Inspired by Spring Cleaning-getting rid of stuff

[ntburns22]

When you are cleaning out closets and such how do you know what to keep? I will start cleaning out a closet and most of the time everything gets put back in. I find a meaning for everything. Like DD's first soccer jersey to her first day of school outfit. Not to mention all the artwork and special toys. With my DS he isn't old enough to be in anything yet but I see myself saving all the little stuff once again. I did just finally take all my formals from HS to the goodwill. It was really hard to part with them. I did keep one but I really don't know why.

I am the queen of pack-rats. Help me learn to declutter.

 

[Pooh's Pixie]

Get a dumpster. Seriously. Nothing says declutter like a big old dumpster in the driveway...very satisfying to just dump away!!!

Barring that drastic a move, think about what is in the closet and why. I keep bins of things like kid projects etc. But not everything. I actually have a big bin in the laundry room and all school projects go in there when they come home. Then periodically I go thru the bin & only keep the ones I really want to keep. If you don't you'll be buried in paper!

As for closets, I try to go through them periodically and if anything not being used is in there that isn't waiting for the next season, I get rid of it. If I'm storing sentimental stuff in there, it should go to the basement.

It's hard, and I've still got a lot of clutter, but you need to chip away at it.
Have fun...good luck!

 

[happybratpack]

I bought this organize-everything-in-your-life book...very interesting. One thing I read in there that I thought would be a good idea for childrens drawings/art was once it was off display to either scan it or take a digital picture of it then toss the actual item. I wouldn't do this with everything, but I think it's a good idea overall.

My house is a huge ugly mess of clutter. I'm working on it, slowly. Would be great to hear others tips!

 

[KarenAylwood]

When you are cleaning out closets and such how do you know what to keep? I will start cleaning out a closet and most of the time everything gets put back in. I find a meaning for everything. Like DD's first soccer jersey to her first day of school outfit. Not to mention all the artwork and special toys. With my DS he isn't old enough to be in anything yet but I see myself saving all the little stuff once again. I did just finally take all my formals from HS to the goodwill. It was really hard to part with them. I did keep one but I really don't know why.

I am the queen of pack-rats. Help me learn to declutter.

You sound a lot like my mom. She was holding on to EVERYTHING that I ever touched when I was little. It took me cleaning things out with her and forcing her to throw some of it out. I just kept reminding her- we're keeping some stuff, not all of it- it's not like I'm throwing everything out!

I have a HUGE collection of sorority tshirts that I never wear but want to keep for the nostalgia- so once I save up the money I'm taking them to a friend who's mom does quilting to make a tshirt quilt. It's a great idea for all those little outfits you have if you don't want to get rid of them/give them away. Have them made into something- then you've got a cute way of keeping the memories without all the clutter. And you could always just organize the ones you want to keep and wait till they are a bit older and make a quilt of clothes from each child or something.

Keep a few things like the artwork- put books together. Get it REALLY organized, and ditch the rest. You've just got to purge the old toys- they take up too much room.

You'll appreciate books and a quilt of memories more than just a closet full of crap that you only get to go through and appreciate once a year when you try to clean it

 

[tiff211]

I am so bad, I like to toss EVERYTHING. I can't stand to see clutter. I have to go through our storage bins and get rid of things! I only keep DDs "special" projects, DD3 comes home with at least 10 pages a day. Some papers have one line on them! DH says we have to keep it all. I have a bin in their closet that I put special stuff in, the rest I toss when no one's looking

DH played football at Boston University and has EVERY single newspaper that his name was in. Not the article clippings, the whole darn paper!! I told him I was going to make a scrapbook for him when I had some time. Stil waiting for that time!! Along with the articles, he has his t-shirts, cleats, footballs, helmets. He made me promise not to touch anything!!

 

[MagicalMom]

Just wanted to recommend a great website for organizing & decluttering.

http://organizedhome.com/

 

[lbgraves]

Take digital pictures of the artwork & burn it on a disc...then toss the artwork. I threw out things that I did in Kindergarten when I moved out on my own. The pasta had attracted bugs in the attic & the drawer was just a mess.

 

[dhcoffey]

I have to say I agree with getting a dumpster. We are currently redoing our kitchen and moved a dumpster in to help with the trash and all and while we have it, I've been cleaning out closets and all and it's very liberating to just say, take it to the dumpster!!

 

[MagicalMom]

Well you guys must be pretty inspiring because I just boxed up about 30 things from my kitchen that I won't be needing in my new home.

 

[powellrj]

we were going to get a dumpster last summer when we did a major clean out. WOW, they are expensive! DH called all the local places and we were shocked at the price. One of the places suggested we rent a U-Haul and load it up and take it to the dump. It was a lot cheaper than the dumpster! We are going to do it again this year. Before you think we are major pack rats, DH and I both work out of our home and 90% of what we need to get rid of is junk our employers send us!

 

[ntburns22]

I don't think I have enough for a dumpster or atleast I hope not. I do find a meaning for everything.How do you decide what goes? We don't have a basement and our attic is on the small side because our furnace is up there. I do have an extra 6 car garage. DD was born in 2000. So we have alot of special (atleast I think they are special things). Like a January 2000 cookie monster, cabbage patch, barbie I could go on and on. Everything is still in the box. If I get started on books I will be here all day.

