Clutterers!!! Time to come out of hiding!!!!

Don't forget to check out freecycle in your area for stuff you are going to get rid of

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[B]Instant Karmas gonna get you[/B

http://freedomspantry.thrivelife.com/

Clutter? Whassat? :haha:

You're not talking about things like my collection of loose and paper-bagged fabrics scraps in the guestroom, part of which was turned into 5 dog bed covers, camper curtains, a tent, truck seat covers, chair pads, cat beds, a recliner quilt, throw pillows, and a truck-width stuffed dog bed, are you? Or about the old horseshoe nails I kept in a coffee can in the kitchen for about 5 years before using them in a craft project? Or about the sacks and sacks of bottomless milk jugs in the workshop which make such nifty baby plant protectors?

Clutter is in the hand and mind of the beholder, my friends... and every dedicated packrat knows that you'll need tomorrow precisely the item you threw away today
Uh, you may make an exception for the proverbial pieces of string that are too short to use for anything. Unless you have a habit of stuffing your own kitty toys or some such, that is.

I actually got rid of my 1962 edition of Candyland Game! It was hard but my baby is 10 years old and we need to move on. I hope my 20 year old doesn't find out or she will guilt trip me to no end!!

Sorry, couldn't get rid of the precious baby clothes. No I don't want another baby, I want to play dress up with somebody else's kid. Baby clothes went back in the closet.

I dug my good clothes out of the back of the closet and they fit again. I've lost 50 pounds and 4 sizes this year. If I can go another 25 and 1 size, my best clothes will fit and I will only need to replace Carharts.

I tossed my FAT clothes!!!!

We are decluttering, and it's not much fun at all. :no:

I have an attic full of stuff, and I need to go up there and start getting rid of things to make room for the stuff that I do want to keep (off-season clothes that we will wear).

My problem is that despite the fact that we have a newer home, we have no closets. I have a teeny-tiny walk-in in my room and the girls have closets, we have one shallow closet for linens/towels, and I have a small pantry and that's it. SO FRUSTRATING!!!

I have taken bags and bags of stuff to charity, yet there is still so much. Part of the problem is that I'm pretty much physically incapable of getting rid of books. (We homeschool.) Add that to the fact that I'm a natural pack-rat, and you have a serious problem.

But my sink is clean.

In one kitchen I had, my Dad had built some shelves for me in the pantry closet. It was about 3-3 1/2 feet wide and quite deep. Just a series of shelves. He tilted quite a few shelves, and built two big deep sliding drawers on the bottom. On the tilted shelves, he measured the size of most of the cans and put screen molding in strips that kept the cans lined up straight. The cans were stored on their sides and rolled forward. There was a lath stop tacked to the front of the shelves. Obviously, since the cans were on their sides, less space had to be between the shelves, allowing you to add more shelves! You could have a dozen cans of tomato sauce and each time you used one, the others would just roll down into place. One never had to dig to the back of those shelves where something nasty might lurk. I have really missed that pantry since I moved away. The only thing I would do differently would be to put the rolling drawers on the top shelf, also. I would build the drawers with very shallow sides, and a taller divider down the center, so that I could pull the drawer out and see what is lined up on either side. Great for cereal and crackers. The bottom drawers held potatos and onions and other bagged goods.

Hopefully helpful,

Sandi

Very helpful, Sandi. What a great idea!

What I'm now thinking (thanks to you ) is two pantries: one which is essentially a cabinet/buffet kind of thing with a good sized work surface and another like a tall, moveable closet. The short one would have regular shelves in it and the tall, tilted shelves and drawers at the bottom, for potatoes, etc.

Hmmmmmmm. Unfortunately, I really don't have room here to build any interior addition kinds of things (a lot of the space here was wasted on an absolutely gigantial bathroom --- which I love the bathtub in there, as it's huge, but have always fretted about the ridiculous waste of space). So whatever I do will have to be moveable furniture. That, however, actually leaves me with a lot more flexibility in what I decide to do.

Great ideas, in any case.

As for the decluttering, I've got a box filled with an old wok kind of thing (I'd keep it --- it IS very heavy and durable --- but it has a teflon like covering ), weighted bread pan, cookie sheets and cake pans, coffee cups (at one time, I had about 70 coffee cups , but I'm down to around 20, not including the cups for my vintage Red Wing Lotus pattern dinnerware).

Also an old cordless phone and several old extension cords. And I broke down and got rid of about 20 boxes --- why I had them, I don't know.

