Need to be held accountable!

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Started 8 months ago by Letgoodtimesroll
Latest reply from lucy1965
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Letgoodtimesroll
Member

Every room in our small house is cluttered! I've used tote-bags to store things and they're everywhere. I'm retired and have the time, but don't use it effectively. I'm a professional time-waster: mostly with TV & silly computer games. My husband isn't bothered by any of this, but I am. I tend to hold on to things for sentimental reasons. I have lots of cross-stitch patterns & kits to work on. Lots of pictures in shoe boxes. Years-worth of birthday, anniversary & Valentine's Day cards.

I'm hoping that if I commit to posting my progress on this site, some of you will commend my accomplishments and bug me to stick with it. Please, I really need your help!

Posted 8 months ago #
Ella
Member

Welcome! Since you list reading as one of your interests, I can recommend one of the very best books on decluttering: "Clutter Busting: Letting Go of What's Holding You Back" by Brooks Palmer. You can probably find it at your library. Also, his blog provides wonderful daily inspiration:
http://brooks-palmer.blogspot.com/

Posted 8 months ago #
Laetitia in Australia
Member

Hi Lgtr - I hear you on being a professional time-waster. I'll commit to getting my TAFE assignment done before the end of the week. At least I'll aim for as close as I can get; after last week in which a friend gave us less than 24 hours notice (she didn't have much more than that herself) that she was marrying (which threw my lesson planning plans into chaos, I'm not game to give absolutes!

Posted 8 months ago #
jbeany
Member

Welcome to the party! I think most of us find it really helpful to post on here. I posted on the Thing A Day thread for ages at the beginning - it really helps to get into the right mindset. Even now, when no one walking into my apartment would ever think I'm suffering from clutter, it's still helpful. I like all the benefits that come from an uncluttered house - like never having CHAOS (flylady's term for Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) and the ability to speed clean because there's nothing to pick up first when it's time to scrub.
You might want to start setting a small goal for every day - one bag maybe? Or even a 15 minute time block. Try a few of the suggestions on here - I bet you can find one that works for your lifestyle.
And I find if I want to watch TV, there's no reason I can't watch and sort - especially if I'm watching Hoarders!

Posted 8 months ago #
susanintexas
Member

Welcome! The best thing you can do is just to start. I found two things useful to me:

(1) The "A Thing A Day" thread here (called ATAD) is a place where you can brag about one thing a day you uncluttered. It is just one thing, although in my case and for many others you start with one thing and it becomes several things. So, commit to get rid of a thing a day.

(2) Set aside a short period of time -- 15 minutes works for me -- to devote to uncluttering. I do it first thing in the morning. Set a timer if that helps. I often decide the day before what the next day's little project will be so that I know what the plan will be. For me, 15 minutes often becomes a half hour or even a few hours, but it's at least 15 minutes a day.

One of the things that motivated me was helping my mother-in-law declutter her house. Especially if you are already retired, it's useful to remember that if you don't clear it out your heirs will have to do it for you, and that is a terrible burden to place on them. Doing it yourself would be a great gift.

It get's easier as you go along -- you are strengthening your decluttering muscles!

Posted 8 months ago #
Laetitia in Australia
Member

Speaking of CHAOS - I rent and the regular agent check on the property is Thursday - cleaning is not what I want to worry about right now but I guess it's something productive with which to procrastinate on the assignments. :-) And today I'm making hay (clean bedding) while the sun shines but now the clouds are threatening.

Posted 8 months ago #
Another Deb
Member

I'll chime in with my procrastination woes. I have lost my 3 day weekend to mostly non-essential tasks and computer surfing. But, I did bag up 25 shirts to go to the Goodwill and my nephew picked up an old couch. Progress to celebrate!

What can you tell us you got done today? Every bit of progress is a victory. Pick the one small task that will give you a sense of accomplishment, like a drawer you need to purge. The progress gives you more encouragement, as will we!

Keep posting!

Posted 8 months ago #
Letgoodtimesroll
Member

Thank you all for making me feel welcome and in such good company!

Laetitia in Australia - What is a TAFE assignment?

I'll make tomorrow my first day and will try the 15 minute commitment. Congrats to Another Deb - you did more than I did over the last 3 days!

Posted 8 months ago #
Another Deb
Member

You might be a listmaker or a "reverse listmaker". Some people like to cross off tasks as they accomplish them. You might enjoy making the list of things you accomplished. I sometimes do that so I can visually monitor the growing volume of progress.

Posted 8 months ago #
Laetitia in Australia
Member

Lgtr - sorry, TAFE is Technical And Further Education - it's probably Australia's equivalent of USA community colleges. I'm doing a Diploma of Accounting via correspondence.

Oh, and in Australia, higher education goes Certificate, Diploma, Advanced Diploma / Associate Diploma, Degree, Honours, Masters, PhD - you don't have to do all the lower levels to do the higher levels but you'd need a Degree to do Honours, Masters, PhD (although I don't know that you need a Degree to do an MBA).

Posted 8 months ago #
Letgoodtimesroll
Member

Laetitia - Thanks for the explanation. I always find it interesting to learn about different countries educational courses. Guess that's the former librarian in me!

