Continued: Getting rid of stuff / Clearing out clutter! PART 2

[MaybeBabyMustache]

One bag I don't use given to a friend. Another bag + jeans to be donated today, along with a bag of paper bags (we use them in the op shop)

Another different sort of decluttering - I am finally sorting out my embroidery threads to identify what colours misc skeins are,  and eventually organise them by colour family + number. I've kept them in a 2l container for ~10 years so this is a big advance in organisation for me.

Well done on your organization progress, @mspym !

[Sibley]

I'm starting to transport 15 huge photo album binders from my Mom's place to my house now. A few at a time. The pics are too good to just throw out. My sister is fine with me throwing them away, but I just can't.

So...... in my mind I now have an 'excuse' to recycle the 29 volume set of Encyclopedia Americana from 1990, and use the space in the newly open shelves for the photos ! 

I have the encyclos on FBM in Marketplace now, for $5 for the whole set. FBM won't let me see how many clicks they are getting, since it only shows me one page worth of my listings.

I'll give it a week or so, then off to recycling with them.

So, you have a bunch of photos that you want to keep that are in massive photo albums. Consider if you want to pull the photos out of the albums and store them differently. Sometimes you really need to because the album materials are contributing to deterioration. An archive friendly method of storage will often be significantly less bulky than the old huge albums. And in the process you can weed out any photos you don't want to keep.

Also, just pointing out, that your mental need to have an excuse to get rid of something is not indicative of a healthy relationship with stuff. I know your deceased girlfriend was a hoarder, you should consider if you picked up some of her unhealthy thought patterns.

[SunnyDays]

I'm starting to transport 15 huge photo album binders from my Mom's place to my house now. A few at a time. The pics are too good to just throw out. My sister is fine with me throwing them away, but I just can't.

So...... in my mind I now have an 'excuse' to recycle the 29 volume set of Encyclopedia Americana from 1990, and use the space in the newly open shelves for the photos ! 

I have the encyclos on FBM in Marketplace now, for $5 for the whole set. FBM won't let me see how many clicks they are getting, since it only shows me one page worth of my listings.

I'll give it a week or so, then off to recycling with them.

So, you have a bunch of photos that you want to keep that are in massive photo albums. Consider if you want to pull the photos out of the albums and store them differently. Sometimes you really need to because the album materials are contributing to deterioration. An archive friendly method of storage will often be significantly less bulky than the old huge albums. And in the process you can weed out any photos you don't want to keep.

Also, just pointing out, that your mental need to have an excuse to get rid of something is not indicative of a healthy relationship with stuff. I know your deceased girlfriend was a hoarder, you should consider if you picked up some of her unhealthy thought patterns.

I wonder if you're uncomfortable with empty space?  Perhaps that's behind your difficulty with letting go of things.  It's interesting that a few posts ago, you commented that pickings were slim now, yet encyclopedia's from the 1990s are of basically no value, yet you hung onto them until you could fill the space with other items.  Which may not be of any more value than the books.  Not sure what you mean by "the pics are too good to just throw out."  If you mean good physical condition, this doesn't necessarily increase their value.  If they are meaningful to you, then framing and hanging them would be more beneficial than them just sitting in albums on a shelf where you never look at them.  But I would guess that ALL the photos in 15 albums can't be meaningful, so you could potentially whittle the collection down by a LOT if you want to do the work.

I don't mean to pile on criticism, but just trying help you reframe things in your mind, which is where decluttering truly starts.  Just physically getting rid of items is the easy part.  I've had to do some psychological work on this myself, and I'm not done yet.

[slackmax]

I'm starting to transport 15 huge photo album binders from my Mom's place to my house now. A few at a time. The pics are too good to just throw out. My sister is fine with me throwing them away, but I just can't.

So...... in my mind I now have an 'excuse' to recycle the 29 volume set of Encyclopedia Americana from 1990, and use the space in the newly open shelves for the photos ! 

I have the encyclos on FBM in Marketplace now, for $5 for the whole set. FBM won't let me see how many clicks they are getting, since it only shows me one page worth of my listings.

I'll give it a week or so, then off to recycling with them.

So, you have a bunch of photos that you want to keep that are in massive photo albums. Consider if you want to pull the photos out of the albums and store them differently. Sometimes you really need to because the album materials are contributing to deterioration. An archive friendly method of storage will often be significantly less bulky than the old huge albums. And in the process you can weed out any photos you don't want to keep.

