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Purge-Fest: Declutter with us!


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Okay, so after reading yesterday's decluttering thread I am officially inspired to make a dent in the mess around here. Wanna' join in? (Melissa and Patty, this is for you)

 

Last night the kids and I tackled the playroom. I told them, "You can't even get to your favorite things. Toss everything that is in your way into this box, and then all the important things will go on the shelves." Imagine my surprise when we filled two boxes with toys to be put aside (and if not requested in several months, given away) and filled two garbage bags.

 

photo-8.jpg

 

Today they go to dance camp and I will attack the books - my nemesis.

 

What are you doing?

Edited by LibertyH
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I've been working on several things throughout the summer. My biggest obstacle are bookshelves that surround my fireplace. They are the focal point in my home but they are also the 'catch all' for junk. :001_huh: So, I spent a lot of time going through and putting things on there that I want and tossing what I don't.

 

I've been looking at each room and tackling it as I can. Right now, i'm walking on clouds b/c I discovered an organizer from pintrist for my pots that have been driving me nuts since FOREVER! I can actually organize them and get to each one without having the mound fall over on me! And, I'm going to get the lid organizer too. Woot woot! Happy day!!!!

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I've been working on several things throughout the summer. My biggest obstacle are bookshelves that surround my fireplace. They are the focal point in my home but they are also the 'catch all' for junk. :001_huh: So, I spent a lot of time going through and putting things on there that I want and tossing what I don't.

 

I've been looking at each room and tackling it as I can. Right now, i'm walking on clouds b/c I discovered an organizer from pintrist for my pots that have been driving me nuts since FOREVER! I can actually organize them and get to each one without having the mound fall over on me! And, I'm going to get the lid organizer too. Woot woot! Happy day!!!!

 

Share with us the link please! :001_smile:

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I'll join in. We're looking at having to move in a few months, so I've started the weeding/packing process. So far, i've got a stack of things to go to the secondhand bookstore, and several boxes of books we're not going to want before November packed. I also went through DD's toys while she was at Grandma's and got rid of some things (torn/broken craft projects and Halloween candy, mostly). I've almost got her convinced to get rid of the tinkerbell house she has NEVER played with because she sees no point in solitary imaginative play.

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I need to do this too. We're putting our house on the market soon. I don't want to move any more than we absolutely have to.

 

What do I do with all the pictures and crafts that the kids have made for me? They get so upset if I throw anything away. I've even suggested I take a picture of them with the craft and then pitch it, but they look at me as if I just kicked their puppy.

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We just came back from visiting my sister, and my dd is suddenly ready to toss some of her "treasures" after seeing how nice her same-age cousin's bedroom looked. That, plus finally getting dh to agree that old, dead computers and outdated textbooks should move on means that I am in for this challenge!

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Sigh......I just am bad at MY stuff.....kids' stuff I can get rid of!

 

Dawn

 

Okay, so after reading yesterday's decluttering thread I am officially inspired to make a dent in the mess around here. Wanna' join in? (Melissa and Patty, this is for you)

 

Last night the kids and I tackled the playroom. I told them, "You can't even get to your favorite things. Toss everything that is in your way into this box, and then all the important things will go on the shelves." Imagine my surprise when we filled two boxes with toys to be put aside (and if not requested in several months, given away) and filled two garbage bags.

 

photo-8.jpg

 

Today they go to dance camp and I will attack the books - my nemesis.

 

What are you doing?

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I just got back from an afternoon of buying tires, buying a battery for a different car, and then coming out of a store and having a dead car! (not the one I bought the battery for)

 

So I'm finally home and ready to get started! Hopefully the kids will make supper (tacos, Spanish rice) so I can keep purging. I will check back later.

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Finally checking in - all books in the living room are now back in order. :hurray:

Don't ask about the books in the rest of the house though.

 

I got rid of three boxes of books, which are currently in my trunk to donate to a sister-in-law, and two bags of garbage (no books, but lots of old magazines, and random scraps of paper).

 

Tonight I will finish putting away the random stuff that I found in, under, on, and around the shelves. That doesn't sound like much, but I have an entire laundry basket full of "random" plus a box of stuff that I once labeled "important papers" but I no longer remember what is in there.

 

Sigh... Thanks for joining me in the journey!

