I have been reading posts here for a few weeks and wanted to introduce myself.
I am in the middle of a massive unpacking/declutter effort, as we’ve just moved back to the States from overseas. So all the stuff that was in storage (some of which we should never have stored in the first place, and some of that the stuff from the house I grew up in that was moved into our basement when my parents moved to an apartment and we were too tired to go through it then) AND all the stuff that was overseas with us have just dropped out of the sky and landed on this little house in Florida. And now my task is to go through all of it and figure out what we actually want and need, and rehome the rest of it. (I’m using the Flylady Put Away/Give Away/Throw Away, with one additional box for Ask Husband and/or Wait Six Months.) I am feeling empowered and happy about this decluttering; the only thing that is disheartening about it is simply that there are SO MANY boxes and it is going to take SO LONG to go through them. I would like to be moved in and have a lovely place we can be happy with right now…but it’s going to be months I think. Didn’t collect the stuff overnight, can’t get rid of it overnight either.
But I am making progress. 226 pounds of it have already left. The Salvation Army is on my way home from work, so they’re getting the most of it. Honestly, I don’t care who gets it as long as somebody can benefit from it. (This is new for me—I used to think that in order to get the good out of something I had to personally use it up. Now, I’m more willing to pass it on and let someone else do that.) And that’s the donation stuff. I haven’t measured the stuff being tossed entirely but there’s a lot of that too (math tests from third grade?!) My ultimate goal is to get to the point of having a home that is streamlined enough to keep clean and hospitable for visitors.
Have been enjoying the Thing a Day forums and seeing what you are decluttering. Someone noted that they’d decluttered a crockpot which gave me pause, as I’m debating whether or not I want/need one.
So, hello, and I’ll be seeing you around.
