Something I found really helpful: when you finish decluttering an area, don’t rush on to the next one. Instead, stand or sit there for ten minutes or so, and admire what you’ve done (and yourself for doing it.) Really look at it, see how clean and neat it is. Picture yourself using it next time, whatever using means for that area, and think of how easy it will be to find/use/return the <whatever> now that you won’t have to wrestle it out from under or behind mounds of other crap.
Really wallow in the pleasure of having this part of your life under control. Pat yourself on the back until you’re bruised.
Then you can go on to other chores.
And, if you have some sort of daily/weekly todo list, put ‘admire hall bookcase’ onto it once a week for a while. You’ll catch and nip in the bud any recidivism, and after a few weeks of this the mere idea of putting any junk into your wonderful spot will horrify.
Truly. My big achievement in last year’s push was cleaning out a hall closet that was so crammed we hadn’t opened the door for years. Coats got piled over the stair railing and on chairs instead.
After a couple of hours (and about 12 trash bags) the closet held only current coats and other hanging outerwear, with plenty of space and hangars to deal with guest coats. The high shelves held a few plastic boxes: the gloves and scarves and hats we actually use, day to day plus shoveling wear.
The floor of the closet has a boot bin, and the vacuum cleaner.
Not one thing more.
And it’s stayed that way for almost a full year now, without even a touchup cleaning. Miracle! And I really think it’s due to those ‘contemplate and enjoy’ sessions.
I’m back in, btw. The ground floor of my house is pretty okay (most of it got done last year before like got busy) but oh! the closets and under the beds upstairs… And then the basement and attic and garage lurk.
Garage? We have a garage? Oh, yeah, it’s the place where we keep all that other crap… ARGH!
Having a slightly frustrated day, today. I feel like I’m just treading water in the kitchen, so I’m going to have to change some habits there, or something. I don’t see the effects of having gotten all that crap out of cabinets I never opened anyway - they’ve been off my “useful stuff in here!” radar for so long that I’m not really enjoying having them neat and orderly. Changes in the kitchen must ensue.
The living room is still relatively clean; the Rock Band guitars and drum kit are most of the mess in there right now. I need to find a good home for those in between our play sessions, so that they don’t just live in front of the TV for days on end.
Good news: there’s a load of dishes running, and a load of laundry running, and both of those are going to get Put Away before we go to bed. (Follow through on cleaning is sorely lacking around here, but we’re all working on that.) The interesting thing is that I am bad about just forgetting to do stuff if I start on it and go to other things while it processes - but if I post “I’ve got x and y doing, and will have them done before bed,” then I’ve got enough ego wrapped up in actually doing what I said I would that it helps. Yay for motivation!
Other good news: I do not have a floor pie. (Sorry, Zsofia, but this has been my high point today. ) In an effort to keep from having things like floor pie, I’ve thrown out three things of leftovers that needed to go die somewhere anyway.
Guess what, guys? The house was so semi-clean-ish that I actually had some people over for New Years, and I was hardly even embarassed! (Seriously, it was awesome.)
My tree is gone, yay! And the billions of needles it shed on the way out are gone too. I still have to wind up the lights and put them away, but that’s about it. The kitchen is pretty clean, though there’s still stuff on the counters–stuff on the kitchen counters is my nemesis.
I boxed up the vases this afternoon, in addition to steam cleaning the cats vomitorium. I’m reconsidering about donating to charity - I think a lot of this stuff is too far gone. I’m going to rent a dumpster tomorrow. There’s a service that rents smallish ones that will fit inside the house. They “only” hold 800 pounds of trash each. Two should be sufficient - most of the actual trash is gone, but a lot of my “good stuff” is trashed anyway, just due to sheer volume. I have (had?) this thing about having to see everything I own all at once. I’ve concluded that I own too damn much stuff, and life will be much easier without 85% of it. OK, maybe 65%.
My latest rule for sorting is that if I have to think about whether or not I need it, or might need it, or where it might go - it goes. The red crackle vase? That will live on my mantle, once I can reach the fireplace. The rest of the vases? Gone. All those medium sized jackets? Gone. Assorted knick-knacks? Bye-bye. But Tigger stays.
Books I’ve read once and will never read again? Gone. My completist collections are being broken up - I’m only keeping the books that I enjoy, rather than keeping an author’s oeuvre. I may actually be able to get all my books off the floor and onto shelves for a change.
