Long-time readers of Get Rich Slowly know that I've been waging an ongoing battle against Stuff — the clutter and crap I managed to collect during 20 years of wanton spending and debt. Though I've managed to curb my spending (and have slowed the influx of Stuff), I'm still surrounded by constant reminders of my old habits.
Last week, Colleen wrote to ask for an update on this seemingly-endless war:
I was wondering if you would update us soon on your battle with “Stuff”. I, along with others I'm sure, struggle with this, and reading your blog has been a great help. I'm curious how you've progressed since the last post when you decided to clean the workshop.
I'm pleased to report that over the past two months, I've launched a number of successful campaigns to take control of clutter. There's still much work to be done, but I can finally envision a future that isn't filled with useless Stuff. Here are a few examples of my progress:
Guarding the guest room
On Saturday, Kris and I spent several hours cleaning our “guest room”. I put guest room in quotes because for the past two years, it's been incapable of housing guests. Instead, it's been a home for my photography equipment, Kris' cooking magazines, my board game collection, upcoming Christmas gifts, and more. It's just a holding place for Stuff.
This weekend, we decided we'd had enough. We sorted and purged. We cleaned. We re-arranged the furniture. The toughest part for me was culling my board game collection. I had to admit that although we used to play games once a week (or more!), we're now lucky to play them once a year. I don't need 50 board games. In fact, I'm sure that next September, I'll be wondering why I kept 25 board games.
After a few hours of work, we'd managed to turn a dumpy useless room into an actual guest room. (We also managed to move all of the science fiction books and comic books into the guest room, freeing up space elsewhere in the house.)
Conquering the closet
In June, based on a GRS reader suggestion, I set up a year-long experiment. I moved all of my nice shirts and sweaters from the hall closet to the guest room closet. Whenever I need something, I go to the hall closet first. If what I need is there, I wear it. If not, I pull it from the closet in the guest bedroom.
After I've worn something (and it's been cleaned), it's hung in the hall closet. After a year has elapsed, the guest bedroom will contain a bunch of clothes I have not worn for twelve months. I'll take these things to Goodwill.
This trick is awesome. It's surprisingly liberating. When I open the hall closet, there are only a handful of shirts — the eight shirts I wear most often. This makes me realize that most of the other 25+ shirts hanging in the guest room are nothing but clutter. (I can't evaluate the sweaters yet because the cold weather hasn't arrived. Still, I think it's safe to assume I don't need 19 of them.)
Waging war in the workshop
My biggest victory so far — one that I hope to finally achieve later today — has been the reclamation of my workshop. When we moved into this house five years ago, I had dreams of learning carpentry in the shop. Or converting it to a photo studio. Or something.
Instead, the workshop became a dumping ground for all the crap I'd managed to accumulate. (And continued to accumulate.) At the beginning of this summer, the building was packed to the gills with computer parts, record albums, magazines, and boxes of useless junk. After weeks of slow progress, however, I've managed to reduce the mess to a single bench. It will take me several hours to sort these last few difficult piles — but once I do, the workshop will be a homey place to pursue my hobbies.
Fighting the good fight
Though I've achieved some major victories in recent months, my war against Stuff is not over. There are some tough battles ahead. But I'm a veteran now. I'm confident that I'll emerge victorious.
It seems like I always end these posts with a list of lessons learned. Today is no different. Here are some of the things I've been thinking about lately:
- The best way to fight the battle against Stuff is to prevent new Stuff from entering your home. If you continue to acquire new Stuff, you just make it that much more difficult to turn things around. (It was difficult for me to learn that “free” Stuff is rarely actually free.)
- It's best to convert your Stuff to cash, no matter how little that cash might be. I used to think I had to get what my Stuff was “worth”. This is a great idea, and I encourage those who have time to do so, but extracting maximum value from Stuff requires a lot of effort. I'd much rather sell my Stuff on Craigslist or on eBay or at a garage sale.
- Don't be afraid to give your Stuff away. Though it's best to get money for it, there's nothing wrong with donating your Stuff to charity — or giving it to friends who can use it. One man's Stuff is another man's treasure (or something like that).
- If it's possible to outsource your Stuff, then do so. Why should I own thousands of books when there's a public library down the street? Why buy DVDs when I can use Netflix? Why purchase CDs when I can buy songs through iTunes? By outsourcing my Stuff, there's less clutter in the house. However…
- Beware: Digital Stuff can be almost as insidious as physical Stuff. I have thousands of digital photographs, tens of thousands of mp3s (legal mp3s), 20+ years of Word and text documents, as well as a vast array of other data. This digital Stuff is nearly impossible to organize. If possible, organize your digital Stuff as you go.
- Focus on quality. Sometimes there's a thin line between stuff that is Stuff and stuff that is useful. The difference often comes down to Quality. I've learned that I'd much rather pay more for Quality that will last a lifetime (or most of one, anyhow) than to save a bit now but end up with Stuff later.
When I started this battle two years ago, it was difficult for me to imagine getting rid of any of my Stuff. At that time, I had over 3000 books. Since then, I've managed to trim my library by more than half. But this didn't happen all at once. Every six months or so, I get rid of another batch of books.
Purging Stuff is like peeling the layers of an onion. You gradually shed layer after layer after layer. As you strip away the trappings of your old life, you come to realize that all you really need are the bare essentials. Everything else is just Stuff.
For more on this subject, please visit Unclutterer and Zen Habits. (Many GRS readers also recommend FlyLady, but I haven't ever explored the site thoroughly.)
Author: J.D. Roth
In 2006, J.D. founded Get Rich Slowly to document his quest to get out of debt. Over time, he learned how to save and how to invest. Today, he's managed to reach early retirement! He wants to help you master your money — and your life. No scams. No gimmicks. Just smart money advice to help you reach your goals.
Man, my parents are pack rats too… they just bought extra shelves to store more stuff, and ended up coming back from Costco with 2 pillows, a comforter, and a microwave as well. I was staring as all the stuff went to the top shelf.
I was like, what is the point of having this stuff if you’re not using it?!?!?!
I really like the idea of getting rid of stuff and am getting into it more and more myself.
The thought of every little thing in my life actually having a real purpose is very appealing.
However, I’ve noticed that there are quite a lot of things I would classify as “semi-stuff”, ie things I don’t use on a regular basis but still need every now and then.
Lots of things used in the kitchen is “semi-stuff”. Do I really NEED two pots? Most of the time no but sometimes I do. Do I need that pair or really ugly, worn pants? Not really but sometimes it can be useful when painting or working outside. The same goes for winter clothes. I don’t need that jacket…unless it gets really cold.
Then there is the problem of deciding when “semi-stuff” actually becomes “stuff”.
I do something similar regarding the pruning of the closet. I start hanging used/cleaned items on the right. As time goes by, unused items will naturally move to the left.
For non-hangable items in drawers, I just put t-shirts/sweaters/pants on top, making the less-used items go to the bottom.
