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-   -   Decluttering thread? Challenge? Accountability? (http://www.gentlechristianmothers.com/community/showthread.php?t=524505)

tempus vernum 12-31-2017 03:51 PM

Decluttering thread? Challenge? Accountability?
 
Anyone interested in making lists/challenges? Accountability?

We need to sell our house in spring - we’ve been here for over 16 years and need some drastic purging. Over the years we’ve done some but more maintenance than severe cleanouts.

We have to make progress a little at our time due to health issues...

So anyone want to make lists? Cheer each other on

This week we:
Filled our garbage and area around the garbage bins before the garbage men came and after
Dropped two loads at goodwill (the back of our vehicle was full w seats down)
:jump2

I’d like to do that and more weekly.
We r not going room to room. But I may change my approach. Both my dh and I are unemployed so we r doing things together and the kids are helping too.

I think I need more specific goals :think
If you join me, how will you proceed? A todo list? Room to room?

So far we’ve started w the worse areas first (like our hot spots.) just the hot spots have caused that much junk - partially because our den closet and built in bookshelves were a dumping ground :( but now that those are more in control
I’m
Considering a systemic approach.

WanderingJuniper 12-31-2017 06:12 PM

Re: Decluttering thread? Challenge? Accountability?
 
I need to do this. At the moment I am going to focus on solving organizational issues. To get started I n Ed to tackle the small art cabinet and sort supplies to store them more efficiently than under the piano.

RiverRock 12-31-2017 06:31 PM

Re: Decluttering thread? Challenge? Accountability?
 
I'll join. :)

I like to go room to room, but it often turns into more of a "peeling layers off an onion" approach. Even if I start with clearing my hot spots, they soon get filled again as I process more stuff.

I want to start by finishing my two ds's bedrooms before they go back to school in about a week. I've already worked with both boys to start the process, but now they each have about two-three boxes of clutter to go through, and I should probably help them organize their clothes drawers again.

While the kids have been home on Christmas break I've also purged some Christmas decorations (water damage and dead light bulb strands ). I want to make sure everything goes away this year in an organized way, and will be stored in a dry spot.

This is where the domino effect needs to happen. I want to store Christmas decorations in an attic space that will need to be reorganized. There is a large space in the attic that currently has building materials such as extra carpet pieces that should be cleaned out (we no longer have that carpet!). I also have boxes of teaching stuff from when I quit working in a classroom 15 years ago. I'm pretty sure I can let some of that stuff go.

In a nutshell:
-finish decluttering boys' bedrooms
-declutter and reorganize attic space
-store Christmas decorations in a safe, accessible place

RealLifeMama 12-31-2017 07:09 PM

Re: Decluttering thread? Challenge? Accountability?
 
I can totally relate to the onion principle! And the domino effect.

Deciding where to put things, if we need them at all, and then what to do with them if I decide we want to keep them seem to be the toughest part for me. If it is out in a pile, chances are it is because I didn't have a good place to put it. We have no storage.

For specific goals....We got rid of 1000 things a few months ago. I set a challenge, printed off a grid that the family could color in squares
as we went, and then we celebrated with a big family outing when it was finished. The family has never been so involved in the process!
We are in the second layer of the onion now, I guess. We are doing it again with just 500 items. Anyway, that might be fun for your family. I don't tend to see progress well, so if I start doubting progress, the family can point to that, and we know we have accomplished something.

A Slob Comes Clean (Dana White, the homemaking blogger) has been helpful to me with decluttering. Her podcasts are the best! They are great to listen to while cleaning or decluttering. Her two questions have helped a lot. There are only two questions, not like 10.

I am still thinking about my particular plan of attack. I am thinking that I will try a combination of room by room and category by category.
Honestly, right now, books and school stuff is the most difficult because we never really figured out what do with all that stuff when my MIL moved into what was our school room. It needs to be dealt with the most, but it feels impossible because I just don't know what to do with all the things we are not currently using but I want to keep.

Anyway, I am definitely with you all and will cheer you on!

Oh, I'd love to post pictures, but I don't know how. How to do that?

tempus vernum 12-31-2017 09:19 PM

Re: Decluttering thread? Challenge? Accountability?
 
Amy, I love the idea of setting a number Goal but we r throwing things away so fast I’m not sure how we’d count. I am challengiNgthe kids to do 1-3 things/ week to improve their bedrooms. When February hits I’m hopeful about 00% of the house will be ready for painting/ touchups ups. But I imagine kids will need some help!!

I think I decided on setting two goals/ week for the house for the mo th of January exc I have to keep spending about 1 hr/week in our den (our homeschool stuff and books and games are all in there and it’s the biggest project besides the basement- dh is mostly handling the basement and garage and helping me with everything else). I’m going to use this as my checklist.

Week of jan 1
bathrooms ready for painting / touchups to sell (declutter)
1 downstairs
2 upstairs
(Extra hour in den)

Week of Jan 8
1- get family room ready for painting/ touchups
2 - linen closet
(Extra hour in den)

Week of Jan 15
1 my closets
2 my dresser
(Extra hour in den)

Week of Jan 22
1 kitchen — area to right of sink
2 kitchen area to Left of sink and under sink
(Extra hour in den)

Week of Jan 29
Kitchen— coat cabinet cubbies and drawers (this is a bear so I need to probably have it as my only task)
(Extra hour in den)

---------- Post added at 10:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:17 PM ----------

And it does feel like an onion domino effect :doh we’ve been decluttering a week and nothing’s actually been finished :doh

Virginia 12-31-2017 09:56 PM

Re: Decluttering thread? Challenge? Accountability?
 