Right now, my house is passable–but only because I had guests over recently. I’d like to keep it up and not get into the pattern of house becoming a wreck then frantic cleaning because people are coming over.
I’ve found my major obstacle to keeping up with cleaning/tidying is that I’ve got too much damned stuff. I have places for everything, but many of those places are pretty inconvenient because of all the other crap getting in the way.
So, I’m in purge mode. Today I tackled the upstairs. I intended only to tackle the bedroom, but I went a bit crazy and couldn’t stop myself.
[ul]
[li]Bedroom closet, dresser, and wardrobe: sorted into “keep,” “donate,” and "throw away"piles. The throw away and donate piles yielded 2 giant garbage bags each. Why oh why did I have 3 nearly identical red turtlenecks plus 3 more in slightly different shades of red?[/li][li] Mater bathroom: Threw out all the makeup I haven’t worn in years. Moved on to throwing out all the makeup I haven’t worn in months. Got rid of all the half empty bottles of shampoo, lotion, etc. that I no longer use. I kept one of everything for emergencies, but the rest went.[/li][li]Hall closet: Sheesh! Who knew I had so many towels too ratty to use? Kept the minimum to use for dirty dogs and pitched the rest. Packed up another box for Goodwill of sheets that don’t fit any bed in the house.[/li][li]Guest bedroom: Now, when did this become purgatory for forgotten clothing? Out it went. At least I didn’t find another damned red turtleneck.[/li][li]TV Room: This was the worst. I tried to get rid of books. I did okay, but not great. I do have stacks to bring to the office book exchange. But getting rid of books was painful. I think I’ll have to revisit this one in a week.[/li][li]TV Room Closet: For some reason, this became full of empty boxes and other crap I have no idea why I didn’t throw out. Put all my yarn remnants into a box instead of leaving them loose. Got a stack of DVDs I’m going to sneak into the office book exchange. For some reason, getting rid of DVDs isn’t as painful as getting rid of books.[/li][/ul]
My plan for the next several weekends is to tackle (in order): kitchen/living room; basement; garage. Then I may need to go back and start over with the upstairs again. I think I’ll be able to purge even more after realizing how good it feels.
Today I did something I haven’t done in…years. :o I cleaned out under my bed. I have a shoe problem. I put a whole lawn-bag full of shoes in the back of my SUV to donate. I’ve thrown away 3 bags of trash that included shoes that were too worn out to donate. I’ve organized the remaining shoes. I’m exhausted.
I’m doing just one small section of the house at a time, and maintaining what I’ve cleaned.
Apparently I pulled a muscle in my back when I was hauling all those book boxes around the other day. So I spent most of today trying to get it to feeling better, and as a result didn’t get much done. But it’s really terrific to hear about all you guys making progress! It really inspires me to keep at it.
I did do a bit of bathroom cleaning – nothing heavy, just wiping down sinks, toilets, and around the bathtub. It’s amazing how even just a quick swipe with a Clorox wipe makes a bathroom look so much better.
Tomorrow I start on the dining/sewing room for sure! I also need to do another massive clothing sort. I did some a few months ago, but another massive clearing out is in my near future.
I’ve still got to organize all my office supplies; although I got the bookshelves in my office clear, I didn’t get the supply shelves cleaned yet. And to say they’re a mess is a severe understatement.
Here’s a topic I’d like to get everyone’s thoughts on–accepting junk from other people. I suspect that some of us cluttery people tend to accept stuff from other people and then hang on to it indefinitely, and I’m going to try to work on that particular problem. So, do you do that too? And what do you do about it now that you’re reforming?
Sometimes we store stuff for friends for years on end. Sometimes people give us stuff we don’t want and we keep it out of politeness. My main issue is with my MIL, who loves to pick up ‘bargains’ at the thrift store and then pass them on to us. It’s taken me years to learn to say no to her when she hands me something and asks me if I can use it. She also likes to give things right to the kids, which is why we have old dolls I dislike and the ugliest Christmas pillow you ever saw; they promptly love the items. I have managed to get rid of several hideous old purses and some other things she gave them, though.
