So here's the weird thing that happened today

[dannylion]

I am in the midst of the Great Decluttering and Expulsion of Accumulated Detritus.  The project is moving at a glacial pace, but it is moving. I am lazy. Decluttering and Expulsion of Detritus is boring.  I am easily distracted by books, the neighbor's dog, a stray thought (Do penguins have knees?  Yes, it turns out.  When did Nyree Dawn Porter die?  2001.)  Also, I often find myself just moving the piles from one place to another.  This does not contribute to progress, however glacial. 

Then I discovered that putting things into plastic bins helps with the shifting around and sorting and general progress.  I found some very nice and reasonably priced plastic bins with handles on the Walmart website, so I ordered 4.  The first two arrived on Sunday in 2 separate boxes.  They could easily have been placed one inside the other and shipped in 1 box.  But whatever.  There they were. 

Today, the other two arrived via FedEx.  I know they came via FedEx because I got an email from FedEx telling me they had been delivered.  When I went out to the porch to fetch them, there they were, just sitting on the porch.  No box, no packaging, no label.  Just the 2 plastic bins.  However, they had been placed one inside the other.  So that was something. 

I decided not to try to figure it out because it made me dizzy.

So that's the weird thing that happened today. 

[chen35]

Oh wow, that is really weird. Now I’m getting dizzy

[Jaguar]

Decluttering is damn awesome, I went this route a few years ago and I'm so glad I done it then. Congrats, oh looky a squirrel

[Tennesseer]

"Great Decluttering and Expulsion of Accumulated Detritus"

Add 'ful' after Great and you have the Greatful DEAD.

[NastyWoman]

And now I want some Cherry Garcia icecream

[dannylion]

Sept 26, 2017 19:58:40 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

"Great Decluttering and Expulsion of Accumulated Detritus"

Add 'ful' after Great and you have the Greatful DEAD.

Well, I did go to college in California in the 1960s. (Actually, that's pretty much my excuse/explanation for everything.)

[haapai]

I went to college in the eighties.  "Oh looky, a squirrel" (actually, "Oh wow, the detritus under the pine tree has changed in consistency since the red squirrels chased away the fox squirrels" and OMG Boony M videos on youtube) syndrome affects my decluttering efforts too.

Believe me, what you are experiencing has nothing to do with your age or anything that you might have injested. 

[Deleted]

Bins are not your friend. They allow you to subscribe to that ancient Chinese proverb: "Out of sight, out of mind."

"Only if you own your clutter can you defeat it."

I made that one up, but it's pretty true.

[wvugurl26]

It would have been much weirder if you had ventured out to Walmart in person instead of ordering online.

[dannylion]

Sept 26, 2017 22:28:33 GMT -5 alwaysbeoptimizing said:

this is super ghetto, but when i get serious, i make 3 main piles and then perhaps some others


1. recycling

2. donation

3. trash


then additional piles/bins for stuff that just needs to go to the right spot.  It's harder now that i don't live alone, but if you are merciless, it's amazing that about 70% of stuff can go in the first three categories, making the process fast and leaving you with a very small amount in 4-10


I suggest, literally, placing cans where you are sorting.

www.homedepot.com/p/Rubbermaid-Commercial-Products-Brute-44-Gal-Grey-Round-Vented-Trash-Can-FG2643-60-GRA/202649169

roll the big ass recycle bin right by the door, drag a garbage can in (a clean one) and get some black garbage bags to put donating soft goods in (and have a few boxes for hard goods.

at the end of the spree (day or weekend), take a run by the goodwill.  getting rid of what you can easily hit the three piles with will make the place open up and give you more room to maneuver around, stack, view, sort the rest.  get the easy stuff GONE first and when in doubt, throw it out.

You are crediting me with considerably more focus, ambition, energy, organization skills, and sheer willpower than I have ever possessed.  Not to mention failing to take into account the whole do-penguins-have-knees thing. 

I understand the method you describe, but I fear I am constitutionally incapable of functioning at that level.  I kind of sneak up on things little by little.  We all have to work with what we've got.  I apparently have only stealth and a lot of character flaws.   

I admire people who have the energy, stamina, and ability to stick with a project on a spree basis (regardless of length).  I am not one of them, but I admire them tremendously. 

The biggest problem is that there is no externally imposed deadline.  I'm great with deadlines.  Never miss one.  But without a deadline, I function in sloth mode. 

Progress is being made, observable more in sloth terms than in Jack-Russell-Terrier terms, but progress for all that.

[haapai]

Free-standing manila leaf collection bags can be quite handy when using ABO's recycling/donation/trash approach.  A leaf collection bag makes a dandy substitute for any bin that has already been filled and when used for donations, helps avoid all sorts of conflicting emotions. 

Leaf collection bags are also very handy when you need to vacate a residence quickly, especially if getting your stuff removed will get you a substantial check.  At about 40 cents apiece, they aren't the most economical choice but they do speed you up. 