Then “spring cleaning” comes around, and I grab everything on the right/bottom, and get rid of them.
Also, I doubt my roommate will let me usurp their closet to hold my clothes. ;)
I live in a 500 square foot apartment, so obviously, stuff has to be strictly controlled or stuff will take over. I find that once you get to a certain point in your life you have to change your mindset from “accumulate” to “replace.” Personally I chose to replace with used stuff over new stuff but that’s just me.
JD since you have your workshop to do your manly DIY tasks, perhaps you can make some sort of display case/shelving for your game collection. If the games are out in the open, you may be more likely to play them. The case would not need to hold all of them but you could rotate the games monthly. Games are fun to play and the box design is neat and quite the conversation starter.
Our basement is the warehouse- I try to eBay things, but it is still a big job. We are more careful about new purchases so at least the problem is capped.
There’s one way to clean everything out in big shot … make a gigantic move really far away where you can’t bring it with you. That’s what happened to us — when we moved overseas, we gave away everything within a week.
You mention digital stuff being as insidious as physical stuff. The upshot of digital stuff is searchability and the fact that hard drive space tends to increase with time. Most files (especially video, audio, and images) contain metadata. Applications like spotlight on OSX and Strigi for Linux can crawl your filesystem and index this metadata to make finding files easier.
I generally find that it is not worth spending a lot of time developing complex taxonomies for your digital stuff because search has gotten so good. For example, I have four folders for my email: inbox, sent, drafts, archive. I’ve never had a problem finding an email in the archive by searching for it. Also, I find that it is better to keep more of a flat organizational structure for the filesystem on the hard drive as opposed to a complex nested structure. For example, most of my files are in ~/Documents. I have a folder called “archive-personal” and one called “archive-work.” All of the directories containing my software projects are also in ~/Documents. Both archive-personal and archive-work are more or less one directory deep; each contains folders with a long descriptive name organized according to project. Almost none of these folders contain more directories, only files. Even with around 100 items each, these folders are still easy to visually parse. At some point I might make a folder called “attic” in each archive to hold some of the folders I never use, but I’ll wait until each archive has like 500 items.
I found the following post from lifehacker to be conceptually useful:
http://lifehacker.com/169971/metadata-as-a-filing-system
I don’t think I would advocate having no filesystem taxonomy, but the idea is interesting.
I like the idea about outsourcing stuff and it’s a very good point. I have a stack of movies under my TV that never get watched. Too many movies aren’t really re-watchable, and if I did want to watch them again, it wouldn’t be much of a financial stretch to just rent it again.
I recently did a blitz of filing cabinet de-cluttering. I overheated my paper shredder.
“After I’ve worn something (and it’s been cleaned), it’s hung in the hall closet. After a year has elapsed, the guest bedroom will contain a bunch of clothes I have not worn for twelve months. I’ll take these things to Goodwill.”
One of your later tips is to convert your extra stuff to cash, even if it is a small sum. Could I recommend a garage sale? Every few years I have a garage sale along with other families and a few friends. I usually make about $100 or so and my main source of income? Old clothes. I never throw away or give away clothes. I store them in big totes until the next garage sale. I sold tons of sweatshirts and t-shirts that were 5+ years old.
I don’t mind keeping the clutter around (usually stored in totes) for a couple years (or longer) if I have a chance to convert them to cash.
I also have slowly been fighting the battle against stuff. My stuff basically consists of books, not as many as you have but I still have a ton. Every couple of days I list some on paperbackswap. Five at a time they are slowly going out the door, the only problem is that I am ordering books that are coming back in. So far more are going out then coming back in… but what happens when it reverses…
We moved last July 2008 and rented our house to college students for the year while I was on a fellowship. We tried very hard to not purchase things for our temporary space, but still ended up buying things (and nesting) even though it was just for a year. Now, back at our house with all the stuff we left behind and the stuff we carted back, I am shocked to have 2 or 3 of some items. It has actually been a good lesson or me, although painful to think about financially.
As we plan a yard sale, I keep coming back to what I paid for something versus what I could sell it for. Most of the stuff couldn’t be sold for much anything. So whenever I am tempted to buy something – I keep coming back to what the value would be at a yard sale. I haven’t bought any stuff in almost 2 months!
One of the ways I convinced myself (and especially my b/f) to get rid of stuff was staying in this studio apt for 4 years. My friends bought houses and they keep getting more stuff to fill them up. I used to think I wanted a house too, but now I just want less and less stuff around me. I really LOVE these posts about clutter. I think that once I’ve gotten down to the most essential, I’ll feel like I can focus on what I really want to do with my life. Maybe that seems dumb, but I’ve always been the person who couldn’t start a term paper without cleaning up my room. I get so distracted by my possessions, and how they seem to be keeping me rooted to the spot I’m at… I’ve gotten rid of a lot, and I don’t buy stuff anymore, but I feel that I have a ways to go yet (even with only enough stuff to fit in a studio apt!!).
Hey JD (and commenters), have you seen the TV show Hoarders on A&E? I just saw it yesterday for the first time and this post totally reminded me of it. It’s about people who compulsively buy stuff and hoard it in their homes.
http://www.aetv.com/hoarders/
During this time when so many are loosing their “Mega” houses I have thought some of us should win an award for getting rid of stuff and making our affordable 3 bedroom ranches a castle! I think before the economy issues we were looked down on for not buying bigger which meant holding more stuff! Now we are in style! I am reading this blog from the extra bedroom/den. It took a lot of work over the last two years but we purged and now have a nice sized organized room. The trick? Run to Goodwill when the other family members aren’t looking.
Lol. That last sentence got me. So true!
Holy cow…I love that idea about moving clothes between the two closets.
I wonder how easily a similar system could be implemented using DVDs, video games, board games, and other Stuff…
I think George Carlin puts it nicely about Stuff:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac
It’s implied (since it’s Carlin) but NSFW
I’m glad you’re getting so organized, JD. I have to say that having a clutter-free world is way more relaxing. I am stressed out when my apartment and desk at work are messy and packed with Stuff, so I do my best to clean & purge whenever I can. I used to be a bit of a pack rat, but when I moved out of my parents’ house, that changed. Of course getting rid of some things is difficult, and I definitely have *some* stuff I don’t really need (and doesn’t even hold much sentimental value either) that I still hold onto, but I think I am doing well.
I also ask myself before buying if I really need the item and how it’ll end up. You hit the nail on the head for the first lesson learned – don’t buy it in the first place.
@Steve (# 13): I’ve never seen that show, but from what I know about hoarding, I think it is a serious mental condition. Like people keep EVERYTHING (including garbage), and pretty much live in their own filth to the point where their house is a health hazard. I think JD was just a bit of a shopaholic like a lot of other people in our consumerist society vs. an actual hoarder.
If you ever want to get into the psychology of NOT buying stuff, throw a garage sale.
You will be absolutely shocked at how pitiful your sale prices will be, and will therefore never buy anything again, be it on sale or otherwise. You’ll probably just end up being happy with what you have, and go to other garage sales.