Also, just pointing out, that your mental need to have an excuse to get rid of something is not indicative of a healthy relationship with stuff. I know your deceased girlfriend was a hoarder, you should consider if you picked up some of her unhealthy thought patterns.

I wonder if you're uncomfortable with empty space?  Perhaps that's behind your difficulty with letting go of things.  It's interesting that a few posts ago, you commented that pickings were slim now, yet encyclopedia's from the 1990s are of basically no value, yet you hung onto them until you could fill the space with other items.  Which may not be of any more value than the books.  Not sure what you mean by "the pics are too good to just throw out."  If you mean good physical condition, this doesn't necessarily increase their value.  If they are meaningful to you, then framing and hanging them would be more beneficial than them just sitting in albums on a shelf where you never look at them.  But I would guess that ALL the photos in 15 albums can't be meaningful, so you could potentially whittle the collection down by a LOT if you want to do the work.

I don't mean to pile on criticism, but just trying help you reframe things in your mind, which is where decluttering truly starts.  Just physically getting rid of items is the easy part.  I've had to do some psychological work on this myself, and I'm not done yet.

Thanks, SUnnyDays.


The pics are too good, in the sense that they have sentimental value to me.
I have thrown out about half of the pics already, that I didn't want, and even some of the actual binders. The remaining pics (well, almost all) have family members at meaningful places and times.

Interesting, yes, I said there were 'slim pickings' here. For some reason I considered the encyclopedias as non-clutter, must-keep.  Hmmm. Sometimes I see something and think 'Why am I keeping this thing?' and then I get rid of it.

I actually did sell the encyclos today, for $10.  I feel fine with it. I immediately put the binders on one of the shelves. 

The check's in the mail, for this session, lol. 

[Sibley]

Clutter blindness is very much a thing. I find that when I am away from home in a very different environment that can help reset it. Either that, or deliberately look at a section and start listing everything that is there. Hard to say it's not cluttered when your list of what's there is in the dozens or hundreds.

[mspym]

Nothing gets you over clutter blindness like having to move or otherwise box things up. I am about to do the seasonal wardrobe changeover and having an honest check-in with myself about things I haven't worn in months. There are only so many summer-frock days in this country and there are dresses I haven't worn in two summers.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Sold a sports jersey on eBay. Made a bit of cash, and yet another item out of the house.

[crocheted_stache]

Collected some items for a household hazardous waste drop-off that's coming up. A few usable things went out today via one of the free sites.

Also listed one kind of bulky item on Buy Nothing today. It's not out yet, but I have a couple takers to choose from.

[slackmax]

Nothing gets you over clutter blindness like having to move or otherwise box things up.....

You're right.

After I boxed up the encyclopedias, I noticed some clothes in the same room that I was now able to easily donate, with no ambivalent feelings. Feeling some motivation, I the went through the 'under the bed stuff', and found things I had forgotten about.

Net result was moving good wearable clothing to where it should be, and getting 2 bags of clothes and linens to donate, and a small bag of bricabrac to throw out!   :)   

[Sibley]

Nothing gets you over clutter blindness like having to move or otherwise box things up.....

You're right.

After I boxed up the encyclopedias, I noticed some clothes in the same room that I was now able to easily donate, with no ambivalent feelings. Feeling some motivation, I the went through the 'under the bed stuff', and found things I had forgotten about.

Net result was moving good wearable clothing to where it should be, and getting 2 bags of clothes and linens to donate, and a small bag of bricabrac to throw out!   :)

Whoo!

[Freedomin5]

Posted two bikes in a couple buy/sell groups.

[oneday]

Finally used up the wax paper. I know not from whence it came. It is finally gone.

[Freedomin5]

Posted two bikes in a couple buy/sell groups.

Both bikes are now gone!

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Sold a pair of sunglasses on eBay. I'm at the very slow & steady phase of cleaning things out, given my earlier progress with a lot of volume. We've gotten rid of so much, the easy wins are out of the house already. Gearing up for another BN listing.

[slackmax]

Whoo!
[/quote]

Thanks, Sibley. 

[LeftA]

A few days ago I gave away a baby photo frame that I never used - it had a space for each month of baby’s year. My kids are both teens…

Also, today was hazardous material drop off and DH got rid of stuff I collected last September when we did our garage clear. Since the city does these only twice a year, I was happy to get the stuff out of the house.

