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[casuallady]

I was on a mission this morning to start cleaning my unfinished basement. My hubby was painting cabinets in our garage. They are wooden that he build many years ago, however in nice condition. He painted them a light taupe, and they look nice. I question how well he cleaned out the cabinets, but I am thankful for what he is doing. He is a gem, however very sentimental, and a little of a packrat. I talked him in to throwing a few items away.

I then went to the basement to clean out some similar cabinets and discard a few items. I asked his opinion on many items, since I know he would be angry if I threw away some of his antiques (?) and sentimental items, I cleaned a group of shelves and neatly placed my pizzele iron, extra serving items. I did make a box for flea market, and threw away my window candles. I no longer have time to deal with the bulbs and tipping over,...

I scrubbed the floor with an old fashioned mop, and washed down the stairs. He still wants to keep jars and canning supplies, and I am just worn out. We babysit grandkids and do our own cleaning. I barely made a dent. He has hunting gear, we have Christmas Stuff ( I will do), fishing stuff, that has seeped into my loft, garage, and basement. I explained that most should be in one place. I am ok if he ties flies in the loft. He also has a high table and stool with leather dies, and carving stuff.

Our home is 19 yrs old and our basement walls and floor are in pretty good condition, except around our new Culligan softener, rusty water and floor, there is a drain, but missing it? I mentioned to salesperson and hubby, but didn't get answers. Our water is good.

We also have an antique (?) bike, that hubby wants to sell to possibly Cracker Barrel. I could go on, but I think You get the picture.

He wants to go biking on a rails to trails after church tomorrow, but I just want closure, but even if we stay home, it probably won't happen.

[cosmic1]

Casuallady, you can do it. Just keep at it and it will get done. If the whole picture seems too overwhelming, just focus on one small space at a time. Are the grandchildren old enough to help? Maybe with sorting? It is easier to let things go if you can see how much of the same stuff you have. I was organizing and when I found all my sandpaper, I realized that I will never need to buy any again. Lol. I hope this helps. You can do it.

[Marsha2003]

Casual Lady, based on your posts, it seems like you've made a great deal of progress towards your de-cluttering goals. Maybe it's time to take a little break, focus on your husband and grandchildren and ignore the rest of projects until the weather cools off a bit.

[goodstuff]

You won't be able to get it done all at once -- and you won't be able to clear out your husband's clutter until he is ready to part with it and do his cleaning out himself. Sounds to me like you've made quite a bit of progress. I'd suggest you give yourself a break for a couple of weeks and try to sit down with your husband soon to talk out some mutual goals and plans about decluttering. If you and he can agree on some projects to do and break them down into smaller increments, and maybe talk about each of you using less space for storage, maybe you can get him started. Try to write down the plans and goals and maybe a schedule for doing some projects that both of you agree on. Maybe you can plan to grill steaks or cook his favorite dinner or go out somewhere special after you complete each significant cleaning session.

[casuallady]

I just want to get the decluttering done, and manageable. I agree we have made much progress in most of our home, but just want to get basement and garage manageable. It is easier to work in these areas while the weather is nice and brighter. I took a large bag to Goodwill this morning.

[RedTop]

I've been following your decluttering journey, and feel you are still on track, and just need to keep baby-stepping until you reach a comfortable point that is satisfactory to you and your husband. You see the great progress you've made in a few short months, and are eager to keep pushing forward, but obviously your husband isn't as enthusiastic about sorting and organizing his stuff. When I started my decluttering 2 years ago, my husband was not enthusiastic about the project, and didn't think he had anything to get rid of. I didn't let his attitude slow me down; I tossed and sorted everything I felt comfortable to let go of. I put the questionable stuff from the basement that belonged to him, in a box, and asked him to go thru it. My husband was far more compliant to go thru a few things in a box, than to spend hours working by my side when I was filling that box. I am still waiting for him to straighten the garage, but consider that to be his space, and have already done my part to limit, and remove the things I had stored there. I sorted and tossed another big item this week, and continue to see things here that we don't need anymore. As long as the main house has been cleared, I feel my efforts have been successful---it will never be perfect, but it is much better than when I started. As long as my husbands stuff is in the garage, and doesn't interfere with my parking space, I'm good.

[Mominohio]

I will agree with previous posters that you have made so much progress over the months we all have been posting about this topic. I do, however, feel your pain with a spouse that isn't as motivated as you are to get things pared down, as I live with the same.

I have found myself getting rid of perfectly good things that I would probably have kept, because husband won't let go of stuff that is junk. I get so frustrated, but when you post, I know I am not alone in this frustration. I try to sneak out things that I think he won't notice, and that works sometimes. Other times I just say "Oh, I don't know for sure where we put that, but it's around somewhere"!

I think for some of us, there are going to be some areas like the garage or basement or attic that we can't get under control because of a spouse that won't let go, so we'll have to take our victories where we can get them and move on. Just keep focused on what you can control, and hope he catches the fever as he sees the progress.

[ptagirl]

I, too, have been de-cluttering for months , as we plan on moving within the next year (I hope).. It has been very frustrating trying to get my husband to get rid of stuff, especially in the garage.. I've also been trying to spruce up the place by painting the basement floor, etc.. Regarding the garage, he continues to state "It's just a garage, who cares if it's clean?" (What??)... I want it to look presentable when we put the house on the market. So far I've pretty much been on my own ... I can't win .. TOTALLY FRUSTRATING!! I know EXACTLY what you mean...

[151949]

When we lived in Pa we had a split entry home with a very very large basement. My DH is also a packrat so he placed shelves all the way around all 4 walls in the basement. We were able to store everything up off the floor and at least somewhat organized. I highly recommend shelves.

When we moved to Fl - no more basement. It took DH 3 months to get his garage and basement cleaned out and packed up to go to Fl. Fortunately - he learned a lesson from that experience and keeps much less stuff now. He has lined the garage walls with shelves in the new house, sigh, but there is actually some empty space on them, so he is improving.This winter he has a plan to move everything out of the garage to do a second coat on the floor paint - if he does that I will encourage him to declutter in there at that time.

[151949]

On 8/31/2014 ptagirl said:

I, too, have been de-cluttering for months , as we plan on moving within the next year (I hope).. It has been very frustrating trying to get my husband to get rid of stuff, especially in the garage.. I've also been trying to spruce up the place by painting the basement floor, etc.. Regarding the garage, he continues to state "It's just a garage, who cares if it's clean?" (What??)... I want it to look presentable when we put the house on the market. So far I've pretty much been on my own ... I can't win .. TOTALLY FRUSTRATING!! I know EXACTLY what you mean...

Our house sold despite a messy and cluttered garage.