Anyone want to join in a purge? - Page 4

[DTmama1]

I did more work on the basement yesterday and the floor is finally clear! I have one pile of clothes left to sort by size and put in tubs, bagged up the rest of the 4T clothes to get rid of, and swept and mopped the floor. I have a basket stuffed with stuff to get rid of, but ran out of boxes and am waiting on he ex to bring me some back. I sorted through the pictures box for what was his or mine. Brought one stack upstairs of pictures that need divided up of kids and stuff.

Left to do:
One tub of 'stuff' to be sorted out and find homes for
Sort last pile of clothes Finished this after church
Sort tub of games, get rid of some.
Finish laundry
Declutter pet supplies area
Clean out area under the stairs where stuff falls
Reclean storage room, sweep, and mop (stuff has been piling up there and in the shop from the rest of the basement)
Reclean shop, sweep, and mop
Sweep/mop the part of the basement where the laundry and furnace are
Bring down art shelf from main floor
Sort out art supplies.

Then the basement will be DONE! Which has never happened before! Of course this is just one layer and I will need to go through again (and again, and again, and again) and get rid of even more.

[PatioGardener]

I was so inspired by this post that I cleaned my closet out and got 5 bags, which I have taken to the city droff off (for women's shelter, etc.) already! Now I am working on my office. Thanks to you all for your motivation!

[goddessjulia]

anyone who wants justification for a cupcake celebration, you can celebrate with me! we filled my jetta wagon AND dh's f150 truck with camper top to the gills and took it ALL to my friend's house for this weekend's yard sale!!!!!!!

now I'm already refilling my car for another trip to her house! remaining to do:
3 boxes ready to go, check for spiders and load in car
4 large garbage bags already out at my MIL's need to be sorted into yard sale/ throw away piles and yard sale items loaded in car
load serger, old vcr
sneak some trash out (ds has trouble parting with empty boxes )
tackle other attic closet (very spider-riffic )
sort/purge stored kid clothes
sort/purge holiday decorations
ginormous trip to recycling drop
must. face. laundry area!

when I finish I will have tackled the entire house!!! I am sooooo motivated right now!!!

[justmeandmybrood]

Julia, you are amazing! Keep up the great work!!!! And keep inspiring all of us, tee hee!

[DTmama1]

Why can't I just trash the random kids art supplies instead of sorting them all back out? Ugh. What a weird hangup to have. Its not like its expensive stuff of anything, just seems like my OCD is kicking into overdrive. That I'm sorting the crayons from the feathers from the beads from the foam shapes etc etc etc etc! On day two of sorting art supplies and its giving me a headache!

[justmeandmybrood]

Aw, DTMama, you can do it! I keep *almost* all the craft supplies out for DD (especially now that she is a new 5 and better able to clean up after herself, lol!). When she was 3, I put away some of the more piddly things for special art projects - I was so overwhelmed with the 2 little ones and having to declutter the art supplies! Could you maybe separate out some of the more piddly things (for us, it was the beads, foam ABCs, sequins, etc.)? As she has gotten older it has gotten easier to reintegrate, and I just make sure things are in their own little bags or bins to help her learn how to separate and organize.

I hope you find a good system that works for you - the dreaded craft area used to be my worst nightmare when the kiddos were younger!

[clutterwarrior]

Originally Posted by DTmama1

Why can't I just trash the random kids art supplies instead of sorting them all back out? Ugh. What a weird hangup to have. Its not like its expensive stuff of anything, just seems like my OCD is kicking into overdrive. That I'm sorting the crayons from the feathers from the beads from the foam shapes etc etc etc etc! On day two of sorting art supplies and its giving me a headache!

Oh you are not alone! Whenever I tackle this I end up sorting them and then wondering what do I do with all these sorted crayons, pencils, etc....And we seem to have so many containers of pens and pencils, not sure how we acquired so many, probably because of my previous clutter problems, I used to just buy more instead of finding them. But I am really tempted to just throw them all away, as DS so rarely does any art or craft now.

[goddessjulia]

Originally Posted by justmeandmybrood

When she was 3, I put away some of the more piddly things for special art projects - I was so overwhelmed with the 2 little ones and having to declutter the art supplies!