Trust me, when you sell $1,000 worth of stuff for $10 bucks, your mindset will change.
I am sending my husband to your house right now for an anti-board-game-hoarding pep talk :P
I find it’s much easier to get rid of Stuff when I see it as a moral issue. There are people out there who don’t have enough clothes to wear, and my closet is stuffed full of perfectly good clothing I never wear? Huh, think maybe I could correct that imbalance.
I highly recommend Don Aslett’s books about decluttering; FlyLady just annoys me.
I recommend “Hoarders” for a real boost in Ruthlessness too. It’s amazing – I can only watch about 20 minutes of that show before I HAVE to get up and start sorting Stuff.
The hoarding habit IS often a medical problem of some kind. I feel for those people, and admire their courage, even when they slip a little and try to cling to a box of worthless junk – the episodes I’ve seen, they have a counselor with them who is very calm and non-judgmental, but helps them recover their focus on getting better. Their “reasons” for wanting to keep things, however are enlightening – my packrat tendencies are different only in Degree, not Kind. Sobering.
I think that our clutter issues are inherently tied to our financial issues (and to our health issues, as well, for that matter.) If you can unlock the trigger that causes you to spend money you don’t have on stuff you don’t need and to eat/drink/smoke stuff you don’t need, you are well on your way to sorting it ALL out. So often people focus on one of these ‘issues’ at a time, when really for most of us they are all a symptom of the same struggle. Rarely do you find someone who totally has their financial house in order struggling with clutter issues; or similarly someone who is completely in charge of their physical/mental health letting their financial health get out of control.
I think your blog is so useful, JD, because you document all of these struggles, and don’t just focus on the financial aspect of our lives.
I couldn’t afford to ship all my things on such a short notice. And with the two of us (my husband and myself) we were allowed 4 suitcases, plus carry-ons.
It was heartbreaking, in a lot of cases. Hard to choose, hard to leave things behind. Even harder considering we didn’t only have a size limit, but a weight limit, too (plane restrictions).
So stuff like books, that I would rather have taken along if it meant having 0 clothes, had to be left behind. I had to be extra selective with them, because we couldn’t take them all.
What’s worse, for someone materialistic like me, we could only bring our DVDs without their boxes. Just the discs (we salvages the paper covers too, but no box, except some special collector ones). It allowed us to bring a lot more DVDs and be less selective, but it was incredibly hard for what it was (the boxes are really just a piece of plastic).
But as we went along, eliminating Stuff, then having to do it again because we had too much left… A lot of it was easier than you’d think.
And I realised I had been keeping things from several moves ago, some still in boxes in a closet. Old letters I didn’t need to keep. Old pictures I was happy to find, that I hadn’t seen in years (and that I took along).
But of course, you can imagine that we left 100% of our furniture behind. As for anything that plugs in, it wouldn’t have been compatible anymore.
My plan had been to sell a lot of it, and use that money to ship what we wanted to keep. But there was no time to sell anything.
Now that I am here… It’s incredibly easy to live without it all. For a lot of it, I can’t even remember what we left behind. For some of it, I find myself thinking “why did we take that along anyways?” And it’s only been a few months.
So, I definitely agree with one thing: once you have it, getting rid of your Stuff, as useless as it is, can feel like cutting off your own arm. It’s a LOT easier not getting any new one.
But if you get the chance, try purging it a little bit. All the Stuff you have just ends up weighing down on you, you feel a lot more free without it.
I just made a system out of it—every six months (or more if needed) we get together a donation for our selected charity.
Then we take as much time as it takes to go thru all closets and so forth. Anything that hasn’t been worn or used in that last six months–goes.
If you stick tight to this or a similar system, you should be able to win the war.
I clicked through from RSS to post a link to that Carlin video but Jonathan (#16) beat me to it. LOL… Great minds think alike!
I’m sick of seeing cases take up valuable bookshelf space.
I’m buying nice sleeves (Tyvek, not paper) for all the CDs/DVDs/HD-DVDs I have and filing them in a couple of media boxes.
My husband and I go through our stuff every year to 18-months. We’ve really gotten good at narrowing down what we need vs. what is just sitting there not being used. Usually we sell higher-quality items on ebay and then send the rest to Goodwill. Last year we did sell a few things in a garage sale.
The only things we now have some “collectible” items: Star Wars memorabilia, comic books, collectible glasses, etc. However, I’m okay with this because they are neatly packed in rubbermaid bins and stacked on shelves in the garage.
Some day we’ll say these items, I think.
-Little House
It seems fortuitous that the New York Times has an article about self-storage, and the people who accumulate the stuff that goes into it. Here’s the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/magazine/06self-storage-t.html?em=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1252346433-J8B09pqWmy2IEhP5d0GBJA&pagewanted=all
Does anyone have any good ideas for storing comic books? I have 4 children plus my husband who are all big fans ( I read them too, mostly to stay in the loop). My husband saved tons of comics from his childhood and my kids read them now, which is okay with me because they are more visually appropriate than many comic books produced today. We also have new ones coming in every month. I’m swimming in them now!
Hi J.D.,
I have a suggestion for paring down the collection of cooking magazines if you are interested. I, too, subscribe to several different cooking magazines. I store them in magazine files which I put on a bookshelf, but after each calendar year is over, I go through the magazines again and tear out the recipes I’ve either tried and liked or want to try. Whatever I don’t tear out goes into the recycling bin. Then I put the recipes I want to keep in plastic sheet protectors which I store in a 3-ring binder with my other cookbooks. When I want to use one of the recipes, I just remove the recipe/sheet protector from the binder and it is so easy to just put it up for easy viewing at eye level with a clip or a magnet. The sheet protector protects the recipe from splatters and spills. And then the best part is I DON’T have years of cooking magazines sitting around my house!
I think your post just convinced me to forget waiting for someone to buy my Coach shoes, name brand clothes, used furniture, etc. on Craigslist and just give it all away. It’s hard but I think the value has to be placed on not having “stuff” hanging around rather than an item’s possible resale value.
Joining a local FREECYCLE group (via Yahoo) has helped me rid my home of unwanted items that would leave me feeling guilty if I threw them away and they ended up in a landfill. I simply post the unwanted, FREE item (semi-rusty tomato cages, mixed plastic party cutlery, unopened but wrong color mineral powder make-up) and when another local member e-mails me indicating interest (although it’s usually multiple members and you have to pick one), provide directions to the item that is waiting out on my front porch.
KF, I completely agree about selling stuff. I’ve only ever sold a few things because they were valuable. Despite finding buyersrelatively easily, it was still too much work. The only reason I wanted to participate in a community garage sale was to have fun and meet some neighbours.
I know we’re all supposed to strive for minimalism and have this war on stuff. But I can’t get on board with that. For example, sometimes I don’t wear a certain item for months and months and then wear it frequently a few years later.
I don’t agree that those with clutter problems have money problems. I budget a little money to spend on things I enjoy.