 

Share with us the link please! :001_smile:

Yes, you are now obligated to share ;)

 

What do I do with all the pictures and crafts that the kids have made for me? They get so upset if I throw anything away. I've even suggested I take a picture of them with the craft and then pitch it, but they look at me as if I just kicked their puppy.

I don't have balance in this area yet. School projects the kids know need to fit into their portfolio at the end of the year, so they can accept saving only a photo, but all of the other crafts we have a harder time with. To make it worse, DH is even more sentimental than I am, and he has a blast showing the kids projects he made in 3rd grade, so I am alone in the craft wars.

 

I shoveled out the living room and my computer desk. I really need to do some deep cleaning elsewhere, but it's like 1000 degrees so it's hard to move.

Ouch. I don't know how motivated I'd be in that heat either. I've already decided to ask DH to move the air conditioners to the kids' rooms for me tomorrow.

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I just got back from an afternoon of buying tires, buying a battery for a different car, and then coming out of a store and having a dead car! (not the one I bought the battery for)

 

So I'm finally home and ready to get started! Hopefully the kids will make supper (tacos, Spanish rice) so I can keep purging. I will check back later.

 

Two bum cars in one day is just evil.

 

Are you still planning to hoe-out the side of your bed? If so, maybe you can just drag it all to the kitchen and supervise dinner prep while going through everything. Just a thought.

 

Off to go make dinner now. Spaghetti and meatballs. Yum!

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Two bum cars in one day is just evil.

 

Are you still planning to hoe-out the side of your bed? If so, maybe you can just drag it all to the kitchen and supervise dinner prep while going through everything. Just a thought.

 

Off to go make dinner now. Spaghetti and meatballs. Yum!

 

Yes, I'm working on the side of my bed, my nemesis!!! Won't drag it into the kitchen though. :001_smile: My two youngest are 12 and 16 and perfectly capable of making tacos without me there. A few years ago would have been a different story! Ds 12 was a little tornado when he was little.

 

Gotta run!!! Oh...my "before" photos are kinda scary but I suppose I shouldn't edit them. Sigh. I mean, it's not like "Hoarders" but it's embarrassing.

 

Good work, everyone! Keep it up!

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I did my laundry room today! Threw away a ton of stuff and wiped down the shelves. Now if only I can get rid of my ugly linoleum!

 

I need to do that to! Have a ton of old cleaning supplies that should go! I'm right there with you about the ugly flooring, too. Maybe someday.

 

Good job!!! Doesn't it feel great?

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I'll join, too! Although my plan for the summer was to deep purge and clean so we could list this house and move, I lacked the motivation to keep doing it day after day. The recent thread got me back on track. Yesterday dh and I put the bunkbeds (that we had purged a few weeks ago) back together so we could take a pic and list them for sale. That is a biggie because they are taking up valuable basement space. Today the girls and I spent the entire morning purging their room and getting it clean. It isn't perfect yet, but there is definite progress seen and now I can call the carpet company out to measure for new (cheap but new) carpeting! I moved a few living room pictures to make the space look larger. I have a huge pile of donation toys and clothes sitting on my couch to inventory tonight and take to Goodwill tomorrow. Things are happening!

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Made great progress on the girls room. Went through last school years work and purged extra and saved one file folder per girl per semester. Went through miscellaneous stuff they had stashed around and put it into a special things bin. Designed shelfs for dh to build for their extra shoes, backpacks, and storage drawers. Tomorrow will be dress up clothes then moving onto the playroom.

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I didn't purge, per se, but I did pack some stuff up. I boxed it up and put it in the attic for a grandkid. Then we switched around the girl's room for more flow, and I brought the cubbie shelves downstairs to repurpose as an art supply organizer in the art closet.

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I'll jump in too :) I spent yesterday working on our family room. There is a dresser that we use to house our xbox games, controllers, etc....and it was a disaster! I used some shoebox type plastic bins (that I had) and organized the games in there so we can flip through them more easily :)

I also dismantled a shelving unit I had in there that really wasn't useful at all.....and took out the corner piece of our sectional that was broken and not serving any purpose other than to enable our couch to be an L shape...and put it in the garage until the next large item trash day :)

 

Today I'm not getting much of anything done...but I'm hoping to accomplish the pile of clean baby clothes in my room that needs to be folded and put away.

