Not quite a horder - decluttering
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I'm learning to watercolor and I throw a lot of my paintings away. If it's a special scene, I'll keep it. Or if I think I did it really well, I'll put it in a mat. But the fun is in the doing, not the keeping. DD bought a wire and installed it on the wall in the hall. The boy's latest creations are put there so everyone can enjoy them. I'm not sure what she does when they come down, but I'll bet it's not keeping them.
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Hi Andi! Great to see you, too! Wow, five moves in five years! I imagine constant decluttering during that time was a way to save your sanity.
Wren, I love the idea of revolving kids' artwork on a wire.
It’s the first time I read an article with this perpective on how to handle our children's creative efforts. When I woke up this moring, I reread it, and realized that altho I severely condensed ds's schoolwork down, I have a good sized box filled with “comics" that he created. And that was pared down from several boxes I had. For several years he drew and wrote his own comics with different recurring characters using spiral notebooks. Now I plan to revisit that box and try to condense even more.
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At breakfast, I was explaining my de-cluttering and the donations. "My boxes have tiers." My husband said, "That would make a good Country song: My Boxes Have Tears..." Have a good day.
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love reading this thread.
Like so many here, I am working to declutter my home. Been here over 30 years. Amazing at how much stuff can sit in closets, drawers, corners, etc for years.
I seem to go through phases. I wake up on morning ready to give it all away only to be followed a few weeks later feeling like I am throwing my life away as things that hold memories or bring back an event are tossed out like a dirty cat box.
Of course I don’t want my family to have to go through all this unnecessary stuff after I die but the task is not an easy one, for sure.
I kept some things to pass on to grandkids as I recall how special those kinds of items were to me from my grandparents. But I have no grandchildren so no sense in keeping so many “things”.
I have started taking digital photos of items that remind me of something. I can look at them on my phone more frequently than pulling the actual item out of the back of a closet.
I hope to condense my Christmas decoration boxes this week.
Thanks everyone for sharing. Helps me see the big picture—- it’s just stuff.
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Heather, yes, sounds for sure like a song!
Dodgers, taking photos is a great idea.
We've lived here 29 years. I can safely say I've given my house, basement and garage a good decluttering over the past several years. It feels like I removed unnecessary emotional cobwebs. Things still get cluttery but I am much more on top of it these days. For one thing, most of those strong emotional tugs at the heart in separating and sorting were dealt with the first go-rounds. When I declutter now, it is more matter-of-fact and I'm not bogged down by long-ago memories.
I feel good that when all is said and done, I'm not leaving decrepit, worn-out, broken-down, out-dated garbage-I-think-is-priceless-tho-no-one-else-does stuff for my son to sort through. Yes, there is certainly still plenty of stuff, but it's edited and coukd easily be sold thru an auction or estate sale.
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I am taking my de-cluttering activities to my neighborhood now. We have a lot of wind blown trash where I live that is often strewn along the bike trails where I walk. I have started walking at dawn before work in this cooler weather and make a commitment to pick up at least 3 pieces of trash on my walk each morning (today was 3 but several of them were small). Things that don't belong along the lovely bike trail that need to go somewhere else.
My dumpster gets fed every morning. I am a woman on a mission!
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Dodgers girl, I gave my next door neighbor's children a tea set from my childhood. I ran into the father yesterday and he said the girls love it and are really into tea parties. They made thank you cards with a lot of stickers. It gave me a good feeling to hear this. All my GS are boys and no GG children are in the works. I'm happy it's gone.
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I have my mother's old doll which has a china head. The best part about her is her handmade clothes. She isn't worth a lot of money so selling her would be more trouble than it's worth. So my plan is to donate her to the history museum in Michigan - the state where my mother grew up. I looked online and learned that I have to fill out a form, give background information on the donation and include a picture. The museum will decide if they will accept it. If they do not, I will look into doll museums in other states. I discussed this with my mother yesterday and she is on board with this idea...for now. Next I have to discuss it with my sisters, but I think they will both give me the green light to donate.
Jazzy Girl - great job cleaning up the environment. That's a nice gift to the community.
Wren - so nice that the dad of those neighbor girls mentioned how much they are using the tea set.
DodgersGirl - so true about it all being just "stuff". I got rid of a bunch of baby stuff a while back. It was painful, but I tried not to think too much about what I was doing. I also thought about how "fair" was it for the toys to just sit in a box and not being played with when instead they could go to another home and gets some use. That's sort of silly, but that's how I did it. I also wondered if my future grandchildren could use any of these things, but I decided that by the time I had a grandchild, the item might be rusted or somehow unusable or there were things we could easily re-buy. Now, I did save one big plastic tote full of clothes and small toys and books. I also have another box of artwork. We have gone through it and thrown some out. I will have to get my husband to read the article, too. I love your picture idea and will have to do that when we get going again on tossing.
