Comments on: Instructions for decluttering your home (in less than 500 words)

By: How To Declutter My House |

How To Declutter My House | — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:30:33 +0000

[...] Instructions for decluttering your home (in less than 500 words … [...]

By: Secret Squirrel

Secret Squirrel — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:12:42 +0000

@Overwhealmed. Let it go on the recycling front. Get it out! I’d imagine your house might resemble a landfill if you’re hanging onto all of that “trash” that needs to be sent out. You know, trash is actually GONE THROUGH by the “technicials” aka: workers at the trash depots. They take magnetically remove cans and steel for recycling, glass bottles, bulbs, cardboard/paper, etc, etc, ad nauseum will be gone through for purposes to be recycled because they know not everone does so. Once it gets to the trash places in an effort to sort things out. They don’t just dump EVERYTHING in a landfill. For more info see Dirty Jobs Episode 101, 222 and others, as well asPenn & Teller Bullsh!t Episode 205. It would behoove you to just throw out an entire can full of “recycleables” to realize it’s OK to let it go. It sounds like it’s ruining your life.

By: Sheri

Sheri — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 23:10:15 +0000

@Overwhelmed Knowledge is power…and in this case can be quite motivating. Check out the websites for your city or trash collector to see if they offer Hazardous Waste Collection and E-waste Collection events. Our city holds a hazardous waste collection every month, and a nearby city holds 2 E-waste events every month. Our local library will take dead batteries and small e-waste like cell phones.

I was holding onto a LOT of things that were not supposed to go into the landfill and was elated to learn about the hazardous waste event. I filled my little pickup truck with old paint, fertilizer, propane tanks etc. and was thankful to have the space back in my garage.

By: Simple Ways to Declutter Your Home | The RoomPlace Blog

Simple Ways to Declutter Your Home | The RoomPlace Blog — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 11:48:54 +0000

[...] Instructions for decluttering your home (in less than 500 words … [...]

By: Jan - queenofkaos

Jan - queenofkaos — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:40:18 +0000

I’ve been doing a lot of decluttering lately and am finding that remembering the value of clear space has really helped a lot.

If I waiver on something I don’t really need I ask myself if it’s worth giving up the space for. Clear spaces make me feel so good that it has got to be pretty important for me to keep these days.

It’s getting easier to let go of things that I have held on to for years since I started thinking this way.

By: Overwhelmed

Overwhelmed — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:34:36 +0000

…My biggest problem is that I want everything recycled and that would mean a trip or two to the recycling center (if they indeed recycle those things) – so I hang on to the fused lightbulbs and the dud batteries and the half can of pesticide, bottles of old sunscreen — oh God!! I do not want to keep things – but I cannot trash it – I want someone to take it away – so that’s my big, big, big problem…

By: 5 Reasons De-Cluttering Helps Career Development |

5 Reasons De-Cluttering Helps Career Development | — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:18:46 +0000

[...] Fly Lady has a 15-minute at a time, step-by-step method to help you get started. The Unclutterer also offers you a method to purge stuff. If it’s clothing or other personal items [...]

By: Diana

Diana — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:54:55 +0000

I’ve been working on de-cluttering for the past 10 years. It’s an everyday process. I grew up really poor and have had to deal with my hoarding issues. Right now I”m tackling my garage / storage. A good purge is needed every five years. Things that were important back then are not right now. I’ve been pretty good. Thank goodness for Goodwill and Craigslist. I’ve been able to donate things or give them away and I don’t feel so bad about getting rid of them.

By: Instructions for decluttering your home | The Paper Tiger Blog

Instructions for decluttering your home | The Paper Tiger Blog — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:49:12 +0000

[...] Instructions for decluttering your home by Alex Fayle (in less than 500 words) taken from unclutterer.com [...]

