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Grrr..Can't stand all this crap anymore!!!!!!

post #1 of 13
4/14/11 at 3:59pm
Thread Starter 

I have been doing the 2011 challenge but I feel like I am getting no where. I just can't stand all this crap anymore. My bedroom is a holding storage right now for all my garage sale stuff since my shed is currently being fixed. It is irritating me! My garage sale is at the beginning of May, so maybe I can hold out until then......or not. I think I am just gonna put all this crap in the shed anyways.....

 

I also have a lot of clutter magnets. The side tables, coffee table and countertops are always full of crap, no matter how often I clear them off. Getting DH to get rid of anything is like wrestling a bear and winning...it's just not gonna happen. I have tons of stuff that I am getting rid of, but it just seems like it's not enough.

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post #2 of 13
4/14/11 at 11:52pm

I am hearing you....I have bags of stuff sitting in my craft room and lining the garage waiting to be taken to donate. Plus I have other bags and boxes full of stuff I am supposed to list on ebay....sigh!!

 

And those clutter magnets are just that....you clear them off then before you know it, they are piled with stuff again. I cleared a table last week only because I saw a spider hiding under some of the stuff, and after that I noticed how great it looked with less stuff....but today it looks just as crowded again!  Spidey...your hidey place is ready for you.....

 

I think there is something wrong with me because I never seem to be able to keep flat surfaces clear, well not in high traffic areas of the house anyway....

post #3 of 13
4/15/11 at 6:45am

I know exactly what you mean!  I spent much of 2009 going through every room in our home and decluttering bigtime (or so I thought!).  Then I saw the 2010 challenge and I thought maybe I could get rid of a few more things.  I went through every room again in 2010 and got rid of approximately 1200 more things.  I did not count garbage, only things that were good enough to be donated to the Goodwill.  How could this be???  Granted, we do have 2 grandmothers who live fairly close and are always bringing things over for my kids, but still.  I think I finally have the house in a much better place.  It is just amazing to me how much stuff we accumulated. 

 

One thing that really helped was we painted our family room, living room, dining room, and kitchen in the fall.  We moved all of the furniture out of the rooms, painted, and then slowly put things back until the room looked good.  We ended up eliminating a lot of furniture this way.  I'm wondering if the clutter magnets you mention could be removed from the room?  What if you had less furniture that would gather stuff?  It might be a fun exercise to move everything out of the room with the idea of rearranging and minimizing.  Just bring your favorite things in and see if it looks better with less.

 

I think it takes a long time to get to a better place, so be gentle on yourself.  Best wishes Mama!

post #4 of 13
4/15/11 at 9:23pm
Thread Starter 

We are selling the PS2 with all the games and complete rockband set (guitar and huge drums) so those will be gone ...soon, i hope. The countertop is coneccted to my kitchen so that will forever remain a clutter magnet. I have been thinking about my 2 side tables and coffee table in my living room. I might get rid of them and look for something smaller with no drawers. And my fireplace mantel always has stuff on it. Haven't decided what to do about that yet. on the plus side, we got rid of ALL of the DVD's. We don't ever watch them since we have cable. And if i want to see a movie that bad again, i can rent it at the library.

 

On the plus side I cleared off many spaces yesterday so hopefully they will stay crap free for a little while....now to re-organize my shelves...

 

 

post #5 of 13
4/16/11 at 4:19pm

Hugs... its never ending and some days the whole 'clutter' things is worse than others around here.  Some days I want to cry, some times I want to scream.. but I will not give up and I will not be defeated.  I will beat the clutter and junk!

post #6 of 13
4/16/11 at 5:11pm
Thread Starter 

I put all that crap in the shed today. But behold...there is more crap underneath it!!!  Where does it all come from? Does it multiply when I am not looking??

post #7 of 13
4/16/11 at 5:40pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by zebra15 View Post

 I will not give up and I will not be defeated.  I will beat the clutter and junk!

 

      yeahthat.gif
 

 

post #8 of 13
4/17/11 at 7:25am

I like sleepypeanut's advice about getting rid of clutter-catchers.  I got rid of my coffee table for that very reason, and as an added bonus, my living room looks so much bigger now!

post #9 of 13
4/17/11 at 5:10pm
I'm feeling that way to oftn it seems worse when the clutter in my head is worse and some days it's not that bad thatbeign said I'm going to go find a few more things before I drop this to be donated box off and am hopei one day I'm not spending so much time declutering
post #10 of 13
4/18/11 at 12:20pm
I hate our "breakfast bar"...it's a total clutter magnet. We never wanted it, but the builders accidentally installed it. Wish looking back now that we'd made as much of a fuss to get them to take it back out as we did when they didn't follow our wishes on one of the kitchen cabinets!! It'll NEVER get used as a breakfast bar...but it gives us a flat surface between the kitchen and living room that is easily three times as wide as the simple half wall would have been...so where we never would have used the half wall as any place to set stuff beyond maybe a cell phone and a post-it pad, the breakfast bar collects junk every time we turn our back to it (I swear the stuff is mating and having babies)!!
post #11 of 13
4/18/11 at 5:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by PeacefulSeams View Post
 And my fireplace mantel always has stuff on it. Haven't decided what to do about that yet. o

 


maybe if you decorate it - clean it off and arrange some ornaments and photos or whatever you have.  I did this on our bookshelf and it stopped collecting stacks of paper and books.

post #12 of 13
4/19/11 at 4:20pm
Thread Starter 

So I decorated my mantle with pictures but alas!!! it still collected clutter!!!!

 

I cleaned out my kitchen today. DH helped me but it was like pulling bear teeth to get him to part with anything "but it's part of a set"  "but we need 3 cooking spoons" But I need 40 knives" " We need 2 coffee pots.....1 for coffee and 1 for tea" "but it's memorabilia"

 

next thing on thursday ( my next day off) is the bathroom. Maybe I will tell DH to go fishing ;)

post #13 of 13
4/19/11 at 7:17pm
We are going to sell our 50" TV and Xbox360 and DVD player...I can't hardly wait!! Then we won't even need to have an entertainment center in the living room...just the couch, love seat, and the wine cabinet (which we will eventually sell as well, but I'm okay with keeping for now cause it's nice to have a place to display pictures...and for some reason it doesn't collect stuff as badly as the breakfast bar, dresser top, or bathroom counter!! :-P
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