declutter my life

There’s only a few left. One today had surprisingly little in it. Mainly, some letters and photos.

I know that I will need to go through my letters again soon to clear them out. I’m also trying to decide how to store them. I currently have them in a few nice boxes, but I have an antique suitcase from a friend. I’m completely unwilling to get rid of it, but I don’t have anything in it. Should I maybe store the letters in there so justify its existance? It’s this kind of thing I’m never quite sure about.

Where have you been all my life?

I got inspired watching a youtube video about organizing your closet. Then I went to the container store, which was great. I got some stuff (not too much) that solved some really weird org. problems, and I’m happy with the $150 I spent.

We got new carpet, and that required us moving everything out of the house, basically. The new carpet is beautiful, and it’s new inspiration to keep the house orderly. The old carpet was so so cheap and old that no matter how much you cleaned, it still looked rather, eh. Now, you actually CAN make the house look nice…

So today I was putting most of the stuff back. I was working to make sure I had a place for things, and then I was diligent about putting it in its place. No more shoeboxes of random stuff. For real. I’m done with those.

We went through things we had too many of (towels!), which opened up more space to easily store our laundry detergent (instead of just shoving it in there). Purged a few more books, clothes, etc. Am bringing stuff in a little at a time so that I can really work on putting stuff back correctly. Two large boxes for goodwill, too.

Am starting to notice some things that are actually helping. I love my iPhone, especially a list app that I bought for $1. I can make separate lists for grocery store, target, bring to work, etc. It’s not even a fancy grocery app, just a simple list one. When I’m in the kitchen and I see we’re out of something, I tap it into my iPhone. At the grocery store the next day, my list is automaticallyw ith me, and whatever I don’t get remains on my list. This has helped me a lot. I’m also becoming more cognizant of what I have coming up and what I can do to make that easier for myself.

Part of what I realized today about getting this stuff is just doing hte things I mean to do. I realized I had never washed my afghans, and so today I finally put the last two in the washer. I wasn’t doing any other laundry, but it took me 10 minutes to go start them, and now they are done and smell wonderful. It’s just doing it! I’m opening my eyes and saying “what is out of place? where should it go?” It almost never bothers me individually, but collectively the things out of place really bother me. It’s so lame, but there really needs to be a place for everything, and then it’s easy to put things away. It’s only when there isn’t a place for something that cleaning up is a drag.

I’m hoping the new carpet is the final push I need to get me over this hump and make me actually organized. The thing is, I AM organized. At work, with my duties and calendar, I am. It’s only with my STUFF that I am not. So I know I can be organized, it’s just getting to the right place so it’s possible. And I’ve never felt this close before.

:)

I just gave away my old stereo I’ve had since college. I wasn’t using it anymore, except for the speakers through which I streamed music from my computer. But I just bought new computer speakers (with a powerful subwoofer, whoa!) so it was time to give the old 3-CD changer and tape deck combo the boot. Within minutes I found on Freecycle somebody willing to pick it up. They just came by and drove away with it. Not only did I get rid of some electronic equipment clutter, but I (hopefully) made someone happy!

I watched a great video this week on YouTube, part of a series called Target Women. (No, not Tar-zhay the store. It’s about women as the targets of advertisers.)

It made me realize the ridiculous amount of products, especially expensive ones, that I’ve bought in response to clever marketing. Frankly, the days I’ve gotten compliments on my appearance have never coincided with my use of fancy new products. More often they’ve been days when I’m feeling well-rested, stress-free and happy.

Of course, sometimes beauty splurges bring me a bit of joy, even if no one else notices. I love, for example, overpriced shower gels. Of course a plain bar of soap would do the same job of cleaning my body, but why not enjoy the smell of freshly cut figs?

In any case, today I’m going through and tossing the various creams and magic potions that haven’t delivered what they promise, and are cluttering up my bathroom.

ie the kids, but I hate getting rid of things, just in case they may come back to serve. My most successful ploy is to get my husband to do it when I’m noit there and then I can never work out what has gone, tehrefore I don’t miss it!

I started selling all the stuff I don’t need on the message boards at work. I’ve sold about 100 DVDs so far, and my CDs are next. Also selling other random items. It makes me feel better, and hopefully will help me get past my consumerist tendencies.

There is such a thing as digital clutter. Time to start unsubscribing to all the e-mail newsletters I never read…

Fall’s here, so I decided to go through everything hanging in my closet and take out whatever doesn’t fit or feel good when i put it on. For now the stuff’s in a box, this weekend I’ll sort it out to sell/donate/trash.

Why is it so hard to get rid of clothes you never even wear?

I tried freecycle but craigslist came through for me. I had lots of cruft to get rid of during a recent move and wanted to go the recycle route. I had to schedule a bulk garbage pickup but didn’t want any of my stuff to end up in a landfill. I posted on freecycle; most were kind of finicky and picky. But the craigslist vultures had my back and that crap (I miss my audiocassette collection) was gone in basically less than 24 hours. Way to go!

Need to be more organised so its easier to find stuff and things to be neat so I’m not stressed.