One thing that really motivates me is the thought of not burdening my children with cleaning out the house one day.
Things have a strange way of working out - especially on CC. So, I lose my job and have too much time on my hands. I discover Marie Kondo on CC and have now spent 2 days redoing my clothes drawers.
For my research I have done interviews with some people who are very financially constrained. When they find something in Goodwill or its equivalent that they can afford it sparks great joy.
Sometimes they go several times a week and get something for 25 cents each time. For someone with no job and no home of their own with other limited shopping opportunities, it is a way of exerting some control and having the experience of being a consumer. Yes, across the course of a year they “waste” about $50 and yes, they have some clutter (although most of them have very few possessions as they have no long term living space).
But it helps them feel more like everyone else to shop and they exchange/gift these with their friends.
So when you think about that coffee mug that has a cute dog on it, or a pair of socks that hasn’t been worn, or a dish towel that just doesn’t go with your kitchen, you may actually be sparking joy for someone who could actually use it.
I used Kondo’s method after reading her book a few years ago. I found it really helpful for getting rid of stuff I didn’t use, although I didn’t ask myself if the item “brought me joy”. My question was: have I used this or worn it in the last three years–if the answer was no, I got rid of it. I didn’t care for her system with respect to books. I tend to be very neat and orderly–my kids say obsessive, but that’s another story. I declutter regularly, but even with that mindset there are places (like the garage) that I just don’t touch because my H has strong feelings about what he keeps or doesn’t keep. My D was watching the show while visiting during the hoidays and H watched too and suggested we use that method for the garage. I’m hopeful.
As for places to recycle stuff–I usually can call the Big Brothers and Big Sisters organization and those folks will come and pick up almost anything. I just leave it by the garage. There are a few other organizations that will do this as well. In my community, there’s a Next Door website. I find that if I post the availability of an item for free, people will come and get it almost immediately. Another similar site is Free Cycle. Also the transfer station (I live in a community that doesn’t have town trash pickup) there is a section where people can drop-off items.
She goes into much more depth in her book. I liked the series, but I think it’s because I’d read her book and done a lot of what she suggested already.
I find joy in playing new and old records. I find no joy in tidying up. That means I have to put away my records…
My first introduction to “Tidying Up” was listening to a podcast of By The Book (the two podcasters pick a self help book and live it for two weeks). The episode was June 8, 2017.
At the time I thought the whole concept was nuts. And strict and severe. Now that I’ve had a visual of the method and Marie I’d like to go back and listen to the podcast to see if I feel differently - and to recall the observations and experiences of the podcasters who lived the book for two weeks.
For anyone that’s looking for a good place to donate books, I highly suggest Better World Books. https://services.betterworldbooks.com/individuals/ BWB is a semi non-profit that sells books on-line and for every book they sell, they give one to an international literacy group. They have bins where you can drop off your books. They sell some and responsibly recycle what they can’t sell. There’s a bin at my local library and the library gets a small amount of the profits from BWB. More importantly it allows community members to part with books without tossing them in the garbage.
As for places to get rid of stuff, I’d like to add mainly for the NYC crowd –
Housing Works (in NYC) it’s like Good Will but they focus on fundraising to help people with HIV
AptDeco – again in NYC – you list things to sell and they take care of the pick-up and delivery. (For people in NYC who mostly don’t have a car, this is a great service!)
Farmer’s Markets in NYC often have clothing recycling stations for things too worn to resell
The funny thing about living in NYC is how few things we own and STILL I am itching to MarieKondo-ize our tiny condo.
Twenty years of living in a small space teaches you to ask about each object before you bring it into your space: Will that kitchen gadget have more than one use? Can I get a smaller version of that? Am I willing to take care of it?
And still the clutter creeps in . … makes me crazy.
It’s funny when I go to other places now I simply can’t believe how much stuff other people own. Not being critical here, not in the least, but it’s really incredible how large people’s houses are mainly, it seems, to hold more stuff. I can only think of a single suburban garage that I’ve seen in my life that wasn’t basically a warehouse for unwanted things.
