Dealing with clutter part 2

[Nikki J]

We had a thread last spring https://www.alsforums.com/forum/other/32229-dealing-clutter.html

I thought I would revisit the topic and see how everyone is doing.

I spent much of the summer and fall last year working on this. It went very slowly but I managed to donate or toss a lot and organize a good deal. It has made my life easier and I am very glad I did it!

I am now doing a round two- revisiting categories and also tackling a couple of categories I skipped before. Those are things I can do sitting ( papers and photos) but are time consuming and emotional so slow going!

I continue to do the Marie Kondo folding- it is now second nature. I try to use her joy test when deciding about an item.

Anyone have stories or plans to share?

 

[ShiftKicker]

I just inherited 4 giant garbage bags of yarn from my recently deceased grandmother. As I was a yarn hoarder and prolific crocheter for quite some time, I was the logical person for these to come to. However, as I no longer have the fine motor skills, energy or patience to crochet, I have zero use for the yarn.

I donated a huge amount of yarn and tatting supplies to an elementary school teacher friend for her art classes when I realized I wasn't going to use it. I will be doing so again with this stuff. But, I just can't resist sorting through it first though and planned to start today, funny enough. Looks like a whole bunch of unbleached sheep wool collected on her various trips to the motherland. She enjoyed making Arran sweaters for a variety of her younger family members. She was officially blind for the last 15 years of her life, but she'd made so many of them in her lifetime that she didn't need to see properly to continue knitting her scratchy sweaters and inflicting them on reluctant grandchildren. I think I may actually enjoy this sorting session.

I did do footwear (pretty sure I will not be wearing all those high heels ever again!), winter gear, magazines/books (donated the lot to a nursing home and a hospital auxiliary- gratefully received), aquarium supplies (downsized and got rid of a bajillion filters and pumps and paraphernalia), sorted my linen closet and created a "Hope" chest for my offspring with a lot of culled household stuff, bedlinens and dishes. The towels I donated to a local cat rescue charity for their fostering program- pregnant feral mum cats need a soft place to birth in or care for their new kittens.

I have also continued to look through all clothing in the house and am being pretty aggressive in my assessment of what should be discarded. Big Brothers knows to call us whenever they do donation pick ups in my neighbourhood- we ALWAYS have stuff to give them. If there's too big a build up before they come round, we make a trip to the Mennonite thrift shop to donate.

My husband has a hard time giving up clothes he never wears, so they get stored in flat bins under the bed. The cat has had a wonderful time popping the bin lids off, shoveling out the clothes he doesn't want and lounging in the bin with his elbow hanging out. We joke that he's pretending to be a trucker driving his rig. We (the cat and I) have a running battle about the proper use of clothes bins- they're not appropriate for spelunking sessions in my opinion. Pretty sure he's winning.

My goal is to sort through my journals, photos from early adulthood, art school portfolios, art supplies and the like. I don't think I'll be able to touch my glass supplies or jewellery making equipment and various gems and prepared metals yet though. I have a wish that I can pass these on to my son.

Thanks for the prompt, Nikki. I was busier than I realized!

 

[bigmark1954]

This thread hits home. I should change my signature to "The King of Clutter". I was semi-organized pre-diagnosis, but can't seem to focus on getting organized.

My shop in the garage is so cluttered that it is hard to find specific tools when I need them. The man cave is so bad it bothers me to hang out in it.

It would take about two weeks to fix it, but I can't seem to get motivated. I also hang on to stuff because I might need might need down the road. It seems ridiculous because there isn't much of a future for me. I am always buying things that I need, just to find I already had them hidden in the dam clutter.......