 

I have a question for those of you who have managed to declutter and remain that way.....How did you get out of the rut of purging then gathering again. Here is where I find myself stuck :( I like to throw things away....but then I find myself wanting to "collect" again.......it's a cycle that I can't seem to break. I so very badly want to have a non cluttered super simple looking house.....(yes, even with 6 children I have faith it can be done!) but then I find a cute this or that at a garage sale...or a friend gives us a bag of adorable baby clothes, and I'm justifying my "need" for these items....'sigh.....Anyone else in the same boat?

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I'm in.

 

The girls and I started with the living room, our least purgeable room, lol. But we hauled everything out of the room, dusted, vacuumed and scrubbed (well, the kid equivalent of scrubbed), then put a little short of everything back neatly.

 

I'm going to make a calendar of "sections" for the next 40 days before we start school. Not sure whether to work my way to hard or just jump in on the girls' room tomorrow...

 

 

P.S. I still need dh to go through all the cords and chargers I found!

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There is actually more I've don this summer. I fobbed a lot of handmedowns off on my mom for my little sister and my sister in law for my new nephew.

 

I am absolutely not allowed to blame the heat, after DH cleaned out the garage at the end of May while I was in TX.

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I finished my hallway pile and bookshelf. I through away a ton---it was mostly old workbooks and paper stuff. Started a box for a friend who is just starting homeschooling, added to my box of stuff to return to school library, and shelved some books.

 

Now i just need to take care of the clothes which are waiting for the washer---they were on the laundry room floor.

 

And then my hallway will be clean---perhaps we can get around to painting it!

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I have a question for those of you who have managed to declutter and remain that way.....How did you get out of the rut of purging then gathering again. Here is where I find myself stuck :( I like to throw things away....but then I find myself wanting to "collect" again.......it's a cycle that I can't seem to break. I so very badly want to have a non cluttered super simple looking house.....(yes, even with 6 children I have faith it can be done!) but then I find a cute this or that at a garage sale...or a friend gives us a bag of adorable baby clothes, and I'm justifying my "need" for these items....'sigh.....Anyone else in the same boat?

 

Me! I know EXACTLY what you mean. I have certain weaknesses and tend to collect books, yarn, fabric, vintage dishes. Yikes.

 

I know it's possible to homeschool and keep a clean, uncluttered house because I've seen it. (not in my house, unfortunately)

 

One mom I know, who is the moderator of a list I'm on, has NO clutter, and nine children. Two of them are now grown and gone. I've visited her home a couple of times. She has many floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, thousands of books, but no knick knacks, hardly any art work on the walls. The house has a lot of windows though. The children play, but toys have homes. All the plastic dinosaurs had a bin, the puzzles had a bin, etc. The home was filled with happy, smiling children but no junk. I kid you not, I never even saw a pile of mail on a counter top. She must keep it in a drawer.

 

I know she does purge regularly because she talks about it on the list, though I have no idea what she has to purge. Outgrown or broken things maybe? She is a very hard worker and always has some project going, whether it is cleaning out closets or sheds or refinishing a floor or whatever. She is also very organized and has all the children up at 6:00, and cleaning for about 45 minutes after breakfast. Everyone knows what jobs they have. She also does a fantastic job of educating her kids.

 

I'm sure there are moms here who are similar. Clutter just drives some people nuts so they get rid of it immediately or never let it in.

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Way to go ladies! I love hearing about everyone's successes. It makes all of the sweating and lifting worth it. (Am I the only one with a tired back tonight?)

 

Wow, the picture says it all! Looks.so.relaxing. Where did everything go?!

 

:blush: We threw away a bunch, but the truth is that I put all the stuff on the shelves where it should have been in the first place.

 

This is the room I hate to clean. My husband pulled the window trim off two years ago when he replaced the windows, and we still haven't gotten around to re-doing the rest of it. I always feel guilty that I'm not doing more.

 

Well, I worked my behind off today.

 

But I seriously don't know what I did! The Goodwill / garage sale pile is a litte bigger and there is 1/2 bag of trash.

 

Very discouraging. :confused:

 

Don't be discouraged. I always seem to make a bigger mess before it all gets put away. You made progress. Good job!

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One mom I know, who is the moderator of a list I'm on, has NO clutter, and nine children.

 

She is now officially my idol. How? I mean, I know how, they just get up and do it, but HOW do they stay motivated?

 

I still haven't finished putting away my "random" box, but I did finish organizing the kids' books - hooray!

