Purging Clutter...AGAIN! - Page 4

Susan Louise · ‎03-14-2010

@bonnielu wrote:
I am slowly getting rid of stuff. My only problem is I have oodles of my mothers possessions and I have a hard time letting go.

And I have collected lots of stuff on my own. When I look at my personal clothes I feel guilty having bought them in the first place. When I look at decor trinkets I feel like I must keep them.

It is hard to declutter. I almost need a personal assistant and I need to leave and let him or her do it for me. I have not gotten to that stage yet.

@bonnielu I can totally understand. In order for me to let go of the majority of my folks belongings I picked 10 different things to keep, took pics of most of the rest, and then I was able to let go of everything else.

Some of the pieces I kept were 3 framed pics (one is a custom painted picture of where we would go on my Dad's boat along the shorline in Branford CT), a fiber optic holiday train, a 14 kt gold necklace with a heart 'Mom' charm, my Dad's favorite square-dancing shirt, their collection of Christmas ornaments and a couple of other things I can't remember right off hand.

So, I can only suggest to see if you can look through all of your Mom's belongings and see if you can pick the most favorite pieces that bring back the happiest memories and take pics of the rest. By taking pics, you will always have the pieces (in a way) without them taking up prime real estate in your home

Snicks1 · ‎07-28-2012

And I agree, with all of you, lol. I bought quite a few new decor pieces this year, while I didn't need any, and some I didn't even use, yet, maybe next year, lol. But, I have no plans to add any more to my collection and may be donating some, possibly even some of the new, haven't decided.
As for clothing, etc., I did a good purge this summer, so I'm good there, except maybe coats/jackets. My kitchen will be the first area I tackle after the new year starts. I have some items I feel I can donate, and can rearrange it all, now that my main baking season is over.
I have all my Christmas decor put away and the feeling of space around me encourages me to clear out more "stuff".
Good luck to all of us.

"To each their own, in all things".

roeroe1005 · ‎03-13-2010

mousiegirl,
I checked Amazon & Best Buy to see if vcrs are still being sold. Amazon had used ones, The tapes that upset me to get rid of were Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack and an original showing of Peter Pan. I'd be more than happy to send to you!

alicedee · ‎07-25-2010

This thread gave me some incentive to clear out a bit, too....I put a bag in my spare room and tossed in a couple purses I haven’t used in a few years, a few shirts I haven’t worn....When the bag is full I will give to my DIL so she and granddaughters can take what they want. They will donate anything left over.

mousiegirl · ‎03-09-2010

@roeroe1005 wrote:
mousiegirl,
I checked Amazon & Best Buy to see if vcrs are still being sold. Amazon had used ones, The tapes that upset me to get rid of were Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack and an original showing of Peter Pan. I'd be more than happy to send to you!

@roeroe1005 A very nice gesture, but my VHS and DVDs are stacked to the ceiling in a closet so they are out of the way and only I see them, but they have overflowed to a table now. I did toss a lot that I either had a DVD of or the tape had deteriorated.

I bought all of my VCR/DVD players new at a company online. I would be afraid to buy used.

In the eighties, I taped all old sitcoms, Lifetime movies, old movies that AMC used to run without commercials, so I am enjoying so much that one doesn't see any longer, maybe a few here and there.

gidgetgh · ‎03-09-2010

Decluttering and organizing is one of my favorite things to do.

I have emotional attachment to some things in our house, and those things I would never, ever get rid of, but not many, and I don’t go through angst when deciding to keep or purge.

If I don’t use something, like a kitchen item, and I haven’t used it in awhile, out it goes.

I donated 4 large shopping bags of stuff yesterday. Crammed full and really heavy. And as soon as they were picked up I walked upstairs and opened another shopping bag and set it on the office floor. Whenever I find something I don’t want, it goes in there and the minute it’s full, out it goes.

Why is it, when I have a 50/50 guess at something, I'm always 100% wrong?

