Discarding old stuff

[soupy11]

Hey all

We are moving in January and are going to a smaller place. We have a ton of stuff to go through and play that pitch-it-or-keep-it game. How to you learn to let go of stuff? I have a hard time of it, especially books, magazines, and other stuff that you can't convince yourself to let go of, in fear that one day down the road your just going to need that item!

Does anyone else suffer from this, and if so, how do you convince yourself to get rid of the crap???

 

[JessicaR]

I'm the same way. I have a hard time letting go and ditching what I 'know' I should! Having someone help you that does not have any emotional attachments works. I can part with clothes and shoes and pocketbooks easier than I can papers, cards and personal items. My Mom always tells me if I havent used it or looked for it in a year, I dont need it! That can NOT be true.

I hope you get some great ideas, I need them also!

 

[DVCLiz]

Hey all

We are moving in January and are going to a smaller place. We have a ton of stuff to go through and play that pitch-it-or-keep-it game. How to you learn to let go of stuff? I have a hard time of it, especially books, magazines, and other stuff that you can't convince yourself to let go of, in fear that one day down the road your just going to need that item!

Does anyone else suffer from this, and if so, how do you convince yourself to get rid of the crap???

Magazines are a no-brainer for me, especially with the internet. There is nothing in a magazine I need badly enough to store it as clutter. I keep one box about 18 inches square and 18 inches tall for magazines. When it fills up I go through and make sure I have read them all, then I throw them all in recycling. Anything I remember seeing in a magazine I can easily look up online.

 

[soupy11]

I'm the same way. I have a hard time letting go and ditching what I 'know' I should! Having someone help you that does not have any emotional attachments works. I can part with clothes and shoes and pocketbooks easier than I can papers, cards and personal items. My Mom always tells me if I havent used it or looked for it in a year, I dont need it! That can NOT be true.

I hope you get some great ideas, I need them also!

I know it! I looked in the garbage today and my girlfriend had thrown out a ConservationStation button from Animal Kingdom! I lost it! it made me very antsy and I had to make sure I put it somewhere safe. A stupid button! LOL

 

[All American]

I love to purge. I remember someone who mentioned a book called "Clutter's Last Stand" and said it was a great resource for getting rid of stuff. As for me I figure I can't get a bigger house, but if I get rid of stuff it will feel bigger.

I like the one-year rule of "if I haven't worn it, used it, seen it, or wondered about it" it can be thrown out or taken to the local thrift store (but the item needs to be in good condtion to do this).

Another tactic is to gather, say, 10-15 things a week, put it in a box in the garage (or something similar) and take it to the local donation spot on Saturday. It's hard at first, but it feels so good to get rid of that extra stuff.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

I have so much crap we can't own another piece of it. I bought stuff, stored it, then bought more. I finally just bit the bullet and started to purge. I got rid of perfectly good (some new) stuff, and now I am in the middle of the biggie...the attic. After all these years of feeling like I would "die" if I got rid of something, and that thought always in the back of my mind..."what if I need it someday?"..I finally started to sort-agressively. One bag for Goodwill (they are getting a lot of really good stuff!), one bag for garbage that no one would want, one bag for my kid's school store, and some is allowed to go back into the attic. I am doing it one season at a time. I did Halloween, culled 8 very large storage boxes down to four. Next is Christmas, all the boxes are pulled out into the hallway and I am going through them one at a time. I have also been very good about keeping away from the clearance aisles at my favorite stores, which is helping immensely.

It actually feels good once I start, and I have found a way to put that nagging thought of "keeping things" out of my mind while I do it. Now if I can get my DH to start on his crap. He is always saying "WE" need to get rid of all this crap. What he means is me. He is just as bad.

 

[soupy11]

I love to purge. I remember someone who mentioned a book called "Clutter's Last Stand" and said it was a great resource for getting rid of stuff. As for me I figure I can't get a bigger house, but if I get rid of stuff it will feel bigger.

I like the one-year rule of "if I haven't worn it, used it, seen it, or wondered about it" it can be thrown out or taken to the local thrift store (but the item needs to be in good condtion to do this).

Another tactic is to gather, say, 10-15 things a week, put it in a box in the garage (or something similar) and take it to the local donation spot on Saturday. It's hard at first, but it feels so good to get rid of that extra stuff.

What a cool idea.

 

[ksumn1]

I live in a small house so I understand totally. We have a pretty clutter free house, especially since we painted 2 weeks ago and haven't put up any pictures since. BUT we have a storage building that is packed full. Old clothes (that should fit the kids next summer but probably won't) Christmas decorations, tax papers, kids school papers and drawings, tools, seasonal decorations, sleeping bags, comforter sets, an old car seat, highcharo...a DH has 2 storage totes full of his Dad's comic books that he never looked at but the one time he dragged them home, a box of plastic Quicktrip cups featuring superheroes from the 70's, boxes of baseball cards, trophies, old books....just stuff. I know it's all he has of his Dad (he died when DH was 7) but he won't get rid of anything. I have no problem with keeping some of it but it he doesn't care enough to display it or look at it or use it then it's just sitting there. And these few things take up about 40% of the stuff.