This is on my mind because while I was cleaning out some cupboards I came upon some old glass mugs–ugly ones–which I had gotten for Christmas. Instead of either using them or promptly getting rid of them, I left them in the box and stuck them on a high shelf for two or three years. What exactly was the point of that, hm? I felt bad about not liking them, so I kept them and allowed them to clutter up my cupboards for years. Well, here it is folks: I hereby vow not to keep stuff people give me that I don’t like. I will simply pass it on. So there.
As I hoped, my weekend visitor was not only truly lovely company, but also helped me figure out a bunch of organizational problems. My desk is not perfect, but it is a gazillion times better. My pictures are hanging on my wall! That was my biggest concern. I really, really wanted to hang them, and even knew where I wanted them, but was just worried about asking my roommate about putting holes in the walls. She was completely cool about it. Which I should have known she would be, because she is the world’s best roommate. She even suggested I put another hole in the wall for the map I was going to try to find a hook for. So now I have to decide what I’m going to do with that. I will probably take her advice, though.
So now I have some plants to repot, which will happen tomorrow, period. She has cleaning ladies come in and they come in on Thursday, so my repotting will happen tomorrow in case I have any residue I miss from the repotting (must happen indoors because outside is OMGCOLD!!!). After that, a single trip to the garage should get more crap out of this room and into storage.
Then I have left one box of random junk I’m going to need when I move, but don’t need now to deal with. And some plastic things that I haven’t found a home for yet. Again, when I have a little more space I will be able to put my rubber ducky collection on display, but now is not that time. I’d really like to pack them up and put them in the garage, but I’m worried about the lack of climate control damaging the plastic. Does anyone know anything about that?
Anyway, my room will be under control by this time next week. Period. After that I’m not sure what to do, because the common areas are rather messy/cluttered too, and as common areas there’s less I can do about it. But I will cross that bridge once I deal with my own crap.
The bathroom is still a problem. My lovely visitor did not have time to help me with that, and while I’d have appreciated the help I’m really glad there wasn’t time. Who needs to visit someone and help them clean? If it’s not under control by the next visit, I imagine I’ll get help then. However, my goal is to avoid needing that help.
BlueKangaroo - just so you know, if it’s OMGCOLD!!! outside, it will probably hurt your duckies. Most of the more common ones are made out of rubber and/or vinyl that’s much more sensitive to cold than to heat (because they go in baths, heh). I’d be careful with the duckies until at least the spring thaw, were they mine. Good luck on your projects - sounds like you’re making tons of good progress!
Hmm, the boyfriend is back in a few hours. I had this goal of a very clean laundry room and to re do the office, but a) he came back two days early, and b) I was sick all weekend. Also some evil person put me on track with “goodreads” website, and that has taken up a huge amount of time today.
Fortunately a friend phoned in crisis* and I walked around with a cordless phone and tidied up while talking. My kitchen floor is mopped, my dishes except for a 1/8 of a load are all clean and put away, counters wiped, horizontal surfaces except one is clutter free. Yay. living room is at least swept of gingerbread remnants, and at least the house feels cleaner than it was. But the laundry room is not done, like I thought it would be, I made such progress on laundry mountain late last week.
At least my house doesnt feel like a horders den right now. Im scared that it could be me, especially when my closets vomit bags and boxes that spill out into the next room.
*No, its not good he’s in crisis. It is good that I had a charged up cordless and got off the computer and did something.
Cleaned out the canned goods yesterday, and got ride of a bunch of “WhythehelldoIhavethis?” stuff. Today, if I have time and energy after running a bunch of errands, I’m going to do the same thing to the dry-goods pantry shelves.
dangermom, I agree. We just acquired a whole box of books from someone last week. They’re old favourite crummy fantasy. We should have said no. I think I’ll get rid of the ones that I picked.
My exception to the Don’t Accept Stuff rule: Right now I am accepting any and all baby stuff, since I don’t want to spend much, and at least 50% is useful. I am throwing out/donating the things I think are useless, but I don’t want to say No to any of it, because the flow of free things might stop.
I have packed three boxes tonight for Freecycle and TellandSell Japan, which is a paying type freecycle for stuff that is too good to just pass on freely. Because its an expat community, English stuff is hard to come by and expensive, so its painful just to pass a lot of that stuff on. Even a nominal charge is helpful. Here we also have cash on delivery services from both the Post Office and the courier services which are cheap here. So Freecycle stuff gets sent the length of Japan and the receiver pays the shipping charges. A very neat idea!