 

[Nikki J]

Mark I understand everything you are saying. I lived like that for a long time. The protracted and simultaneous terminal illnesses of both my parents were followed immediately by my sister's. Throw in my issue and , first nothing happened, because I had zero time, then zero motivation, energy and limited physical abilities

It did finally work when I committed to a charity pickup. I had to give them something. It gradually got better and it helped to start seeing the difference. I do get motivation from not wanting anyone else to do it so I need to do it while I can

Fiona thank you. You inspired me to email the person who said she would take my yarn and never did. It sounds like you have done great work. I need to revisit shoes- I don't have that many but there are certainly some I won't be wearing

 

[KimT]

I've pretty much been a minimalist since I sold my large house in 2001. I moved from 2,800 sf. into my dream condo on a lake with only 1,300 sf. I gutted that condo and did a complete remodel. With that move I was able to eliminate a lot and being in a smaller condo held me to not buy a bunch of things that I would have to rid myself of when I got older. The condo had only two bedrooms and I converted the master into a home office. I did have room to keep china, art, and other things of sentimental value.

Fast forward to my recent move. Combining a home with another unrelated person was a challenge. Fred had a huge house he sold and I sold my condo. We had two joint garage sales and I had to decide what I wanted to keep and what I didn't. I sold much of my art, all the china, and extra dishes. I donated 75% of my clothes including all my work clothes. I have a few photos but I've digitized all the important ones and the ones that are left can fit in a very small plastic container.

For me organization and eliminating clutter has always been something that helps me feel less stress.

Since the move in October, I was able to go through every piece of paper in my file cabinet and scan anything important (tax returns, etc.) so they are kept on a jump drive and hard drive. I got rid of all the paper except for product manuals, deeds, wills, and other important papers. These can fit in one file drawer.

I bought some plastic travel bags on Amazon and organized various supplies in them.

After my bathroom remodel in this new place, I actually have lots of free closet space and drawers with absolutely nothing in them. My master closet is large enough for a motorized wheelchair so I had two outlets put in during the remodel.

I'm still finding things of limited value and, when I do, I set them aside and either give them to friends or donate them. I got rid of 95% of my physical books because most of my books are on my Kindle App or in audible format. I still do have a lot of electronics as that has always been my weakness. Fred also has a lot of electronics, too, but we wall mounted all the TVs to make more floor space for a motorized chair. We have a lot of storage here but I think we have way too many blankets and towels. That is my next project.

I really don't have any direct heirs but I've been working on Ancestry dot com to take my family tree as far back as possible. It's hard work but I've managed to get back into the 1500s on most everything and, in the process, located many second cousins I didn't know I had. I will leave this to my niece as she seems to appreciate this type of thing.

I still have a fair amount of jewelry but it all fits into one of my Amazon bags. I plan on sending most of it to cousins up North who have visited me within the past 5 years.

 

[affected]

I'm still on round 1 and I never finished BUT what I decluttered using the Konmari method has stayed that way which is a true first!

Maybe over this winter I'll get to do another category. Thanks for starting this up Nikki, I often think of you when I enjoy my office space

 

[affected]

This is a different kind of clutter - I'm working on putting into a big pile all the things I am 'doing' and then doing a KonMari decluttering. A girlfriend started me on this at a recent lunch date as I was talking about something I'm involved in that is stressing me. She took me by the hand and looked in my eye and said - 'let it go'.

It's like she gave me permission in a funny kind of way. As I thought about this over the next week I realised how much my life could do with a KonMari revamp, so that's my next project!

 

[gooseberry]

Clutter makes me crazy. As I was going thru tools, nails, etc. I realized the hours of work and I realized half of it didnt work or I wouldnt use. I threw it all in a box and tool box and donated it. Then I got the things I would absolutely use, like a cordless drill with magnetic tip, of a weight and size I could handle. Now it is organized and useful.

I have discontinued all my magazine subscriptions in print. I am getting digital versions instead.

 

[Nikki J]

Good for you Steph!

Tillie interesting concept. Let us know how you make it happen

Still plugging along here. Had a charity pickup. Gave some things to a friend. Trashed some things nobody wants.

 

[ShiftKicker]

Charity pick ups are a life saver here. I don't understand where it all comes from, because we really don't buy that much. It breeds in dark closets and under beds. The storage locker has been cleaned out twice this year and STILL has more to provide for donations.

Tillie, thanks for sharing that. I have a friend who needs to hear this. I probably need to hear this. It's likely we ALL do!

 

[Nikki J]

So true Fiona. I am mystified. Yes my house was cluttered but not like hoarders or those clean sweep programs they used to have on tv. By now it should be empty and it is not!!