Decluttering

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jimkenney12 said:
Our big move three years ago from a house with four bedrooms, two kitchens, three bathrooms, 2 living rooms , 2 dining rooms , den and large garage for three thousand miles to a two bedroom house with one bedroom already furnished, one kitchen, small garage, dining room, and living room gave us incentive to do a really major decluttering. We did more decluttering in our move of 300 km to our new home here.

It is easier to declutter when making big moves.

Congratulations for all your successes achieved without needing to move.
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Yes I think moving can be great motivation to edit one's possessions. OTOH some people just move every single thing from one home to the next. A missed opportunity if you ask me.
 
Jonah syndrome allows dispersal of emotions ... leaving something to think about as highly discouraged as we are directed that thinking is evil ... a Christian item rising from OT's ... perhaps a metaphor for something that incarnates as it isn't! And there is the potential for things that are not ... out there?
 
Luce NDs said:
Jonah syndrome allows dispersal of emotions ... leaving something to think about as highly discouraged as we are directed that thinking is evil ... a Christian item rising from OT's ... perhaps a metaphor for something that incarnates as it isn't! And there is the potential for things that are not ... out there?
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There are some writers who talk about decluttering more than just physical possessions. . . Emotional baggage, toxic relationships, unhealthy habits etc.
 
paradox3 said:
There are some writers who talk about decluttering more than just physical possessions. . . Emotional baggage, toxic relationships, unhealthy habits etc.
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Some folk even deny the potential of anything non material like mind, soul, psyche and thus by common and vernacular demand it isn't ... just plain gone ... and the spirit gone in essence too ...

There that's pared down as it goes ... so material folk can't observe it ... its immaterial toe*m?
 
Did I mention this go round was not my first decluttering venture? Previously I made the mistake of trying to organize stuff I should have just turfed. You live and learn, right?

Many writers will tell you not you not to even think about buying bins to organize stuff until you have purged the unnecessary items.
 
paradox3 said:
There are some writers who talk about decluttering more than just physical possessions. . . Emotional baggage, toxic relationships, unhealthy habits etc.
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I have been uncluttering 5 kg from my body since January. I am 400 g close to my goal. Unhealthy habits were part of that clutter.
 
BetteTheRed said:
You see, that is my problem. I live in a house continually occupied by many members of the same family for 61 years, when it was built. Now, there have been attempts to remove "accretions", one of them, in the early 2000s, unearthed a homemade roof rack for an original VW Bug; the same purge recycled about half a room's worth of "good boxes". Somewhere in this house (because I have seen it, in memory), there exists a large paper carry bag stuffed to the top with every single greeting card (minus Xmas cards, which she dutifully recycled into gift tags using pinking shears) that my Mother ever received after she moved here...

And I haven't made it better. I have an almost bizarrely large collection of original art, most of it 2-D, thank goddes, but much of it carefully framed, and a little sculpture in the mix. It's all original art (the lithos/prints are "real" prints, properly numbered and signed). Some of the artists are students, but excellent ones, who won awards in their year; some are faculty, some fairly well known on the Canadian art scene, and some are visiting artists (I have a Jack Cassady print). I have an original painting of myself as a young woman, with an odd outfit and a very symbolic background by a faculty member, who was a Jewish guy from New York who painted in a very Paul Peel style. Some are just my artist friends; peculiar pieces for me they've made on a whim. I have an original litho by an artist friend, edition of one, called "single mom in mink stole"... I have a little set of three panels featuring "me", in a sort of caricatured way, oils, all framed, in three memorable Arizona contexts. In the back hall, in a corner that no-one sees but me, I have two of my own paintings, very odd and abstract and primitive, all at once, done under an artist's friend's coaching during two different periods of my life. And somewhere, again with this somewhere, there's there's at least two portfolios with "stuff that might be framed", and one of my Dad's work as well. It's awful. And then there are the books of three generations of bookworms.
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Bette, post some of that art in the art thread! Let's see your paintings!!!
 
BetteTheRed said:
I have an almost bizarrely large collection of original art,
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A neighbour who is an artist has a similarly huge collection - from poster size to very small. She's 'papered' the front entry & stairwell wall with most of it - from baseboard to ceiling framed pieces are hung. Would not be my first preference, but it's interesting.

I've had 'plans' to tackle some accumulations in areas of our home this winter, but unfortunately some moodiness & procrastination have set in - not a time for decision making. :( But daylight returns, and so I am hoping for a corresponding increase in energy.
 
About that moodiness and procrastination @Carolla

The combination of national & world events, pandemic restrictions and February weather is weighing heavily on many of us.

It's not even the cold and snow that discourages me the most at this time of year. It's the melt and freeze cycle that makes the sidewalks so treacherous that gets to me.

Spring has gotta be on its way, right? Just recently I have seen robins and heard cardinals singing.
 
Indeed paradox3. And yes - Spring IS on the way. I did muster up some energy this week, organized my seed starting area, hung my grow light & planted some flower seeds :-) Next week or so I should see some sprouts.
 
Continuing with my decluttering efforts. It's so much like peeling the layers of an onion. Have reached the old handicraft layer. It's even worse than dealing with gifts!!!

There are things in storage that I made decades ago and haven't displayed for almost as long. Oh sigh.

I am beginning to see this is all hidden clutter which I keep reorganizing.
 
Oh, I tried decluttering a row of cookbooks. Did not work. Found exactly two I had no problems getting rid off, the rest was either a favourite or a “ interesting, maybe I will try that out sometime”.
 
Mrs.Anteater said:
Oh, I tried decluttering a row of cookbooks. Did not work. Found exactly two I had no problems getting rid off, the rest was either a favourite or a “ interesting, maybe I will try that out sometime”.
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I passed all the old cookbooks that weren't used to my DIL. She has scads of space for such things, and I have the option of getting them back if needed.
 
KayTheCurler said:
Same here. I have useful things, affordable things, 'good enough' things, things that one of us might have a use for someday.
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All of the decluttering advice I have seen indicates there is nothing wrong with keeping things we know to be useful.

Things we might need "someday" are another story. I saw the 20/ 20 rule somewhere. Ask yourself if it could be replaced for under twenty bucks in less than twenty minutes. This is worth considering for certain items.
 
Now finished going through my old handicrafts.

Out of all the old needlework pieces, I have kept one framed needlepoint picture and one bargello cushion. They are not going out on display but I am keeping them because they are my favorites.

I have put out a knitted prayer shawl and a crocheted afghan that were packed away. I have changed up a few things in the living room recently and these two items actually coordinate quite nicely now.

To donation? Maybe 15 pieces of needlework. (I don't even like most of it anymore.) One afghan. One crocheted prayer shawl which I have never been happy with.

I had a stack of dishcloths I had made to practice different knitting patterns. I went through them and selected the ones I might do again. The others were demoted to actual dishcloth status. A stack of worn dishcloths went in the garbage.

Feels pretty good.
 
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