Moving out all the clutter, in stages

Honestly, don't worry about what the books say, do what will work for you!

With that said, another idea might be to go through your house quickly and start grabbing things that you absolutely know you do not want. Box them up and throw them in your car. On your next trip by the thrift store/consignment shop/whatever you use, drop it off. If you think that you can live without the majority of "things" in your house, this would be a quick way to do it. You'd also see results quickly, too. We have a small storage and I've found that if I put things in there, they get forgotten. It's just easier (for me) to put them directly in my car and get them off my property.

If you do it similar to Clean Sweep, maybe you could try leaving everything "out" in the garage-on tables, etc. Once you have the room "sweeped," you could go to the garage, pick up the items you want back in the house and box up the rest. Just don't let all the boxes sit in the garage forever-get them out!

But again, do what works for you-good luck!

i agree, do what you think will work for you.

our problem is that we have no basement, attic or garage. we only have our living rooms. i went room by room with different colored trash bags. large white bags were for donations or rummage sales. big black bags were for trash. large, paper bags were for recycling. I just went room-by-room. i then rearranged furniture and put everythign away.

it took about 3 months, but the house is in good condition. I have boxes of books that have been sitting in my dining room for a number of weeks--tomorrow they start their journey to the used book store. Since i had the floors done, my nice, organized closets were wrecked--so i have to reorganize them. I have a few pieces of furniture to sell off (two), which are currently being moved into and out of my yoga room (where i work with clients--when i client comes, the furniture is in the bedroom).

Not much left to do--thank goodness!

i didn't go buy any book--i just did what made sense to me.

This is exactly what dh and I want to do. At this point it is just too overwhelming to go through it bit by bit. We have commendered the help of 2 family members and 1 friend who are ruthless with getting rid of clutter. We are going to move everything out of the unfinished part of the basement, EVERYTHING...and only the things we intended to keep are going back in. : Then we will move from room to room until we are done. I need to get this stuff out, it is keeping me up at night. I can actually feel the weight of all this stuff. I hate it. : I don't want my kids to grow up in this with this same weight on them.

It's important to remember what Cutiepatootie mentions above that she is going to do; if you need help, get it. Otherwise you might end up with what we have: a basement full of old clutter that neither one of us is willing to face dealing with. I tend to do much better with the whole "27-fling boogie" thing, using smaller bags, one for true trash, one for give-away, for short intervals. If you can truly empty the garage and get the stuff gone, then go for it; otherwise just be careful not to create another problem. Good luck!

First, I wanted to thank you for posting about this problem here and in your blog. As a daughter of a hoarder-in-denial, I applaud your efforts to declutter your life!

I think getting outside help is a great idea! Just be sure that your helpers understand the anxiety this process causes for you so that they can be considerate of your feelings. Anything you can do to reduce the anxiety will make you more productive - whether that's meditation, hypnosis, medication, etc. You're doing a brave thing - it's the emotional equivalent of an acrophobic looking out the window of a skyscraper! Be proud of yourself for overcoming the compulsion. YOU CAN DO IT!

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