Sorry, it's Lynnie! Durn autocorrect!

I am in . bring it on!! Should i include pics of my non cluttered spaces??

Pictures? Yes Pease!

@Lynnie, yes decluttering is ongoing. I find that I do it without thinking. I open a drawer and automatically evaluate what's there (my family, not so much). Sure, I might do a deeper purge once a year or so, but it keeps it 90% decluttered. Think of it as wiping the surfaces versus that deep clean you do every so often getting into corners and everything. I've taught my daughter that any time you leave a room, you should look for something that belongs elsewhere, needs to be trashed or donated, etc., and take care of that item. Again, it becomes constant/automatic. Even the laundry - sure, about once a year I evaluate the closet/drawers, but as I do laundry, socks with holes get turned inside out and put in the dust rag bag; clothes with holes get put in the trash immediately; something DD says is suddenly too small gets put in the donation box. If you do it right away, you find you don't need the time-consuming purges nearly as much.

@abigail1969, I love befores and afters if you are willing to share photos! I recently tackled the craft room (i.e. the stick-it-there-for-now-and-shut-the-door room) and took photos of my progress along the way to share with a closed cleaning/organizing group to which I belong and found it very motivational.

So many of us need to declutter for sure, but I've also noticed the definition of clutter differs, which can lead to discouragement. I see dilemmas posted and the first thing people say is "get rid of the clutter." Yes, some rooms are cluttered, but others I stare and stare at the photos and think, "What are they talking about? What clutter?" I've learned, when asking for help particularly here, if I don't want a clutter comment, to literally strip the surface bare. But that's not real life. We don't all live in staged homes. I kinda need my toothbrush (so my dentist tells me) so it's going to stay on the sink. I think each person needs to figure out what decluttered means for them and set realistic goals. For me, that's stripping it down to the things I use and/or love and enjoy, and having a home for everything. My biggest struggle is policing the rest of the family. Their clutter tolerance is a bit higher than mine :-)

To me clutter is the stuff in closets and drawers that you never will wear. Maybe wrong size, style, or stained. All those things under the sink that you think you will take on those trips, or half used bottles of lotion drying out.

Drapes, pillows, blankets, accessories that you also have taken down and stored for some future use.

Sports gear for sports you never play.

Catalogs and magazines piled up somewhere that you have been meaning to go thru to cut out all those important ideas, recipes...how long have they sat there? Financial records from way back....

Things you store for others, or have inherited and kept, even though you really can't see yourself using whatever it is.

Each of us has our own ideal for how much is just right in a room or in creating a tablescape. It is right when the amount brings a smile. It is clutter when looking at it brings you stress!

Does anyone have a good plan for organizing pictures? I have an overload of both printed pictures from the era before digital cameras and a backlog of digital pictures all over my computer that are completely unorganized. Every time I start to organize pictures, I get completely overwhelmed and get very little done. Scanning the print pictures seems to be too time consuming, but I don't have the space for photo albums for the boxes of pictures that have been sitting in my house for years. I also have videotapes (VCR) of family that I would like to convert to something but am afraid to send them off to a company to transfer for fear of losing them.

Anitacz, maybe take out your favorite photos and have made into dvd's? Host a scrapbook party? Invite family over to go through the photos and pass on to others? I also bet you can find an avid scrapbooker who would help create albums for a fee.

Google Photos is a free app you can get for your phone. A friend of mine is taking photos of printed photos with her phone and then handles them that way. She has found a spot without glare to take the picture of a picture.

Anitacz, I could have written that! I am also overwhelmed with photos and have been putting off handling them for years.

Also wondering about the sheer number of photos we all take. Maybe we should just admit that they are fun for us right now, and not worry that we need to preserve them for all those future generations.

When I look around the house I see three photos of my parents, three photos of my husband's parents, one of his sister, a few of grandparents and greats, a few of the kids. Maybe those thousands of photos....we can just let go of.

Thanks, Judi. Those are great ideas!