In NYC there’s no basement to store stuff; no attic; no garage. You simply have to make choices.
Makes for great dumpster diving, though! Because others also have to discard great things. ;
There is competitor to better world books - New Legacy Books http://www.newlegacybooks.com/Donate-Books-.html They have a bin at a church new where I live. Have donated books there. They accept anything with an ISBN number.
I give nicer clothing to the church thrift shop. It’s well run and busy. There are clients who want them. Some for themselves, others, to send/take to relatives out of country. And church profits go to community orgs that serve the needy.
The shop sorts what they think can sell or not (or what’s been around a while,) and then takes the latter to another church that offers it free to needy and working poor. I like to think someone can use it. I don’t like the idea a good blouse gets turned into car engine batting.
Salvation Army gets other things. Books go to one local library that has an ongoing book sale. What I never found is someplace that will send old textbooks to students in a poor country. I know these aren’t the latest, but the basics are there.
@milee30 Hahahaha—Same!!!
Broken or stained stuff in the garbage. I try our consignment store first. Anything they don’t want and things not thrown in the garbage gets taken to Goodwill
So may clothes that brought me joy last year, no longer do this year. I have three bags to donate and am almost down to my goal closet amount.
How many socks do you keep? I have too many, even taking into account that the thick wool ones are necessary for our winters. I was into bright colorful socks a few years ago but now I want all white - like a foot uniform. No decisions to make. Maybe new white footies will be my reward for unloading all the other stuff.
I think part of the “Thanking” is a way to stay up-to-date with your own inner self. If last year you liked colorful socks and this year you don’t, acknowledge the change in yourself and move forward.
I was introduced to MK a few years ago by a friend who was undergoing a big remodel. In the process she liberated herself - and family - of a good amount of stuff. I’d already been rolling jeans, t-shirts and camis, so that part was easy. I did try the ‘take everything and put it in a pile’ with the goal of only returning to the closet that which made me feel good. I found that approach overwhelming. I’d find a sweater that ‘brought joy’ and put it in the return pile. Then, after a number of pants, tops, workout wear etc. I’d find another sweater which also brought ‘joy’. However, it was almost the exact same thing as the first sweater. I’m now doing the cleanse by type. For reasons known to someone other than myself, I’ve amassed a large number of coats, sweaters, cardigans, puffer jackets, vests, rain jackets and workout jackets. If I was living in a cold climate, it would make sense, but I’m not. So my plan is to pile every last piece of ‘outerwear’ in a heap and sort in that manner.
I just worked my way thru the dresses this morning. Turns out I’d recently purchased what amounted to a clone of something I already had. Luckily it’s within the return window.
Going by sections based on usage is a better method for me.
The whole ‘thanks and good bye’ thing sounded really weird. But, given I was about to put just about every dress I’d pull back to where it came from, I decided to give it a try. ‘Thanks dress for letting me find you when I really needed you on a trip, thanks dress for being part of my life when I needed you’. (I made sure the only witnesses were the dog and the cat. They have been threatened with decreased food supply if they tell anyone). Guess what, it really did help. Go figure.
Seeing and reading this process has been an eye opening time to see how much “stuff” we buy. Really, it’s can be obnoxious! I would think that a goal of doing this “cleanse” would to also be to reign in future buying - so to not reload on the 20 sweaters or 10 vegetable peelers you get rid of!
After two moves, I learned to let go of stuff. No, make that three moves. We just moved kiddo and her BF, and I am overwhelmed. Kiddo was back from grad school just 2 years ago, and she already has piles of stuff. A cleansing talk is in the plans.
I said goodbye to a lot of mementos last night as I was tidying up the library. Boy we kept a lot of random stuff! A paper from my Taxation of Estates class. A folder with a group project from my marketing class. The slides with a presentation on some heterocyclic compound synthesis I gave in 1995… They brought back a lot of memories, but the physical objects would mean zip to kiddos. Off they went!
Am Vets is another great outlet that will pick up your donations.