Not quite a horder - decluttering

Thank you, DivineMrsM. I am copying and saving your post for reference.

About Shredding: our Office Depot used to shred while you watched, but now that they have combined with Office Max, some of the stores are closed. The two remaining in my area do not have shredders, so they send the stuff out. This means to me that my docs are handled several times before they get near a shredder. I do not feel comfortable with that. Therefore I am going to try the salt and vinegar brine method. Tear up papers and put into a large bucket to which we add water, vinegar and salt. Probably put it in the garage. Stir and let sit. I guess you stir it from time to time until you get a pulpy mass that is useless. Then fish the material it out with a slotted spoon and spread it out to dry on a tray of some kind, probably one of those plastic boot mats would work well. (If one has a lot of documents, the brine could most likely be used for additional batches.) When most or all of the moisture is evaporated, put in with the regular rubbish.

go Mandy!! Excellent start!! You can do it!

Hi Mel!! **waving***

The Tidying up book gives an order to the decluttering process. The author says to declutter by category not by room. Sounds good in theory, but to make it work for me, sometimes I have to do it a room, drawer or closet at a time.

Yet her ideas still work. She says to tackle clothes first. While she wants you to do every piece of clothing in the house at one time, that overwhelmed me. But one morning i pulled all my clothes out of the dressers and closets in my room and put them on the bed. From there, I put back the stuff I still wore, discarded or put aside for donation the stuff that no longer fit and that did not spark joy. Folded things neatly, rearranged a few dresser drawers and got the closet organized as previously stated. It made so much sense to do it this way. And while I'm not gonna fold undies, they get tossed into the drawer, I now fold my socks and keep them in a shallow drawer instead of tying them in a knot and keeping them in a deeper drawer

The order to the Tidy way of decluttering is: clothes first, then books, papers, komono (miscellany), and lastly, mementos. If you start with mementos first, the theory goes, you may get bogged down in sentimentality and lose focus or give up. Clothes do not have the same emotional pull, so you can make a bigger dent in the clutter right off the bat by tackling them first. Then that gives you momentum to continue.

Wren- I have a great consignment store that loves my items I have never worn with the tags on them. Everyone loves new stuff, even in consignment clothing stores and the stuff sells fast. I have some more to take her this month.

I often buy clothing end of the season and save it to the next year. I love going into the closet the following season and finding new things. Like shopping but I already own it! But sometimes those things I buy the end of the season before have less appeal for some reason.

When I work on clothing, I try to do it all at once. It can be daunting. Sometimes I just work on my bureau, then my closet, then another wardrobe where I store sweaters. One space at a time.

Nice list Devine.

Artist that is great. It always makes you feel good when you know you are helping others.

Heading to town in a little bit to donate a bag of clothing and a box of miscellaneous stuff. I started a habit a few months ago where I put a box in a spare bedroom and as I come across something that I want to get rid of, I go and put it in the box and when I fill the box, I donate it and start on a new box.

Hi, back, glennie, jazzy, wren, divine, artist and cowgirl. I'm seeing lots of familiar folks on this thread! I was out of town over the weekend and now it's already Wednesday...how does that happen??? My local library has the Tidy book and it was checked out when I looked on Friday, so I need to log back in and see if it's been returned. Thanks for all the tips and encouragement, ladies! I actually feel good about my clothes...that is mostly what is in the bags waiting patiently at the front door. Tomorrow is my day off and I am going to tackle some paper piles in my office area. I'm conveniently skipping over books...have some I can't part with, so I'll have to read the Tidy book and see what she says about books before I tackle them. I'm just so ready to get rid of the papers! I like the idea of doing the momentos last...very smart. I will report back how things go tomorrow. Have a great night

Next Monday, my bedroom carpet will be pulled on and the room will be tiled. Finally, the end of carpeting in my home!! So now I have stuff everywhere in preparation for the job. Once that is over, and the room is back in order,, I can get back to decluttering!

