Uncluttering more than 800 pounds of stuff
In “Ditching 800 Pounds of Clutter” Wall Street Journal reporter Sue Shellenbarger narrates her six-week project ridding key areas of her home of clutter.
The headline is a bit misleading. Shellenbarger actually got rid of more than 800 pounds of stuff — the 800 pounds were just how much trash and recycling she purged. She also donated a SUV-load of items to Goodwill and 17 boxes of books to her public library.
Shellenbarger learned some valuable lessons during her spring-cleaning project:
- Declutter and organize before cleaning.
- Research, plan, and know why you’re going through the process before lifting a finger.
- Things can look worse before getting better.
- More than four hours at a time can be overwhelming for some people (it was for her).
From the article:
Since crawling across the spring-cleaning finish line earlier this month, I have been reveling in the benefits. My neatest and tidiest neighbor noticed my departures for the landfill with my Explorer packed to the roof, and dropped by for the first time to compliment me on a garage that is now nearly as sparkling and capacious as his. I am saving money, because I found stuff I thought I had lost and was planning to replace, such as snorkeling gear and moss-remover for my lawn. Laboring over my stuff has taught me to handle and recycle possessions with greater care. And I have to admit: Parking my car at night in the space actually designed for it, the garage, is beyond cool.
Be sure to check out the whole article, including the wonderful before and after photographs and the interactive closet graphic.
(Thanks to reader Melissa for pointing us in the direction of the article.)
14 comments posted
Posted by Claycat - 03/25/2010
Good article! She mentioned Don Aslett a lot. He is a hero of mine. His book, Clutter’s Last Stand, is the first book I ever read on uncluttering. It really opened my eyes. It was a humorous book, too, which helped ease the pain I was feeling when I realized just how much clutter I had. I still have his book and read parts of it again. It is worn out! He started me on the road to recovery. And now, Erin, your book, Unclutter Your Life in One Week, is helping me take those additional steps I needed to take! Thanks!
Posted by Tiffany - 03/25/2010
Over the course of our declutter-and-pack-for-storage process in preparation to sell our condo, I think we probably carried 30-40 bags of trash out of our house. We have a tiny place. I don’t know where we kept it all. But we slimmed down our possessions quite a bit, and are about to move them into a house that is literally 4 times the size of the old one. We’ll see how long we can hold the line on not acquiring more crap.
Posted by Kelly - 03/25/2010
Excellent article. Just what I needed to read right now. It’s almost April, and my resolution to declutter (with the help of the Unclutterer book and website) has languished since December. Unfortunately, I’ve fallen into the trap of thinking that I need a huge block of time to unclutter when that might actually be a BAD thing. Hearing how throwing oneself headlong into massive declutter mode might be worse, I need to take advantage of small blocks of time and just deal with it in bursts.
I also liked the part about having a vision for the space BEFORE decluttering. To be honest, that’s not something I’ve really thought through. I can really see how that will make a HUGE difference in decluttering and organizing.
Posted by chacha1 - 03/25/2010
I think the vision thing is where DH is stuck. He is so overloaded with clutter in the home office right now (his designated space), he is completely stalled. I don’t think he can “see” what he really wants in there.
Whereas I can all too clearly “see” what *I* want in there! But it’s not “my” space.
Good luck to all embarking on such projects.
Posted by Laura - 03/25/2010
Actually, I agree with Kelly (above). Having a knowledge of WHY you wish to downsize/declutter/clear, etc., could be a really powerful tool during this process. Having a clear goal would make it much less cumbersome and heighten the feeling of accomplishment when you achieve it.
I don’t know much about Don Aslett…I’ll have to look him up.
Excellent article.
Posted by s - 03/25/2010
It’s not just in the area of clutter, but I don’t know what I want (from life, stuff, rooms, etc.) and I don’t have a vision, except that I have too much stuff and too much on my to do list and too little *something* to take care of those things. Any suggestions?
