Latest Decluttering Effort

Another van load of items to Goodwill. This time I dipped in to the craft stash and unloaded several large rubber stamps. Also de-accessioned from the craft stash were several 'pizza boxes' of Club Scrap items. Very difficult. The other items:

• magazine holders
• spice rack
• 1 pair men's shoes
• coffee canister
• spray bottle
• decorative items
• scrapping punch
• 2 baskets
• collectible tin
• toddler toy
• 2 towels
• waffle iron
• afghan
• balance ball dvd

Immediately after that drop-off, a trip to the public library to donate 2 bags of books and magazines.

Two Approaches to De-Cluttering

Kick the clutter : clear out excess stuff without losing what you love / Ellen Phillips.

Let go of clutter / Harriet Schechter.

Kick the clutter weighs in at a hefty 472 pages. My kind of good-read, with endless helpful hints for containing the clutter. Written in 2007, the book puts forth an approach that appeals to me: an exercise in each section for imagining the house area the way you want it to look or to function after the de-cluttering. The book even provides small forms, for instance, for "my kitchen--before" and "my kitchen--after." I think that visualization is one of the most important exercises for anyone entering into a journey of organizing and de-cluttering. The book also provides a visual-break-up of the text by having cut-outs within the text, such as "tools of the trade," "5-minute fixes" and "love it or lose it?" Indexed, but no bibliography. The author is a writer/editor who owns a cottage home, and has "never had enough room for her many collections." As a result she has "become an expert at creating an appearance of spaciousness while still displaying her beloved 'stuff.'" My sense is that this book is heavier on containerizing rather than getting rid of the clutter. If so, the suggestions are abundant. Enjoy!

Let go of clutter is written by a professional organizer who founded the company The Miracle Worker Organizing Service. Her book is an outgrowth of her popular Letting Go of Clutter workshops. Schechter's approach appears to be slanted toward the psychological aspects of letting go of clutter, and her helpful approach is based on common sense and kindness. I was taken aback with the advice in chapter 4 (Purging paper and preventing piles) where she presents a take-it-or-leave-it approach to owning a shredder, asserting that they are more of a hindrance than a help. This book was written in 2001, and hopefully a new edition will update this advice in this age of identify theft. I enjoyed all aspects of the book except for the tendency of the author to make up words and phrases to describe a certain clutter 'condition'--Paperosis misplacea, Garagea clutterosis, etc. Seriously not necessary. Indexed, with a list of books for further reading.

First trip to Goodwill in 2010

We made a quick trip to Goodwill today to drop off 4 bags and 1 box of things we are ready to part with. This includes a lot of craft items, including approximately 1/2 of my stash of white 8 1/2 x 11 paper. Then we continued on to the local public library where we donated a box of VHS tapes, 15 magazines, and 10 books. This barely makes a dent in our stuff, but we are hoping this will be the first of many donation trips to Goodwill and the library.

Yesterday was a quiet day, where I began the first of the 52 missions at Get Organized Wizard. The first mission is to grab a trash bag and walk through your house, looking for things to throw away. This doesn't necessarily work well for me, since the house itself is usually picked up (the garage is another matter). So instead, I decided to go through all my dresser drawers, looking for things to throw away. This turned out well, and I managed to throw out old cosmetics and other expired doodads; clothes I don't wear anymore; and lots of old underwear and socks. This is the reason for no picture today, by the way. And, you're welcome.

I have also joined the AARP's ATM Clutter Challenge to get even more motivation. We'll see.

Do as I say, not as I do

I felt very good putting 2 boxes of stuff for Goodwill into my car: clothing, necklaces, rubber stamps, and 4 pairs of shoes. 

Then my procrastinator self took over, and the stuff stayed in the back seat of the car, being merrily chauffeured around town while I kept saying, I'll get to the Goodwill... sometime... soon.

