De-clutter... Space #1
One of my friends, Gretchen, recently blogged about her mission to simplify. (I hope it's okay that I'm linking to you, Gretch!) Her "organizing mantra" is from the Organizing Junkie: "Clutter = anything you don't love or use or have the space to store."
I love this. Except... we have a lot of room to store things. We have three bedrooms. Well - right now we have a bedroom and a study and a sewing/guest room. We have a full, unfinished basement. And when we were looking at houses, we vowed not to be "those people" - you know, who have so much stuff in the garage that they can't use it for cars.
(And while it does seem ridiculous to have a 3-bedroom house with a full unfinished basement for two people - and a dog - part of the reason we bought our abode is that this is most definitely our "forever" home, at least for as long as we live here in Atown... there's no "moving up" for us.)
So I decided I had to slightly modify the mantra: "Clutter = anything I don't love or use or have the space to store for a specific purpose."
I've been in a continual state of de-cluttering since I first happened across an episode of Hoarders. Yikes - that show. But I decided it was time to go through the house room by room and simplify, getting rid of things and organizing the spaces we use... and not storing things just because.... you know, just because someone wrapped it up for our wedding or just because it was a good book or just because I might use it some day even though I haven't used it ever or just because I don't know what to do with it or how to get rid of it. We'll probably still have a lot of stuff, but eventually...
I certainly do have things I store - but for a specific purpose. I probably only use my canner a handful of days out of the year. But it serves a purpose that I'm not going to give up. I have four boxes of Christmas decorations in the basement that just come out between Thanksgiving and New Year's. But they are part of a celebration (and also part of some major memories of my childhood and celebrations at my grandparents' homes). So that kind of storage is okay.
I don't have a deadline for this. It will probably happen in stages. One clean sweep of the office in July might leave things behind that don't seem as important in November. The "deep de-cluttering" began in the office and the sewing room. My next step is the basement - the boxes and boxes that I was storing for a garage sale, some day. That's all going away, before school starts.
So here's space #1... the office/study/den/whatever you prefer to call it. Before...
The desk does have drawers. This must have been taken right after we finished refinishing it and moved it into the room.
during...
I probably have enough thank-you cards to last a while.
This was full of stuff - paper and cards and envelopes and crafty stuff. It's all either gone to the basement (to the boxes of things to get rid of - which are going away before school starts) or into the desk. Now it's been moved to another room to organize. This being emptied is probably the biggest difference in the room.
after... (you can't really tell that much of a difference, but I promise, there was a whole box of stuff, plus a couple huge stacks of paper that was recycled or shredded. oh - and the pictures were all hung a long time ago; there just aren't any pictures of the in-between.)
The laptop does help the desk look less cluttered. Ignore the textbooks... I'm almost done with that class.
I do have some questions, though, mostly about paper clutter. Questions like - how long should you keep your pay stub? How many years do you need to save copies of your tax return? What about statements from your health insurance company? Paid bills? ACT scores?
(No. I'm kidding. I figured that one out on my own. I've decided that the max out is probably 8 years. And yes, as embarrassing as it is to admit it, I just now got rid of these.)
What do you do with textbooks you'll never use again (when you're not on campus to take them to the buy-back people at the end of the semester)? Do you ever keep things just because your best friend/grandma/mother-in-law/sister/spouse gave it to you, even though it serves no purpose? (I used to....) Just curious.
I love this. Except... we have a lot of room to store things. We have three bedrooms. Well - right now we have a bedroom and a study and a sewing/guest room. We have a full, unfinished basement. And when we were looking at houses, we vowed not to be "those people" - you know, who have so much stuff in the garage that they can't use it for cars.
(And while it does seem ridiculous to have a 3-bedroom house with a full unfinished basement for two people - and a dog - part of the reason we bought our abode is that this is most definitely our "forever" home, at least for as long as we live here in Atown... there's no "moving up" for us.)
So I decided I had to slightly modify the mantra: "Clutter = anything I don't love or use or have the space to store for a specific purpose."
I've been in a continual state of de-cluttering since I first happened across an episode of Hoarders. Yikes - that show. But I decided it was time to go through the house room by room and simplify, getting rid of things and organizing the spaces we use... and not storing things just because.... you know, just because someone wrapped it up for our wedding or just because it was a good book or just because I might use it some day even though I haven't used it ever or just because I don't know what to do with it or how to get rid of it. We'll probably still have a lot of stuff, but eventually...
I certainly do have things I store - but for a specific purpose. I probably only use my canner a handful of days out of the year. But it serves a purpose that I'm not going to give up. I have four boxes of Christmas decorations in the basement that just come out between Thanksgiving and New Year's. But they are part of a celebration (and also part of some major memories of my childhood and celebrations at my grandparents' homes). So that kind of storage is okay.
I don't have a deadline for this. It will probably happen in stages. One clean sweep of the office in July might leave things behind that don't seem as important in November. The "deep de-cluttering" began in the office and the sewing room. My next step is the basement - the boxes and boxes that I was storing for a garage sale, some day. That's all going away, before school starts.
So here's space #1... the office/study/den/whatever you prefer to call it. Before...
during...
after... (you can't really tell that much of a difference, but I promise, there was a whole box of stuff, plus a couple huge stacks of paper that was recycled or shredded. oh - and the pictures were all hung a long time ago; there just aren't any pictures of the in-between.)
The laptop does help the desk look less cluttered. Ignore the textbooks... I'm almost done with that class.
I do have some questions, though, mostly about paper clutter. Questions like - how long should you keep your pay stub? How many years do you need to save copies of your tax return? What about statements from your health insurance company? Paid bills? ACT scores?
What do you do with textbooks you'll never use again (when you're not on campus to take them to the buy-back people at the end of the semester)? Do you ever keep things just because your best friend/grandma/mother-in-law/sister/spouse gave it to you, even though it serves no purpose? (I used to....) Just curious.
I'm glad you tagged me and that you're taking on the mission too! It is so counter-cultural in our country to not be "stuff" oriented. The more I read on this topic the more passionate I feel that the less we have the MORE we have and the happier our lives will be. I like what you added: "for a specific purpose". I hit a road block when going through Christmas decorations. According to the "rules" I didn't really NEED it or have the SPACE for it, but in the end Christmas decorations are an important part for me of celebrating the season, so I kept everything. As for those boxes of stuff I was keeping to sell at a garage sale someday... well they all went to Goodwill. I discovered I was placing more value on the stuff than I could have sold it for :). Another tip I found was to start a 6 month keep-it box for stuff you can't quite part with yet. If you don't miss it in 6 months, OUT it goes!
ReplyDeleteWhen I cleaned out my room I kinda hit a wall at some sentimental things. Items that I treasured as a kid, but really had no place in my "adult" room. I took pictures of them and then donated/recycled/trashed them. The memories are still alive in the photo, but just not taking up space in my room. My problem is buying useful things (kitchen items) for a house when I don't have one yet and wont' most likely for a while.
ReplyDelete