Unclutterer

1. Posted by Holly - 02/09/2012

   I set myself a challenge….in the run up to Christmas I had to declutter 4 items a day for 25 days, so 100 things, and I tracked my progress daily on Facebook. Now for 2012 I am decluttering one item per day (and if I buy something that is 2 items I have to get rid of that day ie ‘one in one out’) and I set up a new FB page (Less is More) where I post my progress, challenges, failures etc. Treating it as a project, with a measurable timeframe, quantity if items and an audience keeps me on track.

2. Posted by Sarah - 02/09/2012

   I think taking a picture of a space can also give the motivation for uncluttering it. Living in a cluttered space, I never seem to notice the clutter around me as much as when I see a picture of it.

3. Posted by Toosdhi - 02/09/2012

   Wow, I’m pretty much approaching decluttering in the same manner as Holly, no FB posts but I record hashmarks in my calendar for every item that comes and goes. Also like Holly, by the end of the year, the total ratio of release vs purchases will be 2:1.

4. Posted by RC7502 - 02/09/2012

   This is something I have been struggling with so hard lately. It’s a lot like weight loss in that it’s hard to stick with uncluttering if you don’t see results right away. I spent around 6 hours one weekend going through boxes in the basement and organizing things and it only looks slightly better.

   If anyone has suggestions on how I can make uncluttering a quantified trackable thing, I would love to hear it.

5. Posted by Molly - 02/09/2012

   I’ve taken pictures of all parts of our house over the last several years at different intervals to see our progress. It’s great looking back to see how far we’ve come.

6. Posted by Becky - 02/09/2012

   A photo challenge? Genius!

   I was never into tracking stuff until I started tracking my finances 1.5 years ago, and it made me *so* much more motivated to save and spend wisely. It’s been a real turnaround, so I am sold on the power of tracking.

   Thanks Erin. I need to do some thinking about how best to do this, but I am inspired.

7. Posted by Candi @ min hus - 02/09/2012

   I agree tracking things can be very motivating. Taking pictures is an excellent suggestion, both of the before, as well as your piles of stuff leaving. I think keeping a simple count of items gone is great motivation as well, I wish I had done that. I created a “dearly decluttered” list on my blog that has most, but not all, of the items I’ve decluttered.

8. Posted by Jeannette - 02/09/2012

   I like the idea of tracking and goal setting with decluttering. It’s something I’ve done before and found essential when I have big and extensive decluttering to do (which happens every couple of years).

   When I undertake an apartment-wide declutter, I make a room-by-room plan and set target dates. Without that, it would only be when I felt like it. I’m much more likely to get done when I have a set schedule. I may deviate, but without one, it’s just too aimless and unending.

   I’m sure the idea of pix works well if you live in a house. But in a one-bedroom apartment, you literally see your progress (or lack of it!) as you move thru each room. Actually, the smaller the space, the more incentive to declutter.

   We’re undertaking a major declutter based around our home office and library. There are a lot of emotional issues around all of this as we are not willingly decluttering (if we could afford it, we would have a separate office. There is not that much stuff IF you have a separate office, but we can’t afford that.). We are doing so because the office and library have literally taken over our space and that is no longer working for us as we have cut back on our work and want to spend more time entertaining at the apartment.

   If anyone has suggestions on how to deal with the issues that surround tossing various items related to unrealized projects, dreams, etc., we’d love to hear them. As I said to a friend, tossing all this stuff is not about space clearing. It’s having to say, finally, well, these did not work out and never will. That’s very tough emotionally when you’ve invested years of your life in developing various products, etc.

9. Posted by Audi - 02/09/2012

   I have been doing this in my little projects around the house. I have recently ripped into all my closets and storage spaces and rearranged. I unfortunately haven’t gotten through all the things that don’t go anywhere anymore, but I am taking pictures of those too and soon they will be gone…

   I have found that taking pictures of me and my 3.5 year old through the process makes it more fun to look back on… I will remember the progress and the journey of doing it with her, and how she saw me, since she is the one photographing me working. I even take “yucky face pictures” of myself when i encounter something truly stupid that I have saved for too long… it’s helpful when i go back through the photos to remember to lighten up.

10. Posted by Jennifer - 02/09/2012

    Tracking progress is something we all share over on the Unclutterer forum, and I know it’s helpful for me and many others!

