amitymamaThe Attachment Parenting Community

Soggy Granola · 07-08-2006, 09:59 AM

I can't even decide where to start. All I do is move stuff around. I donate stuff but it doesn't make a dent. It all just moves from one room to another, back and forth. No place to put it. No place to store it. No idea what to keep, where to put what I want to keep. Then, the kids go through a box and voila, all undone. How do I do this?

~Meeshi~ · 07-08-2006, 10:13 AM

It sounds like you seriously need to get rid of a lot of "stuff". Whether it is donated or tossed, you need to box or bag it up and remove it from the house as soon as the box/bag is full. If that means doing it while the kids are asleep, so be it.

It's nearly impossible to get things in order when you are being over-run by stuff. Maybe you could make a plan to get rid of X amount every day. Baby steps. I used to be a pack rat and hold on to things for sentimental reasons. That just made everything more overwhelming for me. Now, I have 1 box for each of my girls for sentimental clothing and items like blankies etc. I have another box plus a huge accordian folder for sentimental drawings and art projects. I only hold on to the *most* sentimental of those things and pass the rest along to relatives.

Once you learn to let go of some things, it does seem to get easier. Especially as the house becomes less cluttered.

frogsnladybugs · 07-08-2006, 10:19 AM

I have been going thru this too Gwen, I've recently decluttered a LOT of our house and wow did I find it was a lot easier to part with stuff than I thought. Over the past 7 years we've collected a lot of stuff and I've just recently become a lot less attached to it.
I took a laundry basket, a box, and a garbage bag into whatever space I was going to declutter/clean/organize. As I went thru, anything we were keeping, but it didn't belong in the space went into the laundry basket to be sorted later. Everything that I could part with went into the box and trash went into the trash bag. After cleaning/organizing a whole space, I made myself clean out the laundry basket immediately or it'd just stay like that forever, or so it seems lol...
I really have paired down our knick-nacks, clothing, and toys...trying to do so with books but we really love them. I also have a paper problem I'm still trying to conquer at the desk.
If you can't spend money, but need help organizing, post pics of spaces so we can help you!

lala · 07-08-2006, 02:29 PM

my advice, and I used to be a serious packrat too....

buy a paper shredder. It is smart to shred anything with your name on it anyway, but it also helps cut down the amount of trash, even if you are in an area that offers curbside recycling.

Make a list. Add to it when you think of something you want to purge/go through. Write down everything you think of, but don't expect yourself to accomplish it all in one day. Pick one or two things from the list. Focus, get it done.
For example:
purge books/movies. Anything that you have less than lukewarm feelings about, get rid of it.
If there are books you have not read in awhile, but you have been MEANING to read for say, a year, get rid of them.

Kitchen. If you cook, you know what you use and what you don't. Get rid of what you don't use.

Bathroom. If you have a lot of bath items, like bubble baths and such, and they are over a year old (except for bar soaps, and dr.bronner's) and you don't plan on using them in the next month, out they go. Same with make-up.

If you hold on to everything for sentimental reasons, and its stuff just taking up space, and you really really love the item, either-
a) find the space to display it on a bookshelf or hutch
b) take a picture of it and get rid of it

I am pretty relentless when it comes to purging stuff. I still have a long way to go though, don't get me wrong.

I hope this helps.