Not quite a horder - decluttering

I agree!

Jazzy - I was happy to loose the 1st 20 lbs. The next 40 made me look anoreoric. Unfortunately even tho I'm hormone negative and didn't take Als, much of the weight has returned over 3 years. Even eating one meal a day and exercising 3-5x a week - it keeps creeping back. So the clothes I'm getting rid of now are the small sizes I had to buy as I shrank. Went from a 14/16 to a 6. Back at my usual 12 now.

I like the cell phone idea. And I have some eye glasses I'm going to dig out too assuming the Lions still collect those.

MinusTwo- I was worried you might have gone underweight. That happens to many women. I am a size 12 now too (down from a 14 pushing into a 16). Always been comfortable at a size 12.

VLH- thank you!

LOL!

Wren, sounds like such a nice, caring animal shelter!

Today dh and I went through his jeans and socks to see “what he should keep". That's how I presented it to him, rather than “give some of this crap away or pitch it!" (What I was thinking!). He keeps most of his clothes in a narrow room across from our bedroom.

He had 17 pair of jeans. (Eye roll). He willingly donated four pair to the Goodwill pile and agreed to throw out five pair that were too worn or too big (a couple years ago he lost 50 lbs but still had jeans from that time). He also willingly donated a couple pair of dress pants that he said “did nothing for him."

At Christmas, I bought him Duluth work sox, they are like the Cadillac of socks. He loved them so much, I bought another package two weeks ago. He has gone through countless other brand socks over the years as they get holes in them quickly. Not the Duluth! So he kept the Duluth sox in the narrow room dresser, and we got rid of any old socks with holes (he had a “hole"drawer full). Ones in good shape filled an empty drawer in our bedroom dresser, and I said in a year, any he has not worn from that drawer we would donate.

I had him put all jeans on our bed first and go thru and sort. Then did the same withh the socks. This took less than 45 minutes.

Empty dresser drawer was from my Marie Kondo purge last year!

Divine Mrs.M-   I bet you both felt so free after that.    That's how I feel when I declutter....free.

Hubby is so much better at decluttering than I am. He's almost a Spartan, whereas I am a sentimental saver. 

We went through the shed one Saturday morning. So much stuff we hadn't used since the kids were smaller. There was a lot of chalk sticks and bubble bottles; beach toys; lots of soccer balls and other balls; an old inflatable pool; paddles and life jackets for canoeing; helmets and pads for bikes and scooters; and two Razer scooters. We also tossed a hand-me-down kitchen island that was too heavy and falling apart and some leftover wood from a construction project. 

We also advantage of big trash day to help us declutter. We put the stuff out a few days early. People came by our house and picked things over. The Razer scooters disappeared within a few minutes and the canoe paddles within the hour. I was sad for the scooters that my kids didn't want them, but obviously someone else did!

I was working during the actual pickup time, so I don't know what was taken by others and what was eventually trashed. That was good. I like to think that much of it found a home. Next time, I'll also not be home during pickup time. 

My only son is 47. They are still adamant about not having children and don't want anything. I'm gradually taking some of his favorite toys to neighbors & friends small ones, but I haven't been able to part with the Playskool Blocks or the Skaneateles wooden train. And I certainly haven't been able to toss the much loved children's books.

Today my trunk & back seat are loaded to the top with things that I'll drop off at the battered women's thrift shop on the way to the Med Center. 13% of their expenses are covered by sales of the used donations. In addition there is a collection of new soaps, shampoos, toothpastes etc. from hotel stays to go directly for the women's use.

My mother was also a hoarder. When she passed it took 7 of us over 6 weeks to go through her stuff, weed out the immense amount of trash, and divide the rest between relatives and the thrift store. When I got home from that ordeal I immediately started on my own stuff. I'm not a "collector", but we still had a lot of extra stuff. My kids took a few things and the rest went to the thrift store. We put the remaining bare minimum into storage and moved into our camper. Thats working out very well. The big thing about RV living is storage space, or lack of. It forces us to make decisions on possessions on the front end--where is this or that item going to go and does it have a dual purpose? It's amazing how little we need to live a satisfying life.

Hi ladies- there is some good work going over here. Spring cleaning and de-cluttering under way on the thread. I am back in the closets cleaning out more too big clothing to take to consignment. Also cleaning out things related to yard and garden (outside storage bench getting done this week).

Several orgs here in the area are doing recycling of electronics and shredding as part of Earth Day activities. Watch for those in your area if you are trying to get some shredding done for free and/or old computers and the like safely recycled.

Mominator--putting unwanted items out beside the road is a spring time ritual in rural Maine.It is amazing what other people will find desirable. I put out a broken gas grill one a few years ago, it was gone within the hour. Same with a box of duplicate office supply items (clip boards, file trays, 3 ring binders, assorted small items)I put out. Box and all went! Best part is not having to pay the fee for the big clean out pick up and tag all the items.

Poodles--so nice to find someplace where once cherished toys will be loved again!

MinusTwo--Wow, 13% is a big chunk of operating costs to be covered by thrift store sales!

Sweet Pea--I can't imagine how hard it is for you to be struggling against the way you were raised and not wanting to become a hoarder. Keep picking away at it, you'll find balance. I use the timer method a lot, too, it's really helpful!

Poodles--I can't imagine living out of a camper, and am so amazed that you are doing just that! Great idea about looking at items before bringing them in, having a place for it before buying it, taking items with more than one use. I'm going to have to try to use that approach.

Wren--I come from a family with hoarding tendencies, and was taught never to throw anything out that might be useful."Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." was heard often in my home and both of my grandparent's homes. Both grandmothers would never throw out an item of clothing until all the buttons, any zippers, and any "good trim" was taken off. "Good trim" included the hooks and eyes off bra backs. Yeah, really. Before bc I would cut the hooks and eyes off the backs of bras before tossing them. Probably still have a box of them in the sewing room. Can't wait to run across them and toss them. I haven't worn a bra since recon surgery!

Jazzy--I'm doing something I never thought I would do before--a spring closet clean out, not of clothes that don't fit or aren't fit to wear, but of clothes that fit, are good, but I DON'T LIKE TO WEAR! A year or so ago I joined a service that sends clothes to the house to try on, and have slowly gathered a wardrobe of quality clothes that fit my 3x body properly, and have been able to let go of a lot of cheap stuff, and now am winnowing down to the items I really love to wear. And I don't feel like I'm wasting money by not wearing the less liked items.

I am loving reading the post on this thread. I came from a family of "savers' as well. A worn article of clothing was striped of anything valuable. I remember the wide band on the top of men's underwear being cut off if it were use able. I remember Momma sewing it the the corners of sheets to make them fit tighter and sTay tucked under the mattress. Times have definitely changed and I have heard the term "wasteful nation" before. There are so many convenient things now with zip lock bags in every size imaginable, bottled water and all those take and toss containers....

awesome swap jazzy!

Question. Newly divorced but with kids. What do I do with all that wedding stuff? Mainly pix? Do you just toss photos?

Zillsnot, I don't think I'd be too quick to toss them. Your kids may want to see them later. Maybe just put them aside for now.