I've started organizing thousands of photographs myself! It is a daunting, time-consuming task, but easier if you break it down into small steps. First, gather ALL of of your photos from wherever they're stored: boxes, albums, drawers. Next, dedicate a set amount of time to go through them, be it 15 minutes daily, an hour on Saturdays, whatever. Organize by year, event or any broad categories that suit you and keep in shoe boxes, envelopes, lunch bags (great tip, not mine!), etc. As you sort into broad categories, throw away the obvious blurry, dark, or extraneous shots (really, do I need 15 pics of the same of the same rocky Maine pier??). (Duplicates of family pics can be given to.....well, family, or anyone else you think might like them :) Then, sort your broad categories into more detailed ones. For example, I keep my vacation pictures together, then organize them by destination chronologically. I also make notes on the backs (use a pen made especially for this purpose or small post-it-notes) and store the pics in translucent, acid-free photo boxes I buy at the Container store on sale. (Oversize photos can be kept in the same type of box.) I keep digital photographs in Picasa, where I can edit, export and print. Finally, two helpful hints: when I started scrapbooking, my friend would ask me "Is it scrapworthy?"
if I was debating whether or not to use or keep a photo, something I
still keep in mind. And remember, a lifetime of memories can't laughed about, cried over and smiled at overnight :)

Great ideas to keep your favorites on a DVD and photograph your printed copies!

Long story....but I need to tell it.

I de-cluttered in a BIG way, not all of it by choice. I moved from a 12-room house to a 5-room "Grandma's House" near my daughter & her family. Prior to moving, I invited family members to get their stuff that was stored at my house, and I offered items to friends and family that really wanted them. Then we had 3 yard sales, donated 2 U-Haul trucks full of household items to Goodwill, donated 30 boxes of books to a small library that needed them, made a few private sales on-line, and left some furniture in the house for the new owner.

Well, that should have taken care of the 30 years worth of everything I did not want in my new house, which was very nicely furnished and move-in ready. All I needed was my toothbrush, clothes, and a few family treasures I wanted to save.

However, I also have a large collection of valuable vintage items that I had to put in storage. I rented a climate-controlled unit and paid for the $3,000 maximum allowed insurance offered by the company (Public Storage). I packed everything in new boxes, some of them purchased from the office at that facility.

I recently went to the unit with my daughter and her husband to get some items and we discovered...TERMITES! Several items were completely destroyed and some were seriously de-valued due to the damage. The insects were coming from a broken seam in the concrete floor and eating through a collection of toys from the 1950s, many still in their original boxes, (which were also destroyed).

I have a loss of nearly $4,000 and filed a claim with their insurance company, not expecting to get the full amount. But I was shocked when they told me I was only covered for $250 vermin/insect damage, with a $100 deductible! (read fine print). My homeowner's insurance does not cover this at all.

Well, I guess I have really de-cluttered now. And I have learned a valuable lesson.

If you want to keep your stuff, make sure you have room for it and don't trust anyone else to take care of it....Especially not PUBLIC STORAGE!

Or just let the bugs have it. :-p

Thanks pcmom1 and robin701 for the great ideas. I feel much better about the task now. You are right that we don't need to keep all of our photos. I think I won't feel so overwhelmed if I remember that while going through my pictures. I'm sure my children will treasure the photos much more if there are less of them.

I have years of pictures in boxes. I don't know how to organize them. I think the first thing is to sort them by year. Then go through and pick my favorites. I don't need 8 pictures of my son with his cake. Just pick the best one. Thanks for everyone's advice!

Clutter bonus room turned into official "gear room." We had a covered carport that the prior owners turned into a bonus room. For us, it became a cluttered mess housing our ski, bike and fishing gear. We decided to scrap it all and literally start over. One closet became 2 separate his and hers closets. A large metal rack now houses our gear for the particular season. Organized and easy to find anything. We also installed metal / powder coated cabinets from Costco to organize utility stuff for the house. We're not done yet but it feels great to be close!

