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Post by BetsyMarie on Oct 7, 2010 12:19:39 GMT -5
Wow, every now and then when working on the house, I am impressed by the sheer magnitude of all the 'stuff' that is/was in here. I once saw on an Oprah show that the contents of one house cleared-out translated into two ware-houses of stuff all spread out. That was amazing. The lady cried when she saw how much stuff she had collected in stacks. I dont think I have as much as that, and what I have certainly isnt new as most of that lady's, but this year after removing close to the equal of 50 cans worth of 'stuff' (recycling, goodwill, trash) I look around and while there are now wonderfully 'empty' places, there is still lots more 'stuff' to get rid of. I believe I'm more than halfway, but how on earth could I have brought this much 'stuff' into this house? Of course I do know how it happened - it was bit by bit over the decades, rarely getting rid of anything. Not sure why this simple formula hasn't added up to me before. I just thought it was a neatness problem. Not! I started with a 'full' bedroom as a kid, moved to a 'full' college dorm room, then to a 'full' apt, then to a 'full' small house, then to a larger house which has taken a few years to fill.... but we did. I only did token weeding-out along the way. I also accepted cast-offs from friends, found 'goodies' in trash heaps, and shopped thrift stores and tag sales. I've had periods of being neater, but in terms of volume, I've just kept getting more and more and more and more 'stuff'.......... Till now.
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Post by blossoming on Oct 7, 2010 12:55:16 GMT -5
sounds good that your coming to realize how much you've done, what you still need to do and how much you don't want it to be that way again. sometimes it's sobering, squobering , to realize how much we are like the folks in the news. it's hard to see our own situations as others do. its good though that you can quanitfy how much you've let go of to get a realistic assessment. that can be a lifesaver in teh future when your mind starts wanting you to hang on to or acquire/accept more things. good luck.
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Post by Script on Oct 7, 2010 13:14:06 GMT -5
Your post struck a nerve in me today. My mother is moving OUT of her apartment next week, to a retirement residence. Mom is a neatnick-cleanie-born-organized-fanatic about order. I am SHOCKED at how much clutter has accumulated in ONLY 5 MONTHS: the time she has been in-out-in-out of hospital. Examples: *newspaper clippings to send to friends *extra storage containers for everything *shop and drop *medical things I have always claimed that a home requires time and attention REGULARLY. My mom's weekly cleaning lady cleaned; she had home-care-helpers up to 3 times a week. My brother was there daily. Etc. BUT NONE OF THESE PEOPLE worked systematically on tossing, filing, putting away etc. And mom has been bedridden a lot during the past months. "bit by bit" it happens. Congratulations on all you have done. I too am dismayed by the 'sheer magnitude of stuff' that we ALL have. thanks from Script
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Post by ponygirl on Oct 7, 2010 15:11:28 GMT -5
As my DH says: "It took decades for it to get this way. We're not going to turn this around in a few months!" Mr. Pony
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Post by iprocrastinate on Oct 7, 2010 16:05:43 GMT -5
Yes there is too much stuff in my house too!! I think part of it is that I don't throw things away and part because things sometimes get buried in my chaos. I have boxes that haven't been opened in years. When we sold our northern house I tossed boxes that had not been unpacked in 30 years. They just got shoved in our "back room". I am slowly trying to get rid of things--will still be quite a while before it's done. Hang in there and eat that elephant one bite or box at a time.
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Post by BetsyMarie on Oct 7, 2010 17:43:42 GMT -5
At the beginning of this year I got rid of about 31 cans-worth, then got distracted, and back-slid. I fortunately didnt slide all the way back, but some stuff did start to drift in again. What amazes me is that I did not make the basic correlation that simply bringing 'stuff' into the house (and not removing much) is the main culprit. It's one of those strong, simplistic revelations that is so obvious to me right now, yet like many other things, remained 'buried beneath the clutter' for decades. Better late than never. There is still so much..... But like they say, the only way out is through.
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Post by glowworm on Oct 7, 2010 20:03:39 GMT -5
Isn't it amazing? A couple of weeks ago, I took enough clutter out of a closet to fill 3 lawn and leaf bags. The work I did barely made the tiniest dent in the amount of stuff in there.
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Post by bluefrog on Oct 7, 2010 23:18:42 GMT -5
I have spent the day---noon to midnight---dealing with bags of sheets and blankets and clothes that DH and DD2 have brought out of storage, washing, folding, putting in bags to donate, or throwing away. Why on earth did we store every sheet from the time my kids graduated to twin beds? They're away from home and married, and we don't own that waterbed any more. What did we think we were going to do with them?
Today, I only got through the sheets. Blankets are in the wash now, and I'll tackle the clothes tomorrow. Goodwill is going to be up to the rafters in bedding and kids' clothes. Better them than me.
I'm not a hoarder, so I really didn't understand how paralyzed by mess you can get until DH and DD2 piled my living room full of bags of stuff to the point that I couldn't walk across the room. I've lost the TV remote, I can't stay organized because there isn't anywhere to put stuff, and the critters are miserable because their pathways are as messed up as mine. Not another box or bag comes in until I get the rest of this stuff out---and find the remote.