 

th_Snapseed-1.jpg

 

Tonight a friend is coming over to use my daughter's bedroom for a photo-shoot (it is enormous due to a builder error and friend sells play castles) so I guess I am tackling the kids' bedrooms today.

 

BLAH! I don't wanna! I don't wanna!

 

Okay, whining over. Time to get moving.

 

Oh and I took my own advice and slipped by the library last night. I picked up 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction and Get the Right Things Done by Peter Bregman on MP3 and I'm looking forward to listening to it as I work my way through the kids' rooms today.

 

What are you working on?

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I'll jump in too :) I spent yesterday working on our family room. There is a dresser that we use to house our xbox games, controllers, etc....and it was a disaster! I used some shoebox type plastic bins (that I had) and organized the games in there so we can flip through them more easily :)

I also dismantled a shelving unit I had in there that really wasn't useful at all.....and took out the corner piece of our sectional that was broken and not serving any purpose other than to enable our couch to be an L shape...and put it in the garage until the next large item trash day :)

 

Today I'm not getting much of anything done...but I'm hoping to accomplish the pile of clean baby clothes in my room that needs to be folded and put away.

 

I have a question for those of you who have managed to declutter and remain that way.....How did you get out of the rut of purging then gathering again. Here is where I find myself stuck :( I like to throw things away....but then I find myself wanting to "collect" again.......it's a cycle that I can't seem to break. I so very badly want to have a non cluttered super simple looking house.....(yes, even with 6 children I have faith it can be done!) but then I find a cute this or that at a garage sale...or a friend gives us a bag of adorable baby clothes, and I'm justifying my "need" for these items....'sigh.....Anyone else in the same boat?

 

Just keep doing it. Keep purging. Keep getting rid of stuff. Eventually, it changes the way you think about stuff. You get that twinge of want and then think, "But where would I put it?" or you see that cute nick-nack and picture it dusty and in a donation box 3 years from now. Decluttering is a lot of work and needs to be done on a continual basis anyway. The more you do it, the more you begin to guard what comes into your house. After 10ish years of decluttering and living in a small house, I don't have any desire to go garage saling. I just don't care what deals i'm missing out on, because I know most of it is someone elses junk. I have my own junk, why do I want to spend time and money on theirs? So unless i know ahead of time that someone has something that I truly need, I stay home. (and most true needs can be found on CL much easier than a garage sale) so, just keep doing it. The art of decluttering is perfected over time. But the great thing is that your house will be better for it immediately. And eventually you'll be given a bag of kids clothes and imagine it all ober the floor. Your first thought will be, "Where am I going to put all this carp?" And you'll immediately sort and donate half of it before it even makes it into your house.

 

ETA- We also keep a continual donation box at the bottom of the steps, in the basement. As we live life, if we find something we don't really need anymore, it goes in the box. This helps keep things in check, though major purges are still needed every once in awhile.

Edited by Scuff
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We're decluttering right now, too. We've had so much other things going on that we haven't done a major purge in about a year. We're turning our office into a little girls' room for the two babies and moving the office to the basement. So, we've been giving out poor, neglected basement catch-all some attention the last few days. Our curb is piled high and wide, but that's a good thing. :) And i need to take a van-load to donate today.

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From what she has said, clutter just drives her nuts. She can't stand the thought of stuff "nagging her" that she needs to do. It is a major source of frustration, so much so that she nips it in the bud.

 

As I said, it's not that they have a spartan home...thousands of books neatly shelved, toys in plastic tubs, etc. It doesn't look like a motel room, but it is neat and orderly. And yeah, she's my hero, too.

 

In one book I read...I think it was The Messies' Manual...the author described a lovely, uncluttered home of one of her friends, say her name is Joan. She kept saying in her head, "I want my home to look like Joan's" and it kept her going.

 

I think we all need a big picture to focus on, a prize ahead. Watching Hoarders does help me, especially the ones where they make MAJOR progress. If they can do it, so can I!

 

And WAY TO GO on the bookcase area!!!

 

She is now officially my idol. How? I mean, I know how, they just get up and do it, but HOW do they stay motivated?

 

I still haven't finished putting away my "random" box, but I did finish organizing the kids' books - hooray!