I noticed someone mentioned storing fabric in old suitcases. Great idea. I like to collect old suitcases, too. As of now, I have three of them and they look very nice stacked in a corner of the guest room. I have used them to store all of the old framed pictures that I have not had time to purge.

We tackled the garage and attic while the weather is cool. Huge difference in both spaces, glad this is done so early in the year!

such a long thread of very enthusiastic de-clutterers! I have moved from the coast to the desert and the 20ft container was packed by my partner and 3 best mates - but just as others have said - i have lived without it for pretty 18 months and didn't miss much of it. And fantastic advice - sort it out before buying more storage containers - i still have few small containers to go through and haven't touched them for 3 years now and obviously I don't use it....yes its time to commit and sort and toss! Jessica - seriously girlfriend - wash that man right out of your hair and get some nice new things nice new clothes and a brand spanking new fresh start to life....you can do it.

After reading Jennifer Scott's Madame Chic series, I started tackling some specific areas. Fortunately there aren't too many. First the most obvious that I see everyday: kitchen counter where my computer and some office supplies live and our butler's pantry which is the dumping ground for things coming in and out of the house. In about an hour, I organized, threw away, filed, and rearranged both areas. Looks so much better and we have managed to keep it neat for two weeks. I posted about that last week. Next I attacked the hidden clutter pits: a drawer in the kitchen that is a cross between kitchen stuff of office supplies like my stabler, scotch tape and calculator and my nightstand drawer. I emptied both drawers, cleaned out, threw away stuff that wasn't needed, and put pretty paper in the bottom of the nightstand drawer. Now only essentials are in both drawers; they are neat and uncluttered. I'll be post about that this week. Next on the agenda: my bedroom closet.

Guess what I found in our local paper? An article on simplifying your stuff! Here are some highlights:

Emotional attachment: remind yourself "this is not my mother or my grandmother" it is just stuff and you can let go.

Deferred decisions: When you go thru a purge, pick up an item and decide then if it will stay or go. Lots of us put off that decision, which means it stays!

Tackle mail the moment it comes into the house. Sort over the recycling.

Don't buy anything unless you know where it will go. That includes souvenir shopping on vacation!

Remember, you have to start somewhere. One drawer at a time.

Holy cannoli! We are in the midst of a massive decluttering! We call it purging! So far we cleaned out 4 walk in closets - one bedroom that had turned into a clutter room - and just yesterday we tackled a big dragon! The long, deep storage closet! We had over 20 bags of clothing, bedding,etc that we dropped off for donation. We had 3 huge bags of stuffed animals that some are going to an animal shelter and the rest donated. We have a couple of kids desks and end tables that are being donated. We have a couple of boxes of 'save for the yard sale in the spring'. We had 2 shredders going to get rid of paperwork dating back to 2003! Time consuming and so messy! And the rest of the 'stuff' is loaded into our garage, taking up one side of a 2 car garage, waiting for a junk guy to come haul it away! We have 2 smaller storage closets and the basement laundry room/storage to tackle and I think we will have our home back! We've lived here 11 yrs and have 2 daughters and a grandson who lived with us for 6 of those years, so we accumulated a lot! It's a very cleansing experience, besides dirty and tiresome, but there is such a feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day!

This is just whats waiting for the junk guys! Round 2 starts next week! Love seeing how big my beautiful house really is!

To all of you who don't know where to start-Just jump in somewhere, anywhere- for just 15 minutes a day. I found doing one small area, like an end table or one shelf gives you a sense of accomplishment and makes you feel good about yourself. Your space didn't get that way in a day or probably even a week. My clutter is 36 years (at least) in the making, it's going to take me a bit of time to get it all gone. If you can try to do 15 minutes a day for 6 days, you have done an hour and a half of de-cluttering or you can keep thinking about it because you don't think you can spare 1 1/2 hours a week and get nothing done. Keep only what you love. Remember, you can't organize clutter.

