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JSchaaf
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I am overwhelmed with the amount of stuff we have in this house. I can't believe how we have accumulated so much in three short years. I did a major declutter about six months ago-so what we have left are things we use and enjoy-but there's still so much! I guess I need to focus on simplifying, not just decluttering. But how? It's all good stuff.
The main reason I want to pare down my possessions is to be able to clean my house faster-without having to spend two hours picking up and putting away first.
We will be moving in two years, and I want to be within our weight allowance. I also want to move into a much smaller home so lots of this stuff needs to go!
How do I go about this? How do I decide what to keep and what to donate when it's all useful?
Help!
Jennifer
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JodieLyn
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in general (there are exceptions) you want to keep things that have multiple uses vs things that have a single use.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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JSchaaf
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| Posted: Sept 27 2008 at 12:12am | IP Logged
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I found this in my Google travels that I'd like to share:
Article by Regina Doman
Jennifer
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Booksnbabes
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Thank you for that article! I needed that.
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Wife to wonderful DH, mom to SIX beautiful gifts from God!
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amyable
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I've been thinking about this post all day, coming up with great ideas in my head, and then every time I have a minute to write, it all disappears. 
Living in a small-ish house with generous grandparents (and a nameless homeschooling mom who occasionally goes overboard at yard sales and curriculum websites ), we have to declutter, radically, and attempt to live more simply than our neighbors.
I go back and forth on my ability to just get rid of things vs. wanting to hold on.
I've heard it's a good idea to sit down and think about every room's purpose and your dream for that room, then only keep what works for that dream/purpose.
Things that are useful to you will probably be useful to someone else! Don't forget that if you are keeping something you don't need (e.g. 7 boxes of toys when 3 would be sufficient) then other people are missing out on those particular things. Sure, they can buy the same toy, but maybe then can't afford it, and it damages the environment/wastes resources to make another one when a perfectly good one is sitting in your closet ("your" being general, of course, I'm not talking about anyone specifically - except myself!  )
I try to challenge myself to get away with the least amount possible of something: clothes, kitchen gadgets, toys... like do I need 3 different kinds of spatulas?? A food processor when I have a knife? And my kids *may* play with everything we own over a 2 month period, but do they NEED two closets full of toys? Certainly not, and they may be happier with less (although they'll put up quite a fuss first. Don't be afraid of the fuss! )
Well, my ds needs me to get off the computer, so I'm going to run, but are there specific areas you're having trouble with, Jennifer?
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Amy
mom of 5, ages 6-16, and happy wife of 
The Highly Sensitive Homeschooler
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Pamin OZ
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Over here in Australia it's spring, so I'm spring cleaning. Somehow this feels less obsessive than decluttering for me. It's the time to throw things out and then I will stop. I will stop. I must stop. Do not try to declutter perfectly, Pam!
Some things I've read lately that have struck a chord have been:
Think about your boundaries/requirements for keeping things before you start a particular group. So, if you are doing plastics, say, work out how many of each size you think you need and then choose that many and throw the rest/give the rest/whatever. This way you are not making a decision about each and every item you are handling, which has to be more exhausting. I have found this one very helpful.
Everything must have a home. This is so old, I think I stopped listening to it. But when I thought about it, I realised that many clutter-y things just don't have a home. So they end up in places where they shouldn't be. Each time I eyeball something, I'm trying to think "Do you have a home?" If it does, it goes there. If it doesn't, I'll make one or get rid of it.
Leave a room better than you find it. Well, duh, again. But do I do it? No. So I'm going to try and start a new habit.
Don't kick yourself because you second-guess yourself. It's a big responsibility to be the caretaker of a household of stuff. Most of us don't have spare cash. So of course we take it seriously when we're trying to decide to keep or get rid of something. Worrying about something is often just a sign that it is important. Not that you are doing something wrong. (Got that last bit from an article by Susan Wise Bauer on education but it reallly applies to everything.)
Hope this helps
Pam
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Waverley
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One de-cluttering activity that has actually been quite a blessing for our family is our annual pre-Christmas toy donation. While discussing Christmas and all its meaning and significance, we talk about those less fortunate and how many parents long to purchase toys/books for their children and family members but are unable to do so. We then go through all of our toys and pick out the ones that should be donated. After we have selected the toys, we package them up - for example, we will put to together a Polly Pocket set, a lego set, etc. We then place the set in a clear plastic bag (maybe one of the holiday decorated bags) and donate the sets to our local free store where very low-income families "shop" for free items. My kids give a lot of thought to which toys are donated and how they are packaged and work to make sure the toys are in nice condition.
I feel that our children have benefitted from the discussions and the process. The folks who run the store have often told us how much they and their clients appreciate the toys.
Good luck to you.
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amyable
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I thought of something a few days ago when washing a serving platter.
