S/O what is your reason...

[mommaof3boz]

Any person who is unable to declutter has a reason. And it is totally valid to them. What stops you when its time to get rid of things? It took me a long time to get over my mothers brainwashing of collections. She has so many collections that I thought everyone had them. ie dishes, glassware, etc. Then one day I realized I hated knicky knacky stuff. I hated "stuff" in general. I realized her way isn't wrong, just wrong for me. I felt so light and free when I started getting rid of things.

I mentioned my sil in another thread who is storing all her mil's crap in her basement for years. mil is alive and well. no reason for it to be there. however, my sil is the most passive person ever. although the crap bothers her, she's to afraid to make anyone mad about it, so there it sits.

If you are comfortable sharing...what is your reason?

[OkiMom]

My Dh loves knick knacks and I hate them so we always arguring about that. I love books and never know what Ill want to reread so I have a tendency to keep books so I won't have to rebuy them. Im getting better though, when I got married I went through all the boxes I had at my Dad's house and went from almost 2000 books to about 200. They are all in storage right now so when I get back to the states Im sure Ill probably cut that down to 50 or so.
My father/mother both liked to keep magazines and I thought it was totally normal to have magazines from 5-10 years ago. Now the only magzines I keep are church related and even then it has to be a special one (like when the prophet died I kept the magaizine that had an editorial on him).
I love pictures and I have problems letting go of them. Im working on scrapbooking and any pictures not going into the scrapbook Im going to scan on the computer and trash the hardcopy.
I have two binders of awards I have gotten since starting high school. I call them my feel good binders because it reminds me that I do have some good qualities (I have a really severe problem with low self esteem- it gets so bad that I become severely depressed). Eventually Im going to go through and keep the most important ones and toss the rest.
Im sure theres more but right now Im avoiding cleaning and should probably go start..

[superstella]

Until now, I'd say I keep stuff because I can. I have a spacious 2 story, 4BR house with storage in the attic and basement. Plenty of room for my stuff, my sister's stuff, etc. Now I'm regretting all this stuff as I prepare to move my family of 7 into a very small space. No more!:

[Porcelain Interior]

Well I'm OCD and have that little hoarding gene, but for me it's because I attach memories and sentiment to physical objects. I'm not sure if that is due to my mother rejecting me, and living in a home where emotions pos/neg were downplayed and discouraged or if I was just born sensitive.

I'm INFP in personality so highly emotional and sensitive and I think I just started "tagging" my stuff instead of people. Like say my mom gets me a small item for my birthday. Well because she can't show love that item becomes a token of her love, so if anything happens to it for me it would feel just horrible.

I get severely attached to people as well, but can't really show it so again the items are where I put my "love." It sounds strange.

The main reason right now that I don't declutter is fatigue. I know that even if I tackle it all no one else in the house will care or help maintain the new spaces so what's the point.

Sounds more dire than I mean it to though, I really only have one room that's packed with boxes of stuff.

My house is generally got things on surfaces, but is not dirty. I would like it to look neater to the eye though. Unfortunately I birthed two packrat/messies and my husband though organized doesn't care what the house looks like so there you go.

I'm beaten down. I need inspiration, like the kind that wants to help me pack up this stuff!

[Miss Information]

Mine would be these, in no particular order

1. buying too much crafty things before I can ever get to the project.

2. buying multiples - more than I need - because something was a fab sale or clearance (like when I bought $20 worth of washable markers because they were $1 a box last August - the kids go through them, but not THAT fast. I probably have a couple of years worth).

3. changing my room arrangement multiple times, consequently the room is in disarray

4. garage sale shopping (a weakness), buying other people's junk - I feel like a treasure hunter, but other peoples trash sometimes turns out to be a mistake or a treasure that is used only for the short term, then it becomes my trash.

5. getting overwhelmed - having all the stuff with no homes, things pile up, the place starts looking like a tornado hit it, then you don't know where to start.

6. Having 3 kids that I can't let go outside while I declutter/clean. I live in a bilevel, so my back deck is one level up and I can't see the ground from the house - so if they are outside, I must go with them.

7. It's not always fun to declutter. Not at the beginning, anyway, when you are looking at your piles of stuff. But when you get started, and you see progress, it makes you want to make more, but only if you can keep at it (and send the kids to grandma's in my case).

8. It takes time, energy and space to deal with your stuff. It's a S-L-O-W process, especially if you want to deal with it responsibly (recycle-freecycle-sell-donate etc). If you just want to chuck things to the curb, it's not as difficult, but then you are just filling up the landfills and that's not good.

