@djk - you've described "avoidance clutter" so perfectly! It's my never-ending, never-progressing to do list.
Overall Rating: 1 vote
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Posted 2 years ago #
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Avoidance clutter. Hrm. I thought everyone had that. Don't they? I've been meaning to get a household insurance for 6 years now. Any questions? ;o) This sound like a great topic for a new thread, though...
Posted 2 years ago # -
Things that don't work anymore but are still good for spare parts. I have solved this problem since I discovered http://www.freecycle.org/. It was not that I hadn't heard of Freecycle before but I didn't think there would be one in my little corner of australia but when I got desperate enough I checked it out and bingo problem solved. There is always someone out there looking for something.
Colleen ( http://www.365lessthings.com )Posted 1 year ago # -
My Area of Doom (known to habithackers as bete noire or black beast) is my finished basement. Stuff on the way to the unfinished storage area gets stuck at the bottom of the stairs, when I have big messy projects I tend to do them down there and then don't pick up after myself, and my FAR (future art room...acronym describing fact that getting it together is always far in future) is down there which means a plethora of arts & crafts supplies. The only time things look half-way good down there is when I have a guest coming and I do one of those emergency hide procedures of doing a crappy job of putting stuff in boxes and hiding it in closets, under beds and under tables.
The only answer is the one that 365less gives---get rid of it! I've got too much stuff for my feeble brain to track!
Posted 1 year ago # -
Area of Doom? (i love the sound of that!)
My clothes closet...which at the moment is fine and dandy, purged down to a minimal assortment...but it's a major weakness. I LOVE CLOTHES. It helped when over a year ago I made a resolution to go without buying anything new but the area I live in now has some AMAZING thrift stores. And thrift store clothing isn't new merchandise so I have been indulging on half price days. I think I need to reword my resolution to limit any type of purchase, thrift or garage sale included.
Oh and interesting food is another weakness....when I see something new, or read about some food I haven't tried I get that instant gratification grabby feeling.
I just gotta try it, and many times don't want to finish it so it's wasteful clutter. I give myself the very best advice(Michael Polins "eat food, mostly plants, not too much" and sometimes I seldom follow it. aaaaaarggggghhhhh.Posted 1 year ago # -
ragabond, my solution to unusual/interesting foods is to get just enough for 1.5 people, and then create something for me and DH. There's never too much of it if it doesn't turn out great, but never any leftovers either since we're both willing to give it a fighting chance. :-)
I posted above about my computer desk, but my true Area of Doom has actually been my Projects List. I stopped even keeping one for a long time when, due to a bad job, I'd lost the will to be creative. Stuff was festering, people!! Now I am in a much better place and giving that list the beat down.
Posted 1 year ago # -
My AOD is my in-laws' storage unit. (Sorry for the long post ahead!)
A few years ago they had to move quickly out of their house with their two kids and into a small two bedroom apartment. This means that everything they couldn't bring with them went into the unit. Being that they have a hard time getting rid of stuff, instead of selling things off to make ends meet and move down to a smaller unit, months went unpaid and we're lucky it wasn't auctioned off. My husband and I pooled our money together, paid off the balance and we now have access.
We're now helping them unclutter and we have an entire family's lifetime to sort through.
This unit is not organized in any sense of the word and is literally filled to the brim with boxes - only about 2/3s of which have lids. Those with lids seem to be taking up space as they're not filled to capacity - those without lids have items sticking out over the top, making for dangerous stacking. There is a shelf in there which you'd think would be a big help, but it has almost nothing stored on it!
I'm not a good mover, so I've been organizing and condensing. So far, I managed to get about six boxes worth of Christmas stuff down to three, but getting them to condense as well has been difficult, especially with his mother. Example:
Dad: "Should we get rid of this clock?"
Mom: "No. I don't know why, but we shouldn't. We've had it for a long time."I've been doing my best to be the voice of reason as far as what stays and what goes, but it's been emotionally tolling for everyone. I love his parents dearly and despite the financial problems I've taken on by marrying into the family, I'm glad I have them. This all is how I ended up here in the first place - I want to help without overstepping boundaries since this isn't *my* life we're sorting through and I don't want to lose my mind doing this because I don't want to do anything that would damage my relationship with them.
This weekend we're taking a break from the unit, but next weekend I am making sure that we are all armed with labels, sharpies, packing tape and garbage bags. There are a couple of empty storage units surrounding theirs and my plan of action is to designate each one as staging areas for "keep," "trash," "donate," and "Sell."
Wish us luck!
Posted 1 year ago # -
Wow, GirlOverBoard, they are lucky to have someone like you to help. Kudos!
got my fingers crossed for your weekend! Post again to let us know how it went
Posted 1 year ago # -
Thanks djk! Unfortunately, it looks like we won't be able to work on the unit this weekend but I'm hoping to tackle it the weekend after. I'll post more about it once we've had another chance at it. :)
Posted 1 year ago # -
My home office is always a paper pile mess. That goes back to time management. As well as doing all the bookkeeping for our business I also work outside the home 25 hours a week and run the home. Coming home from work, fixing the house and meals, and then sitting down to do more paperwork - yuck.
I also hate the pile of shoes by the back door. Why I'm the only one in the house with the most shoes can place my shoes in my closet and the 3 males in the house with only 2-3 pairs of shoes each can only place their shoes at the back door - UGH!!!Posted 1 year ago # -
@GirlOverboard, it is probably tough to have to look after clutter that isn't even your own. It must also be difficult to "help without overstepping boundaries", but it's really the only way to do it and I can only second djk, they are lucky that you are the one helping them :o) So how did your weekend go?
@Julsalve - for the shoes, there must be a way that is easier in some way, for you and for them. Either maybe make everyone do a quick 5-minute-pick-up of the house (including the dinner table, the living room and *gasp* their shoes) after dinner every night, or get a shoe rack/bench for near the back door, for 4 pairs of shoes, and each member of the household is allowed to keep exactly one pair on it.
Also, as a follow-up for my post on page 2 of this thread, I can now proudly erase "deal with my non-digital photos" from the list of Doom ;o) Last weekend, I gave myself two hours to get started, and I was done with it all in five hours (two on Saturday, two on Sunday, one yesterday). I sorted them all by year and event, decluttered A LOT of pictures and am now down to three boxes of "best of" pictures. Yay me! :o)
Posted 1 year ago #
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