I also think hard about what makes me happy. I don’t buy everything I think is cool. I don’t just bring home random stuff. I understand my own spending patterns. I have limits and I enjoy the things I do buy.
Try going from a 4,000 sq.ft. home to a 2,000 sq. ft house after you had a job loss and have to pay for your own moving expenses moving 1,000 miles. Your stuff loses it’s luster when you have to pay to move it. Many, many books sold or gone! Lots of stuff donated or dumped. Very freeing. Two car are in garage at our new home. No more stuff storage.
I was also about to post about not selling! My rule of thumb is to only sell if I believe I can get at least $10 for the item, otherwise it goes to charity.
I do occasionally consign baby clothes, since I can use the credit to get more clothes for my kids. Plus it’s easily done in a single batch.
I would also add that once your are in a de-stuffing mindset, you can you use many opportunities to clean out the clutter. Just this weekend I went camping in the Adirondacks, and was able to get rid of some Stuff. Years ago, my husband and I developed a system of re-packing our camping crates as soon as we returned from a trip and cleaned our equipment. This simplified packing for the next trip as things were ready to just grab and go. However, since I hadn’t been camping in a year, I forgot how much Stuff we put in our camping crates!! So, in m new minimalist mentality, I minimized the camping gear. I actually waited until the end of the trip to see what we really used and didn’t, and then put the unused stuff aside for Goodwill. Hooray for beating the Stuff monster!
I’m a librarian, so borrowing books from the library is not only great for limiting new books but also convenient for me. However, I don’t recommend depending on your local library to keep every book you want to read in stock. Libraries purge, too. Books go out of print, and some library patrons are not good about returning books…ever. Your favorite book may not be there the next time you visit.
If I’m not sure how I’ll feel about a book I read a borrowed copy. If the book is something I’d like to read again, or a favorite author publishes a new book, or the next book in great series comes out I put those on my Amazon wishlist and wait for Christmas. When I can’t wait, I borrow those, too. I also shop library book sales and used book stores. I think the books I love are worth owning, just not at cover price.
Of course, if you never re-read books borrowing them is economical and ecological and owning is totally unnecessary.
I am a board and card game junkie! I have some favorites that I could never part with and I would love to hear what yours are.
Mine are Fluxx, Killer Bunnies and the quest for the magic carrot, and Wit’s End.
The Mrs. waged her ‘de-junking‘ war earlier this year, which was quite effective. Two areas that are still in enemy hands were two that you mentioned – the guest room (more of a sewing room/home office) and the workshop/garage. Not to mention our own little DMZ – the breezeway.
The two rug-rats make it tough to make progress, but I have a feeling that we may have to engage these pockets of resistance before the end of the year.
@KF (#30): You beat me to it, but I was going to say that I disagree on the selling point, too. Just get the stuff gone: it’s a sunk cost; the money is gone along with most of the market value.
The trouble to sell almost anything is not worth the effort. I would say it would have to be worth hundreds of dollars to consider it, therefore it’s probably consignable and still out of your house. The relief of having it gone far outweighs the incidental income. (I know, Dave Ramsey says have a garage sale, but I think donating is better for your sanity.)
Let someone else have the joy (and responsibility) of finding your cool collectible/antique item at the Goodwill.
Just my $.02, of course. :~)
Couldn’t agree more – selling your own stuff, unless it’s a car or a house, is generally not worth the effort (unless you’re completely broke and have a weekend to burn anyway). Otherwise, just donate/discard.
The best thing to do before all this, is to read Marie Kondo’s book and understand how to de-junk your life _categorically_. It is a proven method that is permanently applied to the rest of your life.
The nice thing about digital stuff is that if you back up like most people do, it will eventually go away.
Sorry, I meant to say first, “Good post and thanks for the update, JD! I enjoyed this post and found it useful and inspiring, as always.”
Then go into my “just get rid of it” rant.
A few additional thoughts about how to get rid of Stuff quickly and without dragging it out into a drawn out item on your to-do list: I live in an apartment building, so as soon as I decide I want to purge something, I drop it off in the building’s laundry room for someone else to take. This rids me of the item immediately and doesn’t give me time to second-guess myself. When I lived in a house, I would immediately put the item in a bag in my trunk to drop off at a nonprofit or drop-box whenever I happened to be driving by it. Or, sometimes I would put a bag or box of items in front of my house with a “free” sign on it for others to take.
Another quick and easy way to purge things is to post them on freecycle. (Go to freecycle.org and sign up.) I’ve been amazed what people will take, and it has saved so much of my stuff from going in landfills. I’ve even posted stuff that I didn’t even think anyone would want, like broken furniture or an empty wooden box that I received a UPS shipment in. Multiple requested all of those random items.
I used to try to sell smaller things and finally realized that the amount I got back wasn’t worth the mental thought, physical effort, and time that went into the endeavor. Selling normal books, clothing and small household items yields so little that I’d rather just get rid of the items. Having them around in boxes or bags until some future garage sale or until I get around to posting them on eBay would cause me too much stress and hours of time. Back when I was a student, I did a little consigning because my budget was so tight and I had time on my hands. Charity is the answer now that I’m not living on the edge. And not accumulating as much stuff to begin with!
The secret to decluttering is to do it regularly. I don’t accumulate much but four kids do (or did, they’re older now), and DH is a bit of a packrat.
I go through every closet every year. I help / helped my kids go through their rooms every year.
I hate clutter but I am sentimental about my kids’ stuff: artwork, a couple of favorite toys, letters). The rule is everything must fit into the storage room in the basement, on shelves. (We don’t own a garage.) We declutter the basement every winter. By the next winter there is inevitably “stuff” on the floor. Rinse and repeat. It never takes more than a day. Ditto for the garden shed, every spring.
A great way to declutter is to repaint. We only repaint a room when it’s ALL gone through. We do this when the kids “move up” to a new school. When it’s done they get to “redecorate” with new curtains or a new rug or new sheets, partly to make their rooms look “older”, partly as a “reward”. I’m trying to teach them that living in tidy, uncluttered environment is its own reward.
My youngest (11) REFUSED to do his room regularly and I gave up. This summer, right before middle school, he said, “I can’t stand my room anymore.” It took us FOUR DAYS to go through his room. We made three trips to Goodwill (I have a small car, lol.)
It is so liberating, getting rid of “stuff”. Now if only my DH would feel the same. Much of the stuff in the basement was his mom’s, or his from before we met. I would chuck a lot of it but as long as it fits in that room, I live with it, because it keeps the rest of the house decluttered.
I always go to Goodwill, because I want it out of my house ASAP. This is actually the first time I have a couple of bags I was considering selling at a community garage sale or taking to a consignment shop.
PS I have never *made* any of my kids get rid of anything. I just make them think about whether they want to keep the item or not. If they do, fine.
I may have posted this before, but I thought I was moving in August so I went through all my bags of miscellaneous ‘things’ and culled them down to two bags of financial papers and I gave away fifteen garbage bags of stuff to charity and five huge bags of books to the local swap library at work.