By: Gregory Thomson

Gregory Thomson — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:41:49 +0000

I’m a techie that has a terrible time with paper clutter. I keep articles, procedures, notes, how-to’s, etc… and they tend to pile up until overwhelming, after which I put them in a box somewhere, and then can never find what I need again – too much work to go through the box of stuff. But much of it doesn’t have a logical place to be filed, and some I may not need for a year.
So, being a programmer-type person, I wrote a program to help. It lets me easily maintain and search an index of the papers/docs, and then stick in a ‘misc’ folder in numerical order. It helps me declutter the office of piles of paper. I wrote it for me, but also just decided to make available for others. I put up a simple web page, and have the program available here for anybody interested – http://www.findthatdoc.com. It’s for helping with paper documents, not digital documents.

By: Ally

Ally — Sat, 23 May 2009 14:30:54 +0000

Always remeber LESS MEANS MORE thanks for the article =)

By: Sterling

Sterling — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:47:09 +0000

I’ll try to keep this in mind for my midweek unclutter tomorrow. Especially the bit about stopping when you get manic and begin tossing everything. I’m pretty sure you were referring to tossing into the trash or donation pile- but it’s just as applicable for those (like myself) who get frustrated and begin tossing their wares in all directions like a tantrum-throwing child.

It’s not just me, right?

By: Jeri Dansky

Jeri Dansky — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 02:56:08 +0000

Cliff, here are some ideas: http://tinyurl.com/ak88dy.

By: Cliff

Cliff — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 03:45:37 +0000

The “purge it” part eludes me.

HOW? I can’t just throw away tons of valuable stuff. It’s not particularly valuable to me, except as cash, but it’s irresponsible to just trash it. Some of it is family heirloom, some of it is simply high-cost. Your thoughts?

By: Jack of Most Trades.

Jack of Most Trades. — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:12:44 +0000

“Need It? Love It?”
That’s solid GOLD!!!
I’m putting that into practice immediately!

By: Decluttering My Childhood - You 2.0

Decluttering My Childhood - You 2.0 — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:02:02 +0000

[...] I had a new goal: declutter my [...]

By: Another Deb

Another Deb — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:28:37 +0000

@Reformed PakRat,

Your idea about having a projected time frame is great! I am guilty of assuming that every task takes forever and that I need the whole day, week, summer to do them. I end up just worrying about the task for the whole day, week, summer…

Your idea about coordinating the projected time with available slots if also wonderful. Do I do that automatically or have I never thought of it that way before? It seems like a novel apporach to me.

By: Catherine Cantieri, Sorted

Catherine Cantieri, Sorted — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:43:48 +0000

Total agreement w/Sherri re: beginning with the end in mind. Starting with a vision is crucial for organization; it makes all those “keep or not?” decisions more sharply focused. When you know what you want, it’s harder/less legitimate/sillier to say “Well, I might need it…”

Good post!

By: ReformingPakRat

ReformingPakRat — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:28:48 +0000

I just lost my job, so now I have time to clean out. I started with the never-ending stacks and boxes of paperwork. I’ve shredded about a 3 foot stack so far. I got tired of that so I’m taking a paper break for a week or so.

Now I’m working on my aburdly large CD collection. I’m deciding what I don’t want and selling or donating them. Next project I’ll start on my enormous book collections.

I’ve found that it helps to have a list of projects, big and small. I put the approximate completion time next to it. When I have some time, I pick a project that fits the time framed, or schedule a day to do the project.

Large projects are broken down into smaller units. For instance, I won’t tackle my entire pantry at once. I’ll pick a shelp\f or two at a time. If I still have time and energy, I’ll do one more.

I find this keeps me productive, without getting stressed out.

By: whyioughtta

whyioughtta — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 13:51:41 +0000

I find it useful to approach all cleaning/decluttering tasks in a clockwise fashion…i.e. I work my way through a room clockwise, starting at the doorway. That way I know what I’ve already dealt with and it gives my brain less of a chance to bounce around all over the place.