Drowning in stuff, finally time to tackle but how to not be overwhelmed? Anyone do this before?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You take one area of room and clean. Have three boxes;. 1. Throw away 2. Keep. 3. Not sure. Clean in 30 minutes increments. Take a break and go back. Get that area cleaned and move into next. I have a relative who was a hoarder and two of us cleaned her 12-room house this way in five days

Op here, that is fast! And inspiring!
"Not sure" boxes help me in the moment, and I need that now. One problem is I am bad about going back to them. I'm sure there are some in my attic from past cleanups.

[Anonymous]

We all are drowning with stuff and want a cleaner home. That is what unites DCUM. No SAHM or WOHM issues here. Clutter and chaos unites us.

Can we all agree to buy less stuff also for just a few weeks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d start with a pencil and paper think through a strategy before you get sucked into the mess of distractions. Think about what you want you house to be, how you want it to flow, with. Also list the things you know are packed and determine where you want them.

Determine which room you need functioning first and get that room sorted before moving on.

Always have a set of bins while you are sorting and take out the trash regurally.

Op again, yes, today is strategy day and any cleaning/organizing is a bonus! Tomorrow and parts of Sunday the family is here to help, so I need to set the stage to make that as efficient as possible. We decided that if we are productive tomorrow we will do a fun outing on Saturday.

I have the dishwasher and washing machine going, so I feel productive already!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We all are drowning with stuff and want a cleaner home. That is what unites DCUM. No SAHM or WOHM issues here. Clutter and chaos unites us.

Can we all agree to buy less stuff also for just a few weeks?

Yes! Although you'd never believe it, I don't buy very much stuff at all, except for food and kid activities (which I guess is a lot, cue Boy Scout camping pile in the corner). That's the only reason I'm not literally drowning; I'm really frugal. I have inherited too much for our space, though, and the old house barely has closets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you know how I clean my house? I entertain large groups of people. I have to clean up then to host. It is extremely stressful but if I don't do that, I am quite capable of becoming an extreme hoarder. I am at heart a filthy and lazy person. Cleaning and throwing away things are hard for me. I just put myself into extreme situations to clean. Right now, I have three days left to clean my house before a big party. Do you even know how stressed I am?

OP - you have it. You got it. Do only one box at a time. Only one box. If you want to cheat and throw the content of one box in another so that you can feel you have cleaned out one box - well, in my books, even that counts.

How am I going to clean today? In about 1 hour, I will get to cleaning. I take "before and after pics" of every place I clean on my smartphone. Initially, I clean the 'already clean' spaces, and just move clutter from all the rooms to one room. That way, visually I feel I have clean space and I have cleaned many rooms.

Then, I basically do the same for the clutter-dump room. I work from one quadrant at a time. My mantra is "A yard is hard, but an inch is a cinch"

So, I will clean with specific things in mind. I will clean only one drawer. I will bag only one ziplock bag of bits and bobs. I will recycle only two containers worth of stuff. I will give away only 3 bags of laundry. I will put away only 10 things out of place. I am able to clean when some areas are very clean and all the clutter is in one room.

You can do Marie Kondo too. I use Marie Kondo for only doing all the clothes and it is very, very effective for clothes. Last time was 3 years ago.

Cleaning, decluttering, organizing, making space, repurposing, salvaging - all of these are different tasks.

OP again. This is great! We will work together! We hosted big dinners monthly before covid, not so much lately. That was helpful. Though with short time we sometimes did shove all the clutter to the clutter room.

I'm embarrassed to have photos exist of this state, but maybe that'll help.

I just scheduled Green Drop for next week!
Will listen to A Slob Comes Clean at lunch.

A yard is hard but an inch is a cinch, I like it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of your overflow space (attic) is filled with other people's stuff. (I can relate! My MIL did the same thing.) Ask them to come get it or offer to put it in storage for them.

Start with one room. Have a box for donations, a box for moving upstairs, a trash bag, and a recycling bag.

When it comes to sentimentality, give yourself a big box for kid's artwork or whatever you want to keep. Visualize what you want the box to look like in 10 years when the kids are gone. Do you want reams and reams of school assignments or just a few favorite pieces in there? As you chuck the excess, feel happy while you do it. Think, "aw, how cute," and have a little moment enjoying the memories. You're not getting rid of your memories or your love. You're just choosing which pieces will best represent it in a finite amount of space.

Good point. I am resenting the amount of stuff dumped on me, so I don't want to do that to my kids. One set of grandparents left only a couple small things so those are treasure. The boxes and boxes from my parents and that other side of the family are not. Thank you. -OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh I am the PP and I want to add one more tip that I believe in.

