Not quite a horder - decluttering

Good morning ladies- have not checked in here for a bit and see all of you are doing some great work to declutter, do mindful shopping, etc. I have continued to get the closets cleaned out, mostly done, things to donations as well as more rounds to consignment. My next tasks is to reorg the shelving in the garage, which I plan to do some work on this week.

DivineMsM- I am doing the same thing you are doing, getting rid of duplicates and asking myself when I buy someting "do I have something like this already or am I replacing something?"

Mustlovepoodles- I came to the realization a couple years ago that I have far more Xmas stuff than I do or will ever use. I am single and live alone, and usually working end of the year deadlines with my consulting work or will go away. So I just decided I only need a bit of stuff. I have only had company here at my house once for Xmas and even if I have it in the future, don't feel a need to decorate to the max. As Divine said, too much pressure for women to make things perfect for others. Not what it is about? I have donated a lot to Habitat Restore and will do more again this year.

Aww MinusTwo, I'm sorry. I have a grown son who deigns to grace us with his presence, but doesn't believe in giving presents. Ever. No cards either. He claims he is an anarchist and a nihilist, but he has no problem accepting cash from us. At 30 he's still doing the emo thing.

Mother is not doing well, not eating solids at all. Drinking only some. She's probably not ingesting more than 400 calories a day. She is at assisted living and my sister & I are at the house going through stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. Boxes of random cards, unopened bills from 2009, bank ststements, recipes, pictures. I have to go through every bit of it piece by piece to make sure I find all the stuff with social security numbers and account numbers. It is maddening and slow going.

At the moment I have a huge pile of stuff to go to the thrift store and I have barely even scratched the surface. In the sunroom I have a huge pile of stuff that goes to the trash. I wish I had a dumpster because this stuff is not going to fit in the trash can.

Meanwhile my DH is killing himself back at home trying to prepare the house for renovations. We're trying to get the house on the market in Atlanta and I'm down on the Gulf Coast taking care of my mother. This is so stressful

Poodles, yes it does sound stressful my heart goes out to you. It is a lot to be juggling.

MinusTwo, you do not come across as whining at all.

Jazzy, glad to read that you continue to make progress sorting thru different sections of your house and garage.

I sorted through the medications this morning. I found a bunch of expired OTC meds and I took them to the police station safe drop box today.

Our Police Department was one of the first in our state to set up a safe drop box for expired/unneeded medicine to help prevent drug abuse. Most any medicine can go in (tablets, liquid, patches, and pet meds), except needles.

Then I organized our Rx medication box, especially DD's meds, which are being tweaked at every monthly med check.

I am down in AL with my mother, who is now in hospice and fading every day. One sister and brother have been staying at her junk-y house and holy cow! We've been in a cleaning frenzy. So far we have cleaned out one large room and two small rooms! Mother would kill us if she knew, but we have to do it.

And whilst I am here whippng mother's house into shape, DH is at home supervising painters and dry wallers geting our house ready to sell.

glennie, so nice you got moved, and that you are able to assess the new place and decide more stuff is not necessary so you are editing your belongings even more to keep what you really want.

The book title is interesting, and I have dabbled in feng shui over the years. I can get the book thru my library so I will put it on my list to read. I love having a book to keep me motivated in the decluttering department.

We emptied our living room to paint the ceiling and walls. Couldn't believe how big it looked. Sure doesn't look big with all our stuff crammed into it.

Jazzy - GREAT. Thanks for posting.

I talked with my husband today. I'm still down here with mother and he is up in Atlanta with the house renovations. He actually told me not to come back because the house is such a mess. I can only imagine what my house looks like. One thing for sure, he is ready to get in there and do some serious decluttering.

OMG, my DH let the painters paint my lovely wood beams white! Too late to save them now. I sure wish he had asked me, if he wasn't sure. I know we had that conversation before I left. Foo!

Love the vid!! Thanks, Jazzy.

Today, a recycling company in our area is accepting hazardous waste at a location in the local mall parking lot. Dh and I are taking paint, driveway sealer, used car oil and a few more such things.

Two years ago, I began addressing the sprawl of paint cans in the basement. We'd painted so much over 25+ years living here, leaving far too many partially filled cans of paint. My solution was to buy several empty five gallon buckets, then I poured all beige-y type color paints in one, grey/green in another and white in the third one. I was able to toss dozens of empty paint cans this way. We used most of the mixed white paint in various projects, but the other buckets are almost full and we've no use for them. I am hoping the recycling company takes them even tho they arent in original paint cans; would love to be rid of them.

There's a group here that mixes leftover paint and sells it very inexpensively. Help for low budget folks.

OK, gang, I need a kick in the pants. Been slacking off the decluttering and cleaning, need to get back into the process, especially now that I have the dumpster. Project for today, clean off the kitchen table. Medium sized project, but necessary. Need the table space for cooking!