Clearing Up Clutter

[Heidi]

Sally wrote: "How do you know when you get to be the new page poster?"

It's @ Message #51, I believe...

[Sally, la reina]

Really? I thought we determined back in MiniAm that wasn't the case. Hm.

[Heidi]

Sally wrote: "Really? I thought we determined back in MiniAm that wasn't the case. Hm."

Oh geez, I can't remember that far back (especially when I probably glossed over that thread).

[Phil]

51, 101, 151, 201, etc.

[Phil]

I cleaned one quarter of the garage and filled our 96 gallon trash container plus 1/2 of a second one.

There was the glass center portion from our old front door (saved it for five years... why??), about 300 jewel cases, an old broken scooter, some sidewalk chalk that had been out in the rain, a few old boards (bowed), and some other things.

I didn't toss the extra cat box and poop collection thingy -- my daughter wants those for her cats. I also didn't toss the two umbrella strollers I found, the two booster seats for the car, or the backpack designed for carrying infants. With a grandkid on the way those should come in handy.

Maybe tomorrow I'll attack another section.

[evie]

Excellent Phil!

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Good work, Phil. I haven't done any decluttering today. It's too hot. Oh I take that back, I threw out an old mouse. (Not the rodent kind.) And filled a bag with old magazines (sitting on a shelf since 2006, it's time to acknowledge I will never read them) for the recycling.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

This is good. From the website of a professional organizer:

---------------------
When I first meet with clients, I often hear the same stories explaining why their environments are in disarray. The following themes repeat themselves like a broken record regardless of the client's income, background or education.

1. Emotional chaos manifests itself in clutter chaos. There are difficult life events that create turmoil in our lives like catastrophic illness, death in the family, job loss and divorce. The stress, disorder and turbulence of these events are all consuming, and keeping house is no longer a priority.

2. No infrastructure to support order. The absence of organized infrastructure like a landing strip when you first come home or a functional storage system in the kitchen contributes to the proliferation of clutter. When you don't have an easy and well defined way of putting things away, possessions tend to accumulate on any available flat surface.

3. No established workflow. When clients get overwhelmed with bills or children's paperwork from school, it's often because there is no established workflow of receiving, processing and returning the paperwork.

4. The clogged flow of clutter. Posessions come in and out of our lives. It's easy to bring things in, but for some, it's harder to let things go. Items outlive their usefulness, clothes go out of fashion, and children outgrow their toys. Some clients don't have the time to purge, and some clients are too emotionally attached to their possessions.

5. Packing for a move without purging. Moving is a stressful process, and under the duress of an impending move date, some people pack everything in sight. When they move to the new house, they find themselves in the same clutter situation in a different house.

The first step to developing an organizing solution starts with a diagnosis of the symptoms. Often, it's a combination of the above that creates the chaos in the house, but once the situation is understood, it becomes an easier problem to solve.

#2 is the one that tends to hamper me. I have a filing system, and files, but I've run out of room, and maybe not enough different filing categories. I guess that's a sign I should go digital.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

I was just hunting around, looking for unused storage space (I do have some, yay!) and inside a cupboard were a bunch of pairs of shoes, in bags that I ran out of room for in the closet, when I first moved here.

I have some cute shoes. I remember now, though, some of these I had to stop wearing because they gave me bloody blisters. I'm looking at you, Donald J. Pliner and Etienne Aigner.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

I need a better yarn storage system. Right now the large size yarns are in a really big basket which just sits permanently in the living room, and the smaller size yarns are in plastic bags and two cardboard boxes which seem to move around a lot....they need a home. Maybe I'll buy some see-through bins.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

It's easy for me to file away the basics: tax info, mutual fund statements, real estate documents, health insurance stuff, other insurance, etc. etc. What I have trouble with is random shit. Like when a local realtor sends me a big glossy postcard with a condo for sale, and I really like the pictures on it...I kind of want to keep it. For reference. That's what a condo in that building looks like, and they've decorated it really nicely, and the architect was someone famous. Am I the only one that has a hard time throwing away stuff like that? This is the kind of paper clutter that stymies my attempts to remain organized. I guess I'll put it in a "design" folder.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Today I vacuumed and decluttered for 2 hours. I had to stop....it was just too hot. Sweat dripping off my face. I consolidated yarn and threw out a bunch of old curtains and a bathroom scale.

[evie]

It's good you threw out the old curtains. They never get used again .
I threw out some table napkins recently, that had been folded at the back of my linen shelf since I got them. They were a gift from my sister in law some years ago. I've never used them.

[evie]

Yesterday my daughter and I filled two large garbage bags with clothes we don't wear. The question now . How long will the bags be in the way in my bedroom?

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

17 days.

[Dee]

Evie give them to charity :)

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

I have some stuff to give away too. In my neighborhood we have one of those large metal containers with a door where you can drop off clothing donations so that's what I'll probably do.

[evie]

Last bag of stuff I had, I took to one of those bins and it was full. There were bags of clothes piled by the side of it and it was raining.
My stuff stayed in the boot of our car for two weeks.