 

[NMAmy]

I used to be a pack rat and save every little thing that came my way. But now I've moved so many times that I've managed to keep the things that really mean something to me and ditch the other stuff. Seriously, when you move a lot, it's much easier to look at something and think, "Do I really want to pack this, move it, and unpack it AGAIN?"

I've always been a scrapbooker since I was a little girl and that helps to organize some odds and ends. With dd's artwork and schoolwork--I saved the really special stuff and ditched the rest. I'm still working on getting that stuff packed into boxes for her. I only kept one box of her baby clothes and a few special t-shirts that she's had over the years. I kept one of my outfits from each decade--as a reminder and also for when dd has dress-up days for Homecoming at school--which will start next year. She has Calvin Klein jeans, a big sweater, and some of those black plastic Madonna bracelets--along with a banana hair clip to wear for 80's day. With dd's books--I only kept the ones we really loved and visiting kids love to look through them. I only kept a box of little toys for visitors to play with, too. I'm not sentimental about toys at all.

So that's my advice. Winnow everything down to a manageable size. It will be easier to find what you're looking for that way, too.

That said, I'm de-cluttering again for a garage sale this summer. I can't wait to get rid of some of this junk!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I am the queen of pack-rats. Help me learn to declutter.

Decluttering is a lifestyle change, a process. What you do is go through something over and over again. Pretty soon you start to let go.

The secret to decluttering is that if you treasure something so much you need to honor it by displaying it.
That is my final test. Am I ever going to show this off on the wall, table, etc...????
After decluttering for about 6 years you realize that you are NEVER going to display it, then you let it go......

Finally you realize the "memories" are in your head, not in objects. Once you accept that, it really gets easy.

 

[DVCLiz]

I don't think I have enough for a dumpster or atleast I hope not. I do find a meaning for everything.How do you decide what goes? We don't have a basement and our attic is on the small side because our furnace is up there. I do have an extra 6 car garage. DD was born in 2000. So we have alot of special (atleast I think they are special things). Like a January 2000 cookie monster, cabbage patch, barbie I could go on and on. Everything is still in the box. If I get started on books I will be here all day.

I have learned that this is the road to madness. If you keep everything based on this kind of decision-making, that garage and the rest of your house will be stuffed so full that you won't be able to live in it!!!! I say this after having two children, now 12 and 17, and having the luxury of "throw it up in the attic" space to allow me to put off making a decision.

Any toy you are keeping because you bought it in the same year your child was born should go IMMEDIATELY. Here's how I would think of it - if you found items at a yard sale, and you didn't know they were made or bought that year, would they have any special meaning to you?? If you saw a Cabbage Patch doll at a yard sale, would you say, "Oh, wow!!!! That Cabbage Patch doll reminds me so much of my child - I will keep it and treasure it forever?" Or would you just say, "Hmm, I remember those", and move along? These ARE NOT the special things you will want to keep. You will keep artwork, journals (I love seeing how my daughters first wrote in their journals in first grade!!) and special projects, although you'll get bombarded with those over the years and learn to trim there, too. (Anyone need a wooden replica of the American flag badly painted?LOL!!!!)

I have two cabinets, with shelves above and drawers below. I allow myself to keep one for each child, and everything I store for sentimental reasons has to fit in there. All the little Beatrix Potter cups, one or two baby outfits, special blankies, stuffed animals, etc. - it all has to be contained.

I'm now purging a huge amount of stuff from the attic - it looks like someone from Fisher Price threw up in there!!!! Make yourself some guidelines, but DON'T get bogged down with this stuff - you will be glad later if you can do it now!!!!

 

[DisneyJen0504]

If I didn't wear it last season, I am probably not going to wear it in the upcoming season so I give it good will.

 

[froglady]

If I didn't wear it last season, I am probably not going to wear it in the upcoming season so I give it good will.

I do the same. At the beginning of the season, I put one of those round colored stickers on everything I take out of storage. I write the date on it, then remove it when I wear the item. I'm a little more tolerant; I'll let it go for two seasons. This year I'm going for one color for this season so I'll save time.

The only items I "save" are things like beaded jackets, handbags, wraps, gloves, etc that I might only wear once a year.

 

[puffkin]

I started a yard sale pile in my basement.

Whenever I buy new things or replace things, off it goes to the yard sale pile. Things that are questionable go in the yard sale pile. If I am cleaning out a drawer or closet, I try to find a few things for the yard sale pile.

This works for me because it isn't as "permanent" as throwing something away. The two yardsales I usually participate in are during the spring. That way, things in the pile have until that time to determine their worth. If I don't miss them, then they are sold. If something keeps finding its way back upstairs, I keep it. Plus, I always put my yard sale profits towards my Disney trips, so it is a great incentive to get rid of things!

 

[imsorry]

I really want to declutter. DH hates to part with anything. My Dad passed away five years ago, and I still have a few of his jackets hanging in my coat closet - I'll admit I have trouble parting with stuff like that. My mother used to make ceramics - but now I am redecorating and I don't know where to put it all. We seem to have an emotional attachment to any inanimate object that belonged to our parents. So, I stick them in a closet, in the basement, etc. How do you bring yourself to throw these things away?

 

[mickeyfan2]

I would put like things togther and then decide what one or two things you would take above all others, keep those and toss the rest.