Stuff.....stored for years, and decluttered in seconds!

[clutterwarrior]

Just wanted to share my own decluttering rush.. Today I had to take some things to my son's school for the school carnival, but the catch was I found out I had to get the things there in just ten minutes time, before they stopped collecting.

So I raced down to my garage, and just hauled bags off the shelves, filled with toys. Some of the bags I didn't even bother opening! I just knew from the outlines that they held toys, ones which had been stored there for years.

With little time to think or take things out and agonize over them, I just tossed all these bags in the car and took them to the school. I was so frantic trying to make the cut off time I didn't have time to feel an ounce of regret, and I still don't.

It's so nice to see big gaps on the shelves in the garage now where once were bags of toys!  

Not sure how I can replicate this 'working under pressure' to get rid of more things...but I think maybe I am onto something here....

[youngspiritmom]

This is indeed an insight. One thought I use to help me get in this mindset is: if my house were to burn down tomorrow, what would be the really important things that I would want to keep, or would need to start over in a new house?

A bit extreme, yet, but it can really help. Do I really need all the extra binders and school supplies "just in case?" Do I really need those old crutches "just in case?" Do I really need x "just in case?"

I also think, if my house burns down, what would I not even remember that I had in there? That's usually something to declutter.

[mkksmom]

Wow! That's impressive! I have been prepping mentally to do another big declutter. I finished 2011 things in June and I stopped counting. Since then, I have lost motivation a bit. But the gears are turning, and I'm almost there.

[philomom]

Go you!

[mamapigeon]

Clutterwarrior- That is awesome!

[mamaupupup]

:) we actually live adjacent to a high risk fire zone and were evacuated a few years ago due to wildfire!  Yep, that put things into perspective!  Really made me want to make sure I've scanned old pictures!!!!!

[clutterwarrior]

Thanks all...that's a good point regarding what we would save if we knew a fire would destroy it all.

I am going to sit down and write a list of what exactly I would MISS if a fire did indeed burn my house down...apart from losing the obvious shelter, and intangible qualities that go with feeling at home in a familiar space...just the things that I might regret having lost.

[canadiangranola]

I had a similar experience when a friend was bringing clothes for kids on her trip to Kenya. I was able to go through my kids clothes with great abandon, assessing whether my kids would wear each item a handful of times or wear it to threadbare, as the children I had met in West Africa had done. It was easy to get rid of soo much when I knew it would be used way more than it ever would sitting in a basket in our bedroom.

Anno