^^

LMAO There are these people..: )

I purge on a regualr basis my hubby on the other hand not at all. He passed away in October and now I guess the purge will have to begin to get rid of stuff I hav no use for but every time I think I will start I feel like I am trying to get rid of him, so maybe in the spring .

As for the wallpaper idea I think it is helpful to see it in a space , wallpaper is expensive so better be sure. I am however not so sure about AI as designer

Patricia, I am so sorry for your loss. I am several years out from the loss of my husband. Give yourself time and know that you can make those adjustments in stages. It will take a little while to be able to separate the item from the memory and embrace the idea that someone else will benefit from using your husband's items/clothing, etc. I remember donating a lot of my husband's clothes to a halfway house for men leaving prison and reentering society and the workforce. Good luck to you.

Kendrah, thanks for the reference to Caroline Winkler. Been watching all morning!

,

My two old counter stools are looking their age. Picked up new ones that were totally out-of-my-comfort-zone...too "country", not my style...not my taste, but great quality and a great almost FREE price. Now on a hunt for pendant lights to smooth over my let-myself-down feelings. :0)

^^^

Two that were old, or two years old?

May I say? Decorative let down and disappointment renders "free or almost free..........MEANINGLESS.

That folks, is an obsession of mine, Just sayin'......don't. : )

Wait on the pendants until you have the stool that you LIKE.

@JAN MOYER...2 qty...about 15 years old! I'll donate them. The new stools have wrought iron backs, which goes with my "Lodge-Look" home in the woods...just NOT loving "lodge-looks"....I need to buckle down and flow with what I have...or move. This will never be an ultra-modern house like I used to have & left behind. I keep looking at Tom Cruises home in Telluride he sold for inspiration: Link

Not really an obsession, but I seem to keep liking and searching things with William Morris designs. I'm just gravitating to it. I haven't bought anything yet, and I keep thnking that classic as it is, it might really scream 2025/6 . I know it's been around obviously, but I'm not sure if it's my "algorithms" or timing or what but my feeds are indundated with the stuff,and I like it for now.

It reminds me a little bit of ikat designs which I've also not bought. I still do like them a lot, but a few years ago I was consumed.

Anyone else noticing the abundance of pretty William Morris prints? ( bedding, wallpaper, posters, rugs)???

@Patricia Colwell Consulting Patricia - please accept my sincere condolences on your loss of your husband. Please don’t rush the sorting through your husband’s belongings. That’s a job to accomplish in small pieces as your heart and soul can manage it. If you have close family consider inviting them to work on pieces of sorting with you.

My goal in the next two months is to get rid of 3/4 of the stuff in my house!

When my daughters both left - they both left behind some belongings in their old bedrooms + in the basement.

When my SO officially moved in - he brought so much stuff that I had to leave the house while it was being moved into the basement, Instead of sorting through his 100 golf shirts/50 pairs of golf shorts/25 pairs of golf pants/300+ ties/100 dress shirts/45 business suits/100 pocket squares/200 socks (dress and athletic) + tons of casual clothes + super casual clothes - he just packed everything up and brought it over.

He brought over all of his mismatched dishes/glasses/100 plastic cups + medium quality pots and pans + flat wear etc. - and I didn't need anything he brought over. Three queen sized beds + bedroom furniture (all my bedrooms have furniture already - and if his was nicer or he had sentimental attachments to it, I would change out the rooms - but he doesn't care about any of it).

Oh - and his 75 pairs of shoes. I am not exaggerating about how many items of clothing this man has - it's RIDICULOUS.

I don't know why he didn't purge stuff ahead of moving - we discussed it - so, I thought he was doing it. NOPE.

It makes my head hurt just typing this.

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ^^^^^

omgomgomgomgomg My head would have exploded: )

@Patricia Colwell Consulting, I am so sorry to hear that your husband passed away.

I hope you have love and support close by.

I am clearing out my classroom but alas for my family Thats means bringing things home so now our office looks like a storage locker. Oops. That will be a project for another day!

Stuff. Trash/treasure.........

A dozen years ago, I've this CHARMING home, widowed owner, ........a client who packed, I kid you not, in plastic take out bags. Every last small thing she owned. It was a nightmare. Worse ? Her garage. One day, post significant /rewarding install day of all the new, the best of the old kept, the relics banished,,,,and here's Jan with her movers and a now empty truck.. UH OH.! : )

One hour later, the garage, courtesy moi, and two burly guys and a BIG tip? The garage is clean, organized. Double uh oh's she pulls in the drive...where ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE..