[cronewitch]

My niece came to play hoarder house with me. The donation place took a porch full, my dining room is filled with trash bags full of stuff to go to the . I let her toss some stuff without me looking, I keep stuff she throws things away so I gave her some leeway.

[bean29]

Last night I heard some scratching coming from the general area of the master bath. Master bath shares a wall with the garage, so I realized I probably had a mouse in the 3rd car garage. I put on my shoes, and went out to the garage and grabbed 2 things. Mouse food trays and a spray I bought at the garden center that the mice are supposed to hate the smell of.

Walked over to the 3rd car garage, and I literally did not have a path to the back side of the garage. DH has stuff just packed in there. I managed to get stuff moved around enough to get back there, put the mouse food down, and sprayed a bit of the wall. I didn't hear anything after that, but I will have to get DS out there on a Saturday morning to make a run to the & maybe goodwill. I don't think I want DH's help b/c he can't get rid of stuff. When he "Cleans" the garage, he just moves stuff to a different storage place. (Lately it is his garage at his office).

Hopefully I can plan for the 3rd Saturday in October. DS has a competition earlier in October that he is training for.

I like the bins too, they are great when I am getting ready for a party, but eventually you have to go through the stuff. I have been working on that. I agree that tossing and shredding more stuff is the answer. If I had someone like Crone's niece to help that would be wonderful.

[Wisconsin Beth]

I've been known to coerce my mom, sisters or nieces to come and help keep me on track when I'm working on any kind of project.

My parents are also awesome in that if I ask them to goodwill or something, they say Yes. Even when they have no plans to do a goodwill/ run. They know how cluttered my house is and want to help me.

[Deleted]

I totally need an accountability partner for decluttering.  The one or two times (in the past 15 years) that my SIL has come over we've whipped through a closet in no time.  She is so incredibly busy that I hate to ask her to come help clean my house...sometimes I think I should just offer to pay her to help me. 

[TheOtherMe]

Another one who needs accountability which is why I joined the course that I already know I will be doing more than once.

Have the bins or trash bags ready.  Some things are harder to part with than others.  I am putting them in a place to be dealt with later.

[shanendoah]

I need to declutter/get rid of some stuff. Which means I need my mom to come visit me. Yes, I am in my 40s, but if I need to get stuff done, I still need my mom. She is a naturally neat, organized, and likes to clean (how she got stuck with me as a daughter is a mystery for the ages). So, she comes and together we work and get stuff done. I think she's planning to come visit me sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Which is great, but I should probably get rid of the extra fridge before then.

[happyhoix]

At least you are doing better than my sister. Her entire basement is packed full of 'stuff,' mostly in boxes. She claims ALL of it is her grown daughters or her husbands. Husband and daughters all insist it is NOT their stuff (or very little of it is).

I come from hoarder genes so I think probably most of it is my sisters, but she's in the denial phase, which means nothing is happening anytime soon.

I've been trying very hard to defeat my hoarder genes. One thing that helps is to decide I need to paint a closet. To do that, everything has to come out of the closet, and then I try to toss out everything that I haven't used in a year and that has no sentimental value. There is a time constrant because you need to paint the closet and put back everything that you intend to keep so it doesn't crap up the rest of the house. So far, it's worked well for the pantry and the main hall closet under the stairs. The key is to actually get RID of stuff and not just move it into another closet.

[teen persuasion]

People who are cleaning out houses (either their own, or an older relative's ) think that our little library must be the Library of Congress, and needs a copy of every book ever published.

The Friends had had a book sale just 3 weeks ago.  We are starting a YA book sale tomorrow (to clear out weeded YA books, and for Teen Read Week).

We already had several boxes of nice donated books stashed on the floor behind the circ desk, to go thru (for possible additions to our collection) when we had free time.  Then two paper grocery bags of boardbooks appeared.  I also had various stacks of semi-sorted books I intended to barcode & catalog (when I found time) on the counter behind the circ desk.  When patrons start commenting on the stuff, it's really time to clear it out, so I made a push to reclaim our free space - sort, check against catalog, box and stash duplicates in basement, process and barcode additions.  Two more bags of good paperbacks arrived.  Added 2/3 of those to the collection, but then needed to weed enough non-circing old ones to make room for the new ones, of course.  Eventually found the floor and counter again.

Next day, another patron brought in SEVEN big boxes of more books!  As soon as I sorted them and reboxed them by type (now 10 normal size boxes) and took them to the basement, someone called asking if we wanted FOURTY boxes of books.  Oh hell NO, no room for that!  Suggested to the Director that we have another book sale, just a bag sale, to clear out all the paperbacks quickly - she agreed.

Three more people donated books the next day.

[toomuchreality]

Ugh. A sloth moves much faster than I do when it comes to doing this kind of stuff.

Just to be sure, now that you've brought it to my attention, I better Google penguin knees...  

[eport03]

Oct 1, 2017 19:21:52 GMT -5 teen persuasion said:

People who are cleaning out houses (either their own, or an older relative's ) think that our little library must be the Library of Congress, and needs a copy of every book ever published.

