old photos, and papers.  This is stuff I don't necessarily want to display or have out, but that has some family history or meaning and "needs" to have a home, but with boundaries (i.e. the size of the steamer trunk!).  While I'm at it, I'm writing little notes or adding to documentation about some "stuff."

I took the opportunity to talk with my daughter recently about some of the items she might like to have eventually - although it was awkward for her, she did open up some, and I learned she was attached to things that I use every day and hadn't even considered...

Nice vacation Heidi! Yellowstone and surrounding area is beautiful.

I tried another tactic this week: Run Away!!!! 

Am at the beach with family, thoroughly enjoying the sun and surf, putting the clutter completely out of my mind for a bit. Will face it later.

I know this will make some people sad , but I know I can tell it here and all will understand. My Dh passed in aug2010. We both had CA at the same time. I felt after a few months it would be good to declutter. Living in a home for 18 years stuff builds up. Used to have the attitude that a good box should be saved and also an antiquer/collectible type. I have almost never thrown out a card that someone has sent b/c I felt they took the time and thought to do it. All that know me , know I'm bad in the reverse, I don't send cards. They are saved from eons .

Decluttering the gift wrapping box, I found an old anniversary card from my DH. Why it was in that box , I have no clue. This was hand written under the card sentiment " I can't conceive of my life without you". That ended decluttering.

Thanks ny3pb----- Sorry about your roomate, I know you still feel the pain of her loss. Namaste

Patoo, you are also right about that "finding those treasures" during decluttering.  I don't know if I posted earlier, but as I was cleaning out my "treasures" I ran across a huge box stuffed with packing paper, and I found the only doll I ever wanted, pulled it out, placed it on an afghan that my grandmother had made, put them on top of my cedar chest in the guest bedroom - a very decorative touch, nice to actually SEE my mementos and enjoy them!!!  And I tossed the box, gained a huge space in the closet, and my doll is not just stuffed away for "someday" but rather is being enjoyed NOW.

Ah, yes, the vacation ends tomorrow and I will have to face the mess again soon... and luckily, it is less of a mess than when I started!

On the hoarder sites they usually refer to such finds as treasure, and the whole sorting and sifting business a treasure hunt.  Once people have one or two good finds they can use the thought of it as an incentive to start work early on their treasure hunt and keep returning till they find new treasure.  Then they've earned a good break to enjoy their find.

The more people focus on their new found treasures and the newly tidied area, the more rewarding it becomes. Positive rewards work so much better than negative I find.  Thanks for the reminder.

Pattoo----sometimes I try to time it as to how fast a discarded item at the curb is gone. We picked up a discarded table one time. My DH put a couple of screws in to fix the leg, sand and refinshed the butcher block top and repainted the white base---DS used it for multiple years in college. Two chairs that were  a match to the table were at the dumpster at the thrift store. We took them home, gave them a soap and water wash--they didn't even need a paint job. When I last saw them at DS's college place, well they did need to go to the dumpster. BUT we had no money into them so............

Just found this thread ladies and I fit right in.....I am a hoarder!!!  Of course I would like to think of myself as an organized one though.  Through the years I have kept all the cards that people have sent me for different occasions and every once  in a while I will go through and read them.  It always lifts my spirits.  A few years back I seperated them into boxes by occasion....I know, OCD.  Now I need to finish up seperating all my photos.

Okay, busy days behind me, for now, so will try and do some more decluttering this weekend.  Anyone join me?

Today I got rid of a couple passed-down family things my nephew & wife didn't know they wanted...nothing real special, just stuff... but they seemed to think "special"...

They now have the stuff, and I now have a couple more cubic feet of space. And we're both

I still have a big box in the middle of the garage that needs to go to the fire dept thrift store...  

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