it's a bit like losing weight

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Started 1 year ago by bandicoot
Latest reply from trillie
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bandicoot
Member

at first, when you've got plenty of clutter or plenty of extra weight, it is easy to get rid of large numbers of kilos of it.
then it sort of slows down.
finally, you are working hard to budge the last 2 kilos off a fairly trim frame.....or looking around a very slimmed-down house and wondering what to remove next.

i think i got rid of 75% of my clutter in just a couple of months last year.
and it has taken me all year so far to get rid of another 15%.
i estimate that i am down to the last 10% but it is sticking like glue.
sentimental books.....framed pictures.....a handful of small kitchen items....a trio of unrelated expensive tchotchkes that were all gifts. and some other bits of junk, like shoes i am going to have re-soled (for the last 3 years).
these are things i have stalled on.

sooner or later, i am going to have to make a call...that these things stay permanently or go.
in favour of staying: i have adequate room for them.
in favour of going: i like the look of empty space.

i just wish i had the momentum and focus of those first couple of months back again!

Posted 1 year ago #
Katha
Member

Sounds like the Pareto principle struck again: It will take you 20 % of the time to do 80 % of the work - and then the remaining 80 % of the time to do the 20 % that are left.

Don't let it frustrate you, it seems pretty universal ;-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle

Posted 1 year ago #
Mimi
Member

so absolutely true!
and i honestly wonder if there is a thing like unclutter-anorexia. can uncluttering be uncontrollable? when does it begin to get unhealthy?

Posted 1 year ago #
misskittin
Member

Have you ever watched that show obsessed? You have a problem when you won't keep a trashcan in the house and instead take each individual item out to the bin. You have a problem when your kitchen looks like an operating room and you can't bear to have people over because they might use your bathroom and contaminate it.
Or alternatively when you do nothing else and neglect your family, friends and hobbies. Hoarding and obsessive cleaning are in my mind really the same OCD disease just with opposite effects.

Posted 1 year ago #
bandicoot
Member

i am not OCD at all.
i have a rubbish bin in the kitchen and we have visitors all the time!
and i haven't yet decluttered a single thing that i have regretted or replaced.

hmmm, that pareto principle is everywhere and i always forget about it!
katha, you are right about that.

Posted 1 year ago #
Mimi
Member

thank you, misskittin for the decription of an unhealthy and uncontrolled way of dealing with "clutter". i couldn´t even imagine that. horror....

bandicoot, maybe sentimental books, framed pictures and some small kitchen items might be things that you don´t use or need but love. therefor they could be non-clutter. :o)have you read karen kingston? she describes things that give you energy, that make you smile just be watching or touching them, that make you happy- and this is not clutter even if you don´t use or need that things.

Posted 1 year ago #
xarcady
Member

I have some things that most people would consider clutter, but I like them and want to keep them. If you've done the majority of your decluttering, maybe you have reached a stopping point.

Not a final end point, not a finish line, but a stopping point. A point at which, for right now, at this time, for the person you are, you have given away enough. And you have enough. Someday in the future, you will give away some more. But for right now, you have reached equilibrium.

Why are you putting this pressure on yourself to deal with these things now? Are they in the way? Do they cause you pain or anxiety? Or do you think you have to deal with them in order to be "finished?"

You don't have to decide to keep all these things permanently. You can decide to keep them for now. For the next year. For the next five years. If you aren't ready to make a decision on them now, maybe now is not the time to let them go. Keep them until they tell you to send them on their way.

Posted 1 year ago #
bandicoot
Member

xarcady...thank you. for the perspective.
you are right.
i CAN put some of these things away and not worry about them....for the time being.
i actually feel a little relief...thank you.

Posted 1 year ago #
needtocleanhouse
Member

I agree. There is no "right" way to declutter and you don't have to declutter "perfectly."

Posted 1 year ago #
SunshineR
Member

xarcady...exactly the words I needed to hear, as well. I did a tsunami wave of uncluttering and moving this year...and I have toned things down to droplets and ripples until after the holidays.

