It’s a creeping ground cover that doesn’t need mowing. It’s already fully established in the front yard (through no one’s efforts, just wild plants) and I’m trying to get it to replace the grass in the back and side yards too.
Did I mention I’m very allergic to grass? And have asthma attacks when it’s cut?
I’m old enough now that I was to get rid of things I collected. I inherited something from my father that I will be sending to a grandchild of his as a wedding gift.
All the antique shops have closed so my glassware frogs and such don’t have a destination. I’m not interested in selling-just in finding a good home for them.
Dishes and such should just get trashed. Unmatched and chipped …people turn up their noses at even in thrift shops.
You could post them on various local Facebook groups and/or Craigslist. It’s possible that people near you are interested - it’s just a matter of finding them.
It’s great vining groundcover for places that are difficult to grow grass (or mow grass). I used it around the almost vertical corner of a rock wall which worked very well. That said, periwinkle can be very, very invasive depending on growing conditions. If you use it for a small area, be prepared to prune it back hard and often, such as every 2-3 weeks or so. It loves to run rampant.
One of the things about de-cluttering and cleaning up is maintaining the improvement.
Last week I had three days off in a row and used part of them to basically tear my kitchen apart, deep clean, sort, organize, and get rid of anything expired. Not much stuff expires in my home, but over time it does happen.
So… clean even into the corners, and more room because, you know, purged and organized. Now if I could just get the ambition to repeat all this in the other two rooms of my apartment (bathroom doesn’t count - it gets the deep clean much more often than anywhere else)
Grrrrr. We are looking at moving in a few months and the place is a mess. . . .
My typical strategy is to ignore things until I absolutely have to get things done but it would be better to start now on it.
Too many rooms! Too much junk!
The most important thing I’ve learned from de-cluttering is to stop buying/bringing in so much stuff. Less in means less you have to take out later.
If only I had figured that out 40 years ago…
Goodwill and Garbage. That is the way to go. If you get rid of it, you don’t have to pack it and you don’t have to unpack it later.
We don’t have Good Will here, but there are some places we can donate some things.
My wife has is in a few large Facebook groups such as for parents of our kids’ school so we can get rid of some of the stuff there.
But there is garbage. I just thought that I’ll set a quota for everyone for throwing away a certain amount a couple times a week!
That’s a good idea. My friend has a policy of throwing away something every time he buys something new.
The not adding new stuff to the house is a great rule. Though this has taken the fun out of going to flea markets and garage sales.
I think I’m going to bag up another load of books sometime soon. My collection is greatly reduced but I would like to get rid of more. I really don’t read books anymore even with retirement. Speaking of which, I don’t go to used book stores anymore either. Not that there are many left.
That works for some people, but I don’t like it as too strict a rule.
I try to carefully consider adding anything to my pile these days, I force myself to justify it as something I will actually use, avoid impulse buys, and buy quality rather than quantity.
i am thinning the wardrobe. i am using a mix of condo “joy spark” and is it comfortable to wear.
my first outfit of today went right into the goodwill bag. the turtle neck and sweater did not spark joy and was confusing to wear. second outfit, v neck tee and cardigan…that works and the sparkly stuff on the sweater sparks joy as well as light.
I am gathering scattered items that need to go to the recycling center - old computer monitor, wi-fi, battery backup that was blocked, padding for packaging, light bulbs, batteries, etc. I keep finding more stuff. But I’ve got half of it in the car now so this little effort will be done soon. And, yes, I know I’ll come home and immediately discover something I missed so I can start the next pile of junk.
During retail hell the winter holiday season I no longer attempt to de-clutter/clean up/clean out. This year, on top of the retail holiday season I fell ill around Christmas with some sort of vile viral thing which sapped my energy for two weeks afterward (I kept testing negative for covid, so supposedly not that, but there are always a lot of viruses around).
Yesterday I resumed the clean-up at the Old Place, with the assistance of two friends, one of whom is very good at the gentle nudging to keep me going while being understanding of the emotional stress involved. And… it is genuinely working. I finished all but a few items in the front room of the living unit that used to be mine. I’m done with the rest of it! There’s still some to do with my late spouse’s work area, but 2/3 of that is finished as well.
I now have to go through my storage unit which is getting pretty full. Last time I did that (in October) I cleared out a significant pile of stuff (a pick-up bed load of stuff to either throw out, donate, give away, or sell). I am taking a week off from work (one of my boss’s only half-jokingly said “mental health week, right?” - we all try to take some time off in January) so I will have time to work on that this week. Yay. I will do this so I can completely finish the Old Place living area and hand the keys back to the owner. It’s in sight! One more visit with my nudging friend and it should be DONE!!!
The Spouse’s Work Area might be two more trips.
But not today - today is baking bread, doing laundry (I got backed up on that, too - I have at least three loads to do instead of one), some deep cleaning in the kitchen, and catching up on some of the paper filing in my “office” (one corner of my front room). That’s the morning. My reward will be an afternoon of socializing with friends, followed by chilling out for a couple hours, then an evening of socializing with friends.
Tomorrow I’ll probably spend time at the Storage Unit dealing with that.
Actually DID spend time cleaning out the storage unit, as planned. Sorted through a bunch of boxes, sorting and repacking more efficiently what I wanted to keep and filling up a garbage bag and one of those boxes reams of copy paper come in (the box was deteriorating) to throw out.
Then the next day a friend came by to take the rest of my late spouse’s RC airplanes and assorted materials.
So… three days de-cluttering this week. Yay! Of course, this is in part because I’m on staycation this week and taking care of things like this. Two days left before work resumes so I might be able to go another round on the storage unit.
Yay!
A truckload of furniture to be donated, recycled, or junked, several hundred books. We’ll work on papers, bedding, towels, shoes, and clothes soon.
An update:
We have a move date now of the 21st. We slowly did little bits of things until the deadline started getting too close to blow off any more.
The realtor is showing off the house to potential buyers so we had to get most of the things into boxes. We’ve thrown away lots and lots of stuff as well as sold a few things and gave away others.
We still have to sort things, but we put them into boxes so that it gets them “contained.” It’s easier to work on one box at a time rather than a whole room.
It’s interesting looking back on the post I wrote ten years ago. In that time, we bought a condo 2x the size of the one I posted about, plus a second 5 BR home (we also had 2 kids) out in the country. Somehow she has managed to maintain a constant clutter density in that time.
I keep telling her I’m going to file for divorce and keep 5% of our stuff.
My depression, anxiety, lack of money, and bad back have allowed my clutter to grow, but I still can’t be classified as a hoarder (whew!). Nonetheless, I have decided to sell my condo and this is forcing decluttering.
Today, a friend helped me sort through piles and piles of mail. We’re not done, but instead of having one grocery bag full headed to the shredder, I have three. And a small pile of return mail envelopes and mailers that can just go to the recycle bin. It’s the switch to online bill payment (and sometimes billing) that caused this particular problem. It was exacerbated by the lack of a home office, too.
I also ruthlessly tossed some gear that was cluttering my kitchen and that I didn’t need. Yay. I have quite a way to go, but with the help of those who can actually help me lift stuff, I’ve made a good start.
Today we pulled out every cookbook we were keeping due to lethargy. Away to donations they go.