[kirstenb]

My main problem is that I think I will use everything again and so I must keep it for that. Like, the clothes in my closet I haven't worn in years. Or old shoes. Kitchen gadgets that are never used. An oversupply of cheap plastic cups (I swear they breed in there). Etc, etc.

I also have a problem of getting rid of things that hold sentimental value to me. Old photos, things from my childhood, things I have bought on past trips. I really need to the time to go through everything and decide if it's important enough to keep or not. Easier said than done...

[wannabe]

Originally Posted by Miss Information

1. buying too much crafty things before I can ever get to the project.

that is me, I'm working on finishing everything ATM

[Anna06]

Wow what a great question.

Without sounding like a jerk, I wish I knew why I can't seem to declutter??
This is something to think about.........

My dh, is certainly my worst enemy. He keeps everything, I mean everything. And he gets very upset if I move/throw out anything. It is a hugh battle. Some days I don't feel like it's worth the fight kwim? BUT lately I'm thinking I got to do something.......

And I've been trying to clean/unclutter one thing a day.....slow going

[fioner]

I have the problem of not being able to just "throw" things away. I'm not attached to them, I want them out of my house, but I don't want to just put them in the landfill. Freecycle takes some effort, which I don't mind, it's just a little time consuming. We can only put a certain amount of recycling out to the curb at one time, and we already recycle at least 3 times as much as we put out for trash.

Anyway, disposal is the only thing that comes between me and a clutter-free home.

[ZanZansMommy]

Originally Posted by kirstenb

My main problem is that I think I will use everything again and so I must keep it for that. Like, the clothes in my closet I haven't worn in years....

This is my DH's issue to a tee. I get so tired of hearing, "I may need that some day." My rule is if you didn't know it was in your closet or you haven't worn it, read it, used it or played with it for 2 yrs it's time to GO. This has served me well but I've never been a pack rat like DH. the only thing I hold onto are photos.

[OkiMom]

I thought of a couple more reasons as well..
1) I see something and think of how much I paid for it and it seems wasteful to get rid of it and "waste" the money. For example I have a laptop that i got three years ago. We have another one and two desktops so we don't need this one but I feel bad about getting rid of it because I know I won't get close to what I paid for it.
2) Thinking my daughter needs EVERYTHING I see for her age when all she really wants is my attention and love.. she also doesn't play with them..
3) Closets are a weakness. That might sound weird but when I don't want to deal with something i stuff it into a closet. Out of sight out of mind

[mommaof3boz]

Those are actually the things I'm talking about. There are truely underlying reasons people do/don't do everything. It makes no difference how many times people without those reasons tell someone "just get rid of it" "read this book it will help" blah, blah until the person actually overcomes the hurdle nothing will happen. It is simply not in their ability. How does a person who truely wants to let things go overcome the hurdle? With me it was a gradual realization with a final AHA moment. But mine was so much less deep seeded than others. It broke my heart to read Porcelain's reasoning. Those reasons are huge. Maybe its perfectly fine for her NOT to get rid of her things. Maybe keeping those things are what keeps her "together" and happy. Maybe not...

I'm going to clip bits out of several posts:

I feel bad about getting rid of it because I know I won't get close to what I paid for it.

my daughter needs EVERYTHING I see for her age when all she really wants is my attention and love

I've never been a pack rat like DH. the only thing I hold onto are photos.

I have the problem of not being able to just "throw" things away

Some days I don't feel like it's worth the fight kwim? BUT lately I'm thinking I got to do something

I think I will use everything again and so I must keep it for that

I really need to the time to go through everything and decide if it's important enough to keep or not. Easier said than done...

getting overwhelmed - having all the stuff with no homes, things pile up, the place starts looking like a tornado hit it, then you don't know where to start.

It takes time, energy and space to deal with your stuff.

for me it's because I attach memories and sentiment to physical objects.

I know that even if I tackle it all no one else in the house will care or help maintain the new spaces so what's the point.

Now I'm regretting all this stuff

I call them my feel good binders because it reminds me that I do have some good qualities (I have a really severe problem with low self esteem- it gets so bad that I become severely depressed).

WOW...now how do we tackle this???

[vm9799]

my reason is pure laziness. :

[Miss Information]

Originally Posted by Anna06

Wow what a great question.

Without sounding like a jerk, I wish I knew why I can't seem to declutter??
This is something to think about.........

My dh, is certainly my worst enemy. He keeps everything, I mean everything. And he gets very upset if I move/throw out anything. It is a hugh battle. Some days I don't feel like it's worth the fight kwim? BUT lately I'm thinking I got to do something.......