I have also chucked out three or four big rubbish bags of random bits of paper, cheapy plastic baskets and bookends, and broken electrical crap.
Aww, I’m going to miss the floor pie. He was like our loveable little mascot.
In other news, I spent all four days I had off doing a major DIY project instead of cleaning. I am totally out of clean socks, so I MUST do laundry tonight.
I spent a good part of the extended weekend sick, but another good part of it cleaning, so no miracles, but progress was made. I dug through the box of 2007 receipts and sorted out all the healthcare expenses, filled 2 trash bags and a box with clothes and accessories for donation, and pulled together all the gifts I need to return/exchange.
I’d picked up It’s All Too Much (by my Clean Sweep hero Peter Walsh) earlier, so when I was too tired/sick to keep cleaning, I read bits of it for inspiration.
Overall, it was a productive weekend, without being so draining that I won’t want to clean again for a month. There’s hope for 2008 yet!
This evening’s task is go through the crate of unopened mail I’ve managed to accumulate in the last few months - here’s hoping there aren’t any nasty surprises. Does anyone else do this? Really, so much of my communication these days is electronic, I can forget to open mail for ages… I think I’m going to try for a once-a-week schedule going forward.
A Priori Tea, I kind of figured that. It’s the main reason the duckies aren’t yet in the garage - I’m just too paranoid about them shattering. But, frankly, they aren’t so beloved that they need a place of honor in my tiny room right now. They need storage space (beloved enough to be kept, but not out and about when there’s so little space). And THAT I have not figured out. As you can see from the previous photos, there’s not much space left for storage within the room. I think I may be able to find some space in the top of the closet, but that I will have to figure out when my roommate is home.
Can I branch out a little bit for a moment? I know this is “Slob Reform”, but my goal is to actually get into all out organization. I’m finally getting better at “organization in space”, but I still am terrible at “organization through time”. I’ve never been able to use a planner or PDA for keeping track of to-do lists and schedules, but I would really like to. I can keep track of it all, but that ability is 1) slowly but surely fading as I get older and 2) taking up valuable time and energy. Does anyone have any suggestions for that kind of organization?
My wife and I moved to L.A. in 2002. Previously we had a house in North Carolina with a garage and an attic, but with housing prices being what they are in SoCal there was no way we were getting into one here. (Not without an hour-long commute, that is.)
So, basically for the last five years we’ve had too much stuff crammed in too small a space. Add to this the fact that my wife and I both have been working fairly long hours, and gradually the mess has been piling up. By the standards of the “adult child of hoarders” thread its never been that bad – we’ve never let dirty dishes pile up in the sink, for example, or had trash or dirty clothes strewn around. But we have had piles of books and toys and papers on the floor in most of the rooms. They’re neat piles, but they’re still out in plain view instead of being put away somewhere.
A few months ago I finally got fed up. It’s tiring having all this crap sitting around all the time. So in October I went through all of our papers and filed everything. In November I cleaned out our two big closets, turning them back into the walk-ins they’re intended to be. And in the week between Christmas and New Years, my wife and I made a major push: She did the back bathroom and our bedroom and I did both of my kids’ rooms. I pulled everything out of their closets and sorted everything: About a quarter was trash that went down in the dumpster this morning. About a quarter was stuff they’ve outgrown that’s sitting in the front hall waiting to go to charity. And about a half was packed back up neatly. My wife got rid of all the old toiletries, cleared off the dressers, and started in on her desk.
We still have a lot to do, but the end is in sight. The kitchen and living room are almost entirely clear of clutter with the exception of a few piles of papers left to be sorted. The floors of the kids’ rooms are clear and their stuff is organized enough that they can take over responsibility for keeping it that way. The bathrooms are clear (except for three boxes in the back bathroom we never unpacked after the move!) My wife is still sorting her work files in our bedroom, but instead of sitting in neglected piles everything is moving into a rolling file cabinet. And we’re culling our books so we can fit everything on the shelves. Another few weeks and we’ll probably have everything tidied up and put away.
Already the space feels happier and brighter. God, it’s been a slog though!
) In an effort to keep from having things like floor pie, I’ve thrown out three things of leftovers that needed to go die somewhere anyway.