Cammie Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 I read (and loved) The Art of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo and I really am bitten by the decluttering bug! Today was the hall closet. I took out all the towels that we NEVER use but make getting at the towels we use so much more difficult. I also took out the sheets we don't use (flannel isn't necessary in Bangalore...ever!) Will pack that stuff away for when we have guests. Cleaned out some old electronics (HOW MANY HEADPHONES that don't fit your current phones do you really need??? - In our case about 20 pairs!) Closet is looking very nice and tidy and contains only things we actually use. FORGOT - also cleaned out tons of beads and crafting supply that my daughter will NEVER EVER use. Tossed some old drafts of my Thesis (written in 1998). Why I felt I needed the drafts when I have the published final one I will never be able to tell you! Anyone else?? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Good idea. It's time to reorganized my linen closet. It's gotten stuffed again. I know there are sheets in there we don't use. I wish I knew what happened to all of the pillow cases though. They've magically disappeared. I need to clean out my bottom kitchen cabinets. One is stuffed full with tuppeware type containers. We really have way more than we need. I know there are some old lunchboxes back there too that I need to toss. I don't know what else is in there. Oh, I do have a small food processor. I'll donate that the next time they do a pickup at my house. I used that thing once or twice when I first got it and haven't touched it since. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cammie Posted June 9, 2015 Author Share Posted June 9, 2015 Well...I guess today was a bit of Kondoizing! All towels were done in one go. All sheets done in one go. All craft items done in one go. I was so revved up after reading the book my DH when and took out about 30% of his clothes on his own...he was afraid I would do it when he was gone. He still has to get rid of TONS of clothes but it was such a happy start! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbutton Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Did any of you follow Kondo's instruction to declutter by category vs. area/room? We are all going to attempt to do the whole going-through-the-clothes thing she writes about. Although, I'm not sure that I have the guts to pile everything in one, big pile in the middle of the room. I have not read the book, but this is the one aspect about the book that appeals to me. It's how I clean, organize, etc. all the time. Unfortunately, in my case, it usually means it takes me longer, lol! (But the results are much better and longer-lasting.) I am decluttering the school room for next year. We have been decluttering the kitchen and all closets as well as the kids' rooms all year. We move slowly. :-) We have no basement, garage, or attic, so our storage is quite limited. We will be getting a shed for storing outdoor equipment and tools, but since a lot of that is cluttering the little storage we have, it will be like getting a whole new house in some ways. We're trying to declutter before that to make sure we only keep what we really want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smudge Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Girls are going to Girl Scout camp this week so I am really looking to get down to business! I have done clothes and shoes. I really liked the "does it spark joy" question to ask myself. It's a much more positive vibe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajfries Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 I decluttered my bathroom drawers yesterday so now my counter is almost completely empty! It looks so much better when I walk in the room! I haven't read "The Art of Tidying Up"...I think more in "zones" than individual categories & I'm not very sentimental about my stuff (no need to say "thanks" to stuff) so I don't know if I'd find it motivating or annoying LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Yes! I did the linen closet last week and am working on my clothes this week. Kids' clothes are up next. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 In theory.... LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali in OR Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Decluttering is one of my summertime projects. Linen closet is definitely on the list. So far I've done a few small things--dh's sock and underwear drawers, for instance. Need to do the girls' room, books, fabric/crafts, etc. Haven't read the book, but maybe I'll go put it on hold just for the extra motivation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happi duck Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Love that book! Might be time to read it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Yes, my boss is gone for a few days so I will have more freedom over my schedule. I have a couple of minor construction projects to finish, and I need to purge outgrown kids' books, clothes, and other stuff. I can't take the clutter in my kids' areas much longer. :P We are also completing some workbooks and throwing them out. I see a stack of them going into the recycle bin this week. In my room I need to open and organize a bunch of mail, file papers, purge school papers, file emails, and get my calendars up to date. This week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 You have inspired me. I went downstairs and did a turbo declutter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommymonster Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 I read Kondo's book a while back and thought it was silly... BUT I felt compelled to follow her system! I did and ended up getting rid of van-loads of stuff. Well... now my hubby has been bitten by the Kondo bug and we're working on the garage and some additional things that I didn't get done on the first go-around. Notably, I'm getting rid of old papers (1991 tax returns, anyone?!?!). We also are finishing up a simple remodel, and that has caused us to re-think basically everything in our house. It feels great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 I am perpetually decluttering. I have way too much stuff and kids who are pigs. I am part of a fb group called 40 bags in 40 days, it is a lent based challenge group but many of us stick around year round and keep working on clearing out our homes. Many on there have been talking about that book but I have not read it. I just