If you are going to have any boxes or totes that are going to stay as storage, get a p-touch labeler or a sharpie and label it with EVERYTHING that’s in there. Not “parent stuff,” not “Christmas.” My darling mother whom I love and who is fabulous and successful has boxes in the attic labeled “attic” which gives me hives. Instead, the box should have ten labels on it that say:
“Mom’s cookbooks”
“Dad’s sewing box”
“Mom’s needlepoint samplers”
“Unidentified old Christmas cards”
“Two crystal goblets that belonged to great grandmother”

That might feel weird or uncomfortable while you’re doing it, but it really, really helps later on. Even if this is all you do, it will be valuable work at some point in my opinion. But this is just my opinion.

Alternatively you number the boxes and then keep a record of what is in each numbered box. The record can be updated, which is great. It can also be lost or not easily available to others, which is not great.

[Anonymous]

Take trash items out immediately and put donation stuff in car. Once car is full drive up to goodwill and clear out all the stuff. And repeat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh I am the PP and I want to add one more tip that I believe in.

If you are going to have any boxes or totes that are going to stay as storage, get a p-touch labeler or a sharpie and label it with EVERYTHING that’s in there. Not “parent stuff,” not “Christmas.” My darling mother whom I love and who is fabulous and successful has boxes in the attic labeled “attic” which gives me hives. Instead, the box should have ten labels on it that say:
“Mom’s cookbooks”
“Dad’s sewing box”
“Mom’s needlepoint samplers”
“Unidentified old Christmas cards”
“Two crystal goblets that belonged to great grandmother”

That might feel weird or uncomfortable while you’re doing it, but it really, really helps later on. Even if this is all you do, it will be valuable work at some point in my opinion. But this is just my opinion.

Alternatively you number the boxes and then keep a record of what is in each numbered box. The record can be updated, which is great. It can also be lost or not easily available to others, which is not great.

This is a good point, but there is something for me about being able to just look at the boxes and see what is in them. The p-touch labels are easy to update. But they can also fall off so definitely no perfect system.

[Anonymous]

1. Set a pickup from Greendrop or some other source. Having a deadline to put stuff out for them is motivating.
2. Clear one out of the way space for your sorting boxes.
3. Start on one living area that will make the most difference - living room, kitchen, etc. Work on finding a home for every thing
4. Get others on board - I tell my kids the donation boxes are going out on x day and they should put anything they don’t want from their rooms into this specific box (in the sorting area)
5. Do the short term stuff that’s yours before tackling the long term.
6. Tell anyone whose stuff you are storing that the purge is happening because you need space so if they want it back then they need to come get it.
7. In the thick of it, never leave a room without carrying out something that doesn’t belong there. When entering a room and put away something you see that is out of place.

[Anonymous]

Not the OP but I think I get stuck keeping stuff for several reasons:

fear that I'll get rid of something and regret it later
indecision about giving away something that might have value (but not eager to take the time or effort to try to sell)
procrastination because we're not selling or moving any time soon

Any advice on overcoming those thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not the OP but I think I get stuck keeping stuff for several reasons:

fear that I'll get rid of something and regret it later
indecision about giving away something that might have value (but not eager to take the time or effort to try to sell)
procrastination because we're not selling or moving any time soon

Any advice on overcoming those thoughts?

Storing things has a cost. Even if they are in your house, they are taking up space that you pay for and can’t then use any other way. I think of getting rid of things I might need later as paying Amazon to store them. Instead of continually adding storage costs, I agree to maybe one day pay the replacement cost.

You don’t need to be like that if your things are happily stored in your storage spaces because you don’t have more stuff than space. But if they’re not, that’s one way to think about it. It’s so, so much easier to replace things now in terms of time and ability to find them than pre-internet when you had to drive around and hope a store had something. So just pay the “fee” and get them out of your way.

[Anonymous]

Don’t pay mortgage for junk and clutter. Reclaim the space in your house, the beautiful clean empty spaces for yourself. Be kind to yourself, don’t be kind to things what do not have value for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not the OP but I think I get stuck keeping stuff for several reasons:

fear that I'll get rid of something and regret it later
indecision about giving away something that might have value (but not eager to take the time or effort to try to sell)
procrastination because we're not selling or moving any time soon

Any advice on overcoming those thoughts?

Storing things has a cost. Even if they are in your house, they are taking up space that you pay for and can’t then use any other way. I think of getting rid of things I might need later as paying Amazon to store them. Instead of continually adding storage costs, I agree to maybe one day pay the replacement cost.

You don’t need to be like that if your things are happily stored in your storage spaces because you don’t have more stuff than space. But if they’re not, that’s one way to think about it. It’s so, so much easier to replace things now in terms of time and ability to find them than pre-internet when you had to drive around and hope a store had something. So just pay the “fee” and get them out of your way.

Good idea! I love this way of thinking. I will be happy to get rid of clothes this way.

[Anonymous]

Start with low hanging fruit. Find a part of the house that is particularly bugging you, and do whatever you can to make the most immediate impact. The momentum from seeing improvement right away will help keep you going.