Posted by mydivabydesign - 03/25/2010
Thanks for this post! i joined Apartment Therapy’s 8 week Spring Cure to do just that in my house.
Posted by Claycat - 03/25/2010
S, why don’t you join the unclutterer forum, and we can all brainstorm with you?
Posted by knitwych - 03/25/2010
Great article. I was especially glad to see point #3. That applies to everything from getting your hair cut (nobody rocks the wet rat look) to building a house, and it most certainly applies to decluttering. I think that once you start decluttering, the sight of all the stuff you’ve been conditioned not to notice can be scary. We went through this recently whilst excavating in the garage. There were a couple of times where DBF and I looked at each other had one of those telepathic moments, both of us thinking: “Ugh – too much! Can’t cope!” But we stuck with it, and we can now see the floor in the garage. Woot!
@Kelly: I’ve fallen prey to the must-have-big-chunks-of-time fallacy, too. I’m working on getting over that, and it’s paying off. Earlier this week, at 1:30 in the morning, I was unloading the dishwasher and planning to go to bed immediately after I emptied the dirty dishes from the sink. Then I opened the utensil drawer, and it suddenly dawned on me that I could not *bear* another minute of that drawer looking like a kitchen gadget catalog had barfed in there.
I spent the next 20 minutes emptying and sorting. Where the heck we got four bottle openers I will never know, but all of them went into a bag to be donated to the charity shop. We have a manual can opener that has a bottle opener on the handle. Just 20 minutes devoted to this long overdue task resulted in a utensil drawer that is organized and free of superfluous crap. And I got a GOOD night’s sleep afterward! I took another 10 minutes the next day and cleaned out the lid drawer, and jettisoned everything but the lids that fit cups and water bottles we use. Little chunks of time can be really productive!
Posted by s - 03/25/2010
Thanks @Claycat. I’m a lurker there, always looking for inspiration. Maybe I’m just scared we’ll really come up with something and then I’ll have to DO it! =)
Posted by lavidamd - 03/26/2010
@knitwych: “that drawer looking like a kitchen gadget catalog had barfed in there.”
LOL!
Our utensil drawer actually broke Tuesday night. The drawer is plastic and it cracked. The stuff in there must weigh a ton.
Posted by cv - 03/26/2010
Articles like this make me a little envious. I really enjoy the process of sorting through things and organizing them, and since I live in a small apartment and move frequently, I don’t usually get to dive in to a total mess of a closet or basement and see a real transformation. For me decluttering is more a constant, low-key battle to keep a small space organized and not accumulate more than we can store. We wouldn’t be able to move around our apartment at all if we had the kind of piles that are in the pictures with the article.
Posted by Tania - 03/29/2010
This really helped me out a lot. I read the article on Friday which was perfect because I was planning on starting a serious purge/Spring Clean this weekend. Well, I was planning on DOING a purge and that’s always my problem. I always felt like I had to do a big reality show style dramatic before and after clean up in order to get it done. Specific approaches she mentioned, like attacking somewhere for 15 mins and not going more than 4 hours at a time, really helped me. By slowing down I got WAY more done because I never felt overwhelmed or tired and if I did feel overwhelmed or tired I could just stop for a while. PLUS it allowed for schedule flexibility because as a freelancer jobs come up at the last moment on one did on Saturday. I went and did the job but it didn’t torpedo my entire effort. I just did a little more after dinner that night and then took up where I left off the next day. What a concept! I got 3 rooms done!
Looking forward – yes, ME looking FORWARD to cleaning and organizing – as the week progresses in between my work. So far I’m only scheduled for two days so I should be able to get a lot done. BUT if something comes up, I’ll just take my time and work my way threw it. Yay. 
Posted by Julia1060 - 04/03/2010
We are currently in the process of prepping our home to sell for a move 1500 miles west to new job, community, etc. It’s exciting, and emotionally challenging – I’m leaving a job I’ve enjoyed for 21 years to dive into the adventure of being an independent entrepreneur. This post is encouraging and offers me a reminder that change is indeed good. Thanks!
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