I don't know where to start

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Started 1 year ago by Hollyuk
Latest reply from chacha1
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Hollyuk
Member

I have a very cluttered house, I work from home and live with my husband and two dogs (one we have had 6 months and the other one only 4 days!). We are giving up our holiday home for various reasons and are going this weekend to remove all our belongings so we can sell it - this will be some further clothes, pots, pans, crockery - everything!

I just don't know where to start as I also work from home and really do have to get some work done (my father died recently and we only had the funeral on Monday so I've not done so much and have to do some work so I can pay the bills next month!).

I'm very keen to get organised - I feel overwhelmed at the moment - and without a holiday home will have more time for 'home making' during the next year (we have been going away almost every other weekend and I have always felt in a hurry with no time to do anything not essential). I keep reading all about decluttering and organisation websites, then don't seem to have the energy to do anything about it! I think the clutter is just draining me.

I have to say our clutter problem is not as desperate as I have seen on the TV - we just have a lot of stuff and each surface seems to end up having 'stuff' on it. I have set up some options for charities locally that can take things, but I find it hard to get rid of things which still have life left in them - I sort of feel I have wasted my money on buying things I don't need and have an urge to use them to justify my purchase!!!!!

Can you offer some advice where to start or some sort of plan I can work through?

Posted 1 year ago #
Jacquie
Member

Some of the things I have found helpful include.

Read through some of the 'Thing a Day' posts. I have made vast improvements over the summer, as when you are looking for one thing to get rid of (and everybody can do just one thing every day - even on a really bad day) you rarely stop at one.

Start on a small place like a drawer. A lot of the unclutter type sites suggest that as you unclutter you sort out the things that belong to many places elsewhere and take them later. I find that if I do that, at the end I have this big pile of stuff and if I have lost the interest or run out of time, it gets put back in the drawer or in yet another bag. For me it works better to take each thing or small group of things to their proper place, even if it mean I walk a lot. If I have to stop half through the job, at least some things have been re-homed. Oh, and have a rubbish bag handy as a lot of stuff can go straight into there.

If you sort stuff out to go to a charity shop, get it out of the house as soon as possible. Make sure your rubbish bins and recycle bins are as full as you can possibly get them every week. My dustmen will take extra recycle stuff if it's put next to the bin, but the rubbish bin they won't. But everything they take is one trip less I need to take to the tip.

Look at Gretchen Rubins video http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/2010/06/video-find-an-exact-place-for-things-it-saves-a-lot-of-timeand-is-surprisingly-satisfying.html

I have found this very helpful to put things in a good place that I can then find them in - and if I can't think of the right place, then I might not need it at all.

Don't expect to get rid of everything in the first pass. Some bits of my house are on their thrid or fourth pass, others I haven't started yet. But having some clear areas gives the incentive to start on others. Once you have got an area clear, try to keep it so.

Read unclutterer forums as they are very helpful and supportive, but unfortunately they don't do the uncluttering for you, so don't spend too long in front of the computer when it could instead be good sorting time!

If it was me, I think I would start in my work space, as I work more efficiently when my surroundings are calm, unless that was so overwhelming that I didn't know where to start. In that case take some learning steps in an easier place.

All the best, let us know how you're doing.

Posted 1 year ago #
Mimi
Member

hi holly,

it seems that you have a lot of work to do. stay calm and just begin. don´t think of uncluttering your home in a few days, that´s a lot of pressure. just take it easy and start. a wonderful advice from zenhabits.net is: begin with a HUGE thing. an armchair maybe. so you will see the effect :)

to go on i´d recommend you to unclutter (at least) one thing a day. http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/a-thing-a-day-uncluttering-your-home-one-thing-at-a-time every day. no exeption ;) you will not unclutter your home within a fews days , but this could be the start of a process.

listening to karen kingston audio book "clear your clutter with feng shui" is motivating. you could read it, but if you listen to it, you have your hands free for decluttering.

happy uncluttering ;)

Posted 1 year ago #
ElFish1
Member

I love the idea of starting with one drawer or one closet, then whenever you open it you'll have that feeling of accomplishment.