11. Posted by Tara - 02/09/2012

    When I sat down at my computer today, I wished that I’d taken a before picture of my end table. It was piled up to the angle of repose last week, and I got a NeatDesk scanner and got rid of everything. Now it’s clean and tidy (no, tidier), but I have only the bad memory of the mess to compare it with. I wish I’d immortalized the awfulness of it.
    Alas, I didn’t. And I probably won’t immortalize any of the other awfulness that abounds in my home, waiting for me to swoop in and purge and tidy. I’ll remember the mess, and that will have to be good enough.

12. Posted by Pam - 02/10/2012

    I recently went through a complete house declutter and downsize, determined to get rid of as much as possible (we have some nice tax deductions for next year’s taxes and a little extra cash in the bank now).

    I had a floorplan of the house from the builder’s website, but could have worked from just a sketch.

    I was determined to visit every item we owned and consider its value in our lives. This approach meant that I didn’t overlook those things that my eyes had grown accustomed to seeing every day.

    As I worked through the house, closet by closet, shelf by shelf, drawer by drawer, I highlighted that area on the floorplan map. I could see my progress by watching the bright yellow color spread across the map until it was completely filled in with that happy bright yellow.

    Now, I have list of each closet and room and numbered them, in my case 1 thru 22. Each number corresponds to a date in the month (master bedroom=1, master bath=2, master closet=3, etc.). Today, February 10, I do #10 on the list (kitchen cupboards).

    It only takes about 5 to 10 minutes a day to visit a single room or closet and do a quick declutter. And, if I don’t find time on that date, I know I’ll revisit the room in a month when I hit that date again.

    Thanks, Erin, for all of your wonderful advice and encouragement. I’ve learned so much and am reaping the rewards of a decluttered lifestyle with lots of extra time for fun, family, and friends.

13. Posted by WilliamB - 02/10/2012

    @Jeannette: do you have a place you can use as a half-way house for the emotionally-involved items? This would let you box it up, put it away for a while, and come back to it later with the realization that the emotional issues are gone.

14. Posted by Susan - 02/10/2012

    I started decluttering my sewing room/guest room a few weeks ago. I started by posting some before pictures on my blog digsewgrow.com and I’ve been adding little updates as I clear out small parts of the room. (I have 2 small children so progress happens in short bursts of free time.)

    Part of the challenge of this process for me is actually getting myself to make some of these crafty things that I have the materials for but have been sitting on a shelf for years. So I am making things or getting rid of them. My goal is to reduce the amount of stuff in the room by 1/3.

    Posting photos on a blog is helping me keep motivated to keep digging in, even though its hard for me because I love all of my fabric/stuff and I hate to get rid of any of it. It’s funny, but after taking the first “before” photos and looking at them, it made me realize how much of a mess there really was. I couldn’t tell there was a full size guest bed in there anymore. There’s something about seeing the room in photos that made everything stand out. I suppose I had gotten too used to the clutter and trained myself to ignore it and walk by.

    In response to Jeanette and anyone who is having trouble getting rid of items from unrealized dreams, Miss Minimalist did a great post on Decluttering your fantasy self here:
    http://www.missminimalist.com/.....tasy-self/

15. Posted by Jeannette - 02/10/2012

    Thanks for the suggestions fellow unclutterers.

    To be clear, the materials related to unrealized dreams were for work/business-related projects, not personal stuff.

    I’ve actually had little difficulty letting go of personal fantasies (clothing, furniture, etc.) that are not a part of my current life perhaps because there were so few to begin with.

    Work is another whole story. If you’ve spent years working to create a product or service and years marketing it with no real “success” (being a relative term, but I would call it sustained and ongoing income), it’s the equivalent of losing an external hard drive holding your only copies of work (art, writing, music, etc.) that YOU personally have created (and yes, I had that happen to me as I was, ironically, backing up and copying files. I think I was in shock for a long time as I now have NOTHING to show close to a decade’s worth of work as both drives ended up with problems. NIGHTMARE!)

    And no, the materials cannot be scanned or photographed. We’re talking file cabinets worth of research and other material, only some of which is on the computer.

    (The concept of a paperless office is not yet realistic given how much of materials we need is either not available digitally or cannot easily/affordably be converted.)

    Psychologically, I know it is not the stuff at all but what it represents. Ironically, it should be easy to toss what could be considered the representation of failure. (Much as we often toss out EVERTHING associated with a past relationship once it ends.)