Hissy fit central...as apparently I have "relieved her" of a precious coat. A coat belonging to the now deceased for 15 months, attorney hubby. The coat.........sooooooooopo treasured, it was in a moldy heap among other mildewed items on the garage floor.. Yes..on. the. garage. floor.

While she is ranting with blind, purple faced rage , I ascend the plank into the truck, find the mildewed coat ................wave it it wildly in front of her..:

You are referring to this treasured item? This "sentimental, and very important COAT" ?

The rest has a lot of profanity, .... let it be said we are still friends, enjoy hours long chats when we catch up, and yes, she loves her house, to this day

PS

. The coat went back on a heap, into the truck....

Believe it when I say .......this biz isn't all MOOD BOARDS: )

@JAN MOYER - I asked him why he would spend money to have people pack up + move over things he hasn't worn/used in forever and/or stuff he doesn't care about at all.

His response: "I just figured that I could sort through stuff as I unpacked the boxes in the basement."

How many boxes in the basement have been opened? One - because he was looking for a particular golf shirt (apparently, none of the other 99 golf shirts would work on the course that day) that had been accidentally packed into a "basement box" (instead of one of the boxes of clothes that went upstairs immediately). In 18 months. ONE.

How many of the items were donated or thrown out? NONE. Everything (other than his golf shirt) was just thrown back into the box.

I can't even go down into the basement because my head starts pounding + I feel like my eyeballs are going to pop out my head.

The other day, I said something to my four year grandson about having some games that used to be his mom's down in the basement. He looked at me - with a confused expression on his face - and asked, "Nana, when did you get a BASEMENT????!!!??"

When I would sort through a client's things in a garage, basement or house? N.E.V.E.R!!!!!!

You are just too nice, Jan!

@Jan …. your comment re the loaf pans made me laugh. We don’t collect much of anything but do have a few loaf pans, They’re leaving today. It It’s been years since we’ve used them & if I want banana/walnut bread , pumpkin, or whatever, we have a nice store that sells very good ones close by. I’ve been buying them (occasionally ) for the past several years.

I am ruthless about extra stuff in my house - whenever I want to buy something I always think 'do I want to manage this for the next 10 years?' and not surprisingly I don't (I'm kind of lazy) - DH is forbidden from bringing home another water bottle/coffee mug/travel swag item given away at conferences - I am always saying, there is *one drawer* for the stuff - if it doesn't fit, it can't come home

but I've missed out on a lot of good kitchen gadgets over the years: bread maker, air fryer, ninja creami, soda stream, etc..

@la la Girl …. Same here, but I did break down & buy a compact air fryer, used it once, it actually was pretty good, but it’s stored in the garage “pantry” cabinet. Everyone I know seems to like the Instapot ? Ot whatever it’s called.

I have been " Walking " from anything new......ANYTHING, unless it haunts my mind for a week. Weather, cold, indoors more, online more.....can lead to the whoops/click/there you go.it's in the bag!

Then? It comes.....not nearly as great as something I already own.

^^%%$$ Label, re box /tape/trip to UPS.rin in dump on counter

Loud cursing " You didn't need it in the FIRST place!" DUMMY!!!

haha I think I have several loaf pans. Two are regular sized (I think I got one from my moms belongings) and a smaller, single person size from when I was single (15+ years ago). PLUS I have a large pan with 8-12 mini loaves.

I won't say the last time I used any of them, mostly bc I don't remember lol

Before Thanksgiving, I did a big purge of kid stuff and random items I had saved for too long. I could have proobably made several hundred dollars at a garage sale, but time kept passing so DH hauled it off to donate.

I love these purging stories-hilarious. I am the one in the house who can let go of stuff, while the others always wanted to keep anything, just in case. My kids, as teens, used to love to shop at the thrift stores in town. One day my son walks into the house with a distinctly colorful jacket on. I did a double take, and said, "hey, where did you get that jacket?" He replied,"the Y thrift store, and it only cost me $3." I said,"Well you could have had it for free, because it sat in the coat closet for years." We had a nice little chuckle at that.

Heck, if you donate your loaf pan to the thrift store, and you find that you do need it in the future, you may be able to buy the same one back at the low cost of a few dollars.

In our house, I was the one that everyone would come to when they were looking for something, probably because I am the one who puts things away! Kids are out of house now, but my hubby always asks,"Do you know where such and such is?" One exception is that I always seem to misplace my glasses, and he is always able to find them. I'm such a lucky gal-:)

OMG I am obsessing over the stuff too! I am hoping to do the reno on my home this year so I need to get packed up and moved out. It is not all coming back in with me!

