Interesting View on Decluttering

[Vintage VFer]

Originally Posted by LynnO

I don't use dvds anymore and should get rid of the 100-200 I have left. I want them to go to a good home, but don't want it to be too much work.

Lynn, I have sent a few boxes of DVDs to DVDs4Vets:

http://www.dvds4vets.org/

It's not too pricey to send them via Media Mail.

Originally Posted by susan p

Here's my issue with decluttering. I am a neat freak minimalist and my husband is exactly the opposite. All three of my children are LIKE MY HUSBAD (those dang genes! Oh my gosh!)

I wait until my DH goes out of town and get rid of bags of stuff to Goodwill.

[Nuggie's Auntie]

I wait until my husband goes away on business trips and throw out his stuff then.

[bee]

Originally Posted by Nuggie's Auntie

I wait until my husband goes away on business trips and throw out his stuff then.

I've done that, but my husband has never let me forget that I got rid of a shirt he really liked once. That's part of the problem..... my DH seems to get joy from everything.......

[Nuggie's Auntie]

Originally Posted by bee

I've done that, but my husband has never let me forget that I got rid of a shirt he really liked once. That's part of the problem..... my DH seems to get joy from everything.......

Oh dear! My Dh often forgets about stuff. I also move things around. If no one asks about it after a while, I pitch it.

Actually, funny story--DH has been away all week, just returned today. Tuesday is our trash pick up day, and so Tuesday morning I pitched something that's been hanging around broken for ages.

The trash wasn't picked up Tuesday, or Wednesday, or this morning! This is very unusual. I was about to call the city and say,PLEASE! COuld someone collect our trash today? My husband is returning home this afternoon and he's going to see all his stuff in the bin! Hahaha!

Happily for me, they came about an hour before he got home.

[Gancho Girl]

Originally Posted by susan p

Here's my issue with decluttering. I am a neat freak minimalist and my husband is exactly the opposite. All three of my children are LIKE MY HUSBAD (those dang genes! Oh my gosh!)

Is it really genetics? My mother was a neat freak - not a minimalist, but everything had a place and everything was extremely clean (apparently when I was five, at school they asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up, and after lengthy contemplation I replied "Not a mummy"; when asked why not I said "Because I don't want to have to dust all day" ).

When I was growing up, my father and I were always in trouble for being "messy" and not cleaning things "properly" (i.e. if you're vacuuming and you haven't moved every single piece of furniture out of its spot to vacuum under - every single time - then you're not doing it properly and you're a blight on society).

But after my parents divorced, my father overnight transformed into a neat freak cleaner! So I think it's more just that he and I are naturally rebellious against being told what to do. And, looking around my house, my rebellious streak is waaaaay more ingrained...

[Gancho Girl]

Originally Posted by Elzabee5

I found ya gotta take some of her suggestions with a grain of salt Do my toothbrush or my hammer "spark joy"? Not really. But I'll be keeping them, thanks

I'm in no way a home handy woman or anything, but when I think of my hammer, I'm instantly filled with delicious anticipation, because I use it whenever I'm hanging a new bit of art around the house. My hammer (my one, not "our" one, which is a tad more boring normal sized one) is just the right size and weight for when I'm hanging stuff. It might not spark joy, but it does spark anticipation, along with thinking about all the fun times we've had together...

Okay. I'm weird.

[athompson10]

Not hammers but pots and pans for me. I have pots that I cadged from my mom's kitchen when I first went to college. Handles are wobbly, pan bottoms are all warped but I don't want to throw them out.....too many memories. Maybe they'll end up in a labeled box in the basement, because they bring me joy when I look at them, even if I don't much cook with them now.

Many of my clothes, especially pajamas and jeans, lack joy. I'll start my purge there.

[bee]

Originally Posted by Nuggie's Auntie

Oh dear! My Dh often forgets about stuff. I also move things around. If no one asks about it after a while, I pitch it.

Actually, funny story--DH has been away all week, just returned today. Tuesday is our trash pick up day, and so Tuesday morning I pitched something that's been hanging around broken for ages.

The trash wasn't picked up Tuesday, or Wednesday, or this morning! This is very unusual. I was about to call the city and say,PLEASE! COuld someone collect our trash today? My husband is returning home this afternoon and he's going to see all his stuff in the bin! Hahaha!

Happily for me, they came about an hour before he got home.

That's funny! Another related funny story..... a friend of mine is anti-Barbie doll. Her daughters were given a couple of them and once the girls had not picked them up for a while my friend put them in the trash. Well, it was that day the girls chose to watch the garbage men from their second floor window, and they saw the Barbie dolls tumble into the garbage truck. My friend had some 'splainin' to do!!

[Lannette]

I read the reviews for this book on amazon. Even the four star reviews surmised that the author was probably OCD. Not rolling socks because they will feel bad, taking every thing out of your handbag at night and putting it back each morning? I have enough quirks. I don't need to develop any new ones! Scared me right out of purchasing.

[Eibhinn]

Originally Posted by Lannette

I read the reviews for this book on amazon. Even the four star reviews surmised that the author was probably OCD. Not rolling socks because they will feel bad, taking every thing out of your handbag at night and putting it back each morning? I have enough quirks. I don't need to develop any new ones! Scared me right out of purchasing.

I'm actually very interested in Marie Kondo's book, and will quite possibly buy a copy to check out, but based on the reviews and news coverage I've seen of her, I gotta admit she sounds.... off. I saw one person recounting her story of how, as a child in school, she preferred cleaning and organizing the janitor's closet to playing with her friends, and when she did visit her friends she would spend her time cleaning and organizing their rooms. I just have no idea what to make of that. It's pretty bizarre. Doesn't mean she doesn't have a lot to offer in terms of tidying/decluttering advice, just... yeah, she seems really weird, if not dealing with some sort of mental health issue.