I sometimes feel like I take one step forward and two steps back. Does anyone else feel this way? I try really hard not to bring new unnecessary items into my home but every now and then clutter reappears!
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Posted 2 years ago #
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I'd like to share an ironic failure!
Last friday I filled my H's rucksack with books and had one bag filled with clohtes and the other with nick-nacks and jewellery. I walked it to the charit shop - a 15 to 20 min walk on a good day. Man, I'm unfot it almost killed me lol
I got home to find TWO cahrity companies had been in my absence and left large bags for me to fill with books, bric a brack and clothes for them and they would pick it up tomorrow.
Grrrrrrrr.
Seriously, I do think more about what I buy but I'm not perfect - but I now have place to display stuff if I do buy it accidentally, so i enjoy it more. Otherwise I try not to beat myself up and donate it next time around.
Posted 2 years ago # -
^A similar thing happened to me! My husband and I were planning a trip to Goodwill for months, and right after we went and donated our items, a bag arrived in the mail with a charity name on it advising us to call and make a donation - and they would pick it up!
Posted 2 years ago # -
Oh yeah. A couple of years ago we went to buy a micro stereo system for the tv and ended up with a multi-speaker system that filled the whole car boot. The speakers are huge! So not the funky streamlined thing I had in mind. ... it does sound wonderful though!
Then the kids took up a miniatures tabletop war game which involved painting hundreds of little figures... I haven't seen my kitchen table in weeks!
So yeah. Still accumulating.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Here's a big one ... I was forcibly uncluttered when an ex took everything I owned (except my books) including a digital piano. As soon as I could afford it, I bought myself another piano. And have barely used it since.
D'oh!
Posted 2 years ago # -
Oh, klutzgrrl, I feel your pain with the miniatures. My ex-boyfriend had THOUSANDS of those things. We had a 2 car garage in which we couldn't park. It was sad. The 2 of us alone filled a 2300 sq ft house (and said garage). I'd say at least 60% of the stuff was his. When we broke up, I moved to a 1000 sq ft apartment no problem. I'm still downgrading, but new boyfriend, well, he's not an accumulator, but he's not much of a put-awayer either. It's not too bad though, he's pretty accomodating whenever I want to get rid of something. I told him we didn't need 2 full sets of dishes, so he agreed to get rid of his golf themed set (thank goodness, I hated those dishes!) Now we have SO MUCH more kitchen cabinet space. There are even empty shelves! It's amazing!
Posted 2 years ago # -
GoodKitti - at least you got the workout!
- I'm finally able to get rid of *good* things that are usable and pretty but just don't work for me.
- I always keep a givaway box or bag in the hall closet and haul them off to Goodwill when they fill up.
- I'm able to part with any outgrown kids' or maternity article.
- I don't buy any magazines, the pre-read magazines that do come into my house get recycled after reading.My house is far from being a minimalist showpiece, but I shudder to think where I would be if I didn't cull.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Today two pans for the stove top and pair of pants I wore 2 times.
The pants. Few years old with tags. I knew they were too big but the money I spent! So I wore them a few times. Disaster. Into the pile they went.
The pans are non stick though not too good as they are scratched up. Last two years made comments on getting replacements, switched to using oil occasionally, but the lure of a good sale.... I dragged two home. Washed the new ones. Few days passed, husband asked why we had new pans, and so I held onto them all. Last night I sucked in my breath and put them in donate pile. I am fighting myself to take them out. I hear my grandmother, a child of the depression, in my head saying "make do".
SIGH.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I know how you all feel. But that's why we're here, right? :o)
I think sometimes it's not so much all the new magically appearing clutter, but it's more like... having a trained eye for it (by now, we all do!), or coming to a decision. For example, books that I kept the last time when decluttering may now be clutter for me. So technically, they aren't new and I didn't add them since the last time I decluttered, but somehow they crossed the line from "useful" to "clutter" in my head.
Of course, some things do magically appear. I think for me, the root of all evil is some weird kind of "reward behavior". Food: "I went jogging this morning, so I may have another serving of dessert." Stuff: "I just got rid of some clutter, so I'm allowed to go to IKEA and look at pretty things with my friend (and of course buy something, oops)". Ugh.
Posted 2 years ago # -
i just got back from 6 weeks holiday and my kitchen table looks like a bomb site.
magazines. mail. vegetables. bits of paper. flowers. bananas.i am going out there right now to attack it!
Posted 2 years ago # -
Good luck, Bandicoot! It helps me to set a small target (how big is a kitchen table, anyway?) and know that within 15 minutes or so it will be all clear. Bring in your recycling bin and trash bag and get going!
Posted 2 years ago # -
I will go on uncluttering sprees and then I have all this stuff to get rid of all piled up. But I feel like I have to at least make an effort to find the stuff good homes. Like if I know someone who might want the books I am giving away I ask around first or have them posted on Book mooch. Then the stuff sits there forever.
I need to just get it out of my apartment, It doesn't feel like I uncluttered anything if its all still here. We don't have a lot of space which is why I want to get rid of some stuff, plus I don't need or it anyway.
I am working on getting rid of the stuff I have piled up right now before I worry about what else to get rid of. It seems so time consuming though. I hate throwing stuff out that someone can use though.
Posted 2 years ago # -
A new problem of mine is that I am trying to "make-over" my style. During a clothes cluttering portion of my life I acquired a bunch of clothes that I do not like and that do not suit my style AT ALL. (Now I am using the "bouncer at the door of a club" method that others mentioned on here, where I am super picky about which clothes I let in!)