try to get a bag of something out every day or 2, so a bag of trash, or a bag for donation or whatever (green garbage bags), Yesterday my bag was not really a bag, it was a shower styall I picked up last year for a bathroom reno but it was the wrong size and it sat outside my front entrance ever since. Finally sold it yesterday and it is gone. patio up to doorway looks so big now. This evening I will be working on my backroom yet again (this room holds my dryer, deep freeze, pantry, extra school curric, science kits, art supplies, cadet gear and the list goes on, it is very much multipurpose and it is always ending up in amess so tonight will be a clean and purge yet again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 I usually do a massive de-cluttering in January. My goal -- get rid of 10,000 things. Everything from junk mail to stained clothes, torn books, bent safety pins -- I keep a tally of how many things I throw out/give away. I like have the challenge of how many pieces of junk/clutter I can get out of my house. (Some years are more successful than others.) :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Word Nerd Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 I've heard of people doing a different sort of "weight loss" challenge focused on decluttering. They weigh the boxes and bags of items that they give/throw away and see how many pounds they can lose. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 We did a donation to Goodwill two days ago of nearly new items that we no longer need. I told hubby that I want to use one of our IKEA kitchen cart as a printer stand so he is going to declutter the cart that is in our living room. Hubby realized that he has a collection of empty boxes in our hall closet room so he is going to sort and throw the empty ones away to the cardboard recycling bin. ETA: The cart is mostly his stuff and our new wireless printer is sitting on the floor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Did any of you follow Kondo's instruction to declutter by category vs. area/room? We are all going to attempt to do the whole going-through-the-clothes thing she writes about. Although, I'm not sure that I have the guts to pile everything in one, big pile in the middle of the room. For clothes I found that piling most everything on the bed could be manageable, if you don't already have 5 months' worth of clothing. If you have too much to handle in one big pile I recommend taking it by segments, determined by type of apparel (office attire, fancy dress, nice evening out, casual wear, exercise, etc.). Rounding it all up together does help in that you will actually look at what you really have, and not forget about anything. For other stuff piling it all in the middle of the room is a very bad idea in my house. I have 'way too much stuff to sort through for a pile in the middle of the room to be manageable. I have several decades of accumulation of my own, plus the "family heirlooms" of previous generations as well. Someone in another thread mentioned a blog named A Slob Comes Clean (or something like that). She's (the blog writer) another resource I recommend now. Her blog is complementary to a lot of the how-to-declutter resources commonly used nowadays. Instead of focusing on how to declutter, her blog is more about how to put stuff away. I like her two (just two!) questions she routinely asks herself when deciding whether to keep something and where to put it: Where will I go looking for this in the future? (This is where you put something away -- where you will look for it when you want it. No other place will do. Put it where you will look for it.) If I need this item again will it even occur to me that I already have it? (This is key -- if you won't even remember you have it and will go out and buy new then get rid of the item now. All it is doing is taking up space.) For some reason I really needed someone to actually state these out for me, obvious though they seem (even to me). The place to store something is where you will look for it. Not where you have room, where you will actually look for it. Every other place is "hiding" for the item, and it will simply sit there while you scratch your head and go out and buy new. Also, no matter how useful something is if you won't remember you have it all it will do is sit there and deteriorate while taking up space in your home. Best get rid of it, since you will buy new whether you keep it or not. An important note from my own personal experience: Filing systems are crucial, and they are all about finding the papers again, not about storing the papers. There is a very good reason why DH is the one in our house to pay the bills and do our taxes -- he has the filing system for it and I don't. I have boxes of mixed papers from my past that still await me going through them to sort, put away the keepers, throw away the pure trash, and destroy the old enough bills and statements. If you don't have a filing system that allows you to quickly and easily find and retrieve your important files then learn one immediately and put it to use. THIS GOES FOR DIGITAL FILES AS WELL AS PAPER FILES. Digital clutter is more insidious than physical clutter, because it is more easily neglected. But neglected digital files are also more easily found by people who shouldn't have access to them. Digital file organization can improve the security of your personally identifiable information. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 We did a donation to Goodwill two days ago of nearly new items that we no longer need. I told hubby that I want to use one of our IKEA kitchen cart as a printer stand so he is going to declutter the cart that is in our living room. Hubby realized that he has a collection of empty boxes in our hall closet room so he is going to sort and throw the empty ones away to the cardboard recycling bin. Our Ikea kitchen cart has been repurposed into a plant stand in the family room. It sits nicely in front of one of the windows without being so wide or deep that it's obstructive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 I read Kondo's book a while back and thought it was silly... BUT I felt compelled to follow her system! I did and ended up getting rid of van-loads of stuff. Well... now my hubby has been bitten by the Kondo bug and we're working on the garage and some additional things that I didn't get done on the first go-around. Notably, I'm getting rid of old papers (1991 tax returns, anyone?!?!). We also are finishing up a simple remodel, and that has caused us to re-think basically everything in our house. It feels great! I got you beat! I recently purged some old bills and statements from the 1980's. