Some decluttering questions: WWYD with this stuff?

[melissel]

I'm decluttering tonight while the kids are away :party:

 

I'm wondering what to do with these things:

 

1) A rather large tin of buttons. Is there any value in keeping this? I always feel like I should save this kind of thing for crafts, fixing pockets, etc., but I never, ever use them. And it's a LOT of buttons!

 

2) Dress-up clothes. We have a lot of dresses and outfits, and they do get used fairly often. Right now they're stored in a big Rubbermaid-type bin that stays open in the playroom. But since it's in an awkward spot and taking up space in what will now be a schoolroom, and because it's overflowing, I'm trying to think of alternatives. We used to hang them up, but that caused problems with them never getting put away. Any other ideas?

 

3) Things that have sentimental value, but that don't really have a place anywhere. DH wants to save newspapers from the NYC blackout and commemorating 9/11, both of which I was in the city for. He also has random things like a very old pack of playing cards that are still in their plastic and box. What do I do with this stuff?

 

I'm making good progress here, but it's the indecision over these little things that ALWAYS hang up my decluttering process. Please help save me from myself :lol:

[Luckymama]

Dress-ups: we have a peg thingie hanging behind dd10's bedroom door where we hang up dress-ups. It has maybe 8 or so long pegs. She has multiple dresses or hats or bags hanging on each peg.

 

Can't help you with the other stuff :)

[Rosie_0801]

1) A rather large tin of buttons. Is there any value in keeping this? I always feel like I should save this kind of thing for crafts, fixing pockets, etc., but I never, ever use them. And it's a LOT of buttons!

 

Make better intentions? :D Buttons always stay around here, but if you don't want them, take them to the thrift shop.

 

2) Dress-up clothes. We have a lot of dresses and outfits, and they do get used fairly often. Right now they're stored in a big Rubbermaid-type bin that stays open in the playroom. But since it's in an awkward spot and taking up space in what will now be a schoolroom, and because it's overflowing, I'm trying to think of alternatives. We used to hang them up, but that caused problems with them never getting put away. Any other ideas?

 

Can they be kept in whoever they fit's room? Is there room in the linen cupboard? Under the kitchen table?

 

3) Things that have sentimental value, but that don't really have a place anywhere. DH wants to save newspapers from the NYC blackout and commemorating 9/11, both of which I was in the city for. He also has random things like a very old pack of playing cards that are still in their plastic and box. What do I do with this stuff?

 

Give the papers to someone who will scrapbook them into something he can hang on the wall. You could use the playing cards to play cards :lol: If that is too radical, you could throw them away. That's probably far too radical though so how about decopaging the coffee table with them? Dh's parents are always giving him free packets of cards from cruises, he had *eleven* packets at one stage! I really wanted to decopage a coffee table with them and give it to them for Christmas but dh said it'd be rude. Ruder than giving your son free packets of playing cards year after year for Christmas? :001_huh:

 

:)

Rosie

[ConnieB]

I couldn't imagine getting rid of buttons, lol...but I'm a sewing/quilting/crafting freak, lol. If you want to send them to me.....nah....but you might contact a fabric store in your area and see if they have any charity sewing club that might be able to use them.

 

The dress up stuff.....a preschool would probably LOVE them.

 

We have a couple of totes in the deep back of our closest for things like the newspapers on the day each of our children was born....for New Years Eve 1999....9/11...etc as well as our mementos from our younger days. Each of the children have a tote that they too can collect memories.

 

Many of the memory items eventually end up in scrapbooks or the really special items we've framed in shadow boxes and put on the walls next to family photos.

 

I truly understand the desire to declutter....but be careful about tossing out items that have sentimental value to someone in your household without their full agreement. Some of us don't like clutter, but we don't want to lose our memories and important "stuff" either. I've seen many times when one spouse's (hubby or wife) desire for decluttering really cause problems in their marriage....so be sure he's onboard before the trash man gets it! In my house, the true clutter is eliminated, but the important clutter is contained.

[Catherine]

I'm doing a lot of decluttering this summer too and I've turned rubbermail plastic boxes into memorabilia containers. The preservation of ticket stubs and things of that sort does not interest me, but my kids mostly love to save memorabilia, so I needed a solution. I just throw everything that is in this category into the box when we are decluttering (we do it together) and then put it in "deep storage" which usually means the far corners of the attic. They could not bear to throw that stuff away so I had to figure something out.

[WTMCassandra]

1) Buttons: I agree with giving them to a preschool if you're not going to use them.

 

2) Dress-up clothes: If they get used regularly, you have a storage issue, not a clutter issue. Go through them and make sure they are all keepers--throw away anything torn, not used, etc. Then, determine an appropriate storage space and container based on where they are used. Our dress-up clothes are in plastic toy bin kind of thing--if the space starts to overflow then they need to get rid of some stuff. The key is to determine where and how much space you are willing to provide, and then tell the children they must fit into those rules or some things must go.