I’m following Emily Ley’s simplified life challenge :)


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prov31craftymom 01-01-2018 06:38 AM

Re: Decluttering thread? Challenge? Accountability?
 
I'm needing to go through my house too. We're down to our final year here (maybe even less time than that), and I need to get everything ready for the movers. We've accumulated a lot of things while living here, an extra child and a cat. So there's a lot that needs to be done.

tempus vernum 01-01-2018 06:43 PM

Re: Decluttering thread? Challenge? Accountability?
 
Week of jan 1
bathrooms ready for painting / touchups to sell (declutter)
1 downstairs
2 upstairs
done 1/1/18
(Extra hour in den)

Week of Jan 8
1- get family room ready for painting/ touchups
2 - linen closet
(Extra hour in den)

Week of Jan 15
1 my closets
2 my dresser
(Extra hour in den)

Week of Jan 22
1 kitchen — area to right of sink
2 kitchen area to Left of sink and under sink
(Extra hour in den)

Week of Jan 29
Kitchen— coat cabinet cubbies and drawers (this is a bear so I need to probably have it as my only task)
(Extra hour in den)

WanderingJuniper 01-02-2018 04:35 AM

Re: Decluttering thread? Challenge? Accountability?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by WanderingJuniper (Post 6122899)
I need to do this. At the moment I am going to focus on solving organizational issues. To get started I n Ed to tackle the small art cabinet and sort supplies to store them more efficiently than under the piano.

I started the craft cabinet. It’s so tiny but has so much in it! I was able to cut in half the stuff that was randomly floating around in there. A grocery sack of trash and a small bag of items I will be taking to school with me for different lessons.

mummy2boys 01-02-2018 06:05 PM

Re: Decluttering thread? Challenge? Accountability?
 
I'll join in :) We need to do some serious decluttering this year but its just knowing where to start!! Like, which is the most important. Guess I will write a list of rooms/parts of the house and go from there.

Virginia 01-02-2018 08:56 PM

Re: Decluttering thread? Challenge? Accountability?
 
Day one of Emily Ley’s Simplified life challenge: walk around with a trash bag and throw stuff out. Done yesterday.

Day two: clean out kitchen utensil drawers. Done.


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heartofjoy 01-02-2018 11:46 PM

Re: Decluttering thread? Challenge? Accountability?
 
I've been doing this slowly over the last 2 months, but I need to get systematic. I have an old thread about decorating my living room and it got derailed when mil moved in with us. She's gone now and I am finally ready to decorate. We've done some stuff already. Here's my list.

Move modem, router, WiFi, phone box etc into upstairs closet. Dh did this 2 days ago. Spent hours cramped in the attic to run wires. [emoji736]

Move printer into kitchen built in desk. [emoji736]

Reorganize shelves in kitchen to accommodate printer supplies.

Buy area rug for living room.

Buy couch for living room.

Put up curtain rod in living room.

Clean out downstairs closet. [emoji736]

Reorganize downstairs closet.

Gather items for rummage sale.

Clean garage and throw away or donate unneeded items.

Buy storage for under my bed.

Remove all items from my dresser and give to dd18.

Take dd18's dresser and give to ds10.

Throw away ds10's dresser which is falling apart.

Go through all games and reorganize. Get rid of at least 1/3 of the games.

Clean and organize pantry.

Take down Christmas lights.

Organize and purge attic when I put the Christmas stuff away.

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RealLifeMama 01-03-2018 12:04 AM

Re: Decluttering thread? Challenge? Accountability?
 
All I really got done today was to help DD go through some clothes and give her moral support while she tried to put away her laundry.
I really do think that one of our issues is lack of storage. We only have two closets in the whole house that are not in bedrooms, and they are tiny coat closet size. The only walk in closet is in my master bedroom, and it is just a "normal" walk in closet, not like the closets in the master bedrooms you see in newer homes. So, anyway, she barely has room to hang all her clothes, but she has to store other things in her closet as well, like her sleeping bag and pad, and her exercise equipment. She only has a three drawer dresser. Her dance attire takes up one whole drawer.

Oh, I forgot...I also went though a big stack of paper.

heartofjoy 01-04-2018 02:19 PM

Re: Decluttering thread? Challenge? Accountability?
 
Here's my list. Re-posted and updated. Everything done previously is deleted and everything checked I did yesterday and today.

Reorganize shelves in kitchen to accommodate printer supplies.

Buy area rug for living room. [emoji736]

Buy couch for living room. [emoji736]

Put up curtain rod in living room.

Reorganize downstairs closet.

Gather items for rummage sale. [emoji736]

Clean garage and throw away or donate unneeded items. [emoji736]

Buy storage for under my bed.

Remove all items from my dresser and give to dd18.

Take dd18's dresser and give to ds10.

Throw away ds10's dresser which is falling apart.

Go through all games and reorganize. Get rid of at least 1/3 of the games.

Clean and organize pantry.

Take down Christmas lights. [emoji736]

Organize and purge attic when I put the Christmas stuff away.



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Virginia 01-04-2018 04:10 PM

Re: Decluttering thread? Challenge? Accountability?
 
Today’s simplicity challenge was to go through cupboards and fridge and toss expired food. [emoji736]


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