Decluttering
Posted in Life @ The Grand
Every now and again I get on a kick, and this one promises to be a doozy: we’re decluttering, simplifying, and selling, giving away, or simply throwing out all our junkety junk junk junk. Hoo boy, do we have a lot of junk, and I am kind of obsessed with getting rid of it. I’ve been reading organization blogs and making lists and generally daydreaming about a junkless home. (And I’ve been working on it too.)
We started with the easy stuff—books. Earlier today we went to Bluestem and sold four big bags. We also “donated” an additional three bags of books they didn’t buy but agreed to take off of our hands. We made a little money, and now our house is seven bags of books less cluttered. Tonight we started on the basement. We made some progress but decided that we need to alternate with smaller projects—next up is the pantry.
Some thoughts on the process so far, in no particular order:
- Jason and I are both completely fed up with telling Simon not to get into this or that. To put a positive spin on it, I do love his curiosity and desire to explore, but I mean the child is into everyeveryeveryeveryeverything. All the time. All. the. time. This is probably the biggest motivator for both of us right now.
- We’ve been running across a fair number of things that need to be returned to their owners, and more often than not I am embarrassed by how long I’ve had these things. I’ve been thinking of them as “the book of shame,” “the plate of shame,” “the coat of shame,” etc. Yesterday I returned a book that I’ve had since college—that’s fifteen years, people.
- It’s been fun to discover or rediscover things that I’d actually like to use. And it’s been satisfying to chuck things that I’d forgotten about and haven’t missed.
- I think this process will be good for our marriage. It will not, however, be easy. Let’s just say we’re learning to communicate. We have different strengths in this process (and different shortcomings) and, well, we just do things differently. But we’re learning about what’s important to the other—stuffwise and in other ways too.
- I am finding myself to be somewhat less sentimental than I might have thought. My big epiphany today was that just because I have a memory about such and such a thing that doesn’t mean it has actual sentimental value to me.
- I actually love decluttering and organizing; it’s the maintenance that brings me down.
Comments
Renae
I actually use the word “actually” a lot.
Lindsey
I love this post. I’ve been on an organizing kick both in my house and at the house I work at. I take breaks to go buy organizing materials (like baskets, bins, dividers, etc) though that is admittedly more fun when it’s not my money, because I don’t like spending $25 on some bins I KNOW I will use, but omg, that much for some plastic stuff that will only hold other stuff?
I spend my days telling a four year old to stop touching this, stop touching that. Yay for being tactile, but trips to Target are a menace.
Also, remember how I had your fondue set for ummmm ... 9 months? Yeah, Pot of Shame, right there.
Nicci
This reminds me that I have an Agatha Christie novel that I borrowed from my friend Kelli about 7 years ago. I think it’s in a box in a crate in a warehouse in Waldorf, MD. It might be there for a while. I’ll have to send her an email. You know she KNOWS I still have it. What’s a couple more years? lol.
Loved the post. I’ve been rummaging through my drawers and closets, too. We moved from a 2700 sq ft house with a huge garage, attic and 400 sq ft storage shed to a 1300 sq ft townhome when we moved to DC. I love living without clutter. Downsizing has been very good for all of us—I don’t have to do much to keep it up and I have to say “no” a lot when I’m shopping. No more Target junk runs! Of course, I still run over there to get my organizers. I do so love The Container Store and IKEA, too. At some point, you might have to stage an organizer intervention for me. Until then, I’ll be in some closet, playing tetris with my clear shoebox organizers.
BTW, the financial organizer in me must add that if you are donating items, you might consider using http://www.itsdeductible.com to itemize your donations. You’d be amazed at what those donations add up to in tax savings! You can also track all of your monetary donations there. Because of our move last year, I think we have over $6000 in items donated that I would have probably “estimated” $1000 for. I just take pictures of my items and then add them in. It takes a little bit of time, but with the pics, you can add them in when you are bored. And then you don’t have to justify any donations over $250 or whatever the limit is. It’s done for you.
Kerri
Yay for decluttering! I am still working on it. It gets harder the more people in the household (imagine that), but is so worth it.
p.s. Renae, do you have that D.A. Carson book I loaned you? Or did it end up at Bluestem?
2nd p.s. So much fun to have you and the boys over today!!
charity
Did you find anything of mine??!
RT
I need to come over and reclaim things before you throw them away! LOL!
Renae
@ Lindsey—Nine months? Oh, dear girl, that’s child’s play. Along with the book from college, I also returned a book that she had specifically asked for when I was pregnant with Simon (that I’d had for who knows how long before that). This morning I found a gift that I was supposed to have given someone for helping with our wedding four and a half years ago. These are probably not even the worst offenses that I will find. And as for the fondue pot, if I had been more on the ball I would have e-mailed you to keep it before you dropped it off. That would have saved me figuring out what to do with it (i.e., how to get rid of it) when I find wherever I stuffed it. Do you want it?
@ Nicci—Yay for downsizing! And, yeah, I think people generally do remember what they loan out—hence the shame.
And I will definitely check out that link. I generally think it is too much hassle to figure out for donations, but I really do plan to be getting rid of enough that it would be worth it. I might bug you with more questions about that. 
@ Kerri—I do, in fact, have the D. A. Carson book (of shame). I was going to tell you that when I saw the other volume on your counter this morning. I put a copy in my Amazon shopping cart and now yours is in my sizeable Pile of Shame, aka stack o’ stuff to return.
@ Charity—Surprisingly, I don’t think so. Joie, yes. Even a couple of Brook’s things, but other than a Smart Wool sock that you claimed years ago, I don’t think I’ve ever found anything of yours. . . . . No, wait! I’m wrong. I do think there might be some Grandma T recipe cards in the pantry. I’ll get them to you if I find them again.
Renae
@ RT: I don’t think there’s so much danger of tossing—I do have a pretty good memory of what I have. I do prefer to return things to you in small batches, though, to avoid the feeling that we’re breaking up. (I add no smiley here because you know I’m not kidding.)
RT
One thing I should mention is Yay, Renae! for decluttering! After cleaning the basement for Sarah’s visit, I feel soooo much better about things in my house.
Your comment on marriage and cleaning is valid. I give all clean house kudos to Jeremy who encouraged me to throw things away. I struggle with 1) being sentimental about almost everything and 2) being faux-frugal. Every scrap of cloth and paper, every notepad and unused box of stationery called to me. But the truth was that all the stuffjunkcrap was sitting in our basement largely unused for eight years! I’m sure we threw out tons of items that could’ve been given away instead. But enough was enough. Cleaning the basement was good for my soul.
Rachel
When you are done, you can help me at our house. LOL We can start in the attic or basement take your choice. Only leave Simon at home, he would be thrilled with new areas to get into.
tasha
keep pressing on!! you can do it and as far as my house….it’s picked up however by no means clean!! ( found a rotting grape in ezra’s room. today when gathering laundry….“kate”......)