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Good idea. It's time to reorganized my linen closet. It's gotten stuffed again. I know there are sheets in there we don't use. I wish I knew what happened to all of the pillow cases though. They've magically disappeared. I need to clean out my bottom kitchen cabinets. One is stuffed full with tuppeware type containers. We really have way more than we need. I know there are some old lunchboxes back there too that I need to toss. I don't know what else is in there. Oh, I do have a small food processor. I'll donate that the next time they do a pickup at my house. I used that thing once or twice when I first got it and haven't touched it since. A word on donating electronics: A few months ago I called our local thrift shop benefiting a favorite charity, and they told me that they couldn't take anything with an electrical cord if it was older than 7 years old (SOME lamps might qualify for an exception). Basically older electronics won't sell at all and just take up space and create more work for the shop volunteers, so they now refuse such items. Check with your local donation spot before donating electric appliances and electronic entertainments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Strawberry Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Well....If packing a few things into shipping boxes to mail, and the back of my van and D's compact car and moving across the country counts as "decluttering", then YES! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Yell Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 I'll be starting that next week... still in recovery from a wild weekend that included 2 separate studio dance recitals/dress rehearsals, plus a homeschool conference that i was in charge of food concessions for. And we're helping my mom move this weekend. :svengo: I plan to go room-by-room. Starting with the bathrooms, because they are very very small... gotta make it easy to succeed. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 I'll be starting that next week... still in recovery from a wild weekend that included 2 separate studio dance recitals/dress rehearsals, plus a homeschool conference that i was in charge of food concessions for. And we're helping my mom move this weekend. :svengo: I plan to go room-by-room. Starting with the bathrooms, because they are very very small... gotta make it easy to succeed. I'm rooting for you! And bathrooms are my favorite place to start when I feel the house has gotten out of control. They are small, confined spaces. They have limited amounts of storage, and a limited variety of items that should be stored there. Having clean bathrooms (and kitchen) means the house is clean. Untidiness is a lot more forgivable in the rest of the house if the kitchen and bathrooms are clean. They are quick and simple (assuming your kids aren't too bad at trashing them out) to get back to clean. They are the very necessary quick win I can then return to look at when I get frustrated working my way through a more complicated part of the house. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cammie Posted June 10, 2015 Author Share Posted June 10, 2015 The Kondo book had a lot of eye rolling statements...but in the end the overall message did me good. If I am not getting joy out of something...why am I holding on to it. There are things that have NEVER been used...but I have held on to them for 10 years or more. I had some type of microdermabrasion home kit...never used, never going to use, why is it taking up space in my house. Yesterday it went out....along with a bunch of other useless stuff. Decluttering is a process...kids rooms have now been decluttered so many times that we are down to bare bones (almost). They keep what they use and love. The rest goes out. It reduced my desire to buy ANYTHING... who needs the stuff in the house? I also realized how much my mother has sent my kids....need to address that as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinivanMom Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 I love Kondo's book. I'm about halfway through the decluttering process. Did any of you follow Kondo's instruction to declutter by category vs. area/room? We are all going to attempt to do the whole going-through-the-clothes thing she writes about. Although, I'm not sure that I have the guts to pile everything in one, big pile in the middle of the room. Yes, I've always gone by room in the past, but this time I'm going according to her categories. It really does work better. We have a spare room that I can use to pile things without disrupting our whole household. There's something about seeing all of my clothes, shoes, and bags all piled up in the middle of the spare room that really makes me realize how much crap I own. I know a lot of her talk in the book is very Shinto-ey, but physically touching each item really has helped with the process. It makes it easier to choose the things that bring joy and to discard the rest. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb in NZ Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Dh has been working overseas for the past month. My goal was to conquer the piles of boxes, etc. that I have moved around the house since we moved into this house 14 years ago. Dh is due home in ten days & I have made significant progress. I have thrown out bags of things that I really wonder why I kept them. Why did I still have ds#2's first phonics workbook???? :confused1: He finishes high school in 6 months, so most likely has no need to review that material. I have a pile of HS/ing books that I have listed for sale on a local 2nd hand FB page & as I fill a bag with things still useful I put it in the boot of the car right away to give to a friend at work to post on a local "Pay It Forward" FB page. I find the quicker I get things out of the house the better. I sorted through our linen closet a couple months back. I put aside a few good towels for each dc for when they go flatting & put just what I though we'd need back in the closet. I bagged up everything else to give away, then dh grabbed the bag to put in the garage as he "might have a use for it." :huh: At least it is out of the house. This is why I am trying to get through the worst of the decluttering while dh is overseas :001_rolleyes: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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