I did this too, with various things. dd (3 y.o.) has a penchant for dumping out sets of cards of any kind, and cleaning them back up drives me bonkers. I feel compelled to stay on top of it b/c we have an unresolved water issue in the playroom (translation: flooding when it rains hard). so, I put most of the decks in a small plastic box with snap-on lid and put them away until further down the road. and, tbh, I'm getting rid of several of the decks in the big yard sale this weekend. pompom balls and googly eyes are put away until later, along with most pipe cleaners and tissue paper. I'm recycling a LOT of extra paper now too. I used to keep so much, but they can't even see what's there it's so ridiculous. no more!!

[treeoflife3]

I finished sorting through two boxes in my closet filled with things I've saved from my life - artwork, minor awards, pictures, trinkets, my birth mementos, baptism stuff - and I finally narrowed it down to about a half a box, not even, of things worth keeping.

It was hard letting go of a lot of it but considering I never look at it and don't remember most of the people or anything, it is just space on my shelf. The few things I saved are either too meaningful to just toss (hospital birth announcement) or things my kiddo and future kiddos might enjoy (my kindergarten and first grade notebooks)

My kiddo really loved 'reading' the picture book I made in kindergarten of birds. That made me smile so much... just some colored pictures and barely ledgible words, but she loved it. One of the few things deemed worth keeping ♥

[MommaLura]

I've been doing this, but somehow missed this thread. I could sure use the motivation and praise that you wonderful mamas provide Today I need to tackle the master bedroom and the back porch. I'm really struggling with the bedroom and not sure why.

But, my kitchen is clean (I need to wipe the counter tops)! Over the past month or two we've taken about 5 car loads of stuff to donate, over filled the trash can every week (and yet they're still nice enough to honk at my ds) and have listed some diapers and tricycles to sell. Slow progress, but its progress!

[lizziejeen]

Originally Posted by DTmama1

Why can't I just trash the random kids art supplies instead of sorting them all back out? Ugh. What a weird hangup to have. Its not like its expensive stuff of anything, just seems like my OCD is kicking into overdrive. That I'm sorting the crayons from the feathers from the beads from the foam shapes etc etc etc etc! On day two of sorting art supplies and its giving me a headache!

Ha ha, I do that too!

[cmoma]

I'm in! Every room in my house except my DS's is in chaos My biggest problem I have decided is that its not that I don't have the Space, it's that those things don't have a Place. Everything we own is out and laying everywhere. Which makes cleaning up awful. It doesn't have anywhere to go. It all stemmed from when we moved into our new house which was my inlaws whom decided to leave everything they didn't want for us!!! JOY! Which meant our stuff had to wait to find a home so that I could go thru their stuff. Well not that their stuff is mostly gone I still haven't managed to fill those places with our things....

I totally suck at organizing

Here's hoping I can pare it all down and get it put away somewhere proper!!

[VisionaryMom]

Originally Posted by cmoma

I'm in! Every room in my house except my DS's is in chaos

Same here.

I've de-cluttered many, many times over the past 2 years, but we keep ending up in chaos. I'm trying to figure out why. I know that we somehow continue to accumulate despite my best efforts, but also I think we've never really gotten the house into a set-up that works for us. (We have many common rooms that could be used for anything - no set "that is definitely intended as the living room"- and we can't make up our minds.)

Anyway, yesterday I cleaned out the sunroom. We are all set to get new windows in the end of October, and I think I'll love this room when we get them. We have a big, comfy couch, a small bookshelf, a rolling shopping cart (that we hopefully will start remembering!). I also put up hooks for one backpack for each of us. I need to add 2 end tables w/ lamps, but that's it.

Last night I tackled the kitchen - abandoned the project about 9 PM. I worked on the living room and cut down the puzzles & games to about 1/4 of what we had. I moved the china cabinet (please convince me to get rid of the extra china!) to the living room, took off the doors, and made it the puzzle/building cabinet. I like it - DH will panic. He likes conventional furniture use. The rest of the living room & dining room is a mess, but I'm going to get back to work soon.

On the plus side, I'm being brutal & I'm proud of myself for that.