January Declutter & Organize

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:-Stop asking “do I need this?” and instead ask “can I live without this item? If I did not have this item what would I use instead?”

-get rid of any non-seasonal item you haven’t used in 3 months.

-get rid of any holiday/seasonal item you did not use the previous season.

-don’t get bogged down with the best place to sell or donate your crap. If it’s quick and easy to sell or donate, fine. But otherwise just trash it so you don’t lose momentum/motivation. The real goal is to get decluttered so that you feel the reward and don’t seek new stuff. It’s a pattern shift.

What if you can't get past the idea of throwing everything in the trash? I'm not a hoarder by any means, am basically organized, but when faced with the detritus of modern living, I hate to think of it sitting in a landfill.

So ... you would rather have it sitting in your house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My top tip is not to purchase a single "organizing product" until you fully fully declutter. You don't need to organize your stuff, you need to purge it.

+1 million and what reputable organizers will advise

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I follow a gal on instagram, and her big thing - it isn't YOU, it's your systems. So adjust your systems to your life.

For example, she is really big on mini trash cans. Where does trash pile up at your house? Maybe beside the sofa in the family room? Put a mini trash container (its like a small 4"x4" box) and leave it there. Now you can drop all your candy wrappers or whatever in there, and it still looks tidier and is easy to dump out.

Or if you have a landing zone at your front/back door where you leave everything. Instead of trying to train yourself to put it all away, just find a system that organizes it where you drop it. So a little system that has a hook for your keys, a container for your important mail, one for your junk mail, a basket with mitts/gloves, a place for your sunglasses, etc.

For the example here, it's not the systems, it's YOU. Mini trashcans all over your house? That's pretty pathetic. You get up and put your trash in the trash can. And no food anywhere besides kitchen or dining room, so no worries about candy wrappers all over your couch (FFS). I have trashcans for bathrooms (and I actually walk all period stuff to the kitchen trash), and a small one near the dryer for lint. It's pretty easy if you don't leave trash all over your house.

+1

If you are regularly sitting on the couch eating candy and to lazy to get up and take the wrappers to the trash ... then you have bigger problems than "your systems" lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agreed! I am on the 'mental' hunt for a way to store my holiday napkins and tablecloths. I keep veering back to a plastic boot box. Already have it - so it won't cost anything.

Why does anyone need more than one Christmas tablecloth?

They have more than one table?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agreed! I am on the 'mental' hunt for a way to store my holiday napkins and tablecloths. I keep veering back to a plastic boot box. Already have it - so it won't cost anything.

Why does anyone need more than one Christmas tablecloth?

They have more than one table?

I use tablecloths every day. Christmas lasts at least four weeks in our house. I’m not using the same tablecloth every day for four weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m trying to get my digital crap in order this year. I screen shot a lot on Mac and iPhone and all my storage is maxed out. My Gmail is at 75% full.

I recently went through and moved all my loose Mac screenshots from various folders into one “Screenshots” folder. The were like 1000 screenshots! The idea is I can go through and sort or delete a batch here and there. Today I worked on deleting email and unsubscribing from most things. I have almost 50k in the “All Mail” Gmail folder. Don’t get me started on browser bookmarks…. I don’t even know what to do there. I think I have undiagnosed ADHD.

One tip I read and liked for digital photos is to look at your "photos on this day" from previous years each day and delete ones you don't need. It's a pretty quick daily exercise vs. trying to "declutter" years worth of photos (and you're mentally/emotionally removed from the photos vs. ones you took this week).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:-Stop asking “do I need this?” and instead ask “can I live without this item? If I did not have this item what would I use instead?”

-get rid of any non-seasonal item you haven’t used in 3 months.

-get rid of any holiday/seasonal item you did not use the previous season.

-don’t get bogged down with the best place to sell or donate your crap. If it’s quick and easy to sell or donate, fine. But otherwise just trash it so you don’t lose momentum/motivation. The real goal is to get decluttered so that you feel the reward and don’t seek new stuff. It’s a pattern shift.

