If you have read Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

[Hopetobe]

Care to share some more inspiring tips from it?


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[Aerynne]

So I have to say I have really loved taking everything OUT of my house and then bringing back in what I want. My yard sale pile is huge, and I have always strived to be a minimalist, so it's not like I had that much stuff in the first place.

So. . . other tips from the book. I really like the philosophy stuff best. For instance, every item that comes into our life serves a purpose. Some things, like some relationships, are meant to be long-term and bless our lives for a long time. Other things, like other relationships, are there to teach us a simple lesson and be on their way, even if the lesson is "that is not my style". So when something is to be discarded, thank it for its role in your life (and try to put your finger on what that role was). I will give an example from my life.

I have some painted white end tables I bought on a fb yard sale website. I liked them in the pictures but when I saw the end tables I didn't like them much, but since I was already there specifically to buy them I bought them anyway, mostly because I would feel embarrassed if I didn't. I learned not to do that again, so I can thank them for that lesson and send them on their way.

Also it's the same way with health products. If you thought something would work but it didn't, then you don't keep it around anymore. I am really feeling that way about some of my natural remedies. Others of them I love and wouldn't part with for anything, but some that I tried and they didn't work I can part with and thank them for the hope they gave me, then send them on their way.

I really like her idea of sorting things into categories and then decluttering. So when you declutter your books, you have to go get your books that you keep on your night stand, the ones from the living room, the ones that you keep in the office, the cookbooks out of your kitchen, etc, and then declutter all the books.

[ViolaMum]

Originally Posted by houseforjoy

i went to put a hold on it at my lib--- but 121 people are already on the list

My library has 538 holds on the print book, 59 holds on the audio book, and 139 for the e-book!

[twoplustwo]

I *was* really excited about this book . . .

Originally Posted by Aerynne

I really like her idea of sorting things into categories and then decluttering. So when you declutter your books, you have to go get your books that you keep on your night stand, the ones from the living room, the ones that you keep in the office, the cookbooks out of your kitchen, etc, and then declutter all the books.

But now I fear I just dont have enough clutter to play. But I want to. . .

Like this task is already done. All books are in their appropriate shelves. There are none out of place. Except the one I am reading. Which is on my desk.

eta: I am down to #19 for my hold status.

[Delaluz]

So, it's not available in my library system, in print or digital😑.

[JoyfulMom]

I called my library. Our system is small, they have one copy in print at another branch in our system. I was able to get it for pick up tomorrow at my local library. I'm curious to see what is in it that could help me.


Amy
Happy & blessed wife for 24 yrs.
Joyful mom to five girls, and one boy.

[Aerynne]

Originally Posted by JoyfulMom

I called my library. Our system is small, they have one copy in print at another branch in our system. I was able to get it for pick up tomorrow at my local library. I'm curious to see what is in it that could help me.

Did you get it yet?

I will post my progress on my decluttering here if anyone wants to read about it. We decided we like less furniture in our house. So we have put in the garage (and I listed it on our local website that is like CL) one twin bed, one dresser, three desks, one set of three under-bed drawers, one shoe rack, one couch, one filing cabinet, four end tables, two short bookshelves, two tall bookshelves, and I think that is it for furniture. I also have boxes of just stuff- clothes, bedding, toys, general household stuff.