DivineMrsM - I bet the comics your son drew are fun to look at. I think I would save those. One day you can send them to him, perhaps.
Another thing I did recently was pack up some knick knacks in a box and put them in a closet to see if my husband would miss them. (or if I would miss them). It didn't take him long to notice one particular item so I won't be able to toss that. But I haven't missed any of it so maybe we can donate the rest.
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Thanks to all of you, I am on a roll! Even after 5 moves in 5 years, still so much to purge. (the best was seriously moving all of it to California this last January - putting it all in storage, thinking we were going to buy a house there and stay a few years, and then finding out in June that in fact, we were moving back to Colorado.) The boys art work, books that I have been toting from house to house, clothes, pottery, lanterns, sheets, pillows, EVEN THE BOYS BABY CLOTHES that I could not part with even though it's pretty clear they aren't going to wear them again. My husband can't believe it. I could have one gigantic garage sale, but I don't want the stress of it; better to just donate.
When my grandmother died, all of the grandchildren drew straws of different lengths. (I think they were straws... something) There were 10 of us. Then whoever had the longest straw (or maybe it was shortest) went first.... we went through her house one by one choosing the things we wanted. The next size straw went second, and then the third... I am sure you get the idea. She traveled all over the world and had beautiful things.There were a few things I had my eye on that I didn't end up with because someone with a shorter or longer straw got it first. Even though I think it was the day of her memorial, it's actually a very dear and almost fun memory; spending several hours with my cousins, choosing different objects and talking about the stories behind them, or us girls choosing jewelry and the tears over how much it meant to us and what an amazing grandmother we had.
Sometimes I like to think about that.... (okay, "like" might be a little strong....) … that my family and friends will go through my clothes, jewelry, mementos from traveling, art, etc... and each choose something to remember me by.
XO
Andrea
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MexicoHeather--your husband has a point!
DodgersGirl--decluttering is an ongoing process, and it does have phases. I struggle with some of the things I have that are family heirlooms with no one to leave them to.
MrsM--Good for you!
Jazzy--I love the imagery of feeding the dumpster!
Wren--so great the tea set found a happy home!
GoKale--historical societies are a great place for some things to go to. Especially if there is info that can go with it.
Andi67--that was a great way for the grandchildren to get together, remember and move things to places where they are cherished.
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I just read The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning that was recommended here. I LOVED the book and the author, and will be sharing with with several friends. Good idea to start with the big things and leave the letters & photos for last. I also liked the idea of assigning a shoe box called "private - throw away" for the few things that I just can't' let go. So far I still have 4 or 5 good sized boxes of letters & diaries. I'd like to read them again, but most will be of no interest to my son. And the families of some of my correspondents probably don't need to know how close we were. And that doesn't count the two 5 drawer file cabinets. Maybe if I get rid of tables & dressers & chairs I will be able to see the paperwork more clearly.
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MinusTwo, the book was insightful, wasn't it?
In a manner of speaking, I've been “decluttering" my flowerbeds and shrubs. The yard isn't big-I live in town so there's a house on each side of us, a street in front and alley in back. But, I have a green thumb and great soil, so stuff grows like gangbusters. The overgrown hedges around the long front porch got trimmed down two feet and all around. Huge improvement. A large flowerbed on the side of the porch got cut in half when I dug up half the flowers and ran pavers down the middle, then planted grass seed on the lawn side to seamlessly blend that section with the yard. Way less weeding which makes me very happy.
In the backyard, we pulled out five ugly shrubs. The remaining shrubs, which are still plentiful, got massive haircuts. I dug up big clumps of daylillies, black-eyed Susans and hostas, still leaving plenty along with many other perennials. Little by little, I'm attacking the weeds in the flowerbeds that I was unable to tend to this year due to being hobbled by the broken foot bone. As I weed, I'm putting down Preen to prevent as many coming back as I can.
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I just discovered a Habitat for Humanity Restore not far from me. They take an amazing list of items. Click on "schedule a pick up" to see the list. One of the guys in my neighborhood said they have great buys of new or gently used items also if you have any projects going on around the house. Hooray - I've found a place to take extra tools & hardware, appliances, building materials, etc. where someone will need them.
http://houstonhabitat.org/restore/
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MinusTwo- perfect timing ref the link to Habitat as we are cleaning out the garage this week. Thanks!!
Tools, appliances, window screens and storm windows, extra lumber, etc. Really like these things to go to people who need them
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MrsM--sounds like you are getting lots of garden work done! I'd love to see pics.
MinusTwo--There's a couple of Restore's around here, too, I never thought of using them for decluttering donations!Will have to check that out.