And I've been trying to clean/unclutter one thing a day.....slow going

While my dh doesn't necessarily save everything for a reason, he just doesn't clean up the messes he makes. Like he opened up a parcel from UPS to get a part out, then he leaves the large box and peanuts in it on the kitchen floor while he goes off to the basement. I called him up to take care of it, instead of let him get away with it.

[kathirynne]

[Miss Information]

Originally Posted by mommaof3boz

Those are actually the things I'm talking about. There are truely underlying reasons people do/don't do everything. It makes no difference how many times people without those reasons tell someone "just get rid of it" "read this book it will help" blah, blah until the person actually overcomes the hurdle nothing will happen. It is simply not in their ability. How does a person who truely wants to let things go overcome the hurdle? With me it was a gradual realization with a final AHA moment. But mine was so much less deep seeded than others. It broke my heart to read Porcelain's reasoning. Those reasons are huge. Maybe its perfectly fine for her NOT to get rid of her things. Maybe keeping those things are what keeps her "together" and happy. Maybe not...

I'm going to clip bits out of several posts:


WOW...now how do we tackle this???

For me the things that have helped (and this is only like in the past week):

1. Getting dh to take a large dining room table and some bags to Goodwill. Had I bothered to check, I would have realized that they are open til 7 pm. Instead, it had been sitting in my garage for 2 months because I didn't think they were open past 6. It cost me time making the wrong assumptions. I've had a goal of filling 1 bag a day of stuff for the past 2 weeks . It's helped. Having dh take things to the Goodwill store or the drop box if it's not too large really does help. I'm working on my stuff and the kids first, and then the next thing I'm going to help with is help dh make some decisions on his stuff (though I did get him to choose between 4 leather jackets he had - two of which he bought and two he inherited).

2. Having MIL take the kids for an overnighter. They were gone from 1 pm Tuesday to 2 pm Wednesday. It was so nice only to have myself here to take care of while I declutter. BUT - IT was critical for me to force myself to stay HOME, stay OFF the computer, and DEAL with my stuff. I turned on some music, made a fresh coffee, and resisted every urge I had to go anywhere (I mean, having a whole 24 hours without kids, who really wants to declutter). But I promised myself if I did, I'd go out later this week as my reward (that's coming today ).

3. Build in breaks and rewards. 1 hours worth of work = 10 minutes of a coffee/tea break (set a timer). Play inspirational/upbeat music.

4. Getting rid of things I paid good money for is hard, but I try see it as blessing someone else. And it makes me think twice about what I need in the future. I can't do much about the mistakes of the past (except admit it was a mistake and move on), but I can prevent mistakes in the future.

[scrapadoozer]

Originally Posted by vm9799

my reason is pure laziness. :

I am afflicted with that condition sometimes as well!

[Momtwice]

The clutter keeps people from visiting me and then they can't hurt me.

Healthy, no.

[happyhats]

wow, there are some really touching responses here.

Right now my house isn't too bad. Yet I own more than I have in a very long time, if not ever. I tend to fill my surroundings, which I'm not sure is healthy or not. However, I'm not running out of room, and I do pare down regularly, so at least there is that.

I like to shop, especially at thrift stores/garage sales/flea markets. I am in awe of the one of a kind. I've started to overcome this, more for ecomonic reasons than cluttering. Going yardsaling isn't cheap if you spend twenty to fourty bucks a weekend on things you don't really need, period. I had to teach myself that lesson.

I am also one of those people that tends to keep things just in case, usually a more expensive item, but I also used to buy multiples of things like hygiene products etc as well. I think this comes from living in severe poverty and knowing I had those things gave me a sense of safety and comfort.

Also, I live with my husband and I can't really bring myself to cull his things. So even though he's not a packrat really, I know he owns things he doesnt' really use, but I feel it would be disrepectful to just get rid of them.

I thought of another reason I'm not getting rid of things right now. I'm pregnant and I have no idea what clothes or shoes, etc, I'll be using once this is over. My feet swell sometimes, and I've gotten even clumsier, so it's always my comfy shoes (plus, hello, summer). Some of my pre pregnancy clothes still fit, but less do every day. I have about a box of those that I'm keeping around to see if I ever fit in again, lol. I have a lot of baby stuff that has been given to me that I don't know if I'll use or not, etc.

[flowmom]

• this thing represents a loved one
• this thing represents a memory (and I have a bad memory)
• I'll finish this project
• this is perfectly good, it just needs to be fixed
• I'm too overwhelmed
• I have to go through this room/box properly (=perfectionism)
• it's dh's stuff that's the problem (rather than dealing with my own stuff)
• delayed decision-making