I just knew that I would not commit to selling everything and just wanted it out of the house!
Selling even small stuff on eBay makes me feel accomplished. I am in the midst of the largest purge of my life and it is really hard letting stuff from my childhood go. However, it is stuff that has been sitting hidden away, taking up room and I just don’t have room anymore. I can’t even concentrate in my room to study as it is driving me crazy. I have a table of stuff that I am selling on eBay; once the stuff is sold, it leaves the table! I know my eBay profits are not huge, but for someone with a limited income, something is definitely better than nothing and I would rather give the stuff to someone who is willing to pay for it (therefore, will probably put it to good use) than let it sit on a shelf at Goodwill where people who really value such stuff may not find it. Of course, whatever doesn’t get sold on eBay will be sold at a yardsale or given away for free. I can’t wait to have a cleaner room!
Great post! I fall into the trap of keeping things that I feel will get some attention on eBay or Craig’s list. A year later most of it is still in the house. This is a big encouragement to me to just go ahead and donate this Stuff to the Goodwill. I think the important thing is to lose the “mental baggage” that the Stuff represents. It’s gotta go.
@debtheaven: My DH is a packrat too, and he finally began to see the light when I asked him if he wanted to be buying a new house to keep all the Stuff that was sentimental or might be useful someday. Our previous neighbors had to do that, and I think that was the light bulb… it’s cheaper to spend $200/year replacing Stuff you got rid of than an extra $200/month on a mortgage for the bigger house to keep the Stuff.
What cemented it was going through all the Stuff and realizing how many of those “might be useful” items would have been useful at some point, except that we didn’t know we had them because they were buried in piles of other Stuff that wasn’t useful. So we’d gone ahead an re-bought them anyway.
We’re still working on it too…
This post inspired me to get rid of some Stuff today. lol thanks, JD.
I’m gradually clearing out stuff. We’ve been back here for 21 years. I can barely believe how much we have. Of course there’s a lot that we needed when the kids were little that is sstill here.It is starting to wear out though.
I sort throught things every season change. It gets easier all the time. The big thing now is our comic book collection. The kids have claimed their favorites. We have everything scanned, so we don’t really need the print copies. Our oldest daughter says that if/when we move, she will adopt all of our books. We’re good with that.
regarding selling stuff, especially books … if you’re ready to get rid of it, then it is no longer worth anything to you. Doesn’t matter how much you paid.
I took a lot of books to a reseller recently, and they didn’t want many of them; had to bring a lot home, and initially of course you try to think of how you can get a little money out of these. But why should anybody else pay for them if I don’t want them? They’ll go to the library’s donation store, good riddance.
Where did those board games go? I would take a few, particularly those good for 2 players!
I love the idea about seperating your clothes between closets so you know what you wear and what you don’t. I don’t have two closets so what I do is hang the stuff I don’t wear often on a hanger and place it on the pole backwards with the hook facing me and not the wall. If I end up wearing something, I’ll put it back the correct way. At the end of 6 months, I’ll purge the stuff still on the wrong way facing hangers. :-)
Also, wanted to echo the sentiments about the A&E show “Hoarders” – the boyfriend and I just saw a few episodes and it made us get up and start vacuuming/cleaning! I looked at some of the more junky areas of my home in a whole new light!
I didn’t see this mentioned, but I always take items to Value Village/Goodwill and document each item. I do this rather than selling for the tax break! Would I make more from selling? Maybe.
But it is a great feeling to see your tax return increase as you add up the value of your donated items. Turbotax has a great Ebay tool for this as well.
I used to think I had to keep stuff because it was worth something. But when I realized the time I would spend just trying to sell my stuff was worth way more than my stuff, I started donating. Now when something really isn’t donatable but something someone might need, I Freecycle. I love freecycle in less than an hour with very little effort on my part, much of my unwanted, unused, unloved stuff has found a new home.
Less stuff is good.
Lesley
Hi! Unfortunately that won’t work for us, because our kids are getting older and will be “flying the nest”. I am trying to get DH to get rid of as much as I can before he thinks if he holds out long enough, he can have another storage room or two.
One thing that fascinates me is how we react to our parents. Both DH’s mom and my mom were packrats too. I grew up in a 2BR apt in NY. Every time I turned around, my mom had taken another one of my shelves or drawers. Either I lived with my stuff on the floor, or I learned to live with less. I’ll never forget coming home from college one summer and seeing that my dad had redone my closet with two rods instead of one, and both rods were filled to the brim with only my mom’s stuff.
DH grew up in London. By the time his parents died, the four bedroom house, attic, shed, garage had wall-to-wall STUFF, piled four or five boxes high. His poor mom knew she was dying, and spent the last six months of her life getting rid of as much as she could, as fast as she could. How sad is that, spending the last six months of your life doing that?!
So as much as what is left drives me nuts, at the same time, I have to admire DH for losing 95% of it.
What I do tell him though is, our kids will hate you when you’re gone, because you’re making them go through the stuff that you couldn’t be bothered to go through.
My sister is also a packrat. Her adult daughters have already told her, mom, if there’s something you want us to have, you should find it. Because when you go, we’re renting a dumpster. She still has a basement full of all the audio-video equipment from her late DH’s failed business from the 1970s.
When she first told me that, I thought, that is so harsh! But I agree. If something is “precious” (like the ton of stuff my sister wants her DDs to have / keep), but not “precious” enough to be in a place where you can find it and honor it and value it, it’s not precious at all.
Seems like everyone is doing some form of dumping! I’ve started Project Dumping on my virtual world as well. I started with my email and am quite please with an empty inbox now. I’m now moving on to my google reader. GRS stays in my google reader. :) next stop, documents, photos, music, movies (most likely in that order).
My fil refused to deal with his junk. Sil and I dumped a lot. Daughter kept a lot when she bought the house. I’m still dumping stuff when I can get away with it. At least she actually wants most of the junk for now. I think that will change when she gets around to going through the garage again.
Try “FREECYCLE”
One man’s junk/stuff is another man’s treasure.
For some reason, I feel less ‘successful’ without my piles of stuff all around my house to remind me of what I spent my money on. I feel as though I somehow failed because my closets are empty and I don’t enjoy shopping any more like the rest of my family and friends. I realize that this is a side effect of a consumer economy and the mechanisms (advertisements) that drive it but sometimes I feel as though I need a support group to help me get over the fact that I’m not a loser just because I choose not to pack every drawer and closet to the gills!
I think I have read this column before, but enjoyed it once again. As I have been a fighter against STUFF, it is reassuring to not only read a similar article but one that has influenced so many to act and comment.
Dave
LifeExcursion
There’s another danger btw, and that is the “fish bowl syndrome.” When I lived in a one bedroom with the wife, we lived within the confines of the 800sqft space, but stacked it up with a lot of stuff.
Since moving into a 2,500 square foot house, amazingly we have filled up the whole house with stuff as well!
