I really enjoy keeping stuff organized and clean but sometimes I worry that I am getting too crazed!! I have a weekly cleaning person, but I still spend time tidying up each day. I am bothered by clutter but have learned that not everyone feels as I do. My D and son-in-law are staying with us for 6 weeks. I just close the door to their bedroom–out of sight makes it better.
@busdriver11 — when I got home last night I told my husband that “Judy Jetson” died. We both wondered why it made us really sad. Per H: It’s because she was what we all wanted to be as teenagers. Cool and modern.
Truly sorry for your loss!
Thank you, musicamusica. She lived a very long life (she was 96, I believe). I know her Judy Jetson was probably more well known, but she also did Penelope Pitstop, and Josie in Josie and the Pussycats. Those roles were a little ultra feminine for my tastes, but still fun. I guess you’d have to be pretty old to have listened to her as Corliss Archer, way back when.
If we can all only live such a long, full life.
Oh my. She truly was a cool cool kitty!
Well back to the OP’s question… in my quest to be more streamlined and modern ala Judy J. I am clearing out my shelves and half the stuff in my kitchen.Recently I noticed that I have multiples of practically every gadget in the kitchen. Clutter and filth beware. Onwards and upwards.
Pilot and co-pilot (“pile-it”) here. H and are are both pretty bad in different ways. We’ve moved many times and every time we moved we did a major purge. If we’d never moved in our nearly 30 years of marriage, we’d be in trouble. We don’t collect anything, but we have 7 kids, and (as you can imagine) a lot of stuff has gone in and out of our houses over the years. Now we’re at the point that we’ve been in our current house longer than any other (8 years) and stuff is piling up.
I hate dirty bathrooms, kitchens, and floors. Most of all floors. I just have a thing about floors. I love sweeping, vacuuming, washing floors. If the floor is clean, I can ignore the other clutter. I also love washing windows. And light-switches and doorknobs and the walls near them. I always like to keep those clean.
Most of our clutter is papers, books, journals, etc. H saves old journals for no reason. Buys books that he barely reads. Drives me nuts. He also has hundreds of CDs–I have zero.
My organization style is general, not specific. Pots and pans go in “one of the cabinets”–not always the same thing in the same exact spot. Just throw it in there somewhere! If I have a pile of papers, I know where something I need is in that pile. If H comes along and moves the pile, or tries to “sort” it (move papers one by one to other piles–no help at all), then I can’t find anything.
Honestly, our house is pretty bad. I am ashamed of it. Not dirty, but super cluttered with clothes, papers, books. I really need a professional organizer/cleaner, but I’d be too embarrassed to expose this mess to a stranger. I’d have to spend days cleaning and organizing before they came over. My bedroom and office are the worst. I know it would only take me a couple days of effort to get through the mess, but I just can’t bring myself to DO it. I have actually cleaned hoarder houses much worse than this before, but is so much easier to clean up another person’s house. Every item I pick up at my own house has some sort of memory attached to it–it has to be examined, thought about. I find it too emotionally exhausting to deal with, so I just close my eyes to it. Someone else’s stuff is just “stuff”–garbage that can be pitched!
I seriously don’t understand why you couldn’t just set a timer for a few hours and do it.
I’m selectively freakish about cleaning:
- Countertop crumbs and messes don't last five minutes once I've noticed them.
- Likewise, clothes on the floor -- except for the cat's "attack socks."
- ...but I can take or leave dusting, vacuuming, etc., until it becomes visibly necessary.
I just came back from helping my mother declutter. She moved from a 6000 sq foot home into a 3-room apartment, and my god, she has more in that place than I do in my 5 bedroom, 3.5 bath suburban home. Just so much … stuff. And she’s fairly organized, so it isn’t a function of that … It’s just this hanging on to stuff that is hard for me to deal with.