Every bag I throw in the garbage or donate is like a new victory dance! I am learning to be ruthless with myself and only keeping the best of the best!

I don't go shopping because every dime I have needs to go into the house - at least that is what my brain is believing right now!

I am researching vinyl siding for my house - not sure what to look at or look for - so much varying info out there - anyone have any experience?

Next obsession - following posts where people need help arranging furniture - I wait to see what you all post- there are several of you I look for religiously so when I do my own space, I will have a nice layout!

My design " obsession" is not removing so many walls! Instead doing really nice cased openings with a crown detail on the top. Seems like people don't want wide open anymore.

I love a kitchen or bathroom with warmer tones. So tired of white and gray. Let's get some colors going!

I have always naturally been more or less a minimalist. But I like to follow Joshua Becker of Becoming Minimalist anyway. In his latest column, he wrote this that I think might apply here very well: But we don’t own possessions, we purchase their maintenance. That seems rather profound to me. And since I am a firm believer in not doing maintenance or cleaning beyond what I have to do--I have had a wonderful housecleaner for a couple of years now that I have given up other things in my budget to have--I always think seriously about getting anything new in my house, even "needs" before I buy it.

P.S. Jan, I am so sorry for your loss.

@kimbers333, I literally laughed out loud at your story about your son and the jacket!!!! Good times!

@Aphaea, " But we don’t own possessions, we purchase their maintenance." Now THAT is worth saving and repeating!

@Debbie Washburn, just one suggestion for the vinyl siding search - there are a few companies that make vinyl that comes in 25' lengths.

If your contractor/installer is detailed enough, it can almost eliminate any seams.

Also, using AZEK trim (or similar) that has built in J channels for doors and windows, etc.

Glad to give you a laugh Diane Bier Interiors.

we purchase their maintenance." Now THAT is worth saving and repeating!

It surely is....

I do NOT iron, except sheets when inspired: )

I have three white , oversized shirts, ( Chico's , I buy UP from my size....they come out of the dryer minus ANY wrinkle and remain that way all day. I think linen shirts are great, on other people. I feel messy after a half hour.

I have three pair of black Theory leggings...not skin tight, just skinny, No bag, no sag, zero iron.

I reinvent.. I have three LuluLemon "Align" boot cut. I do not wear them at the gym. I wear them everywhere else all simmer, and buy them up two sizes.. (I absolutely REFUSE this wide, baggy short pant thing and everyone wearing it, should look at their backside in a mirror, and ask a man what he thinks ) ,. I told a friend about the Lulu and they are she declared...AMAZING.

Am I boring? No......but over assorting anything drives me nuts. You don't need fifty lipsticks, ninety eye shadow or whatever. Get stuff that works.

The "variety thing "is a ticket to nowhere but a bunch of clutter, half used, hardly worn mistakes. Unused clutter makes me wild. : )

Can we talk about mechanical pencils? I have not conquered this category...

Oh, mechanical pencils!!!! I love Staedtler, .9 mm width. I have one in my briefcase at all times, and several in my office. .7 is too thin, but .9 is perfect for both drafting and accounting!!! (Yes I still use pencil and paper for both!)

^^

I would HATE to tell you the KACHING that has been devoted to this item.

My "touch" is a bold as my opinion? as I break the lead? I can never follow the lead change instructions. Were I to show you the "drawer of fail"? You'd have a heart attack.....

We should probably talk about these........? When Tuna noodle casseroles regularly graced our Moms dinner table? Did you ditch? Do you still HAVE lol?

Come onnnnnnn: ) Do you?

Do I have some? Of course! Doesn’t everybody? (I was really sad when I dropped and broke my biggest one. Barring accidents, they wear like iron.)

Heh. I do not have one of those but I do remember them. There are only two things I have multiples of and these choices were deliberate: eyeglasses and scissors. I have an excellent quality pair of regular scissors in each room in the house, including the back door hallway and they never leave that room. So handy and I never have to search for them. I have two computer/reading glasses, one in the living room and one in the bedroom (plus one I keep at the office) plus two for distance, one of which is in the car, the other neaer the front door.

Plus, there is NO junk drawer. There is no need, everything has a home and stays or goes back there. I loathe searching for items so this is essential to my having a good life. That and absolutely no clutter.

I knew I had found my kindred spirit when I first came across the famous William Morris quote many years ago: “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

^^

100% Agree on glasses and SCISSORS. In fact, you might die of starvation, smelly, badly groomed and ugly to boot, minus scissors. You could be found in pain..moaning on your bath floor!