 

th_Snapseed-1.jpg

 

Tonight a friend is coming over to use my daughter's bedroom for a photo-shoot (it is enormous due to a builder error and friend sells play castles) so I guess I am tackling the kids' bedrooms today.

 

BLAH! I don't wanna! I don't wanna!

 

Okay, whining over. Time to get moving.

 

Oh and I took my own advice and slipped by the library last night. I picked up 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction and Get the Right Things Done by Peter Bregman on MP3 and I'm looking forward to listening to it as I work my way through the kids' rooms today.

 

What are you working on?

Edited by PrairieMom
typo
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Scuff, that is fantastic!!! It's a ton of work but SO worth it.

 

We're decluttering right now, too. We've had so much other things going on that we haven't done a major purge in about a year. We're turning our office into a little girls' room for the two babies and moving the office to the basement. So, we've been giving out poor, neglected basement catch-all some attention the last few days. Our curb is piled high and wide, but that's a good thing. :) And i need to take a van-load to donate today.
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The last few days I have been working on a room switch for three of my boys. DS12 is getting his own room, DS9 is moving to one side of the shared room, and DS11 decided he wanted to move to the other side of the shared room. So this involved going through all of their clothes - handing down the things that no longer fit, filling bags to donate and to toss. After going through the clothes, I had to relocate them to their respective new closets (the shared room has one closet on either side), drawers, and cubbies. After that was moving the trophies, knick-knacks, and treasures on display. Then came washing all the bedding and putting it on the new beds (probably the easiest part of the room switch), and then came the books. Each DS has books that he 'must have!' in his bookshelf in his room. But not all the bookshelves in the new roooms would fit the load of incoming books, so this involved buying one new bookshelf, moving two other bookshelves, and then going though every book in all 9 of the bookcases in my house to make sure everyone had their favorite books. And of course, while you're doing that, you may as well organize all of those, too!

 

I am very tired today! (But feeling good about how clean and organized those two bedrooms are right now)

 

My dad always said that when it comes to getting rid of stuff, that two moves is as good as a fire.

Edited by my4cowboys
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I'm in! My plan was to do some major cleaning, reorganizing and decluttering over the summer but it hasn't happened yet. I really need to work on DD1's room. DD2 is still in our bedroom but is finally sleeping through the night so we'll be putting her in DD1's room soon. The whole task is very overwhelming so I've been avoiding it. I think I'll start with some smaller projects and work my way up.

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I am so in! I've been working at this for the last 2 weeks because I'd like to get the house fully cleaned up for Ramadan {but I'm not going to get done :glare:}.

 

Yesterday I:

 

Moved all the food stuff off an extra bookshelf in the living room and onto a different shelving unit

Moved the shelf from the living room to dd's room, took all the books off her other bookshelf and put them onto the new one

Worked with dd to sort out half a tote of her books she is willing to get rid of

Put dd's old PC desk that we upgraded last week into her bedroom for her art center

Moved the other bookshelf from dd's room into the school room and swapped it out for the educational VHS shelf unit

Decluttered another stack of books and two stacks of VHS tapes from our shelves in the school room {still need to photo for sale}

 

Today's goals:

 

Finish cleaning my room & vacuum both it and the school room

Clean out master bathroom

Get my office area cleaned up and file / box all the excess paperwork

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The last few days I have been working on a room switch for three of my boys. DS12 is getting his own room, DS9 is moving to one side of the shared room, and DS11 decided he wanted to move to the other side of the shared room. So this involved going through all of their clothes - handing down the things that no longer fit, filling bags to donate and to toss. After going through the clothes, I had to relocate them to their respective new closets (the shared room has one closet on either side), drawers, and cubbies. After that was moving the trophies, knick-knacks, and treasures on display. Then came washing all the bedding and putting it on the new beds (probably the easiest part of the room switch), and then came the books. Each DS has books that he 'must have!' in his bookshelf in his room. But not all the bookshelves in the new roooms would fit the load of incoming books, so this involved buying one new bookshelf, moving two other bookshelves, and then going though every book in all 9 of the bookcases in my house to make sure everyone had their favorite books. And of course, while you're doing that, you may as well organize all of those, too!

 

I am very tired today! (But feeling good about how clean and organized those two bedrooms are right now)

 

My dad always said that when it comes to getting rid of stuff, that two moves is as good as a fire.

 

Wow, I'm tired just reading all that you did! Way to go!!!! I love the quote from your dad.

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