I have seen a few references to organizing books and would like to throw in a website - flylady.net. She emphasizes 1) throwing away your perfectionism and 2) ANYTHING you do to keep your house clean and organized blesses you and your family. It is based on routines. Many e-mails come everyday, but don't get caught up in them once you get the message. Don't hoard them too!! LOL

Best of luck to all!! This is such a pervasive problem in our "have to have it" society.

Thank you for all the good advice. I started a bit of my de-cluttering and found my Dad's false teeth! I don't know why I saved them, but they are gone. My biggest challenge is getting rid of my Grandchildren's baby toys. My children aren't having any more babies. After babysitting for 12 years (various ages) I really don't need them. I'm getting all misty-eyed over here.

Kariann - I too found our first grandsons baby toys in amazingly great condition. I let my 2 new granddaughters (toddlers) play with them, and they are already thrown around and used to death!! Happy for the re-use, sad #1 is a teenager, but it brought back great memories. Glad they are being reused - or handed down! Next stop - donation box! Love the false teeth find!

I have found that being sure the kitchen is cleared and polished before going to bed is a great thing to wake up to.

I am clearing out under my bathroom sink today.

Good luck to all out there!

Finished clearing out under the sink. I hereby promise to never bring home any more of those small, free soaps, shampoos, lotions, sewing kits, etc. that the hotels give out.

Check with homeless shelters and women's shelters before tossing the hotel soaps, etc. The homeless shelter in the town where I used to live welcomed those hotel freebies as the shelter's guests didn't have stuff of their own.

There is a great book called "The Art of Tidying" a Japanese book. I cleaned house this past summer after reading it and have been able to keep it tidy by always thinking of the book's mantra which is "Does this bring me joy?" if the answer is a maybe or lower, give it away!!!

I'm in, working on garage. Tried of moving items I don't need from house to house. Spouse is a bit of a hoarder.

tv room to art studio. my tv room was sitting there for way too long unused and big catch all! Had it for my kids to hang out with friends. Now empty nested and I returned back to college for my art degree. started this week converting it into an art studio to do my homework, art projects, matting photos and artwork. Some major pieces are in place. First will paint through, then built in storage. Amazing lights to work under. This was the room after I gave away the couch and love seat. Yeah no more clutter starting with the art table.

Today is Clear Your Clutter Day. There is a drop off point in Austin for everything except hazardous waste. For those who have asked about used textiles look at http://atrscorp.com/services/faq/

Meganmcgann, I would like to adopt you.

Hi cdepaolo! Thank you for your post. Now, we come to my greatest challenge!

I am getting ready to sell on eBay or maybe Craig's List. I have hundreds of packing material, boxes, bubble wrap, peanuts, tissue paper, etc. The supplies alone take up 1/3 of my basement. Then I have hundreds of items to sell, mostly high quality toys, doll houses, collectors items, etc. These items have taken over my kitchen table, spare bedroom, and 1/2 the basement. I have about 25 of those Rubber Maid containers. It's all there, but very disorganized. Is anyone successful at this selling. I just have so much anxiety and don't even want to look at the stuff. Some of you seem so organized - not me!

Hi Kariann Hopes!

My greatest challenge is very similar to yours, although mine is mostly organized.

I have already disposed of almost all of the everyday items that I don't want or need. My problem is finding a way to sell the valuable collections I have and hopefully recovering some of my investment.

This may not be the place for posting that type of information, but, like you, I have so much anxiety just thinking about it. I'm also paying $125 every month just to store those collections in a climate-controlled storage unit.

Most of the items will go to family members who want them. However, I have a huge collection of memorabilia and props from the tv series "Xena, Warrior Princess" and "Hercules Legendary Journeys". The collection includes original comic art, props used in both shows, autographed photos, show scripts, swords, weapons, etc, etc. The collection filled an entire 10 x 12 foot room in my old house. It was like a mini-museum and was actually called "The Xena Room". The estimated value of all items is approximately $20,000.

If I had enough room I would stash it for my grandkids. They already think I'm a bit off my rocker, and I don't even own a rocker!

So don't feel alone. I've discovered that most people don't want my stuff because they already have too much of their own stuff. Anyway, I had fun buying it, I enjoyed it for a while, and now I have to deal with it...somehow (*sigh*).

