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Decluttering is one thing; how do you keep the clutter gone?
- Thread starter bounceswoosh
- Start date
bounceswoosh
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
We have a waist high shredder. It's fantastic. Even does credit cards!
surfsnowgirl
Banned
Great ideas here. Was just looking at our shoe bin and its now overloaded which means all our shoes from upstairs have migrated downstairs, I know what I'm doing this saturday. I need to find a place to put a corkboard, love that idea.
MI-skier
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Has anyone read, "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying up"? I got an a-ha moment and now while trying to clean, I am de-cluttering and preventing the clutter from piling up. The biggest thing was, does this give me joy? Do these t-shirts that I keep packing/unpacking for the past 5 years give me joy? Then why the heck am I holding on the them? (Used to feel nostalgic/momento from the past). Would having the space and not having to deal with them give me greater joy? ....into the donation box.
Husband's clutter, I give a warning and then toss out what I don't like. Also agree w/posting above that everything must have it's place.
This may be a tad OCD but I also am about being efficient as much as possible. I only buy the same brand/type of socks. That way I don't have to sort them. I hated putting laundry in a bin only to pull everything back out. DH built a 4 tier basket holder and dirty laundry goes right into the basket, when full, wash.
This IS really OCD, I marked polarized plugs so I automatically know which way the plug goes into the wall v/s having to check every morning.
Just helps my world.
Husband's clutter, I give a warning and then toss out what I don't like. Also agree w/posting above that everything must have it's place.
This may be a tad OCD but I also am about being efficient as much as possible. I only buy the same brand/type of socks. That way I don't have to sort them. I hated putting laundry in a bin only to pull everything back out. DH built a 4 tier basket holder and dirty laundry goes right into the basket, when full, wash.
This IS really OCD, I marked polarized plugs so I automatically know which way the plug goes into the wall v/s having to check every morning.
Just helps my world.
DeweySki
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I'm surprised no one has mentioned this yet, but have you gone paperless on your bills? That one has helped a lot for us. The only paper bill I get is the water bill because it compares our usage year over year and compares to the average household usage for the city. The low volume of mail is ideal for our "Deal with it immediately" policy of once you get the mail, sort it, toss the junk, and put appropriate items on other person's desk. This way it doesn't linger near the entryway, or even worse, the kitchen counter.
surfsnowgirl
Banned
I am all about paperless. I think our only paper bill is the water bill also. Much of the paperwork/mail we get is junk but we still have some legitimate mail aside from that such as as car tax notices, recall notices for vehicles, renewal notices for car registration and drivers licenses, stuff like that. Its amazing how much paper is still out there. Our recycle bin is overflowing each week.
DeweySki
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
In a similar vein, I have a pretty strict, "One in, One out" policy for clothing and shoes. It doesn't have to be an exact one-for-one though--usually it's more like buy a new pair of jeans and get rid of an old ratty tee shirt. I am still trying to downsize, but this routine ensures that I'm not slowly and unconsciously adding more stuff to my life and to the house. If we think about how much time and energy we use just to keep our "stuff" organized, owning fewer items starts to look more and more appealing.
Moving to CA helped. Our temps only range from about 40 to 85, so I was able to get rid of most of my wool sweaters (it just never gets that cold) and most of my sundresses (it just never gets that hot). It also helps that my work attire is pretty casual (okay, super casual. Jeans and hoodie is totally acceptable), so I don't have to have two sets of clothing for work and play.
This policy does not apply to ski clothing or gear.
bounceswoosh
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Oh, man. I thought I was the only one. This, plus the 10-ish different piles I sort my laundry into, has resulted in a large number of plastic stacking drawers used just to store separate types of laundry.
DH seems to like having paper, but I'll ask him about this again. I get almost no paper bills, which unfortunately means that when I do get mail, it tends to sit around because I'm pretty sure it's not urgent.
WaterGirl
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
@MI-skier thanks for sharing the book of "KonMari" magic..... reading the book this weekend, its more than just a way to de-clutter - more of a mindset. Makes it easy to part with items you "think" you really need to keep.... that gift you have no use for, that old t-shirt etc. Slowly getting the rest of the family to see the light..... had been spring cleaning anyway so a very timely read.