And the rest of the story becomes very predictable. I began to have some second thoughts about some things, and went through the boxes, withdrawing one item, and then another. Finally I stopped myself, and gave myself a good talking-to.

Finally the rest of the stuff was dropped off at Goodwill today. 

Lesson learned: once the stuff to be donated is in the car, take it directly to its final destination. Don't let your things start talking to you, tempting you...

No picture today. Too embarrassed. 

How Many Pairs of Shoes Do I Need?

OK, as of last Saturday, I had 34 pairs of shoes. This does not include flip-flops. How can I downsize here? Every time it comes to shoes, I have the hardest time letting go. 

Shoes represent-- possibilities. Enhanced outfits, enhanced choices, enhanced versions of myself maybe. 

There are so many versions of myself that I have to maintain: the work me; the vacation me; the dress-up me; the exercising me; the housecleaning me. Then there are various subsets of these: for the work me, I need flats for regular pants; shoes-with-slight-heel for pants that are too long for flats; etc. 

But at my age one thing I do not need is... high heels. I have done that in my youth. Thank gawd that is over. Uncomfortable shoes are just stoopid. So I am giving away 4 pairs of shoes; 2 pairs are being thrown away.

Along with the shoes, I will be donating 14 tops, and some rubber stamps. Feels good! 

Oh, and I discovered a blog today that I like: Simple. Organized. Life. Very nice.

Breakthrough in Decluttering Books

Hey how ya been? I have been decluttering on some days, but other days not too much. 

Today I took a good look at my books to determine if they really reflect the person I am today. I have a hefty collection of books on the topic of women's spirituality. Although I still enjoy reading in this area, I don't feel a need anymore to hold on to every single book I own on this topic. I decided to keep any that I thought I might read again; any that I remember really enjoying; any that would fit into an underbed storage container (I've run out of room on the book shelves). Voila and 28 books are going to be donated this weekend. Yay me!

I am always inspired to make an extra push to declutter after reading blogs on the subject of simplicity. I spent several days reading Junk Pyramid, which I thoroughly enjoyed for its inspiration as well as its humorous style of writing. 

Then today I read an article "4 Ways to Fight 'But I Might Need It Someday' Syndrome" on the On Simplicity blog. According to the article, the four ways to fight this insidious syndrome are: 1) you can buy it again later; 2) someone else can use it today; 3) you'll never remember you have it when you actually need it; 4) letting go is empowering.

So, my way of fighting the syndrome is to ask, Does this represent who I am, and what I'm interested in, today?

O Delicious Irony

I happen to love books, and I have a lot of them. How much is a lot? Enough to be at the center of a clutter problem. The books I seem to enjoy the most are books on organizing. These books are infinitely helpful to me, and I have read many of them several times. My secret career fantasy is to be a professional organizer, evidently. 

We have over 800 books total on every subject in our house, and most of them I have cataloged in LibraryThing. A major downsizing of our books is in our future, but not right now. This will be one of the most difficult decluttering projects for me, and I'll save it for one of the last projects. I will be mindful to donate the books that don't really represent my interests anymore, or books that I am sure I won't be reading again. I'm guessing most of the organizing books will survive the cut and remain with me.

To continue through the book How to simplify your life by Tiki Kustenmacher, here are some helpful hints on simplifying your things:

Throw away things such as

• catalogs that are over 6 months old (my rule would be to throw them all out: all catalogs seem to be available on the web now)
• maps more than 3 years old
• papers from college
• wall calendars from previous years (this is a difficult one for me)
• warranties that have expired (I worked on these just a few weeks ago)
• old travel brochures

Some rules for 'unpiling' are also offered in the book:

• consider box storage for some items
• create standing files; these should become part of your 'command central'
• work with consistency: employ consistent labels for files; log tasks on a calendar
• clear out material on a regular basis

I have enjoyed reading this book, but it won't be put back on the book shelves. It's a library book, and I'll be returning it to the public library tomorrow :-)