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Post by Ally on Jul 25, 2012 13:38:52 GMT -5
Hiding, I'm with you on this. My house is too chaotic to do what she is suggesting, but I'm finding that having some type of list to help me sort treasures from trash, and remembering that the only way for me to reach my goal is to put a whole lot more stuff in the trash than the treasure pile. I was keeping lots of old t-shirts, just because they were in decent shape, and even if I wasn't wearing them. I might need them some day when I'm painting... You never know. Well I just might need one for that, but the rest? There are some t-shirts that I do wear regularly. I'm keeping those at this point. So now, should I put the others in the rag bin or donate them?
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Post by hiding on Jul 25, 2012 14:46:38 GMT -5
Ally, I also have trouble with the t shirts. I do have a large quantity of them. When they wear out, I have trouble getting rid of them. Yes, I keep some for rags but I only need so many rags.
I can see that a well thought out treasure list would be of considerably help. I think I can do that.
I am reading about how just tossing everything is not the best idea. Julie suggests that we slow down to consider items. I agree, no matter how uncomfortable a process it is. I wonder about the folks on the Hoarders show and similar shows. I do understand that they are in a crisis situation and have to dump huge quantities of their stuff or they will lose their kids and or houses. However, I can't help but wonder where they will be in a year or so from now. By not addressing the whole issue, will they be right back where they started? I know that some of them opt for after care and that probably helps a lot. But what about the people who decline after care?
I am grateful that I am not in a crisis situation with my mess and can take my time to work through everything.
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Post by ClutterBlind on Jul 25, 2012 15:52:00 GMT -5
I am not a hoarder. But, I don't think stopping to consider every. single. little. piece. is going to help. That's like chipping away an iceberg and touching every single sliver before you let it go into the ocean. I personally think it's part of and feeds that hoarder mentality to feel every single piece is that important.
If you can chip away the iceberg in huge chunks and get to understand there are fault lines to crack away at it in bigger chunks, isn't that better? A diamond cutter looks for the exact spot he can cleanly cut a diamond to the core. He's not chipping away in tiny spots.
Getting to the core issue of understanding WHY you need to save T-shirts as a whole category is more beneficial than looking & caressing each one separately. Because core reason for keeping each one is going to be the same. The surface story is different for each one, but at core, it's pretty much the same reason.
I watch some of these hoarder shows and these people will argue and get all anxious about one t-shirt for a good 15-minutes. Then someone pulls out the next t-shirt and it's another 15 minute argument. Then the third & forth, same thing. EACH T-shirt has the SAME level of significance & meaning. Not EVERYTHING in life has the same level of meaning. That person just lost a precious hour of life over old, smelly, ragged T-shirts. And I could just weep that they are missing the whole picture.
Sometimes I read in the news how someone was robbed and killed over $15. Their life was worth so much more than $15 and it's gone in an instant. But, they clung onto the money and fought over it until the robber killed them. These hoarders on the TV shows are the same way, holding onto a $15 T-shirt while their lives are slipping away. Only, they are robbing themselves of their own lives.
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Post by Ally on Jul 25, 2012 18:06:01 GMT -5
Clutterblind, My t-shirts are all different than each other. There's the one that my daughter designed for the family reunion a few years ago. That one is a treasure, no question about it. I started running in 5K's three years ago. At first I was thinking it was cool to get a t shirt for each run. There are a couple of those that are are really unique and I like them, others are just so-so. Then there are other t-shirts that are related to what I do for a living. I don't think it's going to take me 15 minutes to decide about each shirt. In fact, I think I can decide pretty quickly. I could ask myself when I'd wore it last, and when I'd see myself wearing it again. I'd have to keep my goal in mind: I want to have a peaceful, uncluttered place. Does keeping this shirt interfere with that goal?
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Post by Ally on Jul 25, 2012 18:43:43 GMT -5
My plan for the weekend: 1. Continue to work in the hallway, hopefully moving everything out... even if I have to cheat! 2. Work in laundry room, a. Toss out/donate at least 10 items, hopefully 20. b. Move winter clothes into storage bin 3. See how far I can get with clearing out the bedroom closet of doom.
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Post by hiding on Jul 25, 2012 18:56:36 GMT -5
T-shirts. My solid color worn out shirts are not treasures. The ones silk screened with fun events I went to are treasures. Looking at them and wearing them remind me of the great times I had at those events. Those are treasures and I wear them only on special like occasions. (Car shirts at car shows, flying shirts at air shows, etc.) Those I wash by hand in cold water and I will keep. OK. that wasn't as hard as I thought. Now if only everything goes that easily!
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Post by angelinahedgehog on Jul 25, 2012 19:31:14 GMT -5
During my lunch hour today, I read more of those classics than I'd done in the past 10 years. And I read enough to know that I don't want to read them in full right now. So they're going into the donation bag.
