Clutter Me Not

[+ Lucky]

This week I read an article saying that living in a cluttered environment caused stress. But I already knew that. Recently I have been coming to terms with the clutter in my house after 17 years living here. I found things I hadn't touched since I moved in!

So far, I have only de-cluttered the kitchen. That was forced on my when I decided to refurbish. But it forced me to realize how much remains to be done. It's not fun to actually put things away, or, God forbid, throw something out. Currently I am working on the junk room, with the garage getting even more cluttered.

But, I am happy to take a break if you have some ideas on clutter...

[SCMass]

I always seem to make a bigger mess in the process of clearing clutter then it all seems to come together.  I don't know about anyone else but I can't seem to throw away one card ... but get 10 of them together and THEN I can trash them.

[Guest Justin7402]

I started hiring a cleaning service to come clean my place.  It forces me to straighten up before they come and I feel much more stress free when they leave and everything is sparkling clean.

[+ MysticMenace]

I wonder if the Marie Kondo approach actually works...

[leeper]

I have a home office that is cluttered, but it causes me no  stress, since I know the things I need are there.  Cleaning it is far more stressful for me.  The rest of the house is not cluttered, I just allow it in what I consider my sanctuary.

[jjkrkwood]

 

This has been discussed here many times, usually along with discussions on retirement and downsizing....  My rule of thumb, if you dont use it, wear it or find need for it in a years times, GET RID OF IT......or risk ending up on an episode of HOARDERS.....

I did it in 2017 when I retired and rennovated by apt.     But since i am a compulsive shopper,  some of the shit I edited out, got replaced.... but now If I buy something new, I get rid of something old,  so its somewhat under control.

[+ Charlie]

We have psychological difficulty getting rid of books we have read, so it was a relief when we discovered how easy it was to use the local library. Severalweeks ago, however, I saw that we had no more space left on our bookshelves, because our public library closed down when the pandemic lockdown started, so we had begun buying books again. I went through the shelves and removed about two dozen books that I thought we could give away to the library or to our favorite thrift store, and piled them up. As soon as my spouse saw the pile, he picked up a book and said, "This looks interesting," and began to read it. Eventually he decided that every book on the pile was worth reading again, so now I have spaces on the shelves, but a permanent pile of books on the floor.

Edited June 9, 2021 by Charlie

[kingsley88]

I know on FB there are free item groups where you can just post a photo of the item and someone will reach out to you to pick it up. I've done this for items I was just going to throw away.

If there are items I think a friend would like, I just give it to my friend next time I see him.

 

[foxy]

I have a lot of stuff. Some is valuable and a lot is not. Some are things I’ve inherited from my family. I love all of it. I’ve never had a cleaning person. I actually like to clean because I get to play with my stuff. It’s all carefully arranged. No cleaning person could deal with it. I’m a clean freak. You won’t find any dust in my house. Much of it is from international travels I did with my late husband. It all has meaning to me. As I hold some little trinket I’m transported back to a little market in Tunisia or a walk through Rome or Paris. It will mean nothing to my heirs or those who have to get rid of it all. I’ve had to clean out a few family households. It’s not that bad. My heirs will inherit a nice bit of cash. Let them call Got Junk. Or as I recommend in my papers an auction house. I could downsize to a little apartment or continue to live in the house that I shared with my husband for 35 mostly happy years. It’s not “just stuff” it’s a record of my life. 

[fedssocr1]

the one silver lining of having to stay at home for the last 15 months was that I tidied up my home in a way it's never been tidied. Maintaining it has been a little difficult but it's probably time for another round of decluttering. I definitely feel better when there's less clutter around.

Edited June 9, 2021 by fedssocr1

[dbar123]

Nothing says “I love you” like a dumpster. My partner is a serial slob hoarder. On my 50th birthday I received a 15cuyd dumpster. We had the best time filling it up and getting rid of the junk. We had such a good time that it got repeated the next year

[+ Charlie]

The problem with living with a partner is that all of his stuff that I would throw in a dumpster without regret is stuff that he couldn't bear to part with, and the same is probably true of my stuff. I still have all sorts of things I have saved from my childhood and youth, not to mention a forty year accumulation of paperwork connected to my professional career, which I will never need again, but still....😟? At the beginning of the pandemic lockdown, I started to go through a box of things from my college days that sat in the back of my bedroom closet (and had sat  unlooked-at for a number of years before that on a shelf in the garage), expecting to finally winnow the wheat from the chaff and throw the latter away.  After two days, the box was as full as when I started--all I had accomplished was to make myself mushily sentimental.