Hanging on to things because someone long since dead gave them to you – yes, I get sentimental value from loved ones, but if a random friend gave you a chick-lit paperback book you read and didn’t like, and now she’s been dead for 10 years, really, her feelings won’t be hurt if you donate it. Every little trinket the grandkids ever made. Dozens of cookbooks when she buys her food pre-prepared and doesn’t cook “recreationally,” and is fully capable of using the internet for a recipe. Decorations for every holiday under the sun when at this point in her life, the only holiday decorating she is going to do is a tabletop Christmas tree. It’s insane. She keeps muttering “memories” but doesn’t understand that when she’s gone, my sister and I are going to have to sort through this all and will likely throw 90% of it away. I walked up and down 49 flights of stairs according to my Fitbit, filled my car, and am now sorting into what goes to Goodwill and what goes to various other resale shops tomorrow. It’s just … stuff.
And this isn’t even a super-egregious case - it’s not like she’s a hoarder of twist-ties or anything. And she’s way too young to have lived through the Depression, so this isn’t fear-based.
Nonetheless, I am NOT doing this to my kids. They should be able to open any drawer in my house, see immediately what’s there, and it should be something that’s in current use. Elegance is simple, not cluttered.
@Pizzagirl, you seem like a really blunt, no nonsense kind of person who says what she means and means what she says. Have you called your Mom on these things in the firm, honest, yet loving way I imagine you do when talking to your husband and your kids?
Oh yes! We can talk amicably about it, but it’s frustrating since I’m the able-bodied one who gets to lift and load! And I’m just more minimalist in general. Memories are in your head, not with “things.” That doesn’t mean I don’t have any mementos of special occasions, etc. - of course I do - but if everything is a memento, nothing is.
I don’t mind cleaning, and my house is always clean. I sometimes have a little clutter around on a counter or in the seldom-used dining room, though. But … I have a basement full of boxes of stuff … and I am well aware that I need to get rid of most of it before I croak. I have my kids’ kindergarten writing journals, assorted things they have shed over the years (trophies, art projects, souvenirs), stuff I used to use/probably never will use again/think maybe I might need again someday, that sort of stuff. Yes, I know I should get rid of it. I had no problem getting rid of much of the minimal stuff left when my parents passed away. My stuff is harder to toss. It’s not bothering anyone down in the basement, and I guess I get some comfort in knowing it’s there.
Pollen, pollen everywhere. That’s my issue this week and last. Gorgeous weather and so nice to have the windows open but so much pollen coating every surface!
For those of you looking to declutter, come join many of us on the “bag a week” thread. I have much progress to make in my garage and basement, but I’ve been chipping away at it.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1599005-the-bag-a-week-club-p1.html
I fancy myself neat & clean, but I think I am really a slob. DH is meticulous and methodical, I have “file piles” but, hey, I get things done multi-tasking. I can live with stuff “over there” that needs to be dealt with yet is not time critical whereas that bugs DH. However, he sees himself as a clean freak & when he is stressed he will clean house, but his desk is messy, his sitting area is messy, he has stuff spread out all over his office and then bugs me to clean my desk so something will be neat!
I have a trouble spot on the side of my bed, where I have my computer, iPad, phone, all the chargers, and then any “work in progress” (I just bought a Bose mini speaker but haven’t assembled it yet). Need to figure out a better way.
One thing that helped me be more organized and less cluttered was to just take a basket and throw into it any and all bills to be paid, papers to be dealt with. About every two weeks I go through it and deal with the stuff, then file away what needs to be filed and throw away what can be gotten rid of. I have to be realistic – I’m not going to handle this stuff every day – so having a landing spot where it can congregate and not bother anyone is important.
I am like VH.
I agree with pizzagirl about not leaving a bunch of “stuff” for my kids to get rid of. Have started now on getting rid of things we don’t use/need/really want. My mother talks about getting rid of things, but at 83 she no longer has the mental, emotional or physical strength to do it, even though I continue to offer my help. I want my stuff gone before I reach that point.
@busdriver11 - that is really cool about your great aunt! I happened to also love Josie and the Pussycats too! My childhood (and lifetime) nickname from my parents came from Auntie Mame. Both now passed and I caught my breath a little when you mentioned it…I realize no one will ever call me that again. 
Me too - @VeryHappy except I have one extra layer. I have a smaller box that accumulates mail/bills over a week or two. When I sort through that some of the stuff that needs filing goes into another larger box that accumulates over months. Then eventually I got through that box and file the stuff away. (I have to be even more realistic and realize I’m not going to file everything away even every couple weeks. )