It's a simple, white serving platter with an embossed design (is that what's called - the color remains white but there is a design you can feel, the shape and cut of the platter?) Anyway, I was washing it and realized, "Hey, I love this platter." Why is that special? It's not about the platter per say, because I don't remember why or when I got it. It's because before when I had so much *useful* stuff that I would use one plate one time, and something else a different time, I didn't appreciate any of it as much, and even got huffy at trying to store it all like puzzle pieces in our small kitchen.
Now, I have to wash and reuse this one, simple, pretty platter. And it has really made me appreciate it and enjoy it that much more.
I *thought* I appreciated what we had when we had more, but this is different. I don't know if I can explain it, I think it has to be experienced.
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Amy
mom of 5, ages 6-16, and happy wife of
The Highly Sensitive Homeschooler
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JSchaaf
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amyable wrote:
Well, my ds needs me to get off the computer, so I'm going to run, but are there specific areas you're having trouble with, Jennifer? |
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Thanks, everyone, for the replies. My problem areas are books and papers. We have hundreds of books. I've culled all the twaddle, and I want to keep what we have-I would rather set my dd's free in our home library than in our public one.
So, the basement is the playroom/schoolroom/office/library. It is always a mess!! And books creep upstairs and I find them all over the house. I'm just as messy, with books, papers, lesson plans, things printed out from the computer, half finished craft projects.
I'm thinking that what I may need to do first is work on my own mess and learn to clean up after myself before I start to try and change my family.
I have one kitchen counter that is usually covered with mail, papers, crayons, and books. When it's time to cook I gather everything up, take it downstairs and put in on my desk. Then at the end of the day, I'm too exhausted to face the mess. In the morning I'm trying to dig through the piles to find schoolwork and bills to be paid.
Any suggestions on a practical, do-able routine for keeping all this paper under control??
Jennifer
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JodieLyn
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make the places for the papers easy to use.. right now my files need to be weeded out so it's hard to file anything which means.. nothing gets filed.
bills - what works best for me is to tack them to my bulletin board. Not only are they findable but they're visible so I don't forget them 
what if you had bins on your counter to put things away in.. and then a place for those bins in the basement.. it would make things easy to gather up and then easy to transport and easy to put away because you could put them away in the kitchen and then just put the bins in their spot in the basement.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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Cay Gibson
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JSchaaf wrote:
The main reason I want to pare down my possessions is to be able to clean my house faster-without having to spend two hours picking up and putting away first.
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It makes a HUGE difference, Jennifer. I encourage you to pare down. I recently did so and am still amazed at how quick and easy it is to clean my kitchen. Zip---zip! 
JSchaaf wrote:
| My problem areas are books and papers. We have hundreds of books. |
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Me too, and I'm not sure what can be done about it. I'm a book hound. I just bought 3 more bookshelves for my bedroom. Once Garrett finishes getting them up I'm hoping I'll be good for the rest of the year. I have an old bathroom off my sitting room which we want to redo into a half-bath. I've debated about turning it into a book closet and dh has even made that very suggestion.
If I don't keep my books picked up and accessible, my dh gets discouraged about them stewn all over the house. I must make it "look" like I have control over an uncontrolable issue.
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
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Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks
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JSchaaf
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Cay Gibson wrote:
It makes a HUGE difference, Jennifer. I encourage you to pare down. I recently did so and am still amazed at how quick and easy it is to clean my kitchen. Zip---zip! |
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Cay-
Your kitchen looks great! Where is everything?  Where are your canisters of flour, sugar, etc.? Where is the toaster and coffee pot? Where is your CD player and 3 foot high stack of caseless CD's??
Jennifer
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JodieLyn
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on the books.. what about taking a cue from the library.. there's return bins and carts for reshelfing books.. give one of the kids the job of "librarian" to reshelf books every so often.. but in the meantime have a bin or shelf just for putting books on until they get put away properly.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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MrsM
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Books are my downfall too! My solution--more bookshelves. Other stuff I try to deal with as it comes in. My desk is still the catch-all, but at least it's contained in one area.
I have a box that I use to "collect" things that the dc leave around. They receive fair warning, so if it's not put away properly into the box it goes until the next week. It's really had a positive impact and their rooms are so much neater now. 
We set aside several times during the day to do a quick pick up of toys, papers and books. It only takes about 3-5 minutes, and it keeps things from becoming overwhelming.
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Homeschooling dd13, dd11, ds10, and ds8
Mom to Miracle Baby ds3
Mom to darling Elizabeth and Francis, held in Mary's arms and always in my heart
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JSchaaf
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Ok, I've made some progress:
I use alot of plastic dishtubs to sort and display books (seasonal and topical "book baskets"). I took three of these upstairs and sorted everything on the counter into TO DO, TO FILE, and SCHOOL. I carried the tubs downstairs and hopefully will get stuff put away today. My other goal is to not go to bed at night until the kitchen counters are clear of paper. Today when I brought the mail in I brought it right downstairs and sorted it over my three tubs and the trash can.