    I think it’s the accepting that 1/it was not a waste (one tried, really hard) and 2/the end of this may perhaps open “space” to create something new (with serious health issues, that’s not likely, but not impossible).

    So this is perhaps really more about releasing emotional/mental/psyche clutter than physical one.

16. Posted by MizLoo - 02/10/2012

    @ Jeanette: If it is really that painful, box it and store it – storage space in basement of apt, garage of friend or relative, or even $30/month in paid storage. In freebie storage, it will be out of sight and let you work & entertain. In paid storage, the pain of paying may cause you to trash it quickly. Either way, you’ll have workspace and living space available.

    I’m thinking that a serious health issue needs your attention much more than an emotionally wrenching decision does.

17. Posted by Karen Newbie - 02/12/2012

    I am a professional organizer. When a client allows it, we take a series of “before” pictures when we start a room, then “after” pictures when we’re done with it. Even though they work with us at every step through the process, the clients invariably comment that they can’t believe it was so cluttered before, and how much they love the after. Seeing is believing.

    Occasionally, they do lose sight in the middle of the project, and want to stop or move on before finishing the room. When we bring out the before pictures, they are reminded at how far they’ve come and regain the steam they need to plow on.

    I like the idea of taking a floor plan and marking off progress room by room, especially for large jobs in which we’re touching most of the house. We use various lists and prioritized projects, but having a visual of the house (not just pix) would work well.

    Thanks for the great post and helpful hints, unclutterers!

18. Posted by WilliamB - 02/13/2012

    @Jeannette – I’ve been in that position and have the tax write-off to show for it. I still have my last laptop from that company, with all the work, programming, equity placement, stockholder, presentation, GUI and artwork, etc., files on it.

    That laptop is my halfway house. Someday it will be erased and recycled but not this year. (Actually, it will probably be in my office till expiration of the statute of limitations on the tax write-off.)

19. Posted by JMK - 02/19/2012

    I’m at the very beginning of my decluttering journey. In the past I made the mistake of setting a giant goal that was far to ambitious and then giving up. This year I’m trying the baby steps approach to get my life in order in manageable, measureable gains which will eventually lead to a major improvement.

    I’ve committed to getting rid of 5 items per day for the entire year. I did say I’m at the beginning of this journey, so yes there are at least 1825 pointless things in this house.

    I know I won’t actually do 5 every day but as long as I’m on track that is fine. I’ve made a Excel table showing the total number of items which should be gone at any day this year. Whenever I do a little editing I enter the number of items beside the appropriate date and check the total I’ve actually done against the total I should be at. As long as I’m at or ahead of where I’m supposed to be all is well. I’m currently about 10 days (50 items) ahead of where I need to be which is great. I have a couple of busy weeks ahead and may not get much done.

    I started with my own stuff (clothes, books, hobby supplies). Then I started on communal stuff nobody had a personal attachment to (pantry, linen cupboard, etc). So far I haven’t really touch the stuff that’s near and dear to my family – I suspect that’s when this will get tough. I’m hoping it will help that they are seeing me sending my stuff off to charity on a weekly basis for the past 6 weeks. When I get to their stuff maybe they will be less resistent to giving up the stuff they clearly don’t need in their lives.

20. Posted by ruthmgon - 03/10/2012

    I have been de-cluttering for about 3 years, maybe more. I think I found a good way to mark progress with all of my efforts, so that I can look back and see the ton of stuff that I have given up…and I do look back for encouragement.

    One of the only ways that I was able to convince myself to part with sentimental clutter was to take pictures of the item. Not the room I was de-cluttering, but the items themselves.

    Example: My family’s 30 year old tent- it was functional but not in good condition anymore–and represented good memories–I took photos of the item and put into a small hand held album.(hold the most sentimental items)

    The other way was to document the trips to the dumpster or donation. I use a specific spiral notebook when I am purging and note every time I purge more items- and I would often take a photo of the current purged pile, not for sentimental reasons but for documentation. I store the photos digitally by date-

    Example: 2/12/2010 Took 3 boxes to Goodwill: mostly spring items, 4 pants, 2 office shirts (outdated),10 books,kitchen pans I never use, 2 DVDs ..tossed broken recording device,box of bad rubberbands, extra mismatched cards from Christmas, all the bad wrapping paper.–

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