[Princess77]

First of all I'd like to say that I'm new to this forum and I joined because I feel like I can get motivated by what others are doing to their homes.

So far last week I decluttered 6 thirty gallon bags full of stuff to our local rescue mission. I was excited but I want to keep up my motivation.

: I also got rid of a lot of my boys' clothes and toys (ages 11 and 8) to my nephew and niece. I would say that was probably another almost full thirty gallon bag. I had to let go of the guilt of not having a yard sale and just feel relieved that this stuff is gone.

I told my sis about it and she said wow you shouldn't have any more clutter but you would be amazed at what you do have if you look around. She has a full basement she can throw her junk in while upstairs looks good. I live in a 14'x60' single wide mobile home. So you see my need to declutter! I love my home and do not want to move so I want to live simply.

I know watching shows like Clean Sweep with Peter Walsh has helped me plus reading his books. I've been looking over the internet for more help because I want a clean organized home. I came across this forum and figured why not!

 

[doubledutch]

i think what initially triggered my need to declutter was the impending home birth of my now-2-year-old and my dread about the 36 week home visit. i realized i couldn't possibly put away everything that was in my home, so some of it had to go. i just started boxing it up and stacking boxes under our dining room table and nagging dh to carry them out to the garage, because i didn't have energy or time for much more than that as a pregnant ft wohm to a toddler.

after ds was born, life got busy and i put my efforts on hold until the following winter. i found this forum and was inspired by the idea of "squalor survivors" - meaning, i realized i needed to do better for my kids. i even posted a sign next to our front door that said "we don't want our kids to be squalor survivors."

i started working on the house by night and the best thing *ever* happened when my aunt moved to town and spent a few evenings and a few very long days helping me. she was living in a hotel while house-shopping and needed a project, lol. my heavens, we filled a dumpster with trash, literally, it was all trash; made runs to the goodwill, posted "curb alerts" on craigslist, we got rid of soooooooo much (from a 720 sq ft house!). i ended up moving last spring, a couple months after my dear aunt started helping me, and it was insane how much crap we still had.

needless to say, i'm still working on this. i try hard not to buy "organizing solutions" until i'm certain that what i have needs to stay and what space it properly belongs in. defining the function of each room has really helped. it makes it easier for me to realize that xyz doesn't belong there and needs a different home, or has to go.

the hard things for me to part with are the works-in-progress. if i've half-knit something, i want to keep it, even if i don't particularly want to finish it, because i've put time and money into it. which is dumb. why put more time into it?! then there are the things i think i'll use when i get myself together. i try to let go of that idea and keep only what serves the life my family and i are living now.

hth. good luck!

 

[CultivatingMyRoots]

Wow, I hadn't even thought about the 36 week home visit, that's a brilliant motivator!

Usually what motivates me is feeling 'judged' or ashamed. If I don't want someone to see my house, or part of my house, then obviously something is wrong, and it's usually not the other person's fault.

I also think I equate clutter with irresponsibility and negative energy, and whenever we visit someone with hoarding issues or generally disorganized space, I come home on a 'high' to get some organizing/cleaning done.

However, if I stay in the house too long and don't get out and about, the house tends to spiral down. That's also a huge trigger for my depression (not enough socializing AND messiness) so that keeps me motivated.

Decluttering is good for my health!

 

[Yooper]

I am motivated by watching my mom and her hoarding problems. I do not want to live like that! While, I have never had a hoarding problem and I would not even say I have had a real clutter problem, there was a day when I realized I had the tendency to keep far more items than I will need or use. It was one of those revealing moments when I realized I *could* become like my mom if I kept up that mindset. This was several years ago. Knowing this helped us to seek out a house that does not allow for much storage. If you have nowhere to put it, you have to think a lot harder about the decision to keep or get an item.

 

[Princess77]

I think filling up the 30 gallon black trash bags have helped me because I will try to find more stuff just to reach my goal of filling it up! The bag must be black for me or I will see the stuff and perhaps want to change my mind. My problem is that I get overwhelmed with it all and struggle with guilt issues.
My mom is a major hoarder and got on to me as a kid when I tried to clean my room she would even go through my trash and make me keep stuff. I have come to the point where I am thoroughly disgusted with it all and am detaching myself from the objects. I ask myself if I would go into a store and buy it again if not i must not LOVE it. I just want to surround myself with the things I love.

:

 

[Danidama]

Hi, just wanted to link to a thread I wrote a year ago. I'm not the same person I used to be, and I probably do things a little differently now, but it all still pretty much applies to my life now.

The point is, being free of stuff that doesn't matter to me, or stuff I don't use has made ME feel more free to enjoy life! I wish I only owned 5 or 10 things, but I don't think that'll happen till our daughter and any future kids are grown and off to their own races.

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...ght=minimalist

hths! Have fun! I LOVE getting rid of junk. RunAround recently said in the 'Passing down the burden of clutter' thread, "...Of course, I'm the grim reaper of [email protected]", and I think that is beyond awesome.

