Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it's a misc box of stuff you need to sort, you really don't need to sort. Glance in the box and "save" anything that seems special. Otherwise, throw-out. Whatever was in there and got thrown-out, you'll never know. And that's ok.

Agree with this. Especially if it’s a box that has been sealed up for months or years. If you haven’t touched something in 6 months to a year, there should be a very strong presumption that it needs to go. It doesn’t matter that it’s “good.” You don’t use it and you don’t need it. The exception would be sentimental things, but you need to have a plan to save only the best things and have a plan to make them accessible.

Anonymous wrote:Some categories of stuff I approach this way: How much space should Christmas take up in my home? I'm willing to devote 5 large bins to Christmas because that's what fits (in a particular closet, for example) So that's it. I don't need to figure out a way to store all the Christmas stuff I might have/acquire. Instead, I have 5 bins. When those are full, that's it. No more. I get rid or and purge, even stuff I like, in order to make it fit.

This is similar to when we sent DD off to college: We're mailing-ahead 4 boxes. These 4 boxes. What do you want to put in them? This is the "volume" of stuff that's getting sent.

Anonymous wrote:If it's a misc box of stuff you need to sort, you really don't need to sort. Glance in the box and "save" anything that seems special. Otherwise, throw-out. Whatever was in there and got thrown-out, you'll never know. And that's ok.

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.

Anonymous wrote:I would tell the parents they have until December 31, 2022 to take anything they want, back; otherwise you will sell/donate it as you wish but you're not keeping it. And then I'd put it all to the side.

Other than that, I'd use the touch once method as much as possible. The second I have two bags/boxes worth of stuff to donate or throw away I'd use my next break to go do that. Even though it'll be a lot of trips, getting crap out of the house is really important - you can't take stuff out of the boxes, you can't just push it all to one side, etc.

Anonymous wrote:Done is better than perfect.

What I do is: drink a coffee, put on some music or an interesting podcast to keep me entertained, and get to work on one area--pick a small-ish area to start out like the kitchen counter or a bookshelf and then once you get some momentum going you can expand to a larger area at a time like a whole closet -- I go through and sort items into 4 piles: items to keep, items to donate to Goodwill or wherever you donate things, items to pass on to a family member/friend, items to throw out. If it seems overwhelming or like you're creating an even bigger mess, maybe take a short break but I've found that the break should be only about 5-10 mins because any longer and you'll just give up entirely.

Paper is the hardest thing for me. I'm a very sentimental person and have a hard time getting rid of things my kids created or things related to their school work or cards/notes I've received. So for those sentimental items I display a few of my favorites on the fridge or on the wall of my kids' rooms and then I limit myself to a small box per kid (that is kept under their bed) for any additional art work and school work that's special and one small box for me for letters/cards I'd like to save. And I take a picture of each thing that I wind up discarding before I recycle/trash it. I'll probably never do anything w/ those pictures again (I have seen a website where you can create a book of your kids' art but I doubt I'd ever actually do that) but it makes it easier for me to throw the art away knowing I have at least kept a picture of it. Then we have a file box where we keep important papers/documents stored. I have a file for each family member w/ birth certificates, passports, etc. and then a file for the house, the cars, health stuff, insurance stuff, etc. so it's easy to keep that stuff organized and always know to put it back in the same spot so we don't lose it.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+1. I’m a reformed slob. This is exactly what I’d suggest too. Make a plan for what needs to go where & find a way to delegate.

I’d start practical and start with stuff that makes it easier to get out the door:
Work bag/school bags: dump everything and organize/streamline contents. Create a spot for all of this to get parked once sorted (hooks near door, repurpose a coat closet, etc)
Gym/sports: each person gets a bag that holds all the stuff they need for each activity (shoes, balls, rackets, etc). Label the bags and make sure there is an easy place for this stuff to land (hooks/cubbies near door/repurposed coat closet etc.) - and if stinky athletic clothes are involved, make a laundry hamper available nearby.
Lunch stuff: organize and sort bags/storage containers, create self-serve area where kids can DIY their lunches assuming they’re old enough
Paperwork: open any unopened mail, toss what you can and create a prioritized pile of admin for the rest. Label separate piles for you/spouse/kids and delegate responsibility to others as much as possible.

Create covered donation bins to keep in garage or basement. As soon as you don’t want something, into the bin it goes. Cover them up so that your kids/spouse don’t walk by and gain renewed interest and ‘rescue’ un-needed stuff. As those bins fill, drop them off. Ferrying donations to goodwill etc is a great task for people to do when they ask how they can help. My teen did 40 of her required learner’s permit hours driving stuff to the dump when we had to clean out my parents’ house.

Dealing with the above will help create time and control messes, preventing them from snowballing.

As you have bandwidth, go room by room or even corner by corner, following your game plan to relocate items to areas better-suited places. Seeing improvement will help you gain confidence and a sense of progress, so target high-visibility places first.