[+ Autumnal]

A couple of years ago I moved to a house with no basement or attic so lots of stuff had to go. Some went to the dump, some went to the thrift shop. Felt good but there was still a lot left so I paid for a booth at a local flea market and had a great time selling things and meeting people, and of course making a little extra cash - gee I wonder what I'll spend that on😇😈!

[Luv2play]

I have come to realize that I will never willingly get rid of my life time accumulation of stuff. A lot of it is quite valuable or was at one point. I realize antiques have gone way down in value as younger people don't collect them any more. If I eventually go to a retirement home I will be forced to call in the auctioneer. My siblings and their children are not interested. If I croak in my home, my heirs will have to deal with it.

[+ RJD]

You never know how much "stuff" you have until you move.  I lived in my previous home for just under 20 years.  When I decided to move a couple years ago I knew I needed to purge.  The process took weeks since I was doing it alone and I had what I called "anaysis paralysis."  You just look at the closet or room you're about to decultter and you don't know where to start.  It really is overwhelming.  I decided before the process that whatever I hadn't seen, touched, or used within the last two years was going out, and I stuck to that with very few exceptions.  I donated what was acceptable and trashed what wasn't.  I was able to arrange a Goodwill pick up since I had so much to donate and had 4 - 6 contractor size trash bags at the curb each week for trash pick-up.  When the actual move occurred,  I still had a full truck and the only furniture I took, so I had somewhere to sit and sleep until my new furniture arrived, was my old bed and sofa.       

[Gadfly22]

On 6/9/2021 at 6:09 PM, foxy said:

My heirs will inherit a nice bit of cash. Let them call Got Junk.

Don’t ever use these scam artists. My neighbor used them to clear out her (not even completely furnished) one bedroom apt. She donated most of the larger pieces to the Salvation Army and trashed all the smaller stuff. Anyway they were there less than 2 hours. 1500 bucks it came to! What a racket!

[+ RJD]

1 hour ago, Gadfly22 said:

Don’t ever use these scam artists. My neighbor used them to clear out her (not even completely furnished) one bedroom apt. She donated most of the larger pieces to the Salvation Army and trashed all the smaller stuff. Anyway they were there less than 2 hours. 1500 bucks it came to! What a racket!

Holy shit!  That’s expensive.  I paid College Hunks $1,800 but that included a full day of hauling away almost a house full of furniture and my move the following day, which included some packing, loading their truck at my old place then unloading it at my new place.  

[jjkrkwood]

9 hours ago, RJD said:

Holy shit!  That’s expensive.  I paid College Hunks $1,800 but that included a full day of hauling away almost a house full of furniture and my move the following day, which included some packing, loading their truck at my old place then unloading it at my new place.  

And they did it "shirtless" ?   😉

[mike carey]

1 hour ago, jjkrkwood said:

And they did it "shirtless" ?   😉

Gotta love the 'descamisados'!

(Literal meaning, not the perjorative connotation.)

[+ RJD]

7 hours ago, jjkrkwood said:

And they did it "shirtless" ?   😉

Not at first, but when I tipped them $300 each they did it in the nude and I spent some extra time in the truck "inspecting" their work. 😏 

https://www.collegehunkshaulingjunk.com/

 

[jjkrkwood]

3 minutes ago, RJD said:

Not at first, but when I tipped them $300 each they did it in the nude and I spent some extra time in the truck "inspecting" their work. 😏 

https://www.collegehunkshaulingjunk.com/

 

Sounds like a Chi Chi LaRue gay porno ?   🤣

[+ RJD]

5 minutes ago, jjkrkwood said:

Sounds like a Chi Chi LaRue gay porno ?   🤣

Where do you think she got the idea?  ☺️

[+ sniper]

20 hours ago, Gadfly22 said:

Don’t ever use these scam artists. My neighbor used them to clear out her (not even completely furnished) one bedroom apt. She donated most of the larger pieces to the Salvation Army and trashed all the smaller stuff. Anyway they were there less than 2 hours. 1500 bucks it came to! What a racket!

My understanding is they charge less if they can make some money on what you have them take. If she hadn't donated the larger pieces she might have been charged less.

[jeezifonly]

I’m probably going to give this a shot