What if you can't get past the idea of throwing everything in the trash? I'm not a hoarder by any means, am basically organized, but when faced with the detritus of modern living, I hate to think of it sitting in a landfill.

If it is clean, and functional, then just donate it if you don't want to take the time to sell it.

If it isn't- if it "could be cleaned up" or "someone could fix it and then use it" but you can't do it right now - then effectively YOUR home has become the landfill. Don't let your house be the dumping place for junk you can't clean and fix. You can offer it up for free on Buy Nothing or on your curb "Free to a good home - needs repair!" but if no one wants it free that's because it is junk.

Send it to the landfill if you can't recycle it. And resolve to stop buying so much junk in the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:-Stop asking “do I need this?” and instead ask “can I live without this item? If I did not have this item what would I use instead?”

-get rid of any non-seasonal item you haven’t used in 3 months.

-get rid of any holiday/seasonal item you did not use the previous season.

-don’t get bogged down with the best place to sell or donate your crap. If it’s quick and easy to sell or donate, fine. But otherwise just trash it so you don’t lose momentum/motivation. The real goal is to get decluttered so that you feel the reward and don’t seek new stuff. It’s a pattern shift.

What if you can't get past the idea of throwing everything in the trash? I'm not a hoarder by any means, am basically organized, but when faced with the detritus of modern living, I hate to think of it sitting in a landfill.

You have to get past it. Give yourself permission and then vow to buy less and contribute less to the landfill. Sometimes you have to trash things. If you've ever cleaned out an entire house, you know there's just no getting around it. Also, I used to volunteer at a thrift shop. No one wants broken, incomplete, ripped, moldy, smelly or stained things, even people who can't afford more. There are some things that need to be thrown away. It's not healthy to hand onto things in the hope if their future use by someone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agreed! I am on the 'mental' hunt for a way to store my holiday napkins and tablecloths. I keep veering back to a plastic boot box. Already have it - so it won't cost anything.

Why does anyone need more than one Christmas tablecloth?

They have more than one table?

I use tablecloths every day. Christmas lasts at least four weeks in our house. I’m not using the same tablecloth every day for four weeks.

Interesting. I wasn’t aware people used tablecloths for normal days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I follow a gal on instagram, and her big thing - it isn't YOU, it's your systems. So adjust your systems to your life.

For example, she is really big on mini trash cans. Where does trash pile up at your house? Maybe beside the sofa in the family room? Put a mini trash container (its like a small 4"x4" box) and leave it there. Now you can drop all your candy wrappers or whatever in there, and it still looks tidier and is easy to dump out.

Or if you have a landing zone at your front/back door where you leave everything. Instead of trying to train yourself to put it all away, just find a system that organizes it where you drop it. So a little system that has a hook for your keys, a container for your important mail, one for your junk mail, a basket with mitts/gloves, a place for your sunglasses, etc.

The trash thing is so weird. That isn't a "declutter and organize" thing. It's for people who can't be bothered to clean up after themselves.

Not that OP necessarily knows this or meant this, but I think "declutter" is mainly a euphemism these days used by hoarders and the industry that has built up around helping them -- there is a woman at my church who is a hoarder who keeps getting new people to help her every time an apt complex threatens to evict her. She keeps posting "decluttering" tips. She literally has a house full of trash -- much of it years-old receipts. People are definitely "decluttering" trash.

No. Normal people need to declutter somewhat regularly to keep things organized. It’s not a high process if you stay on top of it. A drawer here, a closet there. Some places attract more clutter than others. For us it’s a couple drawers in the kitchen and the linen closet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:-Stop asking “do I need this?” and instead ask “can I live without this item? If I did not have this item what would I use instead?”

-get rid of any non-seasonal item you haven’t used in 3 months.

-get rid of any holiday/seasonal item you did not use the previous season.

-don’t get bogged down with the best place to sell or donate your crap. If it’s quick and easy to sell or donate, fine. But otherwise just trash it so you don’t lose momentum/motivation. The real goal is to get decluttered so that you feel the reward and don’t seek new stuff. It’s a pattern shift.