[crocheted_stache]

A small-but-large victory: persuaded DH to throw out the yellowed and broken phone case he already replaced, and threw it out. This is a man who devotedly keeps socks until the holes leave him with blisters, so actually tossing something that's shot is progress.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Sold a skirt on eBay. I'm getting some eBay momentum, which is nice, after not seeing any sales forever. It's a slow trickle of things out of the house, but given it comes with a corresponding small trickle of money earned, I'll take it.

[Sibley]

Did shopping yesterday to do 100% replacement of my work pants and bras. Was successful, if crabby because I had to go shopping. Threw out all the old bras. All the old pants, as well as various other items were bagged up. Took 2 bags to goodwill, and grabbed a bag of stuff my mom had to go and dropped that off. Also took a bag of cat food to the animal shelter that mine won't eat. All in all, cleared out some stuff.

Now also need to sell a bike. I got it last fall from a yard sale and cleaned it up today, then determined that it's too big for me to ride safely. Adding that to FB marketplace.

Edit: slight miscalculation. I dropped off all the old work pants. But I forgot that 4 of the 5 pairs of new work pants need to be hemmed. So until I get those hemmed, I only have 1 pair of pants for work! Might be wearing dresses part of the week.

[oneday]

Since November:

• haz mat
• e-waste
• household goods (4 boxes)
• papers and photos from the fridge
• excess bags & water bottles
• empty spice jars
• luggage trolly
• ex roomie's video games
• ex roomie's book case glass doors
• old textbook (sold!)
• heating pad
• area rug
• box for electronics I no longer own
• stool of guilt & anger
• small suitcase
• box of miscellany: clothes, books, water bottles, etc
• ex roomie's side table
• huge bag of yarn and needles
• return unneeded things to Ikea
• 4 batteries
• busted lampshade
• wax paper

New:

• return unneeded things to Costco
• box of household goods to thrift store

Lost a water bottle, but was able to replace it at the thrift store. One out, one in.

[FrugalShrew]

On Friday, I donated 2 paper bags full--including books, clothes, and 3 pairs of shoes. When I got home, within a day I had filled another half bag full. I also had a super nice interaction with the person at the donation center. The thrift store raises money for the local humane society, and the gentleman taking my donations asked about my pets and told me about how employees at the thrift store get a free adoption once they've been working there a year, and he plans to get a cat. It was so sweet! :)

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Found an old ceiling fan remote in a drawer, and we no longer have that fan. Sold it on eBay today. I particularly love those sales, as it definitely kept the remote out of the landfill.

[slackmax]

Found an old ceiling fan remote in a drawer, and we no longer have that fan. Sold it on eBay today. I particularly love those sales, as it definitely kept the remote out of the landfill.

Sweet.  Probably an 'impossible-to-find' remote outside of the internet. Win, win.

[slackmax]

Two for one on the decluttering front this morning. Sold an electronic keyboard locally. Also, found the original box it came in, harvested some other stuff from inside the box, to add to the sale, no extra charge, AND.. I can recycle the huge box ! 

[mspym]

Small victories - I've disappeared 4 books from my mother's bookshelves. She doesn't need a book about how weight-lifting will make her slim or a novel about a middle-aged woman deciding to kill herself to save herself from getting old. She's never going to make cheese. They're in the pile to go to the op shop.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@mspym - that's quite a range of topics culled from the bookshelf. I'm so curious what else she has on her shelves.

With DS18 making a college decision, I went through his room with him & we collected all of the other offer letters, brochures, pamphlets, etc from other colleges he got into. That was an enormous stack, straight to the recycling bin. We kept everything from the college he's chosen to attend, but we can likely trim that way back as well. So much is online, and there are very few actual papers we'll need to keep.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I finally had enough for another Buy Nothing post, so got that listed & have takers for almost everything So far, out of the house we have:
-A really nice old school globe
-A workout tshirt from Costco, that I think came back with us when we sold our vacation house, and I never wear
-A newish tshirt that I bought last spring but is too big. I'm sad to give it up, because I could actually really use a navy tshirt, but this is never going to fit right.
-DH's ski gloves, as he replaced them
-Iron on velcro patches
-A work laptop bag

Total out of the house in 2024 = 360/500

[SunnyDays]

A few more things on their way out:  4 more tops, a worn out pair of pajama pants, a set of windshield wipers, another book, 2 sets of never worn pajamas that are too small and 2 more glass jars.

