and I'm a decluttering failure. :tear:

awww...i'm sorry sweetie. a little at a time even?

I'm pretty darn bad at it myself..::lurking:: to see if there are any tips I can use..

aw darn...sorry.

so...is it that you don't want to get rid of it? don't have the time to do it? just too overwhelmed?

:hug: i dont even come to this forum because its intimidating, lol. i'm with ya!

I really need to declutter something horrible, but it always seems to feel so overwhelming, where to even start. And i never feel like i have the time to devote to it, like if i attempt to start a project, something comes up and i have to stop in the middle and it is worse than when i started, so that leads to more overwhelming feelings, so i dont go back to it, blah blah, blah. its a vicious cycle for me. Then i dont want to start again because i know how it ended up last time.

:big hug:

just do it, sweeite!

I vascillate between being organized and NOT organized. SO my methods very between those. SO, from my perspective, pick one room and have at it.

It feels so ggod to get rid of stiff you are not using. I just decluttered my linene closet. I had lots of old towels I was saving just in case. But,it was a chore just putting clean stuff away or getting one out to use. So I cleaned it out. Ijust did my first towel load since I did that and put stuff away~it was sooooooooooooo nice. and easy.

I really need to declutter something horrible, but it always seems to feel so overwhelming, where to even start. And i never feel like i have the time to devote to it, like if i attempt to start a project, something comes up and i have to stop in the middle and it is worse than when i started, so that leads to more overwhelming feelings, so i dont go back to it, blah blah, blah. its a vicious cycle for me. Then i dont want to start again because i know how it ended up last time.

Okay, that pretty much sums it up completely.

I'm not allowed to get rid of the blankets and towels because we'll need them to pad stuff while packing.. but generally, I'm completely overwhelmed, I have a baby who is going through some serious mommy needing time, and it makes a bigger mess than I started with to go back in the middle.

Downstairs *has* to be done for the girls' birthday party on the 29th.

i agree with linda...pick one place and start. do you have any rooms/closets or extra space that could be a 'staging area'? meaning. do you have a room that could get junked up while you're cleaning/decluttering? I use the upstairs bathroom to store stuff sometimes b/c noone goes in there during the day. i just decluttered a bunch of stuff from our linen closets. i used the bed in my bedroom to stage it all until the freecyclers came.

I think what is key is to get started. Take on a job you can do in 15 minute increments--a drawer, etc., preferably somewhere you don't have to take everything out of to get started and then wind up leaving it all sitting there...

What happens is, it becomes addictive. It is so freeing to get rid of stuff, you'll want to do more. It has taken me multiple "layers." And with those layers, I've become far less sentimental, etc. over stuff that, really, only I was sentimental about. Toys my kids really could care less about that I was hanging onto because I had one like it when I was a kid or whatever. I am really aiming, now for streamlined, easy, and a place for everything. I am not there yet. But, I promise, once you get started, and you see what it does for you, you won't want to stop!

WELCOME JODI!!! :cuc:

I always found that the easiest place to start is somewhere you can shut away. Like a pantry, or a closet. They are usually small spaces and usually the worst cluttered... when you are done with a paticularly bad closet, all of a sudden the rest seems EASY! Then each time you look in there you get that feeling of being orginized and pretty soon you WANT that in the rest of the house. I have spent days staring at my pantry, or at my clean garage, and trust me, we didn't normally go into these areas of the house unless we had to. lol... and now we all love being in there because they are easy to be in. Easy on the eye and easy on the mind to see that space clean and organized.

Now we just got back from camping for 4 days, so the garage has gone to heck again and I need to get on it. But here I sit... so I digress. ;)

Good luck! :heart:

Val

we did the kids rooms. Need to hit clothes next. I figure I need to start there because of the consignment sale season.

:hug: Yay! Celebrate getting those rooms done. That's awesome!!!

For me, I have a really hard time working on my decluttering if I am not alone, for the exact reason posted above ~ I start, get distracted and never really get finished. When I am alone, I can concentrate and get into my groove and get it over with. My dh usually takes my ds over to visit his parents once every week or 2 and I use that time for cleaning/decluttering.

we did the kids rooms. Need to hit clothes next. I figure I need to start there because of the consignment sale season.

yea, jodi! sounds like you're doing great!