I realized another problem. All of our books and school things are in the basement, but lately we've been doing school upstairs in the dining room. So everything is upstairs, but doesn't have a home up there. Many toys have migrated up there as well. I think I'm going to try and keep us in the schoolroom for lessons, I'm not sure when/why we made the change to working upstairs, it wasn't a conscious decision.
I'm also throwing away lots of junk. I made arrangements for a charity to come and make a pickup on Monday morning. I've got two big bags of clothes and books for them already and will try to find more this weekend.
Jennifer
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Mackfam
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 Yay Jennifer! That sounds like you've made incredible progress!
We used to do lessons upstairs in our house as well, but life happens downstairs...so as much as my dh and I really wanted to have a nice dining room, we converted it to the learning room. I have to say, I really love being able to have lessons where we do most of our living! Just throwing that out there for you...and adding my empathy. It seems lessons, manipulatives, toys always migrate to wherever you're doing most of your living! I just got tired of fighting it. However, since the dining room is the first room you see when you walk in the house, and is centrally located in a relatively open floor plan, that heaps the pressure on me to keep the room tidy and pleasantly arranged!
I think you're really on the right track with your paper sorting as well. I set aside a drawer in the kitchen to hold two expandable accordion file folders (not the kind that have dividers and hold tons of paper) and wrote "TO BE FILED" on one and "TO BE PAID" on the other and we sort our mail as it comes in in those files. Then, my dh takes the TO BE PAID file out and pays bills directly from there. I take care of the filing. I have an "INSPIRATION" file as well for ideas and wants from catalogs that I can keep in one place. I keep these folders in a drawer in my kitchen because that's just where mail naturally gets sorted and I don't have much in the way of counterspace, so that's valuable real estate and no paper or bins can live there.
Periodically, we file in our folders upstairs in Rob's office.
Oh, I do have one practical suggestion for the stuff that migrates. We've found this to be very useful. Get a large basket, an attractive one, and set it at the top of your stairs (it's at the bottom of mine). Things that migrate get tucked in the basket and at the end of the day, before anyone is allowed to eat dinner they must take the basket upstairs (in your house downstairs) and put all items back where they belong and return the empty basket to its spot. I can't stop items from migrating, but when the do and then they get left around, I have a place to toss them and they must be returned to "their spots" before dinner is served!
HTH! and good luck with the rest of your decluttering and simplifying!!!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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JSchaaf
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Excellent suggestions, Jennifer! I'm going to implement the one about the baskets for the stairs as soon as I get off the computer.
I did set out a large rubbermaid tote last night and told everyone that when they were done with a book to put it in there and I would reshelve. I also have given my 9yo the responsibility to make sure all books are off the floor and in the putaway box before dinner.
I also need to curtail the amount of printing I do. Everytime I come across a great article or idea I print it out and then have to find a place to put it. Most often the printouts go in a pile next to the computer.
I'm so excited to have made progress! I'm off to do more!
Jennifer
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Mary K
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hi jennifer,
i find it helpful to put any articles, etc. in the favorites/bookmarks on my computer to read at my leisure later (translation: nursing or morning coffee-only time i sit, except when driving).
mary-ny
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KC in TX
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JSchaaf wrote:
amyable wrote:
Well, my ds needs me to get off the computer, so I'm going to run, but are there specific areas you're having trouble with, Jennifer? |
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Thanks, everyone, for the replies. My problem areas are books and papers. We have hundreds of books. I've culled all the twaddle, and I want to keep what we have-I would rather set my dd's free in our home library than in our public one.
So, the basement is the playroom/schoolroom/office/library. It is always a mess!! And books creep upstairs and I find them all over the house. I'm just as messy, with books, papers, lesson plans, things printed out from the computer, half finished craft projects.
I'm thinking that what I may need to do first is work on my own mess and learn to clean up after myself before I start to try and change my family.
I have one kitchen counter that is usually covered with mail, papers, crayons, and books. When it's time to cook I gather everything up, take it downstairs and put in on my desk. Then at the end of the day, I'm too exhausted to face the mess. In the morning I'm trying to dig through the piles to find schoolwork and bills to be paid.
Any suggestions on a practical, do-able routine for keeping all this paper under control??
Jennifer |
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Have you been in my house?
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wife to Ben (10/94),
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Michaela ('01)
Emma ('03)
Jordan ('05)
And, my 2 angels, Rose ('08) and Mark ('09)
The Cabbage Patch
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JSchaaf
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Time for a progress report! The charity truck came early this morning and took away 8 big bags of...stuff. When I put it out this morning I challenged myself to recall what was in the bags and I couldn't. Guess it was very important stuff, right??
I put baskets at the top and bottom of both flights of stairs. Now whenever I go up or down I take something to be put away.
Today I am going through each room and thinking about the purpose of each room and what I want that room to be for and what belongs and what does not.
Stay tuned for more updates!
Jennifer
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Topic: Decluttering and Simplifying
