How to ELIMINATE CLUTTER from your life forever!

[dr.declutter]

Hi everyone. I figured there had to be others out there in the millions of eBayers who want to eliminate clutter. So I decided to create a discussion thread and a "ME" page all about clutter and how to get rid of it and how to keep it out of our lives forever.

Personally I know my clutter problem took years to accumulate, and will take some time and effort to make things "normal" again. But I'm ready to dedicate myself to the effort. I'd like to discuss the tips and strategies necessary not just to eliminate clutter but to become the kind of person who does not ACCUMULATE CLUTTER in the first place! If you are interesting in creating a clutter-free life then let's talk!

[wildpaintponies]

Dr., could the local library use some of the books from your father's or your collections? Or possibly a school library? At one time our local library took donations of books to build up their collections, and I remember seeing in some of them "Donated by ********". Kind of a nice remembrance of a loved one and other library readers could benefit too! Of course some books the library couldn't use, accepted them anyway and then once a year had a big sale. Either way, someone bought a book they wanted and the library had the funds to buy a book they needed.

[wildpaintponies]

Pictures and albums can contribute to a lot of clutter if they're not organized in a meaningful way. Anybody here going through the heartbreak of trying to identify the who, what, where and when of boxes of old photos?

I've got a ton of old, wonderful photos and a few albums that belonged to my folks, grand and greatgrandparents and most have no dates or notations on them! My fella has the same problem with photos/albums from his deceased relatives.

My mom had showed me some of these pictures when I was a little kid, so I remember who some of the folks were, and I can kind of guess who some of the others are and some of the places, but geeezzz. I've gone through and put this collection of pictures in the best chronological order I could. What a shame that I can't identify the persons and places in a lot of them. Maybe this kind of thing is why scrapbooking is so popular today. Though the kids of tomorrow may wonder where they're going to store Mom's old scrapbooks, at least most folks now are providing information in them the kids might want!

[dr.declutter]

Hello wildpaintponies. I really enjoy your clarity of writing style. Thanks for bringing such wonderful suggestions to the discussion as well.

I think the ideas about what to do with older books from my Dad are very good. Then too, so is your idea of sharing NOW with younger relatives. In a way, I'm glad I at least saved some items from going directly to the Goodwill since many may have value to other family members who didn't realize it so soon after my Mom passed.

The photo dilemna is really a puzzler for so many people isn't it? My idea is to gather up as many photos as my siblings have of deceased relatives, scan them carefully, post them all on a web site and then invite everyone including the cousins to have a look-see and maybe identify some of the people.

The miracle of modern technology is that all these old photos, letters, etc. can be shared around the world! Amazing!

Thanks again for your thoughts. Now if I can just get rid of more "stuff" I'll have time someday to put your great ideas to use! Best wishes for your efforts too. 🙂

[dr.declutter]

I just finished the audiobook version of Stop Clutter from Stealing Your Life by Mike Nelson, the founder of http://www.clutterless.org/. I found the book to be filled with insights of why people clutter and how we can stop. Especially helpful were Mike's encouragements to keep the ground you've gained, and not fall back into cluttering conquered territory.

I've got my bedroom under control, now and with my wife's help the living and family rooms are looking great too. But the basement is going to take a long, long time. I'll update more when I get a chance.

[podiptoroy]

B-) A great thread! I am a "collector" (pack-rat" sounds so demeaning ;-)) plus I am going through the remnants of two estates...I had three family members die in eight months, and I was the executor for two of them...My mother was a child of The Depression, and I will use that as an excuse for her "collecting". My Grandparents came over from the old country, and presumed that anything and everything could be made "useful".
The pictures were among the hardest to get rid of, but not being able to identify people and places rendered them sort of, well, moot...Fortunately, one of my cousins owns a B&B, so we were able to use some of the more interesting ones to lend atmosphere...kinda neat to stay at a B&B where there are pictures of your relatives on the walls, even if you don't know who they are!

As for my place...I don't think anything short of an airstrike involving napalm will do the trick... 😉

[wildpaintponies]

Evening, everyone! Estate "decluttering" and dispersing has got to be the most emotional kind of "decluttering". I remember going through my mom's christmas ornaments and finding things like the construction paper chain I had made for her 40 years ago. Time to get the Kleenex box out!

Podiptoroy, What a great idea for using unidentifiable family pictures! I was trying to come up with ideas for the mystery pictures I have. I was thinking of scanning some into the computer to make background paper for scrapbooking projects. Or possibly using them for decoupage projects.

Anyone here planning on having a garage sale this spring?

[dr.declutter]

Hello wildpaint & podiptoroy. I don't think I could ever part with old pictures of relatives, even those I can't identify. I figure someway, somehow, through the wonder of the internet that I'll find some distant living relative with the answers. Anyway, I like the B&B decoration idea too.

I just got done watching the Dr. Phil show today about hoarding. I could really identify with the difficulty people have in parting with possessions. I think I'm going to get counseling for the problem, because now I can see that accumulating things got to be too big a part of my life, even when I had realized that, I still continued to add to my collections. I'll keep you all posted on the progress, but right now I'm just stunned at what I saw on that show, and how my thinking parallels that of the super hoarders. I'm thankful I started to turn things around, but there is no doubt I'm going to need counseling before I can really let go of all the stuff that stood by in place of feelings and emotions I was not willing to address.

