2020 Decluttering Support and Motivation

[Catahoula Cate]

Getting caught up on posts. Everyone has been so busy and productive! I have not gotten much in the way of decluttering and am trying to get back with it after a weird and busy Fall. Both DH and I got Covid in Oct, thankfully mild but also one of our busiest times of years so I got behind on just all kinds of things.

I rotate clothing too as our seasons are pretty extreme. But I mostly just rotate in the closet and dresser drawers to make the clothing most needed more accessible. We always have days in Spring and Fall where you need something super warm one day and a T shirt the next so I have to keep that in mind.

My big declutter score was selling my Grandmothers antique portable electric sewing machine. I almost sold it a year ago and wasn't certain if I should part with it. But it and the case weighed close to 20lbs and I'm not much of a sewer anyway. It still worked and I felt like I needed to sell it while it was still in good working condition or it would lose a lot of value. I got a good price for it advertising on FB and it went to an appreciative home. I cleaned out the space in the closet and used for better storage. Money going towards Christmas gifts! yay!

I did my annual going through boxes of Christmas decorations to see if anything else needed to go to the thrift shop. I found some things that were in poor condition and so to the trash bin. I came across some collectible ornaments that I'm trying on ebay. Surprisingly this year, nothing for the thrift shop.

Really need to address paper clutter and I'm not really sure where to begin as it's a combo of mine and DH's.

[Vantreesta]

Hope everyone has had a nice Thanksgiving. I made comfort food instead of traditional Thanksgiving food since 2 out of 3 of us don't like turkey. We did have pumpkin pie though. I was happy it all turned out bc I made everything ahead of time and just baked the food today (except the pie I had already baked).

I'm thankful for you guys and this check in. I know I'm not good about cleaning and decluttering but you guys at least keep it on my radar and inspire me. I really want to have smthg looking better by year end. I'm starting with a room that isn't that important but it's small and has been driving me nuts all month bc we're in it at least three times a day. The laundry room doubles as Cyric's dining room and where all his stuff is kept (except toys). My goal is to clean it completely, tops of cupboards and freezer, everything. There, I said it! Now to just do it!

[fanofladyvols]

Catahoula Cate paper clutter is the worst! A small stack can take forever and then you take a break and come back and think...ugh is that all I did?!! But IT is a relief when you finish a defined area or subject. I like to attack by shoebox sized sections when it's a huge pile.

Vantreesta funny how an area meant for cleaning can get so cluttered!
You have inspired me to take a hard look at my laundry room, too.

[Catahoula Cate]

[QUOTE=fanofladyvols;2899996]Catahoula Cate paper clutter is the worst! A small stack can take forever and then you take a break and come back and think...ugh is that all I did?!! But IT is a relief when you finish a defined area or subject. I like to attack by shoebox sized sections when it's a huge pile.


I definitely need to take a new approach towards the paper clutter. I felt so bad the other day....DH sometimes uses the coffee table like a desk and he cleared a lot of things off and was so pleased with what he did but it didn't look any different to me. But I really did appreciate his effort. Sometimes I wonder how we end up with so much but then I have to remind myself that we work at home and that is part of the extra paperwork. We do what we can via computer but can't do everything that way.

I went through my closet and threw away 3 pairs of jeans that were very old and haven't fit for years. It was time. Unfortunately they were too worn for the thrift shop.

[eventmom]

I had a longer post that wouldn't post yesterday.

Mostly small progress - things in donate bag, combining DVDs into cases that hold 2 dvds (such as I'm only keeping two callanetics those are in one case now), getting rid of workouts i found on youtube.

Just now I sold a king size mattress! It was in a horse trailer living quarters but doesn't fit in my new trailer. It sat on FB for months I guess - I was ready to give it away but got a message yesterday offering $100 (was asking 175) so I took it. The mattress and king size sheet set gone!

[fanofladyvols]

eventmom I'm happy for you unloading the mattress.

CatahoulaCate you probably do have more than the average challenge of fighting paper clutter. Like your signature says, celebrate your victories..(even if they seem unnoticeable sometimes )

Well thanks to sherry7899, I accomplished an unplanned (but much needed) decluttering of the cookbook cupboard. I had a file folder of wayward recipes that were diminished to only the most necessary that are all neatly organized in a binder by topic.
This spurred a hard sort of the recipe box of my MIL recipes and purged all clippings of recipes no one in our family would want to eat and even culled duplicate recipes. I had done a previous sort but the desire to throw away alot just wasn't there. It's hard to do that when it's so close in time to their passing. It's been 3 years now so it was doable for me and my husband. It made finding the treasured recipes so much easier and the recipe box is so much more inviting.

Perfect for upcoming Christmas cooking...as if I planned it all along, lol. Much love to Sherry for helping me look so organized

Now for that laundry room....

[sherry7899]

Linda, you are welcome! I am glad you could use the recipe binder.

[sherry7899]

I have not gotten rid of a lot in the last few days, but I have done some organizing. I straightened some dresser drawers. I did go through my makeup and threw out a bunch. I don't wear a lot of it, and some was past its prime.
I went through our desk and got rid of a bunch of papers I no longer need. That freed up some drawer space, so I was able to fit in a few more file folders for things we do still need.

I also went through two of my recipe binders and trashed a bunch of recipes that I will never make or ones that were too similar. I have four more binders to go through! I have SO many recipes, it is ridiculous.

[bzar]

i gave 4 large shopping bags of "Boys'" clothes to my niece for her boys. that was pretty major because i have been a slug in the declutter department. working from home, i see all the things i need to declutter.

we had major construction at our house this past month - got a new driveway (old one ripped out) and will be getting a new driveway gate this month.

i have a box of stuff going to donate to Savers. I like them because they give you a coupon for future purchases. as long as the net effect is "outflow", i suppose it's ok.

[Izzy]

Each year while doing Christmas decorating I start sorting through the bins. This year I was surprised that I had given so much away in previous years that I didn't have that much to put out. I remind myself this is a good thing. I did go through several boxes of ornaments and donated a large amount of ornaments that had no sentimental value. I hope in these challenging times these ornaments will bring some families some joy. So in my car I have about 4 boxes of decorations and ornaments that are going to Goodwill. I also took about 15 workout dvds to the library as a donation. We are closed to the public again but doing curbside. We are leaving our vestibule open and a cart with decent books and DVDs patrons can take for free.

As for paper, I have more than I want but not a lot. But I have noticed that the younger generation has no paper. No piles. They do everything electronically so there is no need for paper. I am not quite there yet. I do like to have my paper to fall back on but I am doing better about pitching stuff I just don't need anymore so my piles do get too big and don't last too long.

Stay well everyone and good job on finding ways to make your lives easier.