MI-skier
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Glad it helped. It's a quick, enlightening...ok, I'll say it...and en"joy"able to read.@MI-skier thanks for sharing the book of "KonMari" magic..... reading the book this weekend, its more than just a way to de-clutter - more of a mindset. Makes it easy to part with items you "think" you really need to keep.... that gift you have no use for, that old t-shirt etc. Slowly getting the rest of the family to see the light..... had been spring cleaning anyway so a very timely read.
Same here. I'm paperless on statements, but that doesn't stop everyone from mailing me all sorts of other nonsense...
snowski/swimmouse
Angel Diva
Yes, , I did this, too and it's a help for sure!
But, I'm still a clutter queen. I'm super sentimental and find it very difficult to part with things. After my parents died, I brought things here from VT & FL with the idea of keeping their stuff and getting rid of mine, but I never can seem to find the time to go through it all. Ski stuff, as someone else said, doesn't count!
gardenmary
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
The house is pretty much decluttered; I do need to put the tax stuff in the storage unit. I was going to try to clear that out before finishing grad school in Berkeley but it's not gonna happen.
The garage, however - it's organized, but I do need to get rid of the junk before I hand the house over to my tenant in August. Hoping to just be able to donate the useable stuff in one pickup. Then I am hoping that living in a 600 SF apartment in Berkeley for a year will cure me of needing pretty much anything still at my house, lol.
The garage, however - it's organized, but I do need to get rid of the junk before I hand the house over to my tenant in August. Hoping to just be able to donate the useable stuff in one pickup. Then I am hoping that living in a 600 SF apartment in Berkeley for a year will cure me of needing pretty much anything still at my house, lol.
The funny thing is that I don't trust the mail. At least when I pay online I can check the account status and everything. If I have to mail anything anymore I'm like EEK, I hope the post office doesn't lose it.
Inoffensive Nickname
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Long story involving travel, illness, caring for aging parents, and building a house, and we ended up with several years' worth of clutter. We had planned on hiring a rolloff container this summer to get rid of the clutter. A failed sump pump last week hastened the process. Our basement was a computer graveyard (among other things) and we found a recycler to take all the components off our hands. We lost a lot of "stuff' but during the process, we are learning that it's just stuff. TBH, I would say that we are minor hoarders, so we set rules for ourselves regarding what to keep and what to throw. For me, awards, achievements, etc. in paper (except for diplomas and transcripts), unless professionally mounted, get tossed. Saving all photographs, CDs, hard books, and art supplies that didn't get ruined. If we haven't worn it or used it in over a year, it goes.
In order to maintain the neatness, we plan on decluttering annually and handling every piece of mail as it comes in. I think for us, over the past however many years, we've just been unable to decide what to keep and what to toss and a job so large has been overwhelming. One of the things that bothers me is the sheer amount of junk mail that comes in. I am estimating that for every legitimate piece of mail that comes in (1 or 2 bills that can't be done electronically, and a few trade magazines), we receive 20 pieces of junk mail. I get credit offers from Capital One at least once a week (and if they can afford to waste that much paper, I don't think I want to deal with them anyway).
As of last night, I have been through every box in my house, and thrown away (or freecycled) a great deal of clutter.
In order to maintain the neatness, we plan on decluttering annually and handling every piece of mail as it comes in. I think for us, over the past however many years, we've just been unable to decide what to keep and what to toss and a job so large has been overwhelming. One of the things that bothers me is the sheer amount of junk mail that comes in. I am estimating that for every legitimate piece of mail that comes in (1 or 2 bills that can't be done electronically, and a few trade magazines), we receive 20 pieces of junk mail. I get credit offers from Capital One at least once a week (and if they can afford to waste that much paper, I don't think I want to deal with them anyway).
As of last night, I have been through every box in my house, and thrown away (or freecycled) a great deal of clutter.
bounceswoosh
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Erp. One of these days I need to go through our piles of computer equipment in the basement. Much of it is empty or near-empty cases, and hard drives we hadn't gotten around to smashing.