I do believe I will now turn my attention to jobhunting, decorating and baking for Christmas, a newsletter, buying giftcards for a small group of adults and teens, toys for a few young children. I chose not to gift shop yesterday and today and feel quite comfortable with avoiding the rat race at the stores. I would like a job for the new year, world peace and family tranquility....ergh, togetherness toned down to a low roar.

Posted 1 year ago #
djk
Member

Thank you xarcady--this thread has given me pause for thought.

I have recently had some vague I-don't-know-what-to-do-next feelings about uncluttering. I have indeed reached a certain equilibrium which suits me right now. This is the time of year I want to get cosy and turn a blind eye to projects and pressures. I want to read and lounge and hang out with DH reading the papers and snuggling with the cat in my time off. Because I have enough but not an excess of stuff in the first place, I can do this without the house turning into a tip. So maintenance rather than projects. Equilibrium.

The second week of January will bring on a period of mad clearing-out and purging, as it always does after the holidays. And of course ATAD keeps the balance as well. I don't always log it, but I find something inevitably.

Posted 1 year ago #
Lounger
Member

After a a couple of mammoth trips to to the recycling centre and charity shop recently, and even today taking five big bags of things to the charity shop, I still feel like I'm anywhere near the 80% done mark! The problem area, in my case, is my bedroom / workroom. I suppose like a dieter who can't shift weight from hips, thighs or tummy.

However I maintain that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. And I agree very much with the sentiment above: that decluttering shouldn't take precedence over what's important in life. Do what you can, when you can, and progress will be made.

This evening a couple of friends are staying in my living room, one of whom has not been here before, and she's just told me how lovely the flat is. *Big grin*.

Posted 1 year ago #
vjb
Member

Bandicoot: I'm kind of at the same stage. I just opened the last obvious box of clutter yesterday – I've been putting it off, bc it's all stuff to sell on eBay and that's WORK. Definitely the 80/20 principle. But I've found two things since I've been decluttering:

1. I shouldn't expect to get any last-20%-type decluttering done if I'm busy, tired or under the weather, and it's okay to put that stuff away in a cupboard for the meantime so it doesn't sit out and nag at me.

2. It's very motivating to aim low – just at decluttering the ONE thing that bugs me the most at the moment.

Hope this helps you too!

Posted 1 year ago #
bandicoot
Member

i like both of those strategies, thank you vjb!

well, tomorrow, i'll attack the bookcase again.
even one shelf is better than nothing.

Posted 1 year ago #
trillie
Member

xarcady, thank you for pointing out the perfectionist thinking in decluttering, I know I'm guilty of that sometimes. I also think that if I can't identify something to declutter right away, then maybe things have to simmer in my head for a bit. I believe that some stuff only becomes clutter over time, so sometimes we have to wait until we find out that something no longer has the same value to us that it had two years ago. It's like waiting for an expiration date that we don't know yet ;o)

I think the losing weight comparison is right on, especially when you have created some momentum and have lost some weight or clutter, you desperately want to keep going, even if it's hard. With weight loss, sometimes there are plateaus and you exercise and count calories and there is nothing to see - and it's the same with decluttering too: Sometimes, you work and work (e.g. inside of closets and drawers) and yet you don't see much from the outside, or it still sits in a box by the door and hasn't technically left the house. Still, when you exercise and your weight won't budge, you gain stamina and strength; and when you declutter without noticeable results, you do declutter your head and at least the insides of your drawers are organized :o)

Posted 1 year ago #
chacha1
Member

This is a great thread! I've hit a plateau as well, not because I can't find more things to declutter, but because the things I *want* to declutter are not junk but projects. I want to declutter them by finishing them. :-) Once I knock off a few of those, I'll bet the regular clean-sweep motivation will be back online.

Bandicoot, I wonder if you had a little clutter anxiety attack because you've been so busy you haven't had time to "be" with your home lately?

Trillie, good to see so many new entries from you. I missed you for a while!

Posted 1 year ago #
trillie
Member

Aaaaw chacha, thank you :o)

Posted 1 year ago #

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