Beware of the fish bowl syndrome and pretend like you live in a smaller place than you do. Have at least half of your rooms as clutter free rooms.
I really like your approach to getting rid of your Stuff! But I’d like to add (as one of the early published professional organizers)that it’s also important to evaluate your current style of living and personal values and priorities in order to decide what should *stay* in your life. An easy way to start is to walk around your home or office and ask yourself, “Is this me(today)or not me? We all change over even short amounts of time and part of simplifying your life is to pare down in conjunction with the phases you go through.
I’d like to plug FlyLady here for all of those who are reading this post who don’t know where to start. It seems like most people who are responding right now to the topic are people who already have some sort of system in place to help with the clutter. If you don’t and it’s starting to overwhelm you, and you want to change it please check out this website. It helps you find out where to start – 15 minutes at a time. I personally know it has changed people’s lives!
Flylady.net
Good point about digital “stuff” – sometimes it’s even harder to let go of past ideas and old work than your favorite old sweater!
I liked this story alot. There are few events that cause us to face the clutter. I guess writing a blog about it works. Another is moving. I recently went from a 6,000 sq ft house to a 2,000 sq ft condo. Wow, that is alot of downsizing. The #1 questions was what to do with the stuff that was still good but i wasn’t taking.
Goodwill gave me a long list of stuff they wouldn’t take. And it was MY stuff so I wanted to see the home it went to. So I gave most of it away on Kashless.org. Got a tax receipt too.
I think this is also somewhat a personality thing. I am the type of person that just can’t tolerate clutter. I feel like I cannot function optimally if my environment is cluttered so I am constantly culling and organizing.
Actually, my problem is that I can sometimes get almost paralyzed by even a small amount of clutter in my life. I have to fight the perfectionist in me that says, “there must be a better way to organize your closets.” My closets are very organized, that’s not the problem. It’s the voice that says, “it could be BETTER.”
Ignore the voice, ignore the voice… :)
“Purging Stuff is like peeling the layers of an onion. You gradually shed layer after layer after layer.” Ah, so true. The first time you declutter, it feels like you are getting rid of lots of stuff, but actually it’s just the beginning.
I’m not a clutterer anymore, I’m buying little stuff (no more impulse buying, well, just rarely), I always purge – and yet I feel like I own so much anyway. Now that I’m going to move, I’m ruthlessly decluttering all sort of stuff me and bf have acquired and it’s amazing how little we really *need*.
Selling/giving: I give away a lot of stuff, to friends and charity. I sell on eBay just a few designer clothes and some cheap cute accessories (some are unwanted gifts…) And even this way it’s hard to sell the stuff, grunt :)
i have never understood this obsession to stuff that young people have once they start earning some money. the bad thing it that at present the stuff is much more expensive. i am talking about high end video games(ps3 xbox wii, what else??) smart phones, expensive laptops , plasma screen tvs, massage chairs and all that new stuff that you see in eBay and gizmodo.com. i think that i have a weakness for gadgets. its just that i am a little strapped for cash that i don’t get everything with fancy little buttons and a lit of features that i will never use. nice post. thanks for being that sacrificial lamb whose mistakes we can learn from :)
This might be a little off topic but I am always amazed that people dont see what their stuff is costing them. For example I am a HGTV junkie, I espically love the shows where people view three homes and then decide to buy one. Its interesting to me to see rheir thought process when buying. yet I always get frustrated when they say oh our king size bed/sofa/tv etc wont fit in that space. Really you are going to make a 100,000 dollar decision over an item that could be replaced for less than $3000? Always thought that was odd.
The last time I had a garage sale, I spent hours preparing, storing in the living room, pricing, etc…and came out of it with such a small amount, that I told my family: if I ever mention ever having a garage sale again…STOP ME!
Since then, everything goes to the Goodwill, unless it’s something in great condition that my youngest has outgrown. That goes to the consignment shop, and whatever money we make there goes into the college fund.
I like the onion analogy. Although, peeling away the layers of my clutter doesn’t lead to tears. I have found it rather liberating. Over the last two years, I have been on a mission to divest myself of things that I no longer use, need or that no longer hold an interest to me. I still have the spare closet and the attic to go through, but I will get there.
Question – my MIL collects tons of crap, and is always giving us STUFF. Useless stuff. How to politely get her to stop? I feel like we have to keep it b/c it was a present from her, but I could see it taking over! As I write this, I hear a voice in my head say “it’s my house, not hers!”
I think that we tend to believe that by keeping stuff it’s like keeping our past, our history, our list of undone things to do–that is, as long as we keep it around we might someday actually get to it. Maybe it’s denial over the tendency to procrastinate. But my thought is that if you have unfinished projects that you haven’t gotten to in at least a couple of years, it probably isn’t that important to you and needs to be eliminated.
Of course, the consternation at getting rid of it is all in our heads, because once gone little of it will ever be thought of again. In fact, it’ll probably be a relief!
We live in a 1-bedroom apartment that we aren’t allowed to paint. My husband loves rearranging furniture, which is great! That is the single greatest way to:
a) make a room suddenly seem new/improved,
b) clean those hard-to-reach spots, and
c) purge Stuff.
Every couple of months, there’s a corner of our apartment, and the Stuff in it, that’s being reconsidered.
The books, though, just get moved and more efficiently shelved… we’ve started using the library rather than buying, so the influx of books is slowing, but how do you let them go?
For books you no longer need or want, sell them at Half-Price Books!
Boy am I with you on this one!
Though with the selling stuff thing… I know I need to just get it out of the house. We’re having a garage sale on Saturday and I WANT to just take whatever doesn’t sell to goodwill and be done with it.
Of course, I always end up “saving” a few things that I think I could get some money for. Annoying! Craigslist makes that easier but we don’t have CL here.
All right… time to get off the computer and go cull some more junk for the garage sale. Thanks for the boost.
Digital Stuff:
As an amateur photographer I too have LOTS of images. But instead of allowing it to slow down my PC I burn them onto a CD. I keep CDs sorted with labels (Nature, family, holidays, pets). I can burn copies for friends for next to nothing. With photo paper you can print from home for most average quality pictures. For photos of high quality just take the burned CD to Walmart or other photo lab and pay 2-5 bucks for a great 5×7 pr 8×10.
I also save my Word files two ways. First I backup my computer every few months onto CD’s and the files that are most important are printed out. I Defrag and use Disk Cleanup regularly. You will find your computer and internet connection are faster when your processing is not slowed down by ‘stuff’. The benefit is also that if your computer ever crashes, you have all your ‘stuff’ :)
Also delete programs you have not used in 6 or more months. For example computer games, outdated spyware, etc…
On comic books — you could use magazine holders (or make some out of cereal boxes). Or store them in filing cabinets or similar boxes.
**
On cooking magazines — Like WHD, I remove the recipes that interest me and recycle the rest of the magazine. I do it as soon as I finish the magazine, though, not at the end of a year.
