Decluttering and lightening the load for the new year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes! Please post tips, ideas. I need inspiration. Empty nesters with a full attic of stuff and it must go. Having a hard time figuring out old kids art, photos, etc.

I took photos or scanned and had a book made of favorites on Shutterfly. I let the actual kids art go but can still enjoy looking at it.

And then you threw the hard-copy photos away, right? I do, but it horrifies my siblings, lol. But we have the albums and backups all around - no need to keep the paper.

I threw the art away. Others in the family wanted the physical photo, some have since been scanned. But, out of my house so a win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes! Please post tips, ideas. I need inspiration. Empty nesters with a full attic of stuff and it must go. Having a hard time figuring out old kids art, photos, etc.

I took photos or scanned and had a book made of favorites on Shutterfly. I let the actual kids art go but can still enjoy looking at it.

And then you threw the hard-copy photos away, right? I do, but it horrifies my siblings, lol. But we have the albums and backups all around - no need to keep the paper.

I threw the art away. Others in the family wanted the physical photo, some have since been scanned. But, out of my house so a win.

I’ve been the one in my family to scan thousands of photos, spanning 130 years, and have put together many, many Shutterfly albums for everyone. I even give them thumb drives of the scanned old photos. But the physical pictures are gone. It is so liberating.

[Anonymous]

Proofreading is a life skill

Pare (reduce)
Pair (two, duo)
Pear (fruit)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Proofreading is a life skill

Pare (reduce)
Pair (two, duo)
Pear (fruit)

Let’s declutter by having Jeff remove the above post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Proofreading is a life skill

Pare (reduce)
Pair (two, duo)
Pear (fruit)

Let’s declutter by having Jeff remove the above post.

Yep, useless.

[Anonymous]

I’m doing a full wall of my bedroom with a closet system. My room is a mess. I’m using all the closets in the whole house. I have to get it together this year

[Anonymous]

The trick to declutter is start with your purse (s) and your car. Most junk that don’t need is probably there and probably more than you expect. If you’re like me, you may also retrieve things you were once looking for too.

Then, go in this order:

1.Cabinets (kitchen cabinets top and bottom including pantry and bathroom cabinets will have most of the clutter here).

2.Closets (coat closet in foyer, linen closet, and all other closets in house).

3.Countertops (kitchen and bathroom vanity countertop)

4.Crawl Space and Garage (basement, attic, and garage-this is where most clutter or junk usually ends up)

Decluttering does not necessarily mean dumping items. It means organization. Things like caddies and clever shelving inside closets or cabinets can help declutter items

5.Tables (Kitchen, Dining, Nightstands, Office desk, coffee tables). Throw out all junk mail and other unneeded magazines or newspapers etc

[Anonymous]

Also, one of the best things against clutter is wall shelving. I think it’s crazy that wall mounted TV’s beat wall mounted closets.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I started maybe 6 months ago on becoming minimalist. I follow a couple FB people and one of them also has great YouTube videos. It is true that getting started is the hardest and then you gain momentum. I’m almost done with the things I can purge without my husband and kids’ permission, which is going to be a bigger challenge and I don’t plan to force.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Proofreading is a life skill

Pare (reduce)
Pair (two, duo)
Pear (fruit)

Let’s declutter by having Jeff remove the above post.

Yep, useless.

+1 Most likely we've all inadvertently used the wrong word at some point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The trick to declutter is start with your purse (s) and your car. Most junk that don’t need is probably there and probably more than you expect. If you’re like me, you may also retrieve things you were once looking for too.

Then, go in this order:

1.Cabinets (kitchen cabinets top and bottom including pantry and bathroom cabinets will have most of the clutter here).

2.Closets (coat closet in foyer, linen closet, and all other closets in house).

3.Countertops (kitchen and bathroom vanity countertop)

4.Crawl Space and Garage (basement, attic, and garage-this is where most clutter or junk usually ends up)

Decluttering does not necessarily mean dumping items. It means organization. Things like caddies and clever shelving inside closets or cabinets can help declutter items

5.Tables (Kitchen, Dining, Nightstands, Office desk, coffee tables). Throw out all junk mail and other unneeded magazines or newspapers etc

If you have a cluttered car, should you really be giving decluttering advice?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Give yourself permission to toss. Sometimes we are paralyzed because we see that the item “ could be useful to someone, sometime” and don’t want to get rid of it.

For paper, here’s the important thing. Do not bring it into the house if you don’t absolutely need it. I check my mail over the recycle bin - if I don’t need it it goes right in, or else if it’s something like a credit card offer that someone could take, I rip it into shreds and put it right in the trash in the kitchen. If you do need it, march it right upstairs to the filing cabinet that you will set up this year and put it away.

Today I just decluttered the entryway table because I needed to move it to have a dryer delivered. I also decluttered the stuff that sat on top of the old dryer. I also recently went through the pantry to figure out what baking supplies I had and tossed all the old items. I think the last time I did that was in 2020, so there was some stuff that was at least five years old that shouldn’t have stayed that long. I’m going to do better about not stockpiling so much stuff, which is a habit I had first after living overseas and having to deal with the commissary supply chain (if you see it, buy it because you never know when you’ll see it again) and then Covid. My shelves are so tight that I never really did that thing of putting the new things in the back and using them from the front.

After doing some big decluttering, make a resolution that this year you will go through your house every day and either put away or toss just five things.

The bolded is my problem. Especially if the items are hidden because I've stuffed everything in to drawers and closets. It's easy to just let the stuff stay there even though I know even the hidden clutter causes tension.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Give yourself permission to toss. Sometimes we are paralyzed because we see that the item “ could be useful to someone, sometime” and don’t want to get rid of it.

For paper, here’s the important thing. Do not bring it into the house if you don’t absolutely need it. I check my mail over the recycle bin - if I don’t need it it goes right in, or else if it’s something like a credit card offer that someone could take, I rip it into shreds and put it right in the trash in the kitchen. If you do need it, march it right upstairs to the filing cabinet that you will set up this year and put it away.

Today I just decluttered the entryway table because I needed to move it to have a dryer delivered. I also decluttered the stuff that sat on top of the old dryer. I also recently went through the pantry to figure out what baking supplies I had and tossed all the old items. I think the last time I did that was in 2020, so there was some stuff that was at least five years old that shouldn’t have stayed that long. I’m going to do better about not stockpiling so much stuff, which is a habit I had first after living overseas and having to deal with the commissary supply chain (if you see it, buy it because you never know when you’ll see it again) and then Covid. My shelves are so tight that I never really did that thing of putting the new things in the back and using them from the front.

After doing some big decluttering, make a resolution that this year you will go through your house every day and either put away or toss just five things.

The bolded is my problem. Especially if the items are hidden because I've stuffed everything in to drawers and closets. It's easy to just let the stuff stay there even though I know even the hidden clutter causes tension.

If this is you, donate. If the item could be useful to someone, it’s much more likely to get into that person’s hands at Goodwill than shoved in one of my drawers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:YES. I need to do this. Our tiny home is so terribly cluttered and my husband never wants to throw anything away. Please someone give me strength!

I admit I have PLENTY of stuff that needs to be pared down, but my darling husband has the most and refuses to part with any of it. He wants to have everything that might ever be needed for any and every situation. It's part of his self-identity, that he is a frugal person who wastes nothing. Most of the time he can't find the items when the situations do arise.

[Anonymous]

There’s a lot of good decluttering content on youtube. I like to watch it while decluttering. It keeps me motivated to keep going and it keeps me company, like body doubling. Minimal Mom and Dana K White are my favorites.