I formerly had office supplies in FIVE places a drawer in my kitchen (just a few pens and things), a closet in my kitchen (a few more things I use frequently like a stapler, etc), the school room, which is also the family room (markers, crayons, colored pencils, glue sticks, etc), and the office (some on a shelf and some in my office closet- more infrequently used things like paints, paper, stationery, stickers, etc) and my roll-top desk (glue sticks, envelopes, x-acto knife, more pens). Obviously that was a horrible decision to have it all there. And as I had previously declutered by location instead of by category, I never consolidated it all until this week. So when I consolidated everything, I had four boxes. One apple box was full of different kinds of paper (this is everything- printer paper, scrapbooking paper, colored cardstock, construction printer, notebook paper, file folders, page protectors etc.- but all blank, currently unused stuff, not my kids' art projects- that is separate). I had one small box full of more grown-up office supplies like paper clips, duct tape, etc. I had another small box full of kids' art supplies like crayons, markers, brads, coffee filters, etc. And I had another small box of correspondence stuff like stationery, cards, and envelopes. I looked at all of this stuff and decided I wanted a big, tall cabinet to put it all in together. And then I got fed up and said "Why do I have all this stuff?" and I kept out only printer paper and one organizer box with a few pens, a few pencils, a small number of crayons, a pencil sharpener, a stapler, packing tape, and scotch tape. I also have a three-hole punch that is next to the box. The rest of it I put down in my basement office in boxes along with most of the toys and most of the books. It's just an experiment.

I started this out (before the carpet cleaning) wanting to live like I was in a hotel (albeit one with a nice, well-stocked kitchen) where you just have a few things and it is totally fine. So we have a bunch of stuff in boxes in the office now, just to see if we care or miss it. There are some things that I found that I'm sure I can just give to the thrift store, but since I usually stay pretty on top of my delcuttering, I couldn't find a whole lot in that category (I think I have 4-5 boxes, which is about what I usually find when I declutter) but I did find a lot of stuff I want to see if we really need.

I have also purchased two new-to-me dressers to replace two that really needed replacing.

So after getting rid of a lot of furniture (or putting it in the garage- most of it I'm still waiting for people to come get) we now have:

Living room: couch, loveseat, piano, and our built-in entryway cabinet for coats and things

Kitchen: table and chairs (all we had in there before anyway)

Family room: 2 bookshelves, toy kitchen, 1 computer desk, school table, one forward-facing bookshelf

Our bedroom: bed, dresser, one nightstand (we're actually going to get matching nightstands, probably from Ikea, soon- and this is all the furniture that was ever in here anyway).

Girls' room: one bed, one mattress under the bed (girls decided they wanted to trundle their beds), two dressers, one cabinet on the wall for their personal items.

Boys' room: one set of bunk beds, two dressers

Office: toy shelves (that are mostly empty), my tiny sewing machine table (I contemplated getting rid of the sewing machine but I don't want to) one computer desk (dh needs two computers for some reason that he has explained to me several times), lots of boxes of stuff that we are seeing what it is like to do without.

The only things we haven't touched are the uncarpeted surfaces that we didn't need to move stuff out of for the carpet cleaners. We have a basement storage room that is smaller than a bedroom (it's really a large utility closet with the furnace and water heater in there as well as food storage), our garage, the shelves above my washer/dryer, and the kitchen. I'm sure those will yield more things that can go. Dh is going to make built-in shelves in the food storage room, which we also call the stood forage room because ds1 called it that when he was a toddler and it just stuck.

I've loved and tried to practice minimalism for a long time. But it seems like it just hasn't really worked yet (though I've always been more of a minimalist than others I know IRL). But this feels like a big step in the right direction.

We still want a built-in in the family room instead of the bookshelves (but our budget isn't that high so we're trying to figure out a substitute), a new filing cabinet where the drawers open better, and a cabinet for mine and dh's personal possessions. So we're getting rid of a bunch of stuff and also buying some stuff, but ultimately I think it will be much better. We've had lots of things that need replacing.

[Delaluz]

So, my son is only 10 months old and I'm already collecting things for homeschooling. 😄 Is this silly? Should I just declutter all our office/school stuff and get what I need when the time comes or keep what I have so I don't have to spend money later? It's mostly general school supply things not any curriculum things. All of this is in our "guest" bedroom that is also the "junk" room at the moment. 😕

[Aerynne]

Originally Posted by Delaluz

So, my son is only 10 months old and I'm already collecting things for homeschooling. �� Is this silly? Should I just declutter all our office/school stuff and get what I need when the time comes or keep what I have so I don't have to spend money later? It's mostly general school supply things not any curriculum things. All of this is in our "guest" bedroom that is also the "junk" room at the moment. ��

That's a good question. What kind of stuff is it? I would be tempted to get rid of it, I think, but my answer may change depending on what it is. Also it depends on whether you want to be a minimalist or not. Not everyone wants to be a minimalist, and that's okay.

