Lately, I’ve been feeling swamped by ‘stuff’, and I absolutely hate stuff. I’m a believer that if you are surrounded by stuff, then your brain just does not operate effectively. Well mine certainly doesn’t. I really can’t function properly when the stuff takes over.
In 2006, when I moved to Bendigo without having time to prepare or plan for the move, it was an opportunity leave most of my things. behind. Well, it would have been, if I had been clever. I took most of it with me, and put into a spare room for storage, as I was still attached to all those things that I’d surrounded myself with. I was in a temporary rental, for twelve months, until I decided whether or not Bendigo was the place for me. When the twelve months was up, I moved into my new house that I’d bought off the plan. It was lovely and fresh and new, and I didn’t want all those things from my past clogging the place up. I desperately needed to make a new life for myself. This was when I cleared out most of my excess baggage.
I remember how freeing it felt to not have my spare room packed with boxes of things that I no longer needed. Actually, I felt very proud of myself at the time, for cutting the ties to things that belonged in my past.
So, now it is almost sixteen years later, and here I am, once again surrounded by too many things that I definitely do not need. It’s well beyond time for a clear out. I decided that I would get everything that was unnecessary, out of the house and out of the shed. I started in the shed, pulling everything out into separate little piles. During last week I started listing bits and pieces that were worth selling, on Facebook Marketplace. I didn’t have much expectation of anything selling. It was just meant to be an experiment. I would give selling a go, and then throw out whatever didn’t sell. Much to my surprise, most things have been selling shortly after listing. I’ve kept prices quite low as I genuinely want to sell the items. It’s very much not about the money. It’s enough for me that my things are taken over by someone who can use them in their life. To me, that’s better than having them sit on the shelf in the shed, for another five years.
When the shed is finished, it will be time to move to inside the house. There’s the kitchen and pantry, the spare bedroom, my wardrobe, and my large office space. I’m really fortunate to have a very large office,but the downside of that is that there is plenty of space for things to accumulate. And accumulate, they have. The friend of every genealogist is paperwork, until that paperwork becomes overwhelming. I need to get it organised before it’s too late. Once I’ve left this earth, it will most probably be thrown into a skip bin and be gone forever.
This will be quite a long project, to get everything either sold or gone. We are a combined household, so have a huge amount of things that are excess to our needs. Already, even though I’ve only been working on the things in the shed, it does feel good to have it cleared out. I feel that by decreasing the things around me, I’m creating a space for clear thought. That feeling will only increase, when I start on the inside of the house.
My Decluttering Tips
Schedule a time when there will be no distractions.
Get everything out of the area to be decluttered, to enable you to work with a blank space.
Declutter one area at a time. Be disciplined about this and don’t allow yourself to move
on to another area, until the area you are working on is complete.
Decide on a storage system. I find it helpful to have this planned out before beginning
the project.
Be absolutely brutal in deciding what to keep and what to throw out
If you haven’t worn it or used it, in the past two years, throw it out. Again be disciplined
Have a place for everything and everything in it’s place
This post is linked up to Denyse’s Monday linkup #lifethisweek and Natalie’s Weekend Coffee Share
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Hi Jen – I’m a clutter-free person too. I love having clear space around me and room to breathe. Fortunately my husband’s the same – but I’ve noticed he’s starting to be a bit of a collector of “useful” bits and pieces as he’s getting older (I tell him that he’s turning into his Dad!) We did a major de-clutter when we moved house, but every few years I do a bit of a general sort to make sure that things aren’t building up too much (all those things that get tucked away in cupboards etc). Good on you for tackling it and for recycling it to others rather than dumping it into landfill.
Those things do tend to sneak in without our noticing Leanne.
I’ve moved a number of times in my adulthood and – particularly when I’ve had my own house / flat – I’ve decluttered each time I move and I find there’s no time that I’m as ruthless as when I’m packing and need to decide if I can be bothered taking something or leaving it!
I’m overdue to do some decluttering at the moment and must get onto it!
Moving is definitely the best time to de litter Deb
Hi, Jennifer – This is a very timely post for me. Thank you for the great tips for decluttering!
Pleased you found it useful Donna
Thanks for this and well done for getting the decluttering done! I definitely need that too and I’m waiting for some shelves and things from IKEA that will arrive this Friday, then I’ll rebuild my office and throw out everything that I don’t need. We have a very small house and too much stuff, so we need to be very strict with what to keep. Thanks for your advice especially that about being absolutely brutal!
How exciting that you have a delivery coming from IKEA. That would definitely get me motivated to get the job done. Good luck with it.
Good on you Jen, I know how hard it can be to get started but once you do it’s well worth it. We still have my MIL’s house to sort out which is a huge job and as it’s a good 5 hour drive away from us we can’t get a good run at it, so it sits there full of stuff waiting for us. It’s good you’ve been able to sell things off rather than just dumping it. My husband is going through his mother’s family history paperwork at the moment and oh wow the sheer volume of paper! Great post for #lifethisweek
Hi Deb, as far as your MIL’s house is concerned, I think you really have to be in the mood for a job like this. One day it will click for you. So you understand about family history papers. They can be endless
I applaud you Jennifer! I know we (I for inside the house, he for the shed/garage) did a lot of culling before the move here. I found much of it an emotional time (because it was!) but we needed to move (on) and I sold some of the kids’ play equipment etc. I actually dislike any kind of on-line selling these days and won’t touch FB marketplace because where we live now…let me just say, “unreliable”. And recently we ventured back to Ebay for a large item B wanted sold and it was a lot of trouble. So, these days, I tend to gather items surplus to need (clothes, books etc) and we have a large array of Op shops which are happy to take them. I so agree about the freeing nature of culling…but, recently I have been wanting to re-watch a DVD and found, no, it’s gone!! Thank you for sharing your post for Life This Week. I enjoy seeing your blog’s post pop up in the link up. Warm wishes, Denyse.
Hi Denyse, I do agree with you that selling things online can be very annoying. So far so good here, but as soon as I start having issues, that will be it, and it will all go to St. Vinnies. My partner’s very loathe to toss anything it as he’s afraid he may need it some day.
I love decluttering, but like to do it room by room. The kitchen was done on new years eve and the linen cupboard is next on the list.
Hi Jo, your way of decluttering is the best way. A room at a time is much more sensible. But I’m rarely sensible. Good luck with the linen cupboard.
Jennifer, These are very good tips. I like the third tip “don’t allow yourself to move
on to another area, until the area you are working on is complete”. Thank you for linking up with #weekendcoffeeshare.
Thanks for visiting Natalie. The third tip is my favourite too.
We had a pest problem in our kitchen and we had to bring an exterminator over. We had to clear out the cabinets, drawers, and countertops and keep it that way for three weeks. Though it was a stressful moment, it was a great opportunity to declutter and re-do how we store stuff. I’m in no rush to move everything back because I want to evaluate our stuff. I’ve been drawing out the kitchen and where things should go. It helps me because I get to visualize what kind of kitchen I’d like to achieve.
A great opportunity for an enforced tidy up Julie.
I’m not a clutter person either, but I’m surrounded by it from our most recent move, which was over a year ago. I can’t seem to find the motivation to deal with it. *sigh*
Hi Janet I think something has to click to get into the mindset to declutter. It’s not an easy job to tackle,
It’s amazing how quick we accumulate things. We are finishing an addition and I will be moving things around and in that process, decluttering. I loved your tips.
Thanks Kistin. Hope all goes well with completing tour addition.