[Loretta]

Today’s nylon pantyhose went into the trash as soon as I got home from work.  They were in storage for a long time before I acquired them and the elastic in the waistband literally was falling down on the job. 

I have some god-awful leadership books to donate from a coworker. 

I have a half bag of clothes and linens to donate tomorrow when I visit a far away Goodwill. 

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Mailed back all of my work electronics, & the huge box they sent for mailing. That was nice to get out of the house. More junk, eliminated!

[oneday]

Returned a borrowed desk to the owner. Everything in my house belongs to me!

[mspym]

@MaybeBabyMustache and @oneday woot woot! that must feel GREAT!

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@mspym - it felt great! DH & I celebrated with champagne. ;-)

Today: went through DS18's closet & got rid of all the size small tshirts (at his request) & made a post for BN. Have an interested person who will pick them up.

[oneday]

It does feel great. I'm not counting my work laptop, monitor, chair and standing desk. There is an agreement between me and the office that I will have these things at my house.

[crocheted_stache]

Hazardous materials are all the way out of the house now. A couple usable things went to a free group member and the rest went to a proper drop off.

[Raenia]

Finally took the box of electronics waste to recycling! Great to get that out of the house.

ETA: Also, tried on all my summer dresses and put a few in the donate/sell pile. Need to figure out how/if to start listing some of the nicer things on Poshmark or similar.

[former player]

Garden shed cleared out, tools maintained, one bag of rubbish out and others due to go to the dump today along with some recyling.

Inside, a chaise listed for sale cheap because it needs reupholstering.

Still need to declutter sewing stuff, papers and the garage.  But visible progress is being made with no other large items to dispose of and everything else in decent order.

[SunnyDays]

I’m tackling my dad’s house right now, as he’s 92 and not doing well, so the writing is on the wall.
Found a bunch of glass jars, about 15, to donate, 4 books, some kitchen towels that can be used for rags and also tidied up the linen closet which was a mess.  So many towels!  I’ll leave them for now because he gets home care that seems to use a new one every damn day, but they will ultimately be whittled down.

Today I’m going to go through the dishes etc because way too many of those too.
There’s a long, long way to go.

[oneday]

Since November:

• haz mat
• e-waste
• household goods (4 boxes)
• papers and photos from the fridge
• excess bags & water bottles
• empty spice jars
• luggage trolly
• ex roomie's video games
• ex roomie's book case glass doors
• old textbook (sold!)
• heating pad
• area rug
• box for electronics I no longer own
• stool of guilt & anger
• small suitcase
• box of miscellany: clothes, books, water bottles, etc
• ex roomie's side table
• huge bag of yarn and needles
• return unneeded things to Ikea
• 4 batteries
• busted lampshade
• wax paper
• return unneeded things to Costco
• box of household goods to thrift store

New:

• borrowed desk returned to owner
• area rug (replaced - another one in one out)

[Sibley]

I’m tackling my dad’s house right now, as he’s 92 and not doing well, so the writing is on the wall.
Found a bunch of glass jars, about 15, to donate, 4 books, some kitchen towels that can be used for rags and also tidied up the linen closet which was a mess.  So many towels!  I’ll leave them for now because he gets home care that seems to use a new one every damn day, but they will ultimately be whittled down.

Today I’m going to go through the dishes etc because way too many of those too.
There’s a long, long way to go.

I'm going to be brutally honest here, so if you read it and then forget it for now, that's fine.

You're approaching it backwards. You should be deciding what you want to keep. He's going to die. Maybe not now, but soon. You will be clearing the house sooner rather than later, so start figuring out how to do that when the time comes. Because a box of dishes is not going to mean much when you need to empty the entire house.

If it helps you to pick away at an area, then go for it. But only if it's helping you. You've got more important stuff right now. You'll have plenty of opportunity to go through the house after the funeral.

[slackmax]

Having a pause in decluttering now. Found little black bugs in the pantry. Took the infected box out, threw it away. It wasn't even open!

Took lots of other stuff out, vacuuming up the bugs as they appear. They are hidden behind plastic shelf structures, etc.   