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

@Susan Louise wrote:
@mousiegirl wrote:
@Susan Louise I have decided it is a neverending job to declutter. I donated tons last year, and can't see any difference, lol, so am back at it again. I had DD go through her room this past week while she was here for a visit, and wash whatever clothes she didn't want and put them into a bag for donation.

I have to say, I still love my mercury glass so I cringed when I read that you donated so much, lol.

So, I will be spending January and February sorting, organizing, donating, and putting Christmas away.

@mousiegirl I still enjoy MG pieces, but don't have a need to use quite as much all the time. I find the new pedestals I got recently blend in and work better in the vignettes I assemble. I still love all the sets of MG spheres.

I got rid of the large square MG pedestals because I found that the areas I have to make vignettes, they are all relatively small and those pedestals take up a pretty large footprint. However, for those that have larger homes/spaces like you and @lucymo...with say a diningroom table, mantel or sideboard, they would look great. Here in our home, proportionally...not so much. Unfortunately, by the time I realized this, it was too late for me to return the 2 sets I had...silver and chocolate.

With the large round MG pedestals with inserts, (I have 3 sets...chocolate, gold and silver) they will be more versatile for me because of the inserts and wouldn't look quite as awkward in a small vignette or on top of our wall unit.

As for the 6 smaller sets of 3 MG pedestals, I just don't see myself missing them. For example, even when I will be placing spheres back out in late January when I get decor set up for Spring again, the plain pedestals with the MG spheres on top actually look better to me than the MG spheres on top of MG pedestals. Although the set up on top of our wall unit I will incorporate both types of pedestals, they will work well together.

I'm not trying to sell you my viewpoint, it's just that this is how I am paring down on decor...having a smaller stash and having/keeping the pieces that not only look great, but are much more versatile. With most of the MG pedestals I felt more restricted in how I used them. However, using the more natural looking sets I can use them in a wider variety of ways...but that is jmo

I think we can all take a vaca from purging if we can stop acquiring. I'm going to at least give it my all in 2018 to buy nothing except absolute essentials...no clothing, no accessories, no dinnerware, no decor, etc. I really hope I can get through a full year...and hopefully longer!

@Susan Louise

I have a couple of sets of those more elegant set of 3 MG pedestals, and I really don't want mine either. I though I loved them the first year, but honestly, they are a bit too high end for most of my decor, and after looking at them for a couple of years, I think they look, to me, kind of gaudy more so than the elegant I hoped they would be. Keeping my square ones in brown and the newest round set of two she did. Those are easier to dress up or down, and I like the heft of them as well.

I may keep a set of three that are more fallish, with a pumpkin, brown and I think gold in the set, and has a pine cone type figure in the base, but the others are going out.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

@Susan Louise

And I'm with you about going on a spending diet this year.

We'll see what CIJ brings, but my goal is to not buy a thing in at least the next three months, but food and should we need it, medicine or household products like TP laundry detergent etc.

I've decided to break the year into quarters, and focus on not spending in three month blocks. It might be easier to stay focused if I do that.

I need to replace some upholstered furniture, and need carpet and paint in the living room, need a sliding glass door replaced etc. bigger home projects, and I know every dime I spend on 'stuff' puts off getting to those bigger projects late in the year or next year.

Now, let's see if I can do it!

Carmie · ‎10-25-2010

@Susan Louise Do you think you could,come to this house to help unclutter?

No, it is not my house. My DH and I were looking for a summer home and came across this place. The kitchen was the worst room, but I lost the pictures. The home was not dirty, but they sure had a ton of stuff.

Susan Louise · ‎03-14-2010

@Susan Louise wrote:
@Mominohio wrote:
In reading this thread, I had a couple of revelations and things to say.

Many of you know that I have said for several years now, that I will be able to take back control of my home once my son moves out. Well, he did that in October, got himself a rental small duplex, but what is great is that for a 21 year old's first place, it has a basement and a garage!