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So, this happened yesterday. DH has prepper leanings and could not resist free food grade containers. He picked up about 30! I have no idea where he’ll put them but I know he won’t be complaining about all my Tupperware for a while, lol
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Illimae, Hurricane supplies?
DH recently fixed our oven which had been unusable for over a year. According to the repair person, it required accessing the part from underneath the stove. DS told him it could be done from inside the oven and he was correct. So he opened the drawer under the oven and pulled out huge baking pans. Neither of us can imagine what we would use them for now. In the past, we hosted Thanksgiving and Christmas for the extended family, but don't want to do that now - and the family has scattered. He agreed that we could pull out all our pots and pans, get rid of half, and still have what we need. Now to set up a time to do this and get it done. It's the first time he's been willing to admit he's willing to part with any of them. Last I counted we had 5 large soup pots (for a family of 2). It would help if we could whittle that down to 2. Wish me success in setting aside time to get it done.
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Wren, Hurricane, zombie apocalypse, storage/supplies for our cabin. It was his birthday, so I said nothing and let him enjoy his new stuff 🙂
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Illimae— FOOD SAFE storage... oooohh I would have jumped on that. As I clean out the garage, I could fill up that new safe with those!!
I do try to keep a couple of weeks worth of food and water for the times power goes out for any extended black outs
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speaking of decluttering, anyone have a great place to get rid of extra cast iron pieces??? Want to keep a few but don’t need 20 if them
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Wrenn, my suggestion is to ask your husband if he has half an hour to go through the pots and pans. Or 20 minutes. Or even 15. I've found when I break something down into a manageable time frame for dh, it's easier for him to give me his time. If you work together for half an hour and are not done, ask him if he wants to finish another time, or take a break and continue or simply continue till you're done.
Oh, then I'd bake him his favorite dessert in that fixed oven! And thank him verbally numerous times for fixing the stove and taking time to sort the pots and pans with you. He will be more open to helping next time you ask! Our husbands often don't mind the work if we try to make it fun, and honestly, that's the right approach anyway.
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Dodgersgirl, I agree with some storage. I’ve always had a “disaster box”, for earthquakes, hurricanes, anything and these were filled with flavorings, so now his truck smells like caramel.
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Regarding Habitat Restore, they take ALOT and I have taken a lot of light fixtures when upgrading those, took spare carpeting from the original build of the house, Xmas stuff and more there. They are always glad to have donations, plus Habitat is one of my most favorite charities. Thank you Jimmy Carter!
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A setback for me: local school is no longer accepting books or any other donations.
This is so sad as this is where my kids went to school and is where I now teach.
As far as I know, all our donations have gone into classrooms. The 2nd grade teacher thanked me for the many books she received.
I may ask individual teachers if they want certain books.
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Illi--I would like to know where he plans to keep them, AND what he plans to keep IN them! Sometimes bulk storage is a good thing?
Wren--one of my winter projects will be going through the kitchen stuff.There's things I have never used tucked away in some places, time to get rid of those thing!
DodgersGirl--Good idea to keep a good supply of food and water on hand like that. As for cast iron pans--I put my collection together from second hand shops and yard sales. I have to admit I have a few cast iron pans in storage--just in case something happens to one of my currently in use ones. Like these EVER break!
Mominator--why would a school stop accepting donations?Could it possibly have everything they need?I just can't see that happening.
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Mominator - I agree - you should ask the individual teachers if they want your books. I can see where schools or other organizations might stop accepting donations. A while back I volunteered with an organization that held an annual used-book sale to raise money for scholarships. Some of the donations were just terrible where people donated unusable books - torn, falling apart, dusty or books that did not have a wide-appeal. Sometimes people use donations as a way to dump stuff rather than carefully sort through and donate the very nice things. So it was a lot of work because so many books just had to be tossed in the dumpster so that we could set up a nice book sale. I'm sure you understand what I am trying to say. So since you do have really nice books that appeal to kids, I would ask individually.
Illimae - hopefully, your husband has a good plan for those containers or can maybe share with the neighbors so everyone is ready for the next disaster!
We have been on the go so much lately that I haven't done a thing. My next goal is to clear out the clutter - the everyday kind - because maybe it will help me relax when I am home. We are empty-nesters (practically) so it should be easy to stay on top of it. My DH is neater than I am so I need to step it up.
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Native Mainer, We had a small cast iron frying pan develop a crack all the way thru the middle. We were astonished. Neither of us had ever heard of cast iron doing that.
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Wren44- had a friend who dropped an empty fry pan and it broke into 2 pieces.
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Wren--WOW--I have never heard of a cast iron pan developing a crack like that!
DodgersGirl--I never heard of that happening, either!
Just goes to show nothing is totally indestructible!
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Bear in mind that some of the older cast iron and cast iron brands are very collectible and people will pay nice prices for them.
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