But I put those recipes in files. I have one notebook with the sheet protectors for my favorite recipes, and I also have some pockets for recipes that I want to try soon.
Still, I have quite a lot of things in files. I recently went through and organized them a bit better. And my priorities have changed a bit. So I got rid of several things that I now know I will never try such as recipes that require two sticks of butter and recipes that are too time consuming.
I still feel I have too many and that, when I’m looking for something new to cook, I’m more likely to try something I just read about or google it than to go look in my files. On the other hand, most of what I have filed is from trusted sources, unlike much of the stuff that pops up on google, so it’s more valuable. So, I’m still working this out.
**
On how to let books go — I figured out there are four reasons I like to have books: 1) to re-read them, 2) to lend them to people, 3) to look things up in them (reference works), 4) in case I can get a better job that would require these. Any book that doesn’t fulfill one of those purposes should go. Of course, sometimes I don’t remember how good a book is, and so then I want to save it until I can re-read it. (Bad and mediocre Amazon reviews can help me get rid of books I haven’t re-read yet.) And with the internet, we probably don’t need so many reference books.
As for strategies — You could try that two-closet method where you pack up all your books and pull them out as you use them over the next year and then get rid of the rest. Another strategy is to sit somewhere away from your books and write down all the ones you know you want to keep. There won’t be very many at all. Maybe do this during several days, and maybe even while walking around a library to remind yourself of all the kinds of books there are. Then keep only those plus the other few that make you think, “Yikes! How could I have forgotten this!” Or make yourself catalog each book (type in the author, title, and other info for insurance purposes) so that laziness can work in your favor–you think to yourself that this book isn’t worth cataloging, so you get rid of it instead.
Ann (#52) had the right idea for people without two closets to use to weed out the clothes they don’t wear. Put all your clothes hangers “backward” on the rod, and when you wear an item and put it away, put the hanger back on the proper direction.
In general, we all wear about 20% of our clothes about 80% of the time (same as everything else we own, really…), so there’s usually stuff you don’t wear at all anymore. No point in saving those old pants “in case you fit them again”. Even if you are committed to a fitness goal as well, will those pants really still be in style by then? Sell or donate them, and free up some space in the meantime!
I’m purging my own closet and having a garage sale this weekend. Wish me luck!
To Kim (#28): Something I’ve looked into is library binding my comic books, so that I can shelve/read them more easily and get rid of my boxes! I haven’t done it just yet, but I think eventually I may … It requires a money investment, of course, and you wouldn’t want to do it with anything truly valuable/irreplaceable, but maybe it can help with your massive collection!
Here are a couple links for it:
http://weeklycomicbookreview.com/comic-binding/
http://www.librarybinding.com/comic-books.php
In my circle of friends, we have a clothing swap every 6 months or so. It is a good way to purge your closet of stuff you never wear and get free new-to-you clothes so you can perk up your wardrobe without spending any money. Anything that is not claimed is donated.
We’re also house hunting, so I’ve been trying to purge now rather than have to move extra stuff in a few months.
One excellent way to get rid of books, CDs, and DVDs I haven’t seen mentioned yet is to use online swap sites like BookMooch (exchange books for points, which can then be exchanged for other books you want) or Swaptree (exchange books, CDs, and DVDs directly for other books, CDs, and DVDs).
Both implicitly encourage you to bring more Stuff into your house, but at the very least you can exchange things you don’t want for things you do — and I’ve sent out a number of books on BookMooch without getting any in return, donating my points to charities. On both sites you do have to pay for shipping (media mail is usually just over $2 per item), but you know that your old books are going to someone who really wants them.
Keep up the great work! Downsizing is a tough job! We’re in the process of it ourselves.
My husband and I recently purged our home of most of our books. It was hard to do this, but as you mention, with the internet and the library, it seemed silly to hold on to them (though we did keep some books w/sentimental value). We brought our books to Powells and made $130! :o)
Next stop, my RIDICULOUS CD collection. We’re going to finish burning them all to MP3 and then next stop: Every Day Music! :o)
Thanks for the great blog, btw. I read it nearly every day!
about a month ago, one of the folks in the neighborhood who has a big backyard and throws parties for the neighborhood hosted a “free market” where people who had things they wanted to get rid of (within reason) could drop ’em off and if someone saw something they wanted, they could have it.
I know this sounds mega hippy dippy, but you’d have been surprised at the quality of the items at this thing, and the fact that it operated without a hitch. I used as a chance to ditch some movie posters that were in fine condition but I was never going to post, and figured if someone else could use ’em why not?
there was a lot of high end products, some things brand new (wedding gift duplicates I imagine) and it went over really well.
I declared war on things long ago and it’s been great. the things I have can’t be replaced (pictures, etc) or are of use, and I keep clothes to a minimum too. It’s great!
I’ve enjoyed reading about your journey to less Stuff. I really admire your persistence and dedication to this mission, as many of us will not devote the time and effort involved in ridding our lives of Stuff. I, myself, have acquired too much Stuff as well and am constantly at odds with myself to toss it. The thoughts of, “Oh, I might use this someday” or “I really wanted to learn that” are sometimes so overpowering, so it’s nice to hear about your success. Power to you!
We finally went through my dads basement 5 years ago, I was surprised he did let a lot of stuff go but………. when my grandpa passed away he took all of his stuff and put it down there!
I use this as a reminder every time I bring something home, or before I even think of bringing it home, is this going to sit around and collect dust, will I ever get to this project? Realistically I don’t have a lot of time and I love doing crafts. I finally boxed up all of my craft stuff and took it to the nursing home, I figured they would get more use out of it than I would and if I want to make a craft I will buy it at that time when I have the time to do it.
Getting rid of stuff is hard! And getting pennies on the dollar or nothing for it, or worse yet it will cost you money to get rid of it.
I’m living in a fairly small condo (680sqft) so I try to keep the clutter at a minimum, plus I left a lot in my parents house when I moved last year. I’m trying to stick with the mentality of if I bring something new into my condo I have to get rid of something else (it’s usually a replacement) to maintain “balance”.
One of my main sources of clutter was vintage video games and systems that I picked up at yard sales (those things are deadly for pack rats.) I had at one point like 7 genesis systems (hard to pass up when they’re $2), then realized why do I need more than one? So I purged a lot of it on ebay and kept only the stuff I actually play.
What I never understood was how people could use their garages to store all their junk and leave their cars outside exposed to the elements. The car wears prematurely (rust/paint damage) while their junk is sitting cushy lol. Good example, my uncle had always kept his whole 2 car garage piled with useless trinkets/old gardening equipment while his cars sat on his driveway. Last week his daughter had her car stolen off their driveway at night. If it wasn’t for all that clutter (worth a lot less than her car), she would probably still have it…
Thanks for the inspiring post today. I especially like the idea about using two closets. I plan to put that to use in some other ways – like rotating bins for kids’ toys.
I’m too lazy to try to sell my worthless stuff, so I’m thankful to the other readers who were in favor of just donating it.
