Not quite a horder - decluttering

children's books are my weakness. Oldest reading 800 page novels. Still waiting on youngest to get the reading bug. Good for you for sharing!

Sold the pink plastic Barbie house. DD is sad but she didn't need two and the wooden bookcase style is more practical. Said she didn't like the color. Me neither so we're going to paint it. Pink and purple! What else?

Mominator--that was a great way to give books a second life!

Zills--what a fun project, painting a Barbie house!Good for you two!

Went to the dentist today and found I have two very small cavities that need attention. Not a surprise, he mentioned things were changing last year and this year, X-rays said it is time. We like to get these things done early before they get too expensive and painful.

How does this relate to de-cluttering? As you know, I have been taking a lot of too big clothing to consignment from the weight loss last year. I did a number of trips this spring and dropped off some shoes today that no longer work with my changing feet. I had more than enough money in my account to cover the cost of the baby fillings and cashed that out to pay for my dental care. Getting the fillings taken care of next week!

Poodles, first, my condolences on the loss of you mom last year. What a sad story about her and her house. It is puzzling when someone is like that why theycan't see the error of their ways. What an ordeal for you and your siblings. You're right, we don't want to do that to our children!

Zills, you bring up the vacation souvenier shopping, and its something I've made progress on. It used to be I would insist dh and ds get a tshirt from places we'd visit. I wouldn’t get them because I don't look good in tshirts. But when I was young and had the occasional good fortune to visit some place new, I never had enough money for souveniers and seemed to envy those who bought the “Myrtle Beach" and “Disney World" clothes. I realized I was trying to make up for some lack in my childhood after seeing the ridiculous amount of tshirts dh had in his closet a few years ago. I stopped pushing the tshirt purchases. Honestly, dh and ds were never big on the clothes but were only trying to keep me happy.

Earlier this month, dh and I took a bus tour to Mackinac Island and area in Michigan near Lake Huron & Lake Michigan. I bought a refrigerator magnet souvenier, and any other purchase was consumable—cherry salsa, cranberry wine, chocolate covered peanuts. Dh and I silently got a chuckle seeing all the countless bags of souveneir shopping others would haul back on the bus...at every stop along the way!

Mominator, nice job organizing those book series! I know you felt good boxing them up so they could be enjoyed by the kids at school. Reading has always been one of my most favorite delicious pleasures, which started in elementary school when my mom would give me a dime or quarter to order books from the little several page paper catalog my teacher would hand out to us a few times a year. It was great fun pouring over what was offered and deciding what to buy.

I don't often comment here but I love reading about your ideas and successes in decluttering. Now that DH & I are retired, I definitely believe that less is more!

I so agree with you, Varga & DivineMrsM, about gifts. We have begun giving experiences to our kids & grandkids & we love that. (I'm taking my ten year old granddaughter to a pottery making class in July. She's so excited about using a wheel that she's been watching Youtube videos about it!)

MrsM, do you still have those vacation t-shirts? I've had quilts made from t-shirts (there are several companies that will do this) & it is a wonderfully useful way to keep those memories.

This month dh and I spent time cleaning out his mother's apartment. At age 90, in declining health, she moved in with her daughter. She downsized 3 years ago from the family home to this place across from us. While not a hoarder, she still had plenty of STUFF. Junky stuff. Lots of it with a thin layer of grime. Many things broken, like an angel figurine with broken wing, cat coaster with broken ear, wall clock with crack....

A few things here and there were picked over. Then dh and his other sister spent a long day going thru it all. I usually give them space to deal with their mom's matters together, but I dropped in the first hour and a half. Not to get stuff but to make sure dh didn't stockpile crap to bring home. I watched as they both went down the melancholy lane of emotional attachment to their mom's things, and they had a hard time making decisions what to do with what. I didn't interfere. The littlest things tripped them up. Like an index card mil had written the numbers to a combination lock and where it was located, taped on all four sides to the inside of a wardrobe door. Sister in law asked dh, "do you want that index card?" Say what?

She took a huge carload of things home and came back one more afternoon for another load. Then Dh and I went in one more time together. Tossed more stuff. We kept very little overall for ourselves. Glad of that!

Once everyone had what they valued, I went back myself for a couple hours and went through the rest. Filled ten large trash bags of junk, plus several boxes and containers and rolled up a couple large area rugs to pitch. Heaped items on the sofa to go out Monday to Goodwill.

Mil had numerous cabinets, kitchen table and chairs, 3 piece bedroom furniture, mattress/box springs, sofa, other misc furniture pieces, refrigerator, dryer (sil took washer) and small appliances. Mercifully, the landlord said he'd keep that stuff as he owns rentals and knows people who can use it. Saves us from having to schedule someone to come in an haul it away.

It was all one more mess in my mil’s life she left us to clean up. It is simply unnecessary for a person of that age to have all that stuff!

DivineMrsM, i can so identify with your post. My mother lamented that she had not downsized her stuff in her 60s, when she still had the physical and emotional energy to do it. At 81-82, she simply got overwhelmed by the hoard and couldn't deal with it. She would occasionally visit her hoard and move things from room to room. Picking and plucking. But she could not give anything away, even things that she had promised to various people.

I hope i have taken a lesson from her. I'm not the saver that she was. I've already gone through our stuff and eliminated about 75% of our previous belongings. Our kids hardly wanted anything. I believe they will appreciate our efforts when the time comes to close out our estate.

When Mom was in hospice, she asked me what I wanted. I wanted the plate she served meat on. It's cream with a gold and blue flower design on the border. The other momento I wanted was a cup and saucer with violets on it. She had a collection of these. After I got it home and really looked at it, I think it's the one I brought her from London. I have her bedroom furniture in my spare room. The rest of the family took what they wanted and an auctioneer sold the rest. She had lived during the depression and didn't throw much away. Under her bed, I found a net heart with the bows from my wedding shower 23 years before!

My DD's wish is to live out of a backpack while she travels. I don't think she could really do it, but she definitely doesn't want to hold on to stuff. Her DH is the hoarder, especially electronic stuff. He helped the boys refurbish computers when they were younger (my older GS could choose screensavers in his high chair and is now a programmer). I don't care if anyone wants my stuff or doesn't. Furniture could go to people getting their first housing after being homeless.

Just wanted to wish all my US de-cluttering friends here a happy fourth! Be safe and stay cool!

Such a little thing, but a few weeks ago, I got rid of all the shoes I still had that pinched my feet. Then I gradually replaced them with larger shoes. My toes are singing! They have so much room to wiggle now. My whole body feels like a big sigh of relief.

I was just focusing on the closet, because the weather was warming up and it was time to rotate to summer wear. I also got rid of most of the stretched and faded T shirts and jeans that seemed to make up my whole wardrobe, and bought better clothes. It was important to get rid of what was old and familiar so I would actually wear the new things, for everyday, and not save them for some mythical special occasion.

When your time is short, every day is special.

I will be renovating and moving in to a converted garage (320 square feet) in the next year. The easy thing was getting rid of furniture, that was the first to go. But now I have all these books... And the kitchen. And old lipstick that I think will somehow be useful if the Apocalypse comes and there is no more make-up being made...

I don't know. For me, there is this whole Post Apocalypse scenario in which all my trash becomes irreplaceable treasure.

Does anyone else get these weird ideas that stop their decluttering momentum? (I mean, I had this expired corn oil that I kept under my sink in case the power grid went down and I had to make torches out of oily rags... Maybe I watch too much science fiction?)

you two are funny. Must be a cross between a Girl Scout (always be prepared) and a depression era mindset with just a pinch of scifi.