What if you can't get past the idea of throwing everything in the trash? I'm not a hoarder by any means, am basically organized, but when faced with the detritus of modern living, I hate to think of it sitting in a landfill.

You have to get past it. Give yourself permission and then vow to buy less and contribute less to the landfill. Sometimes you have to trash things. If you've ever cleaned out an entire house, you know there's just no getting around it. Also, I used to volunteer at a thrift shop. No one wants broken, incomplete, ripped, moldy, smelly or stained things, even people who can't afford more. There are some things that need to be thrown away. It's not healthy to hand onto things in the hope if their future use by someone.

I have a hard time with the landfill thing too. I try to deal with it by giving away a reasonable amount and then buying less. DH and I try to see if we can keep our trash can at 50% every week when we put it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agreed! I am on the 'mental' hunt for a way to store my holiday napkins and tablecloths. I keep veering back to a plastic boot box. Already have it - so it won't cost anything.

Why does anyone need more than one Christmas tablecloth?

They have more than one table?

I use tablecloths every day. Christmas lasts at least four weeks in our house. I’m not using the same tablecloth every day for four weeks.

Interesting. I wasn’t aware people used tablecloths for normal days.

NP. We have a very expensive dining room table. We use runners and placemats to protect the table.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agreed! I am on the 'mental' hunt for a way to store my holiday napkins and tablecloths. I keep veering back to a plastic boot box. Already have it - so it won't cost anything.

When I had space in my coat closet, I folded them and put them on hangers. But for seasonal ones I would probably pack them with my holiday decorations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:-Stop asking “do I need this?” and instead ask “can I live without this item? If I did not have this item what would I use instead?”

-get rid of any non-seasonal item you haven’t used in 3 months.

-get rid of any holiday/seasonal item you did not use the previous season.

-don’t get bogged down with the best place to sell or donate your crap. If it’s quick and easy to sell or donate, fine. But otherwise just trash it so you don’t lose momentum/motivation. The real goal is to get decluttered so that you feel the reward and don’t seek new stuff. It’s a pattern shift.

What if you can't get past the idea of throwing everything in the trash? I'm not a hoarder by any means, am basically organized, but when faced with the detritus of modern living, I hate to think of it sitting in a landfill.

You have to get past it. Give yourself permission and then vow to buy less and contribute less to the landfill. Sometimes you have to trash things. If you've ever cleaned out an entire house, you know there's just no getting around it. Also, I used to volunteer at a thrift shop. No one wants broken, incomplete, ripped, moldy, smelly or stained things, even people who can't afford more. There are some things that need to be thrown away. It's not healthy to hand onto things in the hope if their future use by someone.

This. The money is gone and you aren’t getting it back. If you aren’t using the item, it does no good to store it. Let it go and use your distaste for putting items in a landfill to prevent you from buying needless items in the future. When you actually put forth the effort to purge, it really does have an effect on your future buying behavior. I literally picture myself needing to clean/store/get rid of an item before I buy it, in order to decide if I should acquire it or not. It’s harder when you are financially well off because the initial cash outlay is not a deterrent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:-Stop asking “do I need this?” and instead ask “can I live without this item? If I did not have this item what would I use instead?”

-get rid of any non-seasonal item you haven’t used in 3 months.

-get rid of any holiday/seasonal item you did not use the previous season.

-don’t get bogged down with the best place to sell or donate your crap. If it’s quick and easy to sell or donate, fine. But otherwise just trash it so you don’t lose momentum/motivation. The real goal is to get decluttered so that you feel the reward and don’t seek new stuff. It’s a pattern shift.

What if you can't get past the idea of throwing everything in the trash? I'm not a hoarder by any means, am basically organized, but when faced with the detritus of modern living, I hate to think of it sitting in a landfill.

I remind myself even I donate it it will still likely end up in the landfill. Same with recycling- most of what we put in the recycling bin does not get recycled. To truly prevent this stop buying junk. Buy quality over quantity.