[twoplustwo]

Originally Posted by Delaluz

�� Is this silly?

Not silly. I am pretty minimalist & I keep a lot of that stuff. And I dont homeschool. Kids are always doing big arts & crafts & random stuff. I keep extra fabric & beads & all kinds of things.

I do, however, have space for it. So its not clutter. Its well organized. I think thats a big part of it - not how much stuff you have overall - but is it interfering with your space? Time? Happiness? Do you, have you, will you use it? Blah blah.

My BIL has a good way for deciding what to get rid of & what not to. If his friend called him up and said "do you want this?" would he stop what he was doing to drive over there & get it. If not, its gone.

I am still 18th on hold for the book, havent moved up since I last participated in this thread.

[Mother of Sons]

My BIL has a good way for deciding what to get rid of & what not to. If his friend called him up and said "do you want this?" would he stop what he was doing to drive over there & get it. If not, its gone.

I can only think of a handful of things in my house that would fall Into that category so that system would leave me with an empty house.

We had a basement floor last year and nearly everything went out to a tent except the most vital things which have been cluttering up my upstairs. I'm finally getting the basement back but having lived without most of it for a year I'm inclined to let most of it go.

I read in the reviews of the book that the author talks about objects as though they have feelings and there is some eastern spirituality in the book. How prevalent is that?

[Aerynne]

Originally Posted by Mother of Sons

I read in the reviews of the book that the author talks about objects as though they have feelings and there is some eastern spirituality in the book. How prevalent is that?

It's pretty prevalent but doesn't bother me because I don't take it literally. For example she says your socks have been hard at work on your feet all day, being squished between your shoe and your foot, and when they're in your drawer they're on holiday and need to rest, so they shouldn't be balled up in little balls. Doing so stretches out the elastic. Since it's actually true that the elastic shouldn't be stretched tightly all of the time or it will become damaged, I think of it more as a metaphor, a lesson to help you understand how to be nice to your socks, as opposed to "your socks are alive"

So I think of it as "thinking of your things as alive can help you understand how to treat them better" as opposed to "your things are actually alive"

She also talks about not just choosing which books to keep based on what is on your shelf, but to get them off the shelf, to move them around to "wake them up" and so you can feel the energy of them. I don't know anything about that, but I do know that it's a lot easier to get rid of something that is already off your shelf than to have to take it off.

---------- Post added at 10:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:38 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Mother of Sons

I can only think of a handful of things in my house that would fall Into that category so that system would leave me with an empty house.

Really? For instance if you didn't have a dining room table and you were offered the one you do actually have now, would you go pick it up? I would.

[Mother of Sons]

Quote won't work again.

I wasn't thinking so much about furniture but about general things. Like I wouldn't drop everything to drive to your place to get bandaids but I keep them in the house for when they are needed. Or I have books that I want to keep but I wouldn't drop everything to get them. If I'm specifically looking at MY furniture and asking would I drop everything to go get this, the answer would still be no because I don't care for it much but I can't get rid of it because I do need a table. I think maybe I get hung up on the drop everything part

[twoplustwo]

Originally Posted by Mother of Sons

I think maybe I get hung up on the drop everything part

Maybe think - you have a day to go get it.

Or whatever time frame. Its the principal - if its not worth the effort of getting that object if were FOR FREE then you dont really need it & can get rid of it.

I think he (my BIL) thinks of it because whatever he is doing at that moment is decluttering or cleaning out the garage. And he wouldnt have to take kids with him.

I dont use that thought because I am already a master declutter-er.

[JoyfulMom]

I did pick the book up Friday, but I've only had time to read the intro. I like her way of thinking, from what I've read here.


Amy
Happy & blessed wife for 24 yrs.
Joyful mom to five girls, and one boy.