ETA: My best friend is doing some decluttering atm and moving across the country this summer (as are we!), and I wrote this to her today. It's just thoughts and motivators that help me the most. Thought it might help you too.

Remember (if you want to, that is):

If you don't love it or use it, send it on to someone who can use it and will get enjoyment out of it.

If it doesn't make you happy, you don't need it in your home.

Only have things in your home that you love, are beautiful and useful.

If you have sentimental things that you don't really want to keep forever, take a picture of the object(s) instead.

The person is not the thing!

I don't want Molly to have the burden of having to go through a house full of stuff after we die. I want to have a few things that I love, so she knows what was important to us, instead of wondering what was junk or not!

I'm not bringing anything I don't love and use all the time with me across the country, that's for darn sure! I've got an excuse to say, "Have I used this in the last month? WILL I use it in the next month? No? Gone." ;^)

---------------
Someone on MDC wrote this that stuck with me really well!

"Think for a moment if everything were gone. Allow yourself to be emotionally disconnected from everyTHING, remember, it's just THINGS. Than purge away. Do all the salvation army/recycling trips first. Then when you're down to you're essentials, it'll be fun to pack because you'll be thinking about where you're going to be putting it in your new place."

---------------
And this, from that book Shelter for the Spirit (great book! I wanted to pass it on to you, since I've read it three times!)

"Test the contents of each room in your house or apartment with these two questions: "Is it serving a purpose?" and "Does it make me happy?"

---------------

---------------
Hope this helps you think about things in a way that works for you :^)

Hey, check out this thread too (it's about making a big move; I made a post a few posts down on it too):

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...476&highlight=

 

[Tangled Hill]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danidama And this, from that book Shelter for the Spirit (great book! I wanted to pass it on to you, since I've read it three times!) "Test the contents of each room in your house or apartment with these two questions: "Is it serving a purpose?" and "Does it make me happy?"

I

this book! Talk about inspiration! Definitely my all-time favorite homemaking book.

I like to browse through pictures of beautiful houses online - not the ones that look like no one lives there, but the ones that look homey and lived-in, but decluttered. There are some good threads filled with pics like these on Mothering.

I also like to declutter and beautify a small part of a room, like a corner or a bookcase. Somehow, that spurs me to take on the rest.

 

[mamadelbosque]

I'm doing some major decluttering right now. Its motivated mostly by the fact that I need to get our upstairs re-arranged in anticipation of the new baby come in August. I need to have space for its stuff, and to make my old room feel more like it 'belongs' to DS than to me. So, I'm forcing myself to get rid of lots and lots of my old books and my old toys - essentially stuff that I've kept for the last 15-20 years just cause'. I've given myself a couple shelves at the top of my old bookshelf for "my" stuff... but the rest needs to be for DS. And its way hard.

 

[NicaG]

I find it difficult to relax in a cluttered house. As a sahm, I spend a lot of time at home, and I like to be able to enjoy my home. I also find it much easier and faster to clean a decluttered home, because there's not a lot of extra stuff around to put away, and there's a home for everything. And I like having things in my home that are relevant and interesting to me now, not reminders of interests I've outgrown and left behind.

and btw, our house is not totally decluttered by any means--there are good rooms and bad rooms. It's a work in progress.

 

[bohmproof]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NicaG I find it difficult to relax in a cluttered house. As a sahm, I spend a lot of time at home, and I like to be able to enjoy my home.

This is exactly how I feel!

Durring my first pregnancy i spent every weekend driving to Portland (60 miles one way) to clean out my grandpa's house because he was about to loose it.. the medics couldn't get into the house to remove his roommate because 1) she was way to heavy 350lb range and 2) they only had trails through the house.. trail to the microwave, bedrooms and living room recliners.

it was disgusting!!!!!

Nothing was thrown out, right down to boxes of slightly used napkins because they were the nice paper ones.. safety caps from deoderant? to a 30 gallon gbge can foll of bread clips...

My mil is like this as well, only she doesn't want to landfill anything as she feels guilty, but it doesn't get repurposed or recycled.. just piled around her. uke
She also hangs on to anything that had sentiment to someone close to her, not just her sentimental stuff. (that was your great aunt so and so's favorate pillow, i have to keep it..)

I go by the six month rule: if I haven't used it in the last 6 months, or don't plan to use in the next six months, I don't need it.

I am not sentimental: I don't keep happy birthday cards, I don't hang on to christmas photos from random co-workers, I don't need the service notice from random estranged family or semi-aquaintences, old letters.. it's all clutter to me.

 

[jtbuko]

Clutter

 

[Abarat]

My mental health is the main reason I declutter. I find it hard to concentrate and enjoy the house when it's too cluttered.

When there's a lot of clutter I waste a ton of time just staring at everything wondering what needs to go where and whether I really feel like dealing with it....it's frustrating.