Ella - I haven't read the book you recommend, but our library has it,so I'll check it out. I read a similar book a couple of years ago (don't remember the title), but it obviously didn't help. I always wish that reading about something (decluttering, exercising, etc.) would make it happen magically, without any physical effort on my part! That's right - I procrastinate and am lazy! <groan>

Posted 8 months ago #
Astreja
Member

LGTR, I think it's... (looks nervously over shoulder) ...the tote bags.

If you were to empty out just one bag at a time and lay out the contents on a large flat surface (e.g. living room rug), you might be able to reclassify the stuff and discard some of it. If possible, also discard or donate that tote bag immediately and store the "keep" stuff in one of the other bags. At very least you'll gain the floor or shelf space that the bag used to occupy.

(Disclaimer: My Achilles heel was large plastic storage bins. As soon as I started to get rid of the bins themselves, my clutter situation improved almost overnight.)

Posted 8 months ago #
jbeany
Member

Yeah, I agree the tote bags are problematic. They sound an awful lot like my former collection of wooden boxes. Very cute, very useful, but when crammed full of stuff and tucked in random places - impossible to organize.

Posted 8 months ago #
Emilie
Member

Astreja, I think that's a good idea. There's a sense of accomplishment when you empty something, and that can keep you going. Maybe you can also find some way to reward yourself after you've emptied a bag? I like positive motivation :) But I must admit that yes, I am also a professional time-waster at the moment.

Welcome LGTR! Keep posting and I hope we can help you out!

Posted 8 months ago #
lottielot
Member

I can identify with the wanting reading to be magically dealing with the problem bit! However, I do believe that the best way of uncluttering is to understand why you're cluttering in the first place, and reading helps with that bit. I read lots of uncluttering books about 8 years ago and would periodically re-read them but nothing would last for long. Now I can look at those books and think 'well, Flylady's style is actually the same as mine, but I hate her preachy tone' and ' side-tracked home executives is funny but their system is ridiculously unsuited to me'. You have to experiment a bit, find out where you trip up (is it getting started?) and what may work for you (setting a timer as susan suggested?). For me, I'm rubbish at routines and sticking with things, so that's my challenge. I'm not sentimental and usually consider birthday cards as junk to be thrown out, so maybe you have some emotional issues to work through, it's surprisingly common. Uncluttering does get easier though as you change your relationship with your stuff. Do you have a goal in mind? Maybe having friends over for lunch, or taking up a new hobby and being able to walk out the door to a class or meeting and know your house doesn't need thinking or worrying about?
Good luck, just get started and report back on your progress, this is the only place where someone will cheer you for the tiniest thing uncluttered!

Posted 8 months ago #
Stella
Member

LOL

Bertrand Russel said: "The time that you enjoy wasting is not wasted time"

I totally agree with this in principle! But if it really bothers you and gets in the way of the things you would like to do instead of computer games and TV...yes, of course then, I hear you!

For example, my husband and I are watching re-runs of Sopranos on DVD at the moment and as soon as the kid is in bed, he makes the dinner, I quickly do some other household chores and in 30 minutes we both sit down and enjoy the series and our dinner. I find that this approach works really well - 30 minuts of quick dedication to a chore or chores and then you can enjoy whatever you want to do again.

So maybe, you can try it that way, esp. that you don't have to work and do have time - block some decluttering time and only do it then. (maybe an hour a day in 30 mins increments) The rest of the day, continue doing whatever you like, so the change won't be too daunting.

Then as you move ahead with your decluttering, you may find other things that you enjoy and want to try out.

Good luck!

Posted 8 months ago #
ninakk
Member

Welcome! I think one bag at a time sounds like a good place to start from.

Posted 8 months ago #
shebolt
Member

I can waste time online with the best of them, so I know where you're coming from.

I try to alternate time wasted with time being productive. So, I set a timer for, say, 15 minutes. I get to spend 15 minutes online, then the next 15 cleaning or decluttering. I can keep this up all day and get an amazing amount done.

If I'm watching a TV show, I'm not usually watching "live" so I can pause at each commercial break and go do something productive for 10 minutes.

Posted 8 months ago #
needtocleanhouse
Member

Welcome Letgoodtimesroll.

Posted 8 months ago #
librarygal
Member

Welcome Letgoodtimesroll.

Clutter, organized or not, is a struggle for most of us. The good news is you're a librarian (or former, but once a librarian...). That means you have organizational skills in your blood. The bad news is... it sounds like your area of interest is acquistions or archives. ;) So the trick will be not just organizing, but also weeding!

As others have mentioned, I think starting one tote bag at a time is a good way to go. Maybe even pick bags in one closet or one room (corner of room?) to start so you can recognize progress as it happens.

I used to be a crafter, both successful and serial half-starter, so I had many unfinished items waiting for me. One thing I found really helpful was to sort through them (donate, toss, and keep-because-I-might-finish-it). Once you have a pile of the ones that you want to finish, you'll probably have to do a second sort to make it a realistic pile. Then separate each one into a ziplock or tote of its own and write the date you will complete it by. Maybe one project a month (or whatever seems realistic for the project). If you have more projects than you can do in 12 months (or 18? no more than 18 months though!), weed some more, etc. When I had to assign REAL TIME to these projects instead of the proverbial "Someday", the number I wanted to complete got a lot smaller. And it gave me permission to either cannibalize the supplies for something I did complete (!) or to send them out into the world for someone else to use.

Hang in there!

Posted 8 months ago #

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