This weekend, I think I'm going to organize the books on my shelves and see if I locate any other areas that can be SHED. After that, I'm going to tidy my office/computer supplies, because I have an awful feeling that I have software installation discs that can't be read on this computer, for software that would need considerable tinkering to get it to run even if I could read from those discs.
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Post by seashell on Jul 26, 2012 8:22:01 GMT -5
My main point of entry is my bedroom of doom. It suffered greatly during the stash and dash I did last month when I was having company; now it is goat paths. I am starting with the closest spot to the door, which is the pile that covers the front of my chest of drawers and the foot of the bed. I've pulled out sheets and clothes that need to be washed. These are things I use, so they will be kept. Will post more as I read through chapter 4.
I've read the first part of chapter 4. In "Understanding Your Attachment," I am looking back to when my bedroom became stale. When I first moved here, my bedroom was beautiful. Now it is piles of stuff with goat paths. Most of this, I think, represents the stash and dash episodes, which point me to how badly I want my place to be open to people. If I have the front part of the apartment clean, people can come in. But now it's time to carve out a haven for myself, a nice bedroom containing only the treasures that I will find, whether they are useful or sentimental.
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Post by missjean on Jul 26, 2012 15:47:37 GMT -5
“Once you hit your stride, purging will be fun for a while, and then, about 75 percent of the way through the process, WHAM, you hit a wall. This is a phenomenon I call the wall of panic. In this moment, you suddenly can feel the emptiness of space you have created. (...) Your nest has been taken apart and it’s disconcerting....
Morgenstern, Julie (2011-01-11). SHED Your Stuff, Change Your Life (pp. 122-123). Simon & Schuster, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
Yesterday I found out what the Wall feels like. I was down to small piles, organized boxes, and what I call “box-piles” - miscellany thrown into boxes willy-nilly. Continuing seemed impossible because this is where I had to do something with the Treasures; e.g. the graduation certificate is a Treasure, but not its frame.
Since I was so overwhelmed by the space (weird, huh?), I fake-cluttered some of the cleared areas. I made stations in the clean rooms for things I planned to keep – e.g. a empty box for any current receipts in a bedroom. I put trashbags and donation boxes near the back door.
I also decided to pick up one thing at a time and follow through then and there. It seemed awfully strange because normally I struggle to stick to a spot, sort what's there and THEN put things away. But this time, if I found a receipt, I walked down the hall to the "receipt station."
I seemed to be doing a number of random things, which took the pressure off. However, I accomplished two major changes to the office: • Emptied the contents of a two-drawer file cabinet which was never well-used even when it was organized. Now it stores printer paper, legal pads, etc. • Started putting files into narrow boxes fit on a bookshelf in the closet. I'm labeling them by general category; e.g. HOUSE or WORK. Many years ago, I found out that my organizing style is that I'm "a piler, not a filer" because I like to have things in view. So having files and binders lined up on a shelf makes more sense to me.
The filing system also helped me collect some treasures together. Instead of framed awards and citations, I have a folder marked "awards" in the WORK box. It's not as intimidating as the colour-coded system that I had before, and it doesn't matter if the information is in a binder or a folder, as long as it fits in the box. In HOME, I have a binder of renovations, swatches, and files.
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Post by catherina on Jul 26, 2012 15:51:51 GMT -5
Where can you buy the SHED book? It's nt on Amazon
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Post by missjean on Jul 26, 2012 15:57:13 GMT -5
Where can you buy the SHED book? It's nt on Amazon It's on the North American AMAZON site, so it should be available through the UK site. It was originally called "When organizing isn’t enough : SHED your stuff, change your life." So perhaps try "When organising...". The author is Julie Morgenstern.
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Post by angelinahedgehog on Jul 26, 2012 15:57:35 GMT -5
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Post by seashell on Jul 29, 2012 8:22:54 GMT -5
Missjeanclean, I may try something similar with my papers. I am definitely a piler, and my papers end up in a horizontal pile on top of my file cabinets, while never actually making it into a vertical position inside the cabinets. It's probably time to go through my files again, too, since it's been nearly a year since I went through them. I expect that, after being here for a while now, I will be able to find more papers to toss.
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Post by Ally on Jul 29, 2012 19:15:01 GMT -5
I just found this blog and posted about it on the first thread. It might be helpful to some of you here as well:
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Post by Ally on Jul 29, 2012 19:59:52 GMT -5
missjean, I'm glad you found a filing system that works for you. I had used one in the past, but need to start again. I have a pile of papers right next to me that I have been "churning" thorough, because my filing system hasn't been maintained for several years, and I need to get something functional and accessible going again.
This weekend I didn't get as much done as I had hoped but DID put a bunch of clothing into a bag for donations. My questions? Have I worn it in the past year? No? Can I think of an event that I'd wear it to in the next several months? No? Out it goes. The only exception is some winter clothes that had been buried away, and I hadn't worn them because I didn't have access to them.
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