Until the past couple years I used to keep my life pretty decluttered because I was prone to moving long distances at the drop of a hat, usually trying to fit everything I needed/wanted in a standard pickup. That sure helps keep your posessions down. LOL My mom always said 3 moves is as good as a fire! LOL

 

[Happiestever]

I like to declutter because it makes me feel better to live a simpler life style. I like the idea of having less - less to clean, less to put away, less to fret over. Just LESS! And now that we are moving, I am hoping to find that we have less than I thought. I hope it's mostly half used shampoo and lotion bottles that I can freecycle instead

. I love getting rid of things that I know I will never use again. It makes me feel free.

: This is all the motivation I need - knowing that I will have less to clean and then to move.

 

[Oliver's Mama]

first of all, welcome!

My main motivation for decluttering is my ds.. I'm constantly thinking about how the environment I create will effect him. In the long term, I don't want him having piles of stuff to deal with when I die, and I don't want him to grow up to be a clutterbug, and in the short term, I want him to have a home that is safe to play in and is not overstimulating with junk everywhere, and there is only enough stuff so that everything has a proper home, so he can learn where to find things for himself and clean up when done. He's still little, but someday soon, he'll want to start making his own decisions about what to keep, and I pray that I'm setting him up to make the right choices.

here's a link to my recent post about the whole passing down the burden of clutter.. obviously I'm not alone on that one!
http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?t=1056373

 

[Princess77]

Thanks everyone!

: I know some days I feel more motivated then others. There are those days I just want to crawl back in bed and pull the covers over my head and pretend it isn't there. I've never had a problem with trash it's just the "good" stuff that I just have too much of. You can have too much of a good thing!

 

[flowmom]

What motivates me?

1. reading about feng shui
2. protecting my mental health -- living in clutter really drags me down, especially visual clutter
3. thinking about the fact that we will move one day
4. wanting to entertain more often
5. wanting to spend less time on tidying/cleaning
6. imagining what would happen if I was ill or incapacitated and no one could function in our home to help us
7. thinking about how much it would cost to live in a home large enough to comfortably contain our clutter
8. thinking about how damaging it is for children to grow up feeling "normal" in cluttered environments (though my kids *much* prefer uncluttered, beautifully decorated rooms)

Having said that, I do find it hard. I wish I could get into a 15 minutes a day routine, but the perfectionist in me wants to have huge swaths of time to do it "properly"...which never happens. I've started the process, but we have a long way to go. My goal is to have *my* stuff totally decluttered so that the extent of dh's clutter is more starkly obvious and I can start to address it with him in a serious way. I regularly tell him about how hard it is to let go of certain stuff.

 

[Amys1st]

For me its a few things.

One, DH and I are pretty sensitive to "energies" around us. DD1 also has this, not sure yet about DD2. When we first looked at houses, DH said to the realtor about one home- "and this couple is getting divorced right?" the listing agent, looked at us like HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT??!. I guess we let the cat out of the bag, like I said we are very sensitive to energies. That was the reason, we didnt go farther with that house. Foreclosed homes, out of the question since someone had very bad luck there. This sort of thing affects us. If we had piles of stuff the energy would drive me bonkers. Whether its meaning I have to get it done or just being there throwing energy. On a town housewalk last year, the fire chief from several years ago was in the walk. His house had a collection of firehouse memoribia from all over the country. We almost went out of our mind in that house. Heavy handed decor- that is bad for us too. Echoing walls or a house way too big? The energy is overwelming for us.

Also, we find giving things away or passing them along gives us more and we are never empty because we get it back in other ways. When we outgrew things, we give it away. There is always enough food in our home for others no matter what, we can always share. It seems when we follow these rules, our own supply seems plenty- make sense?

We also follow the rule, bring an item in, take an item out. So buy new black boots, the others need to be donated or passed on.

 

[SAHDS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NicaG I find it difficult to relax in a cluttered house. As a sahm, I spend a lot of time at home, and I like to be able to enjoy my home.

Exactly!

I feel way too antsy in a cluttered area so it is therapeutic to purge. Plus, I need something to fill my time, LOL.

 

[Purple Sage]

I appreciate space. I think a mostly empty space with only a few objects looks and feels better than space cluttered with unnecessary things. It's more peaceful and relaxing, and I appreciate the things I have more when I have fewer things.

 

[greenmansions]

I get motivated when my sister comes to visit and helps me. A lot of my things have sentimental value and she helps me wade through it. Unfortunately, we live far apart now and I only see her once or twice a year, and we tend to spend our visits on more fun things.

I often feel motivated in the middle of the night after I've read some decluttering blogs or books, and that is not a time when it's OK to work on this stuff because it would wake up the rest of the household.

Also a nice sunny morning can motivate me if DH is taking the kids out of the house. I need to be able to remain focused on the task at hand.