We have a retirement village nearby that has a charity shop, so I will drop my stuff there I think.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Yes, that's happened to me as well (full bin). Still, in the boot of your car is better than in your bedroom.

Reminds me of an interesting article I read recently:

The Afterlife of Cheap Clothes

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/fa...

[evie]

My daughter and her friends sometimes get together and have a clothes swap party.

[evie]

I sorted through my desk drawer at home today. I threw away a small bin bag full of paper. I filed telephone numbers, bank statements , superannuation stuff, aged care information, and tax related stuff in my file folder. I also found a lot of medical receipts that I can claim for cash.

I now need to look at my file folder !

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Are letters and cards from loved ones clutter? Maybe a rule of thumb is to save the ones that say something meaningful, and to throw out the ones that don't really? I can't throw away a little thank you note from a niece or nephew, it's too sweet. Or a giant note begging me to come visit and help them solicit donations for a school project.

[Sally, la reina]

I save all written correspondence, in boxes organized roughly by year. This is to aid my future biographers and compilers of the written works of moi.

[evie]

The special cards and notes from loved ones are treasures. Keep them.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Goodbye old computer manual, why I had that sitting around gathering dust is beyond me. What to do with all the old cables? Fat ones, skinny ones, ones with colored plastic thingies on the ends (I think those are for speakers). What to do with the old speakers? I hate computer clutter.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Discarding later today: the AB ROLLER !

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Is there any point in keeping old software, which is new and unopened, that came with an old computer? Such as Windows XP 2002, MS Office 2002....some people like to use the old versions, right? Or should I just dump it.

[Sally, la reina]

Dump it.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

A teak cheese tray with matching knife that was given to me. I've never used it.

[evie]

Out it goes.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Yes, clean clothes (usually recently laundered) can be clutter too. I know this from personal experience.

http://www.household-management-101.c...

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

An enormous pale green glass tray, it appears to be for chips and dip, shaped kind of a like a starfish, if the starfish had just barely lived through Chernobyl. Given to me by a colleague. (Why??) The overwhelming stench of a regift.

[evie]

I have two huge baskets of clean laundry on the floor in the lounge room right now.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

I have clean laundry clutter accumulating right now.

[Cheri]

I love to throw stuff out. It makes me feel free. Then I go look for it in 6 months.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

You mean in the landfill?

I love throwing stuff out too. It absolutely makes me feel free. Every thing I throw out is like another albatross being removed from my neck.

This is a big transformation for me, because for a long time I've had a fear of throwing things away. (Creating garbage = bad, filling landfills = environmentally irresponsible, etc.) If you can't donate it to charity, it still must be thrown away. You must envision it as garbage. The question then becomes, will this piece of garbage stay in my house, or will it go into a landfill? The second option is better for me, mentally, emotionally, psychologically.

[evie]

Freedom!

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Handbags, purses, totebags, leather bags, briefcases. Right now I have too many of them hanging from doorknobs.

[evie]

Check for lost items and cash before you ditch any of them.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Oh definitely. I'm only throwing out one, the rest are in good condition and just need a place to be other than hanging from a doorknob.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Alumni magazines! They breed like rabbits. Do you keep them, or ditch them right away? I have a hard time saying goodbye, but I feel like I ought. I went through phases, where I decided to save them; then for several years I was ditching them.

[Cynthia]

evie wrote: "Yesterday my daughter and I filled two large garbage bags with clothes we don't wear. The question now . How long will the bags be in the way in my bedroom?"

Last week my 20-year-old daughter and I hauled five bags to the trash and packed up five or six big bags for Goodwill. It was like pulling teeth. Really, Emma, do we need to keep your 7th grade Science spiral?

[Cynthia]

Lobstergirl wrote: "Alumni magazines! They breed like rabbits. Do you keep them, or ditch them right away? I have a hard time saying goodbye, but I feel like I ought. I went through phases, where I decided to save..."

LG: Ask your alumni association to send you email updates. Less paper crap.

[evie]

Cynthia wrote: "evie wrote: "Yesterday my daughter and I filled two large garbage bags with clothes we don't wear. The question now . How long will the bags be in the way in my bedroom?"

Last week my 20-year-old ..."

I had to initiate the clothes throw out because Ella could not close the drawers of her dresser.

[Cynthia]

Evie:
At least your girl understands the purpose of a dresser.
Miss E. left her clothing in the laundry room in baskets.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Cynthia wrote: "Really, Emma, do we need to keep your 7th grade Science spiral? "

I can relate. With Emma. If those were in my house, I wouldn't be able to deal with the clutter, but because they're in my father's attic, they're out of sight for all involved. I have such a fondness for old school materials!!

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

evie wrote: "Ella could not close the drawers of her dresser. "

I can't close my sock drawer. I'm going to try, though. I'm going to compress those fuckers as much as possible.

[Cynthia]

How many socks do you have, LG?

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Wild guess, maybe 40 pairs?

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

I feel inspired, I think I'm going to throw out some bras today!