Always something to slow me down--I fell and gave myself a major black eye and split lip---nothing is broken but just don't feel that good so I am going with how I feel and taking it easy.

And then--the dolls I bought my daughters for what seemed like a fortune in the 1990s (about$80) seem to be worth well over $700 each on ebay. So I will hold onto those dolls and figure out how to sell on ebay....if you hold onto anything long enough, it seems to become valuable.

Anyway good luck with your flooring projectGlennie--it sounds daunting.

Thanks Jazzy for thinking of me. I was walking home by myself after dinner with friends and I managed to sweep the curb and side walk with my face. I gave myself a thick lip (literally --my lip is double size) and a an amazing black eye. Right now I have a magnificent head-ache to go with the black eye, but the good news is that I do not have an orbital fracture (had xrays for this) and this too will pass. I've been checked out by dentist as well as doctor. Meantime, I have the usual aches and pains that follow a fall so I am trying to take it easy (which is easier aid than done--I have someone coming to dry-wall in my house tomorrow and I have to move paintings off walls etc.). But I will do what I can do and just pay him extra if he has to do the moving of things. Thanks again or thinking of me. As always, hubby is out of town.

Ugh, Mandy!! Hope you are feeling better soon!!

Mandy- glad you are doing better. I find so many things that get lost around here, especially in the closets! Part of the reason I am focusing on them right now. I want to be able to see everything. Going to continue on that path this weekend!

Speaking of that, I think I mentioned my favorite consignment store is going to be sold so the owner is working with the buyer to transition through the rest of the year. When I called her this week about bringing some things in, she said she was booked up with apts into early November. As she has some limited hours she takes items and I am about to start new work that will conflict when she can take things, I thought "hmm, I need a Plan B."

So today I stopped by another consignment shop near where I live that is part of a well known consignment group here in town. I went in today to see the store and she has some GREAT STUFF! I made an appointment for the 24th and she told me she would take up to 50 items! My other place would only take 20, so I found if I was doing a larger purge, it took several trips. So I think this will be my new go-to place when I am doing my seasonal clean out of the better things. I am not sure I have 50 things to take, but do have a bag of scarves, some shoes and some other clothing items and will count it all up this weekend. I hope she likes my stuff as I would like this place to be my new go-to place for better consignment items. Wish me luck!

Mel- consignment shops are great for the better items in your closet. Things you may have worn once, or still have the tags on them, or maybe you lost (or gained) weight and some things don't fit work anymore. They are really great for holiday wear in the fall too, to both take things or if you need something nice for a holiday party and don't want to spend a lot of money.

My best friend back east has had vintage business for years and have always loved going to the nicer shops! And if you end up with credit, it is like getting free clothes!

Mandy- I hope you feel better. Sounds like you got a few things done. I am still "mining" the closets for things to take to consignment next weekend!

Divine- thank you for sharing that post. One of the things I always do when going through things is paying attention any memories that go with the item. It is amazing what comes up like "oh I bought that when my mother was so sick, and everything was so hard for us" or "that was given to me by someone I no longer have in my life and would prefer not to remember." We all have those people, right? Then there are those sentimental things I just cannot part with like some of my mothers things (although as time goes on, I realize some of those things don't have real sentimental value. Or a special piece of jewelry from my brother who we lost years ago I will never part with. Stuff does have emotions associated with it.

My other thought this weekend while working on the closets is "with less stuff to deal with, I will have more time to spend doing the things I enjoy like exercising outdoors, working in the yard/gardens, doing music activities. Stuff requires a lot of time to manage, whether dusting it, organizing it, maintaining it, etc. I suffer from TMS (too much stuff) but things are getting cleared out more and more all the time.

Interestingly enough, I noticed so many women after going through cancer treatment of any type seem to have a feel a need to de-clutter. I think it has to do with trying to simplify our lives. What do you think?