Declutter

I got an email from the Oprah site with a clutter challenge..it said that you should throw out anything you haven’t used in a year, except for sentimental value items, which they call Memory clutter. Does anyone think that the one year thing is a bit extreme?

have decided that decluttering isn’t just about throwing bags of stuff out, it’s about getting rid of all sorts of life clutter…like not spending time with people who I don’t like being with, spending less time on internet sites that clutter my head with things that are unecessary.

the stuff I had on ebay is not exactly flying off the shelves, so most of it will go to the charity bin this weekend.

Yeah, deep down I always knew it wasn’t really important, but I have found it hard not to hold on tightly to stuff, due to some fear of missing out or letting go, or whatever. Recently a friend passed away in her thirties and it really shook me up. It reminded me that life is too short to live it wading through clutter every day. I have some stuff listed on ebay, and I took some bags to the charity bin, and tomorrow I will take some more.

I find it so hard to get rid of stuff, because I am always thinking what I could get for it on ebay. The trouble is that selling stuff on ebay seems to take one hundred lifetimes and I am impatient to make some space in our place. So I have decided to give away to charity instead…I may not make any money, but I will be helping people in need, and helping us declutter at the same time.

Finally attacked the huge pile of unopened (non-urgent) mail that was threatening to topple onto the floor….have thrown most of it in the recycling.

Also cleared the kitchen bench today…didn’t actually throw anything out, just shuffled things around in the house, but it does look good being clutter free for a day at least.

Bit hesitant to use the word ‘breakthrough’ yet, but I did go through lots of stuff I had earmarked for ebay and decided instead to toss most of it, and only keep very few. It felt very liberating I must say. Also I had put many bags of stuff aside to donate to the fete at our school, but I realised that I would rather donate the stuff to charity because…

a)keeping it for the fete is cluttering my house in the meanwhile, and…
b) needy people need the stuff more than our school, which is in an affluent area, so the stuff sold at the fete wouldn’t be likely to go to anyone needy.

I have a serious lack of space in this house, I feel so inhibited by clutter, and having nowhere to myself.

at times I look at all the stuff that needs to go, and I can’t help thinking..”this might sell on ebay”. But it takes so long to sell stuff on ebay, you know? The photos, the listing, the waiting, blaah….I just feel like dumping it all in the bin. I suppose the answer is to only sell those items that are really likely to do well, but sifting through stuff is my downfall because then I find myself always looking for reasons to either keep it or try to sell it, which stalls the whole decluttering process. Any ideas anyone? Perhaps I just shouldn’t sell anything on ebay till I have made major progress with removing clutter.

I have thrown out some old quilt covers and a crochet blanket…the covers I never would have used again, and the crochet blanket I have no idea why I was holding on to it…the colours were so bad! (possibly made by well meaning granny with no colour sense)

Getting better at throwing out the kids toys, not sure why I find it so hard to let go of old toys…perhaps I need analysis to work this one out? Have got a few together to donate to the school fete.

Finally faced the daunting task of going through all the junk in 12 year old daughter’s cupboard…we found some ancient relics buried in there last night. I feel that I am getting better at this decluttering, the more I do, the more I want to do.

Thanks for your suggestions, I have cleared one small area and trying to clear more. It’s good to see an area with nothing on it for a change. Also I listed some toys on ebay which have sold today so that will be something gone. Diddn’t get much for them but at least it will be clutter gone.

I have got my daughters to go through stuff in their rooms and they got quite a few bags together of old things that I will donate to the school fete. I find it hard not to think “Oh we may need this again” but I am fighting the urge.”