In my attempt to make some money to buy new clothes that suit me, I am selling old items on eBay. And like charmed2482 said, the stuff just sits around until it gets sold! By the time I make the decision to get rid of the things, I just want them gone. But I can't pass up the chance to make some of the cash back... Grrrr...
Posted 2 years ago # -
Hi, I'm a newbie. Charmed2482 - that's my big problem too. I have a small storage area, and it's piled up with things I have decided to get rid of. But you have to dispose of things responsibly. So one pile needs to go to the used bookstore; another pile is for donating; another pile is to sell on Craigslist; more stuff for Freecycle; papers to shred; electronics to recycle. It helps when charities come to pick up stuff, but I find myself stuck getting things actually out of the house. All of those projects take work - annoying errands, trips to the dump or the charity, annoying emails to write and sift through...
Why, just today, some guy from Craigslist was going to buy our old home theater but flaked out because we're "too far away." Not cool, dude. That's why Craiglist lists your city! Why didn't you read my posting?! Argh!
Posted 2 years ago # -
I been tackling this today. getting all my various piles of stuff sorted so I can get them out of my apartment. I got a bag of books for the library. another pile I am sending to my mom for a friend that runs a drug recovery house. a freecycle box, a goodwill bag. I got another box in the car that's going to a friend when I get out to ups. plus more that still needs to be sorted, but will probably be going to goodwill so I don't have to deal to much with it. I don't even care about making extra cash anymore, I just want to get rid of the stuff. It feels like the uncluttering has been a never ending battle for like two years now. oh I forgot about the stacks of dvds of old movies/tv shows/cartoons I am sending to my friend for her mom. one more thing to deal with.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Sdiaz, our closest city is Austin. So, I have to post on Austin craigslist. I posted a huge artist's easel a few weeks ago. A guy in Austin wanted it, but he said the drive to pick it up would cost him as much for gasoline as the easel cost. :( That's the problem with living 50 miles from the nearest city. There are very few people in podunk that want an artist's easel.
I have several large pieces I need to sell. I don't know how I'm going to do it out here in the boonies.
Positive note: I took a box of items to a friend for a church bazaar today.
Posted 2 years ago # -
i did a small thing today and i feel so great about it.
i have big deep kitchen drawers.
i love them for crockery and cookware, but for my tea towels, the drawer sucked.
things were everywhere and it has made me crazy for months.so i drove to the city today and i snooped around howards storage world and i found some groovy canvas basket/box things.
in various colours and sizes.
i cannot find them online, but they'll be in their new catalogue. i didn't take one.i bought a bunch of them home and four of them fit perfectly in the dreadful drawer.
i now have separate spaces for the GOOD tea towels, the on the way out tea towels, linen napkins, dish cloths/glass cloths.
it's so nice!and i have a bonus four of them sitting on a huge chair by the kitchen door:
one for stuff to be mailed
one for stuff for my parents (we do a constant exchange of movies/books and recycled egg cartons with them)
one for donated stuff
one for cloth shopping bags and paper shopping lists (the paper is for the husband who only works off paper)i am dying to see how this system works out! up until now, it has been a big snarl of stuff at the door.
o and i bought two little baskets made from recycled paper, that hang from hooks.
one each for our keys/sunglasses/phones/wallets.
one place to put it all when we come in and grab it all when we leave.small things, but i feel a difference in the room.
Posted 2 years ago # -
bandicoot, that's a great example of waiting until you knew what you wanted to do before you went out to buy storage/organizing tools. :-) isn't it nice to have a PEEP?
Re: not being able to let go of things you've already decided you don't want to keep ... I understand the impulse to try to get some money back from things you don't want anymore. But to me, the inconvenience, lost time, and potential risk of using a service like Craigslist (do I *really* want some stranger pulling up to my home to buy my 15-yr-old TV for $25? uh, hellz to the NO) make it just not worth it.
I don't even care about charitable deductions. Made a list of all the fairly-big items I want to get rid of if/when we move. The amount we could reasonably claim for all of them is so much less than the standard deduction, it's not even funny. Why bother?
I pass on certain books or movies to my sister and her girlfriend. Other than that ... my FREE time is worth more to me than my work time, so I'm not about to spend it on selecting the ideal destination for my unwanted stuff. But more power to all y'all who do!
Posted 2 years ago # -
I often think I'd like the extra money - it'd certainly come in handy - but the fact is, we have plenty, cope with the mortgage payments and have a fridge full of food. I don't give enough cash to charity, so if they benefit from my donations, that's a really good thing. I try to be reasonably picky about what I give - nothing too worn and definitely nothing broken. They get enough junk dumped on them.
here in Australia items donated aren't deductible like they are in the USA, which is a pity.
Posted 2 years ago # -
bandicoot - I was in HSW yesterday drooling over some organisers for our stationery drawer but managed to not buy anything because (a) I hadn't measured the drawer and (b) there were so many options I wasn't sure which would be the way to go. I'll have to go back soon (with a note of the sizes) though because the stuff in the drawer moves around with the movements of opening and closing the drawer so it's now driving me nuts.
Claycat - is meeting potential buyers half-way an option? Or do you go into Austin on even a semi-regular basis that you could meet them there? A friend in Austin with whom you can leave the item?
Posted 2 years ago #
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