Decluttering support/challenge? About This Page:

[jenifermg0]

Originally Posted by *Pixie*Dust*

My problem is getting dh to jump on the bandwagon. He saves everything !

I have a friend with the same problem. They were moving out to the little island several years ago and I was helping them pack up. I had to argue with him that we were NOT going to pack all the empty jelly jars he had saved over the years. And I am NOT talking about nice Mason canning jars...I'm talking Smuckers jars from the store!!! His DW finally sent him off to do something and she and I got rid of a bunch of stuff when he wasn't looking.

[HollyH]

Back to decluttering today. Today was the day I took down the Christmas decoration. I decided to take the extra time to weed out the ornaments and decorations. I threw away about 40 "seen better days" ornaments. I have another couple of dozen items that we never really use but would probably be appreciated by others. I have them in my donate/tag sale boxes right now.

[KimmyAnn1147]

Good for you, Holly, though getting rid of Christmas ornaments sounds painful!

Jennifer, my grandfather saved stuff. He used to patch his socks with bike tire patch kits. But he wasn't a horder, just frugal until it didn't make sense and wasn't really frugal anymore.

Around our house, I've been swamped with work. My stay-at-home DH has put away all the Christmas stuff, and has done a good job putting the house back together.

In the coming days, I would like to purge my homeschool supplies. We have settled into a routine and I don't need all this extra stuff that we aren't using laying around.

[jenifermg0]

Well, between my cleaning and decluttering and DH cleaning off his desk, we did great this weekend!!
We got rid of a LOT of small items - like pens and glasses cleaning cloths and that kind of thing!

Here are the new days we have checked off the Declutter Calendar:
Jan 16th
Jan 17th
Jan 18th
Jan 19th
Jan 21st
Jan 22nd
Jan 23rd
Feb 6th
Feb 7th
Feb 12th

That's another 161 individual items out the door!!! Granted most of it was SMALL!!! But I'll take whatever I can get at this point!!!

That puts us at a total of 521 items so far - and only lacking three days for January (but a total of 77 items) to finish out the first month!!!!

[KimmyAnn1147]

WTG, Jennifer!

I have started a habit of making DS go through 10 items in his "bibs and bobs" pile to either keep, donate, or throw out each night. While he does that, I straighten his room, which is also where my clothes closet and bookcases are. It's been a good habit, he's gotten rid of a lot of stuff (plastic junk) and he's not complaining about it at all. Yay!

[jenifermg0]

Haven't gotten anything done the past couple nights.

Mondays are always hard. I am ususally tired after first day back to work after the weekend (and we worked our butts off this past weekend to boot).

Last night ended up on the phone with my DSil for almost an hour and then DH and I had to drop off his truck to get it worked on and then DH's buddy came over, so basically decluttering got put on the back burner.

And tonight I'm going to see Mamma Mia with my BFF, so tonight is out.

Hopefully tomorrow I can get something done!! I'll be gone on a girl's camping weekend Friday to Monday morning - so nothing will get done unless DH gets motiviated.

Luckily - I have almost all of January marked off so at least I won't be getting behind but I'm not as far ahead as I was!!

[tcmary]

You all have motivated me to join in. I'm going to do what my mother suggested when I was a kid. 30 minutes a day with a timer and then go play.
I'm looking forward to being home this weekend without any obligations. It's the first time since certain October I can enjoy this luxury.

Wish me well. I already tossed 13 items today. Good luck everyone.

[KimmyAnn1147]

WTG, Mary!

Jennifer, you are still on a roll. Hope Mama Mia was great! I still haven't seen that movie, let alone the theater production.

[jenifermg0]

Heading out for girls' weekend this afternoon...going to leave "orders" for DH and DS to do their de-cluttering and to keep track for me!!

[*Pixie*Dust*]

Last Wednesday I just couldn't get myself motivated to tackle my office. I didn't waste the whole day. My fridge had become covered in a mishmash of magnets, appointment cards and takeout menus. I took everything off and scrubbed down the whole thing inside & out.
I weeded through the magnets & menus, hung a new appointment calendar and it looks much more organized.
My schedule is different this week and I'm only working a 1/2 day tomorrow. My goal is to get at least a section of my office organized and then finish the rest on Wednesday.

[KimmyAnn1147]

I FINALLY got some serious declutter done. This time on my vanity area, which is in a corner of our upstairs closet. This is where my jewelry, hair supplies, deodorant and lotion is kept. I also keep the hair scissors and comb there for cutting DS' hair. It's such a huge hurdle to make time for this that I need the supplies to be really easy to get at.

I tossed a bunch of jewelry that had been mouldering there since my teens and early 20s, and I made a cute necklace rack, since everything was just piled in a box. It looks really cute, I made it out of a half-round of bamboo I found out in the yard, just perfect for this purpose. We have Giant Bamboo growing here, and sometimes someone will make something with it and leave some scrap. I should really learn how to take pictures and put them on my computer quick, would be much faster than trying to describe this. Suffice it to say, it looks nice and now my jewelry is also an art piece.

This was a major goal of mine, and it coincided with establishing a place for my herbal supplements, which I have been neglecting for a while. So now, I'm ready to take those regularly too. Good for me!

[jenifermg0]

Didn't do ANY decluttering this weekend...I ran away from home with my girlfriends for a crafting/relaxation weekend. I did manage to take apart a scrapbook that was in an album that was going to start deteriorating and finished three quilted wallhangings. Does that count?? These were all projects hanging around needing to be done and taking up space. Now I can give away the hangins to a couple of friends and start "re"-scrapping the album in the right kind of album.

[jenifermg0]

Okay...kept forgetting to post but I did get pretty busy on Saturday!!
Worked on our laundry/storage area and put a good dent back there!!

Checked off the calendar:
Jan 24th
Jan 26th
Feb 8th
Feb 9th
March 2nd
March 4th
April 1st

That's another 74 items thrown away or put in the donation pile!!! Thats a total of 595!!! Almost to 600 - OMG!!!
Next I'm going to tackle under the bathroom sink!!
My decluttering plan isn't really a plan. I'm jumping from room to room, just whatever grabs my attention. And I figure I will be going back to areas I already went through once, but then I am sure that I will decide more needs to leave the second time around! Getting this stuff cleared out feels so liberating!!!!!!!!!!!

[KimmyAnn1147]

WTG, Jennifer! I'm inspired that you are still at it.

I have still been making DS clear 10 things from his "bibs and bobs" each night and the pile is really shrinking. I have a few hot spots piling up around the house. Glad you posted here, it's given me motivation to address some of it. I can feel the pull of winter depression and lack of motivation, but I'm not going to let it own me!

[jenifermg0]

Originally Posted by KimmyAnn1147

WTG, Jennifer! I'm inspired that you are still at it.

I have still been making DS clear 10 things from his "bibs and bobs" each night and the pile is really shrinking. I have a few hot spots piling up around the house. Glad you posted here, it's given me motivation to address some of it. I can feel the pull of winter depression and lack of motivation, but I'm not going to let it own me!

I've had a lot going on so I haven't managed to get to it EVERY day...and last night we had a power outage so most of the night was spent curled up on the couch under warm blankets with my Kindle Fire (thank goodness it has its own light source!) reading and listening to the emergency radio. I am really wanting to get a dent or two put into the bathroom so I'm hoping I can find an hour or so tonight.