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Post by BetsyMarie on Oct 7, 2010 23:55:30 GMT -5
Isn't it amazing? A couple of weeks ago, I took enough clutter out of a closet to fill 3 lawn and leaf bags. The work I did barely made the tiniest dent in the amount of stuff in there. Yes, it is amazing... and it's what makes clearing the house out such a big task - there just is *so*much*stuff*, and it can get tiring doing it day after day after day, and still see so much more to do. Other than hiring a crew, however, what alternative is there besides plugging away when you want to live a better life? You just have to accept the great amounts of stuff, and as ponygirl said above, it took a long time to get this way, and will take a long time to fix. ps. lest this sound too depressing, I have been plugging away at it and am very heartened by the determined progress I've been making. I now know much more than when I started, and believe the house will be looking very good before the year is out. I can hardly wait, and this is making the work much easier.
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Post by shopgirl on Oct 8, 2010 14:39:14 GMT -5
I know what you mean about not making a dent. I have hauled away probably a dozen bags of clutter and books from my office over the last few weeks, and every day it still looked full. BUT... an amazing thing happened. The other day I went in there after not going there for a couple of days, and it suddenly looked brighter, lighter, and more spacious. I think closing it off for a while and returning with a fresh eye made me see that progress really had been made.
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Post by bluefrog on Oct 8, 2010 18:12:40 GMT -5
Aiuieeee! Another day of non-stop laundry! Lots and lots of kids' clothes, from toddler through high school. What were we thinking? I've saved a couple of outfits that I remember fondly, or that we have pictures of the kid in question wearing, but everything else is going out the door. Clothes and stuffed animals. Lots of children whose parents shop at Goodwill will be getting teddy bears for Christmas.
Luckily, the storage unit is looking much emptier than when DD2 and DH started this marathon. It's not over yet, but I may live to see the end. And DD2 found the remote---under the couch.
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Post by moggyfan on Oct 8, 2010 19:52:11 GMT -5
Even though I am in maintenance and don't think my house looks cluttered, I am **shocked** when I look around and realize how much STUFF I own.
For the past few years, I have believed I was "finished" with tossing stuff, but now that I really LOOK, I guess maybe I'm not. Reading this thread made me see with new eyes.
Might be time for some more purging.
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Post by Meme on Oct 8, 2010 21:29:35 GMT -5
I could have written this whole thread by myself--- thankfully I have reached a point where I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel---But it has been hard work and a lot of time- Never, never give up-- the end is closer each day-- hugs from Meme
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Post by vega on Oct 9, 2010 19:51:23 GMT -5
Of course I do know how it happened - it was bit by bit over the decades, rarely getting rid of anything. Not sure why this simple formula hasn't added up to me before. I just thought it was a neatness problem. Not! I've been in maintenance for a long time, but still it shocks me how much I own. Some years ago, this 'formula' became very real to me when I decided to actually " do the math", as they say. See, there are a couple of magazines that I truly love. I owned every back issue of them. I loved them. I read and reread them all the time. They each passed every " is it clutter?" question that all the organizational books ask... yes, I loved them, yes, I used them in the last six months, yes, they made me smile... it all pointed towards it being just fine for me to keep them. Until I did the math. I looked at my age. I looked at how many magazines I get a month. I looked at the size of the shelf I had for them vs the size of each magazine. It simply did not add up. I could NOT keep getting them for the rest of my life and have any hope of them not completely taking over. Sure, I had room for the ones I currently owned, but if I kept going like I was, I was in trouble. Here I was, organized, clean and squalor free yet completely missing the 'formula' that I could not keep collecting at the rate I was and stay clean and squalor free. I could not keep bringing stuff (even good stuff that I loved!) in and not taking an equal (or greater) quantity out... It's all well and good to say, "well it's just one magazine" but if it's just one magazine every week for the next two or three decades... well, you know what they say, "a billion here, a billion there... pretty soon you're talking about real money"
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Post by BetsyMarie on Oct 9, 2010 22:35:36 GMT -5
"The sheer magnitude of 'stuff'" has hit me again just now. I've been doing very, very good decluttering in the bedroom the past couple days. I've gotten rid of lots of clothes that are now headed to goodwill, some recy, trash, and put away into the closet a number of boxes and other miscellaneous 'stuff'. I've been able to vacuum most of the floor, and much of the room looks good. And I am very pleased. But.... when I look around with a critical eye, there is still way too much remaining in that room. At least another half should go, ..... that's being honest, and not minimalist. Yesterday I stopped at a friends and we went into their garage to get some bird seed for the feeder... Very little 'stuff' in there, besides the 2 cars. And the 3 bedroom house where 3 adults live was very neat, and with little stuff of any sort to be seen. Lots of open floor space everywhere too. Not too much furniture or decorations, not spartan, but the house looked good. In this house, we are so far from that low degree of 'stuff', even after getting rid of almost 50 'garbage' cans worth.
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