There is absolutely nothing, short of a piece of fruit in the grocery that doesn't require hacking your way into it with scissors, or a knife, or HACK SAW.

This is why you need the glasses to go with the scissors, or will require a blue button to dial up 911 as you bleed out on the bathroom floor, simply trying to break the seal on an eye pencil, or blister pack mascara....

Also agree on Junk drawer! WHY ? You answered it!

Thanks to Jan , I located two much needed documents during my purge today! Yes to scissors, have them in kitchen, garage, bathroom & outdoors for my garden stuff ( bags of soil, pre-packaged fertilizer packets, etc)

The other thing to have everywhere?

The BEST below, blade ad cover tuck away and in!

You can whack the heaviest Amazon cardboard to the size of legal paper in a split minute., also theose pizza boxes. the pizza box, and I have five.

Yes.......five

Kitchen knife drawer

Tool box

On a shelf near the W.M toters

One in the car...

and a spare...for who knows

Also never without a SPARE tv remote. They do CROAK. ZERO warning. I do not mean the batteries.

I still have Corning Ware covered dishes from the 1970s! The ones with the green, yellow and orange vegetables on them. Also the plain yellow ones. And the white ribbed ones. And I've bought a few at tag sales recently.

And I agree about junk drawers. "A place for everything and everything in its place," was taught to me at a young age, and I've always abided by it.

And scissors--large, haircutting, cuticle, pinking shears.

And glasses--many pairs, especially readers!

^^

EyeKeeper.com !! : ) : )

Great bundle prices

Yep, I confess, I have several pieces of the Corning Ware!


But, thanks to Jan and this post, I went through my many loaf pans and other glass bakeware, threw them all in the dishwasher and will post them on our Buy Nothing group. Bye bye bakeware....hello extra storage in my cupboard.

Post it notes are wonderful things! One year on New Years Day, I stuck a post it note inside each small appliance I owned and every piece of serve ware or bakeware in my kitchen with 1/1/19XX written on it. The next January I got rid of everything that still had the post it note.

Now I keep a post it note with the last date I used something if it isn't something I use often enough to know I don't want to get rid of it.

When I clean out a cupboard I just check the dates - kind of like canned or packaged goods in the pantry.

That Post It note idea is excellent, Jennifer!

I have thousands of interior design images and product images I've collected over 40+ years from magazines and online. Many 3-ring binders of images and hundreds of magazines I've kept for the last 20 years. I'm trying to purge because I have to move and I'm not paying to drag that stuff to the next house. Some items have come back into style.

FROM MY BLACK AND WHITE ALBUM

^^

I sympathize! If I had a nickel for every magazine, every coffee table design book ever bought over thirty nearly four decades ( I was addicted long befoe I hung out a shingle ).....I could have circled the earth five times in luxury travel, and the paper could be laid end to end in match distance.

A few years back I did a massive purge of my book cases....and vowed to stop! I finally let go of the binders with the mag, editorial pages that caught my eye and were SO useful back in the infancy internet days.

The books were murder, weighed a ton, In exhaustion I finally opened a window and tossed right out. Descended to box at ground level and donated to a senior independent living library.

I still have plenty, only occasionally give in to the addiction, The only one I will take to my grave? Mark Hampton on Decorating. He's just hysterical, and of course deceased. But the book, a compilation from all the editorial he contributed to House and Garden, just beyond entertaining - I have a hard cover still wrapped spare to my dog eared original .

From up the thread, dani_mo8

"His response: "I just figured that I could sort through stuff as I unpacked the boxes in the basement."

How many boxes in the basement have been opened?"

My old neighbor left her husband over stuff like this.. Apparently he had some issues, and may have even been on the spectrum as it was little discussed thirty years ago, At any rate, he did have some habits. Following multiple collisions., he could not drive anywhere without uttering at every stop light, traffic signal,,,,,,,

Red means stop, green means GO!!

They stayed in touch, she tried to help him, he moved nine times over seven years.

At every move the load got larger........

The load ? Contractor bags, the really big ones, filled to capacity with unopened mail, and every kind of paper one could imagine. Every move, yet more BAGS!

I think she totally gave up when she asked, "WHAT the hell do you think would happen if you set fire to all of it from seven or eight former abodes? !"

" There could be something REALLY, really, important in there..................." : )

"

I am SO enjoying this thread!