 

3) Sentimentals: Each child has a memory tub, and then DH&I have a joint memory tub. In our home, things like what you describe would be popped in that tub. When the tub is full, then it's time to pare down. We have a designated storage space for the tubs, so they are not clutter to me. But again, the rule is, you can keep it if it fits in your tub. If the tub is full, it's time to pare down.

[kbpaulie]

Can't tell you exactly what to do w/ these, but if you're close to a big citty, before you throw anything away look for a Freecycle Yahoo Group. You post what you have and someone comes and gets it for free. Junk to jewels, usually someone wants it.

 

Good luck!

[Garga]

Buttons: Put them in an interesting jar and use as a bookend or a decorative item. (Interesting jars include honey jars, or salsa jars, or jelly jars, etc.) My button jar (old honey jar) is on a rustic shelf in my laundry room.

 

Costumes: Put them in an ottoman. Or buy a few old suitcases from Goodwill and stack them and use them as an endtable. Stuff the costumes in the suitcases.

 

Sentimentals: Nothing original here. Plop them in a tote in the back of the closet until you're ready to display them. (Display ideas: Frame the newspapers? Or put under glass on a counter/table. Put the cards in some sort of shadow box, etc.)

Edited July 4, 2010 by Garga

[OrganicAnn]

1) My DD lovie eats buttons so we always have to keep a good supply.

 

2) Dress up clothes. Unless they are too small, keep. We have ours in a bin.

 

3). Sentimental items. Designate one bin in a size that you can live with and allow your DH to keep whatever he wants as long as it fits into the bin. My mom kept a few significant newspapers. On one of them she had us write on the newspaper what we thought of the event. We were about 9, 8 & 7. It is fun to see what we wrote.

[melissel]

Thank you, everyone. I've made some decisions. I'm going to pick out the buttons that match my pants pockets (the neutral, stone-look plastic ones) and put them in my little sewing tin. The rest will go to Goodwill with all the other stuff I'm getting rid of. I'm going through the dress-up clothes and paring down what I can, then shoving the rest back in and snapping down the lid :lol: I cleared out a corner of the new schoolroom where I can stack that bin and the Barbie bin, and we can just pull them out when we need them (turns out I can't move the entertainment center anyway, so that corner will be staying open). As for the sentimentals, you're right. I have a just-emptied underbed storage bin that I'll give to DH so he can tuck all those things away (he has a few other things too).

 

Thanks everyone. I'm sure I'll be back before the whole process is over!

[melissel]

Costumes: Put them in an ottoman. Or buy a few old suitcases from Goodwill and stack them and use them as an endtable. Stuff the costumes in the suitcases.

 

Oh, interesting! I've been thinking about some kind of coffee table for down here--maybe a storage coffee table would work. Thanks for the idea!

[ConnieB]

1) Buttons: I agree with giving them to a preschool if you're not going to use them.

 

 

I don't think I'd give buttons to a preschool......choking hazard and all that.

 

Perhaps an elementary arts/craft teacher, but not preschool age.

 

Just my opinion of course. My daughter was about 3 years old when she shoved a button up her nose, lol, so perhaps I have issues, lol.

[Frontier Mom]

Why not surprise your dh by scanning all the articles and papers, then putting them on a CD? Or take them somewhere and laminate them if they mean very much to him. We also have a rubbermaid bin for each person's keepsakes but they are only allowed one box. Once it is full, they have to declutter.

 

Dress up clothes makes for a hard fix. I just put ours, when we used them, in a toy box that stayed at the foot of my dd's bed. That way she could use it to sit on if she wanted but it was easy to get to for dress up time.

[NanceXToo]

I'm late to the party, but with your kids ages? I'd totally keep the buttons for them. They're great for sorting games (by size, color, shape and so on, or stacking, or pretending to be money, for math games, or whatever, which will make for great games for your 4 y/o). They're good for gluing onto paper and making crafts, which are great for your 7 y/o.

 

I'd keep the dress up stuff too, you said they get plenty of use, and they're good for imaginative play.

 

As for the memory stuff, I used to keep those sorts of things but then decided it was just clutter. You'd have to go through with your hubby and see which things you REALLY want to keep and see if you can consolidate storage somehow!

[JFSinIL]

Good Will for the buttons (someone who does crafts will jump on them!) and costumes and playing cards. Keep the 9/11 stuff in a marked container. I have old papers my parents kept from Kennedy getting shot, the moon landing, etc.

 

If any of the costumes are really in good condition and classic (think clown/pirate/princess, not rapidly dated pop culture characters) maybe keep a couple for ....grandkids?

[Suzanne in ABQ]

I'm late to the party, but with your kids ages? I'd totally keep the buttons for them. They're great for sorting games (by size, color, shape and so on, or stacking, or pretending to be money, for math games, or whatever, which will make for great games for your 4 y/o). They're good for gluing onto paper and making crafts, which are great for your 7 y/o.

 

 

Another idea for the buttons: my 5yodd uses them in her play kitchen as food. She scoops them from pan to bowl and calls them soup. She uses the big ones as cookies. She find a hundred ways to play with buttons.