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2017 Organize and Declutter

11K views 84 replies 14 participants last post by  orangemomma 
#1 ·
Welcome to 2017!

Lets keep on going and help each other get organized and declutter. Physical stuff, mental stuff. Whatever you need help with, someone on here can probably help!
 
#2 ·
This morning I took a few minutes and turned all my hangers backward in my closet. The idea being when I put things back from the laundry they will be hung 'correctly' and anything not worn this year will get donated. It will easy to tell because they will still be hanging backwards.
 
#4 ·
I want to work on the spare bedroom in my house. There shouldn't be anything in there, but there are quite a few boxes of things we don't need. Old textbooks, furniture, etc. With a move coming up in around 6 months, I would like to get rid of about 50% of my stuff. Probably won't happen, but I really hope I can do it. I hate moving with a passion.
 
#6 ·
Had a minor flood in the crisper section of the fridge. Got rid of about 10 items of produce and gave the bottom of the fridge a good cleaning. Much better to err on the side of caution then get sick from eating something. So... we are low, very low on produce but we can start fresh with new things in a couple weeks.

25 items
$0.00
 
#9 ·
I helped my mom declutter

LOL.

She gave me some of her fabric stash...we'll see if I can make anything decent my sewing skills are pretty ad hoc and imperfect. I did manage, before xmas, to go through my button bin and restore one my hubby shirts that had virtually no buttons left. I have my MIL button collection I kid you not, I inherited it. I could probably put buttons on articles of clothing for my whole street.

I keep a "to donate" bag of clothes so that when I find something that fits better/looks better I try to purge the old things. I was thinking about making a girls dress out of a men's linen shirt for a friend but haven't done it (yet). I used to use old clothes to patch jeans and the like. Oh, I did make a weird pillow out of some of my vintage fabrics for my inlaws, not sure if they'll keep it...

I finally got a drapery rod to hang a curtain that had been languishing in storage (using drapery clips I got from a yard sale), god I'm such a hoarder. I have yards of a gorgeous bark cloth type vintage fabric but as yet no place for it. Oh and my hubby used up the vinyl from my fabric odds and ends for a chair that was salvaged from the curb, and stained it with stain left over from a (flooring?) project. Recycling all around.

I've been (already!) putting together an Easter "basket" for my nephew, it's funny what I've squirrelled away around the house, like a brand new frisbee I'd intended to give someone but never did. I'm really trying to root out the clutter and put things to use. My nephew has been getting things like the pair of hockey gloves someone must have given my son (why did we still have them?) and a pencil with a dinosaur on it I picked up at a museum.

I was just watching a documentary on Vivien Maier (sp?) who hoarded rolls and rolls of unprocessed film and sheets upon sheets of negatives, it's too bad she couldn't have gotten affiliated with a gallery when she was younger, it would have helped with the costs of storage etc.
 
#10 ·
my latest set up password WORKS (after 4 + months when i had to re create a new one each time i wanted to log in) => i'll be lurking around much more from now on, since i definitely NEED the support of this thread to tackle the decluttering which would leave my mind as well as physical space ... in a much better state !!!
 
#12 ·
what a good idea, i should try to get into the habit of spending 10 minutes every day .... it certainly should be better than ... nothing most days !
it's just that i'm such a "all or nothing" type .... AND i know that most of the sore spots i have around the house would need far more than 10 minutes, that i can't even find the motivation to start !!!
 
#14 ·
we are about 1/2 way through winter here. come the end of march, if i havent worn the winter clothes this season the plan is to donate them. I am NOT happy with the way the lease is headed this year and I am very unhappy with things and the official changes dont start until 2/1/17. there is much decluttering and 'no buying' do happen this year.
 
#15 ·
My niece and nephew are getting all sorts of 'odds and ends' for valentines/easter/bday etc. They are going to be 2 and 4 this spring. Decluttering the 'present pile' this year. Sending off snacks from the pantry to fill the box. All sorts of odds and ends to round out the 'gift'.
 
#17 ·
Today was a 'big' day for me.
First of all I took kiddo to the resale book shoppe and we unloaded 13 books and received $10 cash, so not too shabby.
I tossed 2 magazines, 2 medicare books, 2 pcs of junk from the counter and I went through my art/coloring pages and after years of feeling like I HAD to collect and save every thing I made I tossed most of them- probably over 100 pcs of paper went to recycle. No zebra you do not need to keep every mandala that you color, every dot-to-dot that you make. Its ok to make something then toss it. Its ok to only keep your favorites in a binder. Its ok to cull the binder and change your favorites as time passes. This concept of having an opinion and a changing opinion is HUGE for me.

So today we have:
10 books
2 magazines
2 medicare books
2 junk
100 papers
and $10 profit

NEW TOTAL 156 items

$10.00 recouped.
 
#18 ·
inspiring .... i should get off my butt and leave the computer and tackle the accumulated clutter i moved from the sidboard and dumped on the dining room table 2 days ago (we eat in the kitchen, DD1 clears up a little corner to put her computer on & study ...)... was hoping that some of the kids would help out ... that has not happened much SO ... i TOO should get into that way of thinking = there's no need to keep every piece of paper on which "something" has been drawn ... off i go !!!
 
#22 ·
am still trailing far far behind in term of decluttering ... i know it's very much needed ... yet i'm getting too anxious the minute i start to tackle some of it ...

the irony of it all is that i went on a week long visit to a nearly empty nester relative and i could picture very well how simpler their life would be, day to day, after they would "loose" some of the now needed items; for exemple, in the sewing box, some of these old fashioned embroided name tags to be sewn on clothes for residential camps .... for their now grown up kids, age ranging from 24 to 32, ... for sure these will never be needed any more !!! ...yet i realise how cluttered my sewing boxes are ... and how i lack the drive to actually do something about it, hamped by ... too much anxiety i suppose ...
 
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