Best wishes and Good Luck!

Kariann? I don't want to hurt, but it does sound like you gave up one clutter for another? have you thought maybe it is just better to ditch? or give to someone who would really appreciate it? if you donate to a museum for example, you get to claim your full value. I had gotten hold of some antique books, coming from important local figures. One was from a woman who created the first woman's college in the state. if you charge postage your fees go, same as if you set a price. we barely made enough to pay the postage on one, on another, we lost $2. I have not tried yet, but can you use concierge from ebay, they do everything, even send you a postage sticker, then they send you what remains. But i would check what your item is going for. and be harsh about it. It does not matter if they do not have one just like yours, how much did a similar one, close to the same age go for.

Thank you for your response, having fun. We have one of those eBay stores that do everything. Their profit is 30% of the sale. I am just taking baby steps in this reorganizng and getting rid of the clutter. I could go there and check things out. It's very strange but I have each and every item wrapped in tissue and put in those Rubbermaid containers. Very organized. Yet, there's no room to eat at my kitchen table. We use trays. What a terrible confession.

not at all, happens to the best of us. oh, i did not even know they have stores! And yes i know they take quite a bit, i just thought it might help move things along? I was going to do it, but most of my stuff they don't take, but might for games if they take them.

How are my Houzzer friends doing with the challenge? I'm moving along in getting rid of stuff in my guest bedroom.

1 bag of clothes and counting, and two boxes of "stuff!"

I am totally in! My room is in desperate need of a complete organize! I just have no idea where to start! I will probably end up starting in my closet or at my desk. Here we go!

another chore done! sorted out my linen closet and sent all the bedding I have not used in a very long time to a family member who is just setting up house and needs it. Now my linen closet only contains bedding I use on a regular basis.

Wow you guys Rock! Everyone is keen an ready to go. Happy to see that you realize this is not an overnight job. Two things, Every thing Needs a Home so you and everyone in the home knows where it goes, and Don't Set It Down, Put It Away!!!! Good Luck! Stay focused!!

Well, it has been a year. How has everyone done?

Were you able to keep your purging on task?

Hi ~

I am just refreshing my memory. Here I am a year later and still not organized. I did manage to sell a lot of baby items (car seats, strollers, etc.). Still unable to part with the toys. I bought a book on cluttering to add to my other two! LOL. So, the new book I bought is, "Lose the Clutter, Lose the Weight" by Peter Walsh. I need to do both! So, I'll see how it goes. My daughter has informed me that when I go (die) everything goes. Hopefully, the other children will stop her from hiring one of those huge garbage bins. Any new people around? (Kariann)

Kariann, let me invite you to this discussion.....

[https://www.houzz.com/discussions/as-the-season-of-consumption-ends-and-the-purge-season-begins-dsvw-vd~4349798?n=247[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/as-the-season-of-consumption-ends-and-the-purge-season-begins-dsvw-vd~4349798?n=247)

Hopefully Jan and her "followers" can motivate you to take a step at a time and not be so overwhelmed.

Here we are almost a year later and what an advantage to purging! We sold our house immediately- and the positive comments about how big it was and how roomy the closets were made all the blood, sweat and tears well worth it. Now we have less in the storage units where our home furnishing are while waiting for our smaller house to be built. I'm sure more purging will be done when we move in so we don't clutter the new house! Less is definitely more!

You can see this online store for home decor. There you can to buy decoration for your bedroom, kitchen and living room.

I've just finished doing a big clean, and used this useful list to help with de-cluttering.. https://www.gively.co/post/5-ways-decluttering

Phillip......the link doesn't work. ( delete ? )

If I haven't used it/worn it/ enjoyed it in the past two years, I get rid of it. There is no reason to keep things in case I need them 'someday'.........it will all eventually go to the dump or to the local Salvation Army drop off. Treasures in my eyes become trash to everyone else when I'm gone ! Attics are clutter zones.........get rid of it all and save your kids the task.