One of my favorite pieces of advice about not acquiring stuff is this: don’t go shopping. Unless I need something (and have done the research), I don’t step foot in a store just to “browse.” I have friends who are compulsive shoppers and they are always complaining about how they have no space in their homes – or they have to have garage sales every weekend during the summer to get rid of it.
My long-term goal is to get rid of so much stuff that my house is as spartan as a vacation rental. You know, only some pictures on the walls, very few knick knacks, maybe a shelf of books. Beyond that the essential furnishings and kitchen sundries (that means minimal kitchen gadgets!) And for beating the new stuff that tries to sneak in, no impulse shopping or shopping to kill time. Make a list and then sleep on it. For gifts, restaurant gift certificates to defray the cost of dining out which is an infrequent luxury these days, and store gift certificates to be used to replace worn out clothes and shoes. One thing that I find to be a huge motivator to get rid of stuff are the reality shows about real people who hoard things. Yes, I know hoarding is powered by mental illness. Nonetheless, I really learn from their lifestyles what not to do.
I had one yard sale this year which I regarded as a huge success. No price stickers. Low ball prices. Posted homemade signs in our neigborhood and the closest major cross street (no ad costs in the local paper!) Open for only 2 hours. Great weather. Got to read the paper waiting for customers. I made $25. Low stress selling and the big bonus for me: I didn’t have to haul stuff to Good Will or the dump. So, to recap – low stress, made some money, no hauling for me (spending my gas), got rid of major Stuff. My next yard sale is going to be a Dollar Yard Sale where every item, regardless of value, is $1 or less. I expect stuff to fly out of my yard! Sayonara, Stuff!!!
J.D., my fellow Portlander,
There is a women’s and children’s shelter in Oregon City that wants donated board games:
http://www.cwsor.org/wish_list.htm
So, if you get around to the other 25 of ’em…
I have been doing this for the last week in Chicago (my home city). I now live in Seattle and realize how expensive it is to send my “stuff” to my new city. Thus, I have put most of it on ebay and amazon and have made a small amount of money, not nearly enough to re-coup the costs of all that stuff, but a nice little egg for savings. It has been liberating to get rid of the stuff, and amazingly people have been happy to take the stuff, even happy.
I still have some stuff that I can yet part with but I hope on my next trip to the city and each subsequent one I can realize more and more what I really “need.”
There is little that concentrates the mind so well as moving abroad on a limited income. Before I left, I ripped all my CDs into digital files on my laptop (with a DVD backup of the now smaller files); I scanned documents I wanted to refer to later but didn’t need the originals for; and I reduced the volume amazingly. Still, in addition to the suitcases I shipped five boxes separately–mostly with gifts for my family at my destination. Now, a year later, I am going through things I brought that I haven’t used–and am getting rid of much of that. If and when I return to the States, I can’t imagine having more than two suitcases, a carry-on and a laptop case.
And to think, for years I even kept a storage facility with things I “might need” at some point–how stupid was that?
What people don’t realize is how very liberating it is to be free of all the junk.
The 12 month guideline can be a helpful way to get started, but being too rigid is problematic in any aspect of life–Stuff included. Besides the obviously essential items this rule would have you discard (fire extinguishers, anyone?) there are always case-by-case items that should stick around despite rare use.
In our case, we keep a pair of crutches in the attic should my husband’s old leg injury flare up. I obviously hope he doesn’t need crutches as often as once per year, but sooner or later his problem always comes back–and he simply has to stay mobile.
Regarding “Conquering the closet”, I don’t have another closet I can use, so what I did was turn all the hangers around so they were backwards (the open side would be facing you). Every time I wore something, I replaced the hanger so it was hanging the normal way (the open side facing the back of the closet). At the end of the year, anything still having a backwards hanger I hadn’t worn all year, so I got rid of it.
I’m an artist/crafter, so some clutter does come with the territory; however, I keep all of my supplies, fabric, papers, etc. very carefully organized in the office closet (The office/studio used to be the master bedroom. We now sleep in what was the 2nd bedroom. Works perfectly for us!) I also do, in fact, sell “stuff” online. I sell vintage/antique items, mostly books. That stuff is also carefully stored, and I have stopped bringing merchandise home for a while, until I move some out. After they have been in my online storeone year, I’m probably going to mark items down by half or just remove them and get rid of them altogether. I’m also considering, from now on, not selling anything that I can’t price at $10 or more (unless it’s jewelry or something small.) I’d say about 1/3 of my merchandise falls into that category. I do this, because I enjoy it.
Otherwise, some things I do are: Use Freecycle a lot; keep a rotating give away box. When it’s full, I set up a charity pick up, or we take it to a thrift store. I have been picking a room, closet or space each month and setting aside time to go through everything in that space. When I did this in the living room–where we keep most of our books–I ended up purging a grocery bag full of books and a bunch of knick-knacks that “are just not me, now.” (Great expression!) The last thing I do is try to keep to a “one in, one out” policy, as some others have mentioned. This has helped me a whole lot. We also do a lot of recycling/reusing/repurposing at home, which can–in and of itself–be very satisfying.
The level of clutter ebbs and flows, as my BF and I work on various projects, but for the most part, I’m pretty happy with our space. You want to find a balance between “clean” and “comfortable.” Living in a space that’s TOO sparse is probably just as disheartening as living in a space that is too cluttered. At least, it would be for me.
Great article, comments, and as always, I love this blog!
Love all this tips! Another one of mine is to always keep a box somewhere (inconspicuous, like a closet) that I can throw things in whenever it’s outgrown — and I’m not going to consign it — or worn out or broken or otherwise unused.
When the box is full, it goes to Savers or Goodwill!
Make it a nice, simple yearround purging. :)
Enjoyed this post, and especially the comments. Oh, how I related to the “fishbowl syndrome”. Moving from a studio to an entire floor of a house 5 years ago, I had an attack of horror vacuii that lead to gobs of junk-amassing — which I’m now just starting to try to remediate through purging.
I do find my little, fast “SnapScan” scanner to be a lifesaver for quickly turning papers I “might need” into digital files that take up only virtual space and can be searched for. I’ve gotten rid of an entire filing cabinet that way. I even scan magazine articles I think I may want for reference and recycle the magazines.
Thanks for the inspiration to keep going with the declutteration!
as far as digital stuff… ive got tons of mp3s, notes word files, scanned pictures (same tatic can be applied to scanning pictures im gonna discuss in a second), scanned articles from magazines (dont keep the magazines – scan the articles you like and recycle the mags), etc………….. I try to rename and or organize 5 items in the digital stuff category every time i remember to turn my computer on or before i turn it off…sometimes i forget or am pressed for time so i cant, but 7/10 i remember and do it….3/10 i would say i have a little extra time and do more than 5 items… in a month thats 150ish items or more… this works great for old stuff… as far as scanning you can keep a scanning folder for stuff…and once a week spend time while watching a tv show at the same time… or only do it on commercials..over time you get all your nice older pictures scanned tagged and organized….