The next step I'd take is to get some bins or boxes (I use tall laundry baskets) and start sorting. Don't try to find the best home for each item. At this point if it's not something you really need to keep, it just needs to go. Once you gather a few items to give away, put them on the front seat of your car and the next time you leave your house take them to a drop location.

I measure success by the number of items that leave my house.

Posted 1 year ago #
Rosa
Member

First, I'd say, give yourself a break to breathe. You just got done with your father's funeral, give yourself a minute to take care of yourself (if that's uncluttering, that's awesome. But it doesn't have to be.)

Everybody gave great suggestions. I'd add - make it part of your routine, so you do it all the time. For a long time I had a weekly donation dropoff and dinner date with a friend. It worked great - instead of a massive pile of stuff to be dealt with, at least once a week I had an empty box or bag in my "donation" spot. Then as I was just going about my life, tidying the house, doing whatever, if I saw something to get rid of I could put it in the box. Poof!

Posted 1 year ago #
susanintexas
Member

All wonderful advice! Rather than completely declutter one room, then another, I found it useful to start by spending about 15 minutes in a different room/area each day. It took me about two weeks to sweep through the entire house. I got rid of quite a bit of obvious junk/trash/excess, but more importantly it helped me assess the scope of the long-term decluttering project. I'm about 2 1/2 months into decluttering now, and I have a very clear idea of what needs to be done.

I also use laundry baskets -- Unlike lidded plastic storage bins or cardboard boxes (which attract bugs), these are quite obviously NOT long-term storage and harder to ignore.

Posted 1 year ago #
ElFish1
Member

The laundry baskets also stack nicely, so when I'm finished with one project I can stack them and bring them out the next time I'm sorting. Susan, you're right about them being harder to ignore than a box, which just seems designed to store things!

Posted 1 year ago #
Betharu
Member

Do you have access to a garage or shed where you could store things rather than bring them directly into your home?

I found that, when I moved, I put everything (with the exception of the furniture) in my garage. Then I brought a box in - sorted thru it - distributed, donated or dumped - and went out for another box.

True - I didn't park my car in the garage for a year - but it really helped me feel like was accomplishing something! And I wasn't getting discouraged by looking at boxes upon boxes!

You could also box up what you have in your existing home and use the same method. I do this periodically - whether it be a closet, dresser or an entire room. Take everything out - clean really well - then put back what you absolutely love/need. I just think things go better if you start with a clean slate!

Posted 1 year ago #
Hollyuk
Member

Thanks for all your wonderful suggestions - keep them coming! I wish the Karen Kingston audio book was still available - I have to drive to an appointment tomorrow and I looked to see if I could find it to listen to in the car but it's not available!

I am going to do as you suggest and do a small amount each day - this will make me feel I am in control and I can see some steady progress, so I'll be checking out the daily post on this.

I also really like the idea of decluttering in different rooms on different days - sort of spreading it around a bit!

I can see this is a long term project.

I guess I'll aim to do just 15 mins a day and if I have time or am enjoying it I can do a bit more!

Posted 1 year ago #
Rosa
Member

Holly, I've been doing this for FIVE YEARS and I don't think I'll ever be done.

I started with the parts of the house we don't live in - first the garage (full of construction debris that we can't put in the trash), then the attic, then the basement (which needs doing it again - we set it up as a home office, then we got a new furnace that heats the house instead of the basement and moved the office, except there's still office junk down there), then all the baby stuff once my kid got to preschool age, then the "guest room".

The problem is as your space gets better your standards go up :)

Posted 1 year ago #
chacha1
Member

LOL Rosa, that's a good problem to have. :-) My "keeper" threshold has gotten really high as I've come to love my uncluttered bookshelves and closet.

Holly, it's definitely a process - I'd even call it a lifestyle change, just like changing your diet. However you choose to do it, make sure you think about sustainability. For many of us, that means doing a little bit often, rather than huge projects once in a great while.

Condolences on the loss of your father. And good luck!

Posted 1 year ago #

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