The Friends had had a book sale just 3 weeks ago.  We are starting a YA book sale tomorrow (to clear out weeded YA books, and for Teen Read Week).

We already had several boxes of nice donated books stashed on the floor behind the circ desk, to go thru (for possible additions to our collection) when we had free time.  Then two paper grocery bags of boardbooks appeared.  I also had various stacks of semi-sorted books I intended to barcode & catalog (when I found time) on the counter behind the circ desk.  When patrons start commenting on the stuff, it's really time to clear it out, so I made a push to reclaim our free space - sort, check against catalog, box and stash duplicates in basement, process and barcode additions.  Two more bags of good paperbacks arrived.  Added 2/3 of those to the collection, but then needed to weed enough non-circing old ones to make room for the new ones, of course.  Eventually found the floor and counter again.

Next day, another patron brought in SEVEN big boxes of more books!  As soon as I sorted them and reboxed them by type (now 10 normal size boxes) and took them to the basement, someone called asking if we wanted FOURTY boxes of books.  Oh hell NO, no room for that!  Suggested to the Director that we have another book sale, just a bag sale, to clear out all the paperbacks quickly - she agreed.

Three more people donated books the next day.

The amount of books the Friends group I am a part of receives put us on a path that we do several sales, we have a monthly Saturday book sales from 9 to 3 (except June), two book shelves located across from the main check out desk that has books that can be bought anytime the library is open by way of the check out desk, and the more expensive books (textbooks, out of print texts) get sold on Amazon.

It's amazing how many books come through.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using proboards

[plugginaway22]

The deadline thing is what works.  A big party, a wedding, selling the house!  If none of these events are looming, we move at a snail's pace.  My list is long and every so often something gets checked off.  DH and I are 57 yr old empty-nesters in a 4 BR house and we know that we will downsize at some point.  Raising 3 kiddos here for the past 23 years resulted in quite an accumulation of stuff.  We work full time and do not have the energy or desire to spend nights and weekends on this project.  

[finnime]

dannylion, my soul mate!

If it weren't for the WIR declutter thread I'd be neck deep. As it is, I'm wading.

[alabamagal]

Oct 2, 2017 6:18:04 GMT -5 plugginaway22 said:

The deadline thing is what works.  A big party, a wedding, selling the house!  If none of these events are looming, we move at a snail's pace.  My list is long and every so often something gets checked off.  DH and I are 57 yr old empty-nesters in a 4 BR house and we know that we will downsize at some point.  Raising 3 kiddos here for the past 23 years resulted in quite an accumulation of stuff.  We work full time and do not have the energy or desire to spend nights and weekends on this project.  

We relocated when our 3 kids were in early 20s. We had professional movers paid for by my company so only did minor downsizing beforehand. New house had plenty of space in basement, so we ended up with 10 large boxes of stuff per kid, not including furniture.

Each kid is responsible for going through their boxes with goal of 1 box of memorabilia per kid. One done so far.

[dannylion]

Oct 2, 2017 7:05:50 GMT -5 finnime said:

dannylion , my soul mate!

If it weren't for the WIR declutter thread I'd be neck deep. As it is, I'm wading.

I often think I should become a regular on the WIR declutter thread, then I remember how little progress I make and I feel very inadequate when I read about all the progress the regular participants are making, so I just slink away.

[busymom]

Oct 2, 2017 8:12:09 GMT -5 dannylion said:

Oct 2, 2017 7:05:50 GMT -5 finnime said:

dannylion , my soul mate!

If it weren't for the WIR declutter thread I'd be neck deep. As it is, I'm wading.

I often think I should become a regular on the WIR declutter thread, then I remember how little progress I make and I feel very inadequate when I read about all the progress the regular participants are making, so I just slink away.

     C'mon over & join us on the thread!  You don't need to make a lot of progress.  We encourage each other over there.  

[teen persuasion]

And this morning the bookdrop had an entire history encyclopedia set of donations (on top of the usual returns, mail, periodicals).  Not half an hour later, I heard the distinct thunk thunk thunk of more books being dropped in the box.  Six more donations, and one return.  After I opened, a patron handed me two new best sellers (yay, but we'd just ordered them).  Another phone call asking if we'd like more donations - YA this time.

It never ends.

[dannylion]

While breaking down the box that 2 other bins (described as hampers on the Walmart website) came in (not the 2 that came each in their own box, these were 2 other bins that I ordered in a bin-ordering frenzy a couple of weeks ago), I noticed that the label on the box said "Flexible Lampers").  They were just ordinary flexible hampers. 

  

[Artemis Windsong]

I consider throwing one item away as progress. 

[dannylion]

Oct 2, 2017 20:59:09 GMT -5 Artemis Windsong said:

I consider throwing one item away as progress. 

Then I made some progress over the weekend!  I gave away 2 things and threw away about a dozen things.  Winning!