Wish I could help more but I'm gonna subscribe and see if I can get some tips too.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

The flylady does a 27 fliing boogie, it helps a lot! http://www.flylady.net/pages/sfb_challenges.asp


We went from a 3200 sq ft house to an 1100 sq ft house and threw away 1 couch. We had so much stuff we were drowning. DH and I have gotten rid of a ton of stuff in the past few years but still have a ways to go.
Recently we have come to the conclusion that other then holiday stuff, if you need to store it in an attic or a basement, you don't need it.

I like the Clean Sweep approach, where they empty the room, do a quick pass, then go back and really sort what was left and decide from there if you need it.

 

[daisyduck123]

It's easy for me, because I hate clutter.

I LOVE to pitch things.
If we don't use it....then no reason to save it & it goes in our yard sale pile. I just had one in October & made over $1000.00. That's Disney spending money for me later this month!

 

[suzimar57]

every other month or so, i "purge" our entire apartment - every drawer, closet and clothing item is fair game....

i hate clutter, but still have trouble throwing things out - it gets done, however! - no matter how many bags i fill up, there's always more...

 

[soupy11]

The flylady does a 27 fliing boogie, it helps a lot! http://www.flylady.net/pages/sfb_challenges.asp


We went from a 3200 sq ft house to an 1100 sq ft house and threw away 1 couch. We had so much stuff we were drowning. DH and I have gotten rid of a ton of stuff in the past few years but still have a ways to go.
Recently we have come to the conclusion that other then holiday stuff, if you need to store it in an attic or a basement, you don't need it.

I like the Clean Sweep approach, where they empty the room, do a quick pass, then go back and really sort what was left and decide from there if you need it.

wow nice downsizing! What about stuff that you may think could hold nostalgic feelings down the road?

 

[LisaG520]

We found paying by the pound to move from PA to CA made us way less sentimental about almost everything

 

[winnapooh]

Hey all

We are moving in January and are going to a smaller place. We have a ton of stuff to go through and play that pitch-it-or-keep-it game. How to you learn to let go of stuff? I have a hard time of it, especially books, magazines, and other stuff that you can't convince yourself to let go of, in fear that one day down the road your just going to need that item!

Does anyone else suffer from this, and if so, how do you convince yourself to get rid of the crap???

We are going through that right now...one thing we are doing to avoid throwing everything away, yet still getting rid of it, is to scan anything that we want to keep but do'nt necessarily need in print. You could scan magazines (rip out the pages you are interested in), old bills (though keep tax stuff), etc.

All the convincing I needed was given to me by the last time we moved (we moved 12 hours away)...we had to be out of there that day and we ran out of room in the truck. So we rented a trailer but they didn't have the size we needed (we got a tiny one). So we put the really important things in, but still had to leave some stuff behind. So this time, we aren't taking anything not absolutely necessary or loved (unless we have extra room), because I'm not leaving anything behind that I want! We had to leave an exercise bike, a couple of chairs, bookcases, that sort of thing (nothing really important, just stuff that I would have preferred to keep).

The positive was that a friend of ours knew a family that had just moved there and had pretty much nothing...so they went and got all the stuff we left behind. I was really happy we were able to help someone, but I really wanted to keep my chair!

 

[JR6ooo4]

Ya, but it has to be done. Send some to a resale shop or give it to a charity. It helps to stop the "wasting" feeling of throwing it all out.

When we moved from our two bedroom apt. the movers came in and said "Oh my gosh"!!!! And that was just the boxes in the living room, before they saw all the boxes in the dining room and second bedroom. Hehehehehee

Mikeeee

 

[soupy11]

We found paying by the pound to move from PA to CA made us way less sentimental about almost everything

lol

 

[*BTMRR*]

I hear you. I have trouble getting rid of my kids' things from when they were little. Clothes, stuffed animals, Kindergarten crafts, and so on. I know I should just keep one newborn outfit from each kid for example but I want to keep the newborn outfit, the first Christmas dress, first tiny swimsuit, and on and on! Other than my kids' stuff I am really not a packrat and love getting rid of things.

I always tell my husband I wish I had one whole room that could be a "family museum" where I could store and display (neatly of course!) things that have sentimental value.

I have started taking pictures of some things before I get rid of them. That seems to help somehow.

 

[mickeysgal]

I love to get rid of stuff. To me, it's been a good week when we either take a carload to Goodwill or there is a pile on the curb.

The way I learned was the old fashioned way...moving. I first got a taste of it when we moved from a house we had for 13 years. Way too much time to accumulate junk. A couple years later we moved to a house in the south that had no basement and no garage - just a carport. Talk about baptism by fire. We had one room that was a large room/closet that was meant to be a storage room and that was it. We learned to get real lean with our stuff. We have since moved again but I still have only one 12x12 room in the basement that is for all storage (Christmas, luggage, etc.).

It's a very liberating feeling to get rid of dated furniture, clothes, papers, etc.

 

[4greatboys]

My downfall is the kids stuff. It's so hard for me get rid of baby clothes and toys.

We also seem to accumulate a lot of crap that needs to be shredded like cc offers, old bills and bank stuff. I just think I will do it later and then later it's a huge mountain of stuff

 

[Yen Sid]

I am like that too, just keep collecting junk until there is no room for it. I then force myself to get rid of it but on the plus side i have a lot of room for new junk afterwards, LOL.