I sent over half of his clothes (older home, so he has very small closets) at least 6 big tubs of kitchen wares (truly was able to outifit his kitchen totally for like a family), linens and bathroom items.

Over the last couple of months, I'm gathering some of his other things, and taking him a laundry basket full about every three weeks or so, as I don't want to overwhelm him, and his space is limited.

Gave him a sofa, end table, lamps, bench, lawn chairs and some other bigger things, so that kind of stuff is out of my hair. But there is still a lot of things of his that I'd like to see out of here, I just know it would over burden him for the small space he has. But it really had made a difference in my outlook and in the space I have in some areas now, as I've gone through three closets since Christmas day, and a big desk that is in his room and he wouldn't deal with, as well as the dresser in his room.

@Susan Louise

When you described having several shelves of dishes, I have to say I envied you. I have five very big shelving units (ceiling to floor and very wide) in the basement with extra dishes/bakeware/serveware (and those shelves are stacked full) in addition to a packed kitchen, and an extra hutch in the laundry room full. It is so far out of control (even though it is all organized by pattern and color and season, clean and easy to grab, and most used at least once a year) that I simply bypass it every year when purging as I don't even know where to begin.

I don't have many clothes, shoes or handbags, no makeup or beauty products, so I guess my excess comes in the form of dishes/bakeware, and home decor! I just keep thinking 100 tubes of lipstick or 25 blouses would store in much less space than the same amout of dishes! LOL

I re organized and purged what I call my blanket closet yesterday. I should have taken before pictures, as everything was in those plastic bags that you suck the air out of (Space Bags), and while I like the fact that things are kept out of the dust and moisture, accessing your things in those, when stacked six or seven high, is simply trecherous! So I bought the newer (but on clearance) extra large Kano boxes and put my quilts and blankets and throws and extra throw rugs in them. Now I should be able to unzip the front to pull out just what I need, and not have to dig and move things, or give up and not use things because the are too hard to get to!

My constant goal is to get all areas of my house, and the things stored in them accessable and easy to use. I hate to open a cupboard, drawer or closet and have to fight and dig and scratch to get something out, then spend half a day to put it all back once I find what I need/want.

I want to open up the storage space, and have easy access for obtaining or returning the items I need. Every year it gets a little more like that in more areas!

@Mominohio Wow! That is quite a lot of dishes/bakeware/serveware! The number of storage areas you mention between the 5 wide shelving units, spare hutch, etc alone sounds like it would probably fill up our entire basement.

I think it's all relative to space used and the sq ft in one's home/apt/etc.
For me, 2 full shelves with high piles of dishes/bowls/serving pieces in our small home feels about the same as your large storage areas in your much larger home. What is the sq ft of your home? Our upstairs living area is just 875 sq ft.

All I know is that just before Christmas I knew I just couldn't stand it anymore. Having the extra 'stuff' makes it so much more difficult for us to set up our tables for growing seedlings/plants for our gardens which I will be starting at the end of next month. DH and I have to move so much stuff as it is from 2 tables we use most of the yr for other things. I use one table for additional food supplies since we have such a small pantry in our kitchen. DH uses the other table for projects he works on in his tiny machine room that is just 4' x 6'. Underneath the table with the food supplies I keep are all the gardening/sowing seeds supplies. Under the other table is all our wild birding & hummingbird feeder supplies.

All of that has to be moved to the other side of our basement. It really is a nightmare to do this when there is just too much stuff. The 'greenhouse' in our basement starts getting set up toward the end of January and stays that way til the last week of April. I'm not able to get the basement 'back to normal' til about June since it takes me about 4-5 weeks to get all the plants hardened off and then planted which takes up most of my time in May.
Here's a pic of what the 'greenhouse' in our basement looked like last Spring on 4/10/2017...a couple of weeks before I put the plants outside before hardening off...