[2laydbk]

This is such an important issue,I am hoping ebay helps me get my life better organized.

[dr.declutter]

Just dropping in for a brief update. I'm tackling the clutter one small area at a time. In the past week I got one of the bathroom under-sink cabinets cleaned out. The cabinet received new vinyl tile over its particle board base, caulking, a pop-on light, two wire racks on both left and right inside panels and three clear-plastic rubbermaid storage trays. I'll be installing mini towel racks inside the doors. A 26-yearold cabinet now has a new lease on life, and I've tossed tons of old junk that used to call it home.

[robn*in*philly]

I'm hoping to have some time this weekend to tackle
the hahahaha -- dining room area ---- or should I say
the junk collection area..... heeheehee.

Needed a large pasta pot for superbowl sunday and
its lost in the clutter.

I KNOW I have one --- but where is it????
Not where I normally keep it.....

And my goal is to TOSS/DONATE alot of stuff I haven't
touched in the last six months/past year.

Its time for clean out .... they are calling for a
snow storm in the Philly area, so I'm hoping I will
be able to stay put and get something accomplished.

[cajunjoe2004]

Whenever we move, we unpack the stuff we want and have 2 boxes; one labeled "ebay" and the other "freecycle." We are 100% clutter free right now because have successfuly unpacked everything and either sold or got rid of it.

www.freecycle.org for info on joining a local group and getting rid of stuff that isn't worth selling. I just post to the group, have several people who want it, pick the lucky taker, and tell them where I live. I leave the box out on my door step and it is gone the next day. If you are more comfortable, meeting in a public place is fine too.

[podiptoroy]

B-) In my younger days, (looks in mirror...reassures self that he was younger, once) I moved frequently...about every 12 - 18 months. Wasn't in a Witness Protection Program, :^O just thought that I would like to live in a variety of places...see if any grew on me.
Then, clutter was definitely not an issue...for a period of time, I was able to carry my "home" in my car!
Now that I am a responsible 😮 home-owning type of person, and have lived in the same house for 24 years, things sure have changed!
As I mentioned previously, I was the executor of two estates, (if I never see another accountant or lawyer, it will be OK with me!) that had years of accumulated family heirlooms and history to be "divvied up".
The furniture, jewelry, etc. was relatively 😉 simple, but because I am the only one who seems to give a hoot about family history, (old-fashioned, I guess) I wound up with the bulk of the paper items.
This has proven to be a dilemma for me...it entails the disposition of a multitude of correspondences...letters written by my Great-Grandmother, (in Norwegian, no less) and such things as my Grandpas letters to my Grandma when he was overseas in WWI, journals, diaries, newspaper clippings...you get the idea.
Since I have no children, and no one else has shown much interest in these things, I sometimes wonder what I am keeping them for? Yet, I cannot bring myself to view them as "clutter", and hope maybe down the road, someone in the "younger generation" (did I really say that?) will find it of some interest.
Otherwise, it will just be something for someone else to get rid of when I'm gone...(sigh...)

Resume de-cluttering... 🙂

[mackleytaos]

Okay, I don't need to de-clutter ;-), but I had to pop in to give Podiptoroy an idea for family gift-giving for next Christmas (or the year after...)!

Organize those letters and put them into a book! My mom and I did this with her parents' diaries from their honeymoon. It took us about 5 years of organizing, transcribing, finding old maps, finding and duplicating photos, doing up an index, etc. Then we took it to a bookbinder, made up a bunch of copies, and sent them to the entire family for Christmas. Everyone LOVED it!

...I still have my gramma's perfumed talcum powder can in a baggie... :^O

[dr.declutter]

Great suggestion mackleytaos, and a generous one too. And podiptoroy your pursuit of preserving family history, even the letters in Norwegian is a worthy one. Histories of "famous" people are told and retold by many authors, but your family's history can be told only by those who lived it, and those letters and photos are precious. How sad when a family's history of letters, postcards and photos ends up in the "instant ancestor" section of an antique store. These were once real, living souls, but are now unknown except to God.

[podiptoroy]

B-) Thanx folks...I have decide to archive and preserve all these things whether anyone else is interested in them or not.
What a wide variety of stuff though...not sure how best to preserve things like the top half of the front page of a newspaper...it's kind of a hoot...when FDR was elected Prez in 1944, the newspaper my Dad worked for ran the headline "CORNELIUSEN ELECTED CLERK OF COURT".
It was sort of a big deal in those days, because my Dad had contracted polio when he was 17, and back then you weren't considered handicapped, you were a "cripple", and it was presumed by most folks that you weren't good for much, if anything.
Also have a "Stars & Stripes" newspaper that my Uncle brought back from Europe in WWII, where he was a Medic...the headline is "NAZIS QUIT!"...
I imagine I need to use some sort of special stuff to safely store and display these things, but am not sure what...
Any ideas or website suggestions would be greatly appreciated! 😄