I am a very neat person (everything in its place and a place for everything) married to a messy person. It does make me crazy, but I’ve been training him to keep the mess mostly in specific places. Unfortunately he leaves his laptop on the farmhouse table we eat on and literally does his work there. Not at the desk in our very large office. In my kitchen.

I purged my clothes once I decided to work less and travel less (Zoom wins every time) and I am keeping the number of items the same. (Buy one, donate one. I keep a donation bag in my closet so I stick to this.) I have a clothes horse mom and followed her footsteps well, but knew I had to reduce my work wardrobe. I sent all of them to Dress for Success, which is a great organization.

My current obsession (sounds better than problem) is finding a 10x14’ rug for the large office. I am a rug obsessed homeowner but I’m not 100% sure on any I’ve got saved in my iPad. Most of the ones in this house are Oushak. I also think that once I find “the One” I will not know what to obsesses over. I recently decided I didn’t have to keep the sectional in our Great Room (since I don’t love it) and put a deposit on a new couch. That will hopefully-probably cascade into other small items I’ll need.

@RedRyder - some of what you shared sounds familiar. The closet & work wardrobe purge - my reason was retirement, moving & downsizing. I also found a local organization like Dress for Success to send my too good for Goodwill type clothing donations. My closet rule has been ”one new thing in / one old thing out”. I work hard to apply that to my husband’s closet too. As for your rug obsession - well, I think many of us just need to always have a project we’re working on to keep us busy. 😊

Love the websites that allow you to try the different wallpapers in your room. The trick to getting a good result is to take a great photo of the room for starters.

It's been my experience people tend to select small patterns as a SAFE selection for fear of the large patterns in rooms. But this tool allows you to see the effect the pattern has on the room.

This feature seems to be an option if the wallpaper manufacturer submits their wallpaper to the feature. This doesn't seem to be determined by the wallpaper distributor, so not all wallpapers can be viewed with the 3D feature.
DecoratorsBest site is my go to for using this feature.

Wow Ijustlooked at the site Jan shared for eyegalsses ( I wasn't sure what it was at first but decided to click). Great site for eyeglass frames and in particular readers....... thank you. Going to head down that rabbit hole now.

For the most part I don't buy more than I need, but there are some things that I have entirely too much.

I whittled down my collection of book to one 4' shelf. My clothing fits easily into a small walk in closet and my cookware and gadgets fit into my small 10x10 kitchen. I went through all my crafts and gave away stuff I won't make or use. Down to a few projects that I want to make and will have time to work on after I retire (Yarn for a bulky blanket, two diamond dot kits, one needlepoint kit, one set of acrylic paints, brushes, canvas and drawing that I want to paint, one wood craft kit, several yards of flowered fleece fabric that I will make into a garment.)

But I have half a dozen things that I over buy or over bought and have not purged.

Right now I am trying to learn how to balance buying bulk groceries to save money and buying/making too much. I freeze the bulk packages in single or 2 serving packages, make bigger meals and freeze single serving packages, but some things sit in the freezer too long and gets thrown away instead of eaten and every week I end up throwing some fruits and veggies out.

Other things I need to work on/stop buying.

• Things that smell good - body soaps, candles, essential oils, perfume, body powders/sprays, air fresheners. Who really needs 15 different body soaps? But they all smell so good and each one is different . . .
• Bedding - I have 2 queen sized beds - I own 12 comforters/coverlets - gave 5 away since the new year. I do like changing them up every few months - but I don't need this many. Made the decision that I won't buy more until I am down to less than 8. (One for each bed for each season).
• Art supplies/coloring pens. I color every day, but do I really need every color copic marker made? Apparently I do - bought them all, wanted them all. Got the set of 250 colored pencils and dozens of pens or crayons or things to add a bit of glitter or highlights or create a blended background.
• Art. I go to art shows and inevitably buy something - I don't need more art, but something catches my heart and after walking past it a dozen times I buy it. I get on etsy, enter a key word (Iitallia, Dansk, Rosenthal, Murano, Sascha Brastoff, Bottosi) and something jumps off the page and into my basket. I don't know how this happens, but there is always something in my cart. Only a few things get purchased on the spot - must have. The rest I just let sit there and tell myself - if it is still there on your birthday or or Christmas you can buy it.

I also have become aware of my triggers. If I am sick, I buy things I don't need. If I am emotionally hurt I buy things I don't need. I want to feel better and something that smells good or I can wrap up in or will be something pretty to look at is all I want and I have no strength to stop myself. I spent $1000 on stuff I didn't need when I had Covid. Thankfully I don't get sick or down very often.