The biggest accomplishment, however --- I can now walk into the second bathroom. :yeeha: Even though there's a giant television antenna in there. ?

Sorry it took me a little while to get to my computer, Countrygrrrl......because I was trying to get out from under all this clutter.....WHERE DOES IT ALL COME FROM!!!!??????? I had it under control a couple of months ago and then there it was again.....it's the Gremlins.....their doing it. Seriously though when I get back from my trip to NC next week......IT WILL DISAPPEAR.....if I am not using it and can't use it IMMEDIATELY....it is GONE!!!!!
Susan

Gayle: The sink is the only thing shiny at my house so far (and only half of it at that), but y’all are inspiring me and de-cluttering is on my list as soon as my back is better.

Balancedmom2003: nothing like a single gent to inspire a clutterer. Never date another clutter…their clutter is never as acceptable as your own!

Diane: gee, I’m only 3 years behind you!

Countrygrrrl : paint and stencil the moveable furniture and you can keep anything anywhere.

I have to start the post-hurricane cleanup before the next storm season! I am still dealing with the loads of things that I relocated from the old place to this one just before the 3 hurricanes came through. My goal is to set up the garage as a warehouse with separate shelf systems for each need: i.e. gardening, camping, seasonal, sports, painting, tools, etc.

Then I will be able to attack one box at time and “file”, “toss’ or :give away” an item or items in a session (depending on how much spare time I have at any given moment.). I use a tarp on the lawn and have the kids help play “Clean Sweep”.

It is such a dreary chore, however. Do neat people really enjoy this drudgery? I can think of about a zillion other things I would rather be doing. Thanks for the motivation. Keep us moving.

Vera "Or about the sacks and sacks of bottomless milk jugs in the workshop which make such nifty baby plant protectors? "

You could run a clothes line or rope overhead in the shed or garage and string them on it by their handles, then only take down the ones you need or if you need them all at once, you could just carry them to the garden by holding the two ends of the rope in one hand. How come it is easier to de clutter your stuff than my own?

Keep at it everyone.......it IS worth it. You can not organize clutter......it has to get gone!!

The blessing is that after it is decluttered and you have a regular routine, the house really does seem to clean itself. I heat with wood so flylady's once a week home blessing simply does not work for me. What does work though is a 30 minute home blessing three times a week. Like this morning before I went shopping and ran my errands I spent 1/2 half hour dusting, vaccuming and general picking up and I left a house that was so pleasant to come home to. I am in a routine now that seems so automatic that I barely think about it. Some times I think I need to pinch myself because this is so NOT ME for the whole past years of my life.

Well, I'm taking a day off from decluttering --- just got home from work, a cold front is moving in --- I'm going to get into my jammies now and spend the rest of the afternoon and evening roasting coffee and reading.

Okay, so that seems terribly indulgent. But I'm looking at it this way --- I'm giving everyone home roasted coffee (and giant moonflower seeds) for Christmas. I've been experimenting with the home roasting for a couple weeks now and finally have the method down which yields an awesome coffee (a very dark and flavorful French Roast without any burnt taste --- it takes two separate roastings but a long rest between roastings :yeeha: ).

So doing the roasting all day and evening will get me well along into having my Christmas gifts done.

But it also makes the place smell really good.

So it's kind of decluttering --- getting the presents done AND making the place smell wonderful!

I have at least 3 boxes of stuff in my guest room ready to haul to the thrift store - bad news is...they've been there at least 3-4 months!

On the other hand...I asked hubby to take 2 of DGs riding toys to a friend who has a toddler, he did and the kids loved them.

I cleared space in my computer room and shredded a bunch of stuff...of course that was a few months back and there's a pile I need to sort through in front of that closet.

I'll get there....one of these months!

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Vickie

It helps that the single gent is as cute as can be!! Good luck on your decluttering! I will begin my full force this weekend. I have a 4 day weekend with the Vet. Day Holiday and the kids will be going to their dad's this Saturday! Yeah!!....

Michele

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Michele,
Mom of Michael, David & Anthony

Well I decided to do a little decluttering in a large room/apartment we built upstairs for our youngest son years ago. Glad I started with the closet.....there was a major roof leak......water was everywhere....luckly, I had stored some blue plastic containers stacked inside of each other......the top one was full of water and running over....what a mess....so thank you CountryGrrl for prodding me to start decluttering.....I would REALLY have had a mess when I got back from my trip since it is suppose to rain while I am gone.
Susan