Food boxes strewn around the kitchen. 

[LeftA]

I’m taking a little break from the big stuff, as I’m close to the end of my whole house and I’m tired!

But, I went through all our recent paper (which was mail). We had 3 notices from HCPs who are retiring! I guess our HCPs were all close in age.

On the weekend, I had a birthday party and brought a bouquet of flowers. Decided to add a glass vase I had. This helped declutter the space where I keep my vases, but it also led me to wash the remaining ones.

Small wins while I take a break from the remaining categories in my storage area.

[SunnyDays]

I’m tackling my dad’s house right now, as he’s 92 and not doing well, so the writing is on the wall.
Found a bunch of glass jars, about 15, to donate, 4 books, some kitchen towels that can be used for rags and also tidied up the linen closet which was a mess.  So many towels!  I’ll leave them for now because he gets home care that seems to use a new one every damn day, but they will ultimately be whittled down.

Today I’m going to go through the dishes etc because way too many of those too.
There’s a long, long way to go.

I'm going to be brutally honest here, so if you read it and then forget it for now, that's fine.

You're approaching it backwards. You should be deciding what you want to keep. He's going to die. Maybe not now, but soon. You will be clearing the house sooner rather than later, so start figuring out how to do that when the time comes. Because a box of dishes is not going to mean much when you need to empty the entire house.

If it helps you to pick away at an area, then go for it. But only if it's helping you. You've got more important stuff right now. You'll have plenty of opportunity to go through the house after the funeral.

I don’t mind brutally honest.

It’s a bit more complex though because I’m considering keeping the house as I’m not sure I want to continue living in my smaller city forever.  I’m thinking of renovating the basement into a rental suite, as it wouldn’t take too much, and the income would cover the running of the house until/if I decide to move in.  So most of the furniture would stay as well as some basic living supplies.  I already know what I don’t want to keep, but I can’t start moving stuff out while my dad is still living here.  So I’m doing the low hanging fruit right now so at least that stuff will be out of the way and I can focus on the important things later.  Also, my sister lives out of province and has not provided a lot of help to date, so I figure she can help out then because she wants half the value of the house.

Surprisingly, there is not a ton of small stuff, so the bits and bobs I get rid of now really makes a noticeable difference.  I’m also taking some stuff home each time I visit, so that helps too.

[Sibley]

I’m tackling my dad’s house right now, as he’s 92 and not doing well, so the writing is on the wall.
Found a bunch of glass jars, about 15, to donate, 4 books, some kitchen towels that can be used for rags and also tidied up the linen closet which was a mess.  So many towels!  I’ll leave them for now because he gets home care that seems to use a new one every damn day, but they will ultimately be whittled down.

Today I’m going to go through the dishes etc because way too many of those too.
There’s a long, long way to go.

I'm going to be brutally honest here, so if you read it and then forget it for now, that's fine.

You're approaching it backwards. You should be deciding what you want to keep. He's going to die. Maybe not now, but soon. You will be clearing the house sooner rather than later, so start figuring out how to do that when the time comes. Because a box of dishes is not going to mean much when you need to empty the entire house.

If it helps you to pick away at an area, then go for it. But only if it's helping you. You've got more important stuff right now. You'll have plenty of opportunity to go through the house after the funeral.

I don’t mind brutally honest.

It’s a bit more complex though because I’m considering keeping the house as I’m not sure I want to continue living in my smaller city forever.  I’m thinking of renovating the basement into a rental suite, as it wouldn’t take too much, and the income would cover the running of the house until/if I decide to move in.  So most of the furniture would stay as well as some basic living supplies.  I already know what I don’t want to keep, but I can’t start moving stuff out while my dad is still living here.  So I’m doing the low hanging fruit right now so at least that stuff will be out of the way and I can focus on the important things later.  Also, my sister lives out of province and has not provided a lot of help to date, so I figure she can help out then because she wants half the value of the house.

Surprisingly, there is not a ton of small stuff, so the bits and bobs I get rid of now really makes a noticeable difference.  I’m also taking some stuff home each time I visit, so that helps too.

Makes sense. Not needing to clear the house changes the situation quite a bit. Still, don't feel bad about dropping the decluttering effort if it becomes a stressor. Your dad is dying. No matter what your relationship is with him, that's hard and is going to have a major impact on you. Take care of yourself first.