Later this week we’re going to start older D’s cleanout of her room and study (she’s leaving for college this year).
She says she’s “not ready”, so I’m going to compromise by just asking her to pick one drawer. The one that is jammed to the gills with stuff she hasn’t looked at for years…
Just read two books–one was the second book by Marie Kondo who wrote “Magic of Tidying Up” and the other was “Let It Go” about how to downsize your house or your parent’s home by Peter Walsh.
Both had very similar ways to do it but said in different words.
The toughest part is you can’t throw out other people’s stuff…and I really want to.
What I learned and now starting to put in practice because finding it actually works!
Do things in categories–not by room or closet. It’s easier because then you know how much you actually have of a certain item. Easier to throw things out when you see you already have 6 of something…
The order:
Clothes – easiest, satisfying, and you can’t mess up too badly. Gets you moving. I refolded my clothes according to Kondo’s rectangle style/vertical storage and can actually find stuff! I’m thrilled! I can see everything at a glance instead of burrowing through drawers. And I totally ended up with an extra drawer! 
Books, magazines, CD’s-- cull them all at once. I’ve emptied more than one bookcase. Feels good!
Office supplies, paper stuff. Set aside current bills and paperwork that you need right now so it doesn’t disappear!
Do not get distracted reading your old report cards and misc. Either throw them out now or put in box for later.
Lastly “treasures”–The Peter Walsh book was great on this. You get the size of your dining room table (or the size of the dining room table that will be in your new home). Keep only true treasures–not something from every vacation but from the BEST vacation. Not every picture Aunt Elma drew but the BEST one. You get the idea. Put things in categories again and select only the best–give the rest away.
Throw away anything with negative connotations. No matter what it is if you look at it and it brings sad memories or reminds you of bad times–get rid of it. This is actual negative reactions–not just “sentimental wistfulness”
Kondo says do your kitchen last–and the goal is to make it easy to clean–clear off your counters especially around sink and stove.
Peter says DO NOT save stuff for your kids unless they say they want it or there is a short time span in which they may need it (they’ll need kitchen items for new apartment for example). If it’s not a short span though it needs to go.
“Do things in categories–not by room or closet. It’s easier because then you know how much you actually have of a certain item. Easier to throw things out when you see you already have 6 of something…”
Good advice. Mr. B had 4 chainsaws… he pulled them all out, took a critical look, and figured out that he can get by with just 2…
Really the only things that I think I’m going to be challenged to part with are the Christmas ornaments-every trip we get one, and write the date and location on it. Then it’s a big ritual for us to take them out one by one and reminisce as we put them on the tree. Luckily they’re small, so they’re all in five boxes wrapped and ziplocked every year, so I don’t think they’ll ever be a victim of my decluttering frenzy.
I’m eyeing the many, many bookshelves we have right now, but I’m trying to focus on getting older D’s stuff sorted before she leaves for college in July (soooo early…).
I like the idea of categories-I’m thinking of listing stuff on Ebay by category. Like, it’ll be the week of selling all my mother’s painting on ebay-get them all up and done at once. The all my grandmother’s china. Then all the toys the kids don’t use anymore. Then all of H’s electronics.
MoD–you need never part with them! That’s the great thing about small mementos. And the memories shared are a true treasure. If you had a sofa collection it would be a different story…
My favorite ornaments were from friends and trips or made by my kids–it’s like hanging happy memories on the tree every year.
Categories do work great if you drag it all out at once from everywhere in the house.
Toys–unfortunately most toys these days are electronic. And change drastically. And are a dime a dozen.
I’d donate unless you have something really unusual or it’s liable to be collectible in a big way (like toy robots from the 50’s or 60’s–but you have to wait 50 years.) If it is “collectible” then it probably needs to be in a good box, hardly used (which is TOTALLY contrary to the term “toy”–a toy that isn’t used is just…sad. I Love toys…
Electronics are another category that you won’t be able to sell unless you find “the buyer” for something unusual or rarer for what you have. They are amazingly cheap and better these days than anything from even a few short years ago. But I’d love to be proved wrong!
China–ugh. I’ve got a lot coming down the pike. Gorgeous stuff. And no takers in the family. Pretty sure my Corelle and stainless will be snapped up before the good china and crystal
Books–I whittle these endlessly. As my sister says, “It’s a matter of inches”. Get rid of the hugest book you don’t really want and you can keep 3 smaller ones that you don’t need either.
Honestly–there are very few books worth keeping after reading once. It needs to be “keep worthy”…you love it and re-read it over and over, it’s a reference book that you keep going back to, it has personal family historical value.
After that you can probably download it from Amazon and save the storage space.
I did have some success selling some 15-20 year old electronic toys that still worked. There is certainly a nostalgia factor for some people with some “vintage” items. I sold mine locally but utilized eBay listings to pinpoint a price level and worth.
Ok, so I went to town on the living room while my H was on a business trip.
H got back from his trip and was like, what fresh hell is this? I said it’s ok to keep all of these, it’s just not appropriate to have them in the living room gathering dust and making visual clutter. He agreed (grumpily-he hates change and is a hoarder/stacker).
3 Pulled the curtains down and washed them, then hung them back up.
So, that’s how I declutter :D.
Next up is scanning in the 20 or so photo albums so I can ditch those, as well. I am considering farming that job out, though. I find it incredibly tedious. I think there’s a place called Legacybox that will do it-still investigating. RIght now all those photo albums are stacked in my studio (pulled from the living room). They’re mocking me.
@MotherOfDragons: When you figure out how to get all those albums scanned, please let the rest of us know! I have about eight gazillion albums in the basement, waiting to be scanned.
Great job yesterday!!!
@VeryHappy here’s what I’ve learned about legacybox so far:
Here’s that link:
https://legacybox.com/pricing/?utm_source=sirius%20xm&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=TODAY
Here’s a link to one mom’s review of it:
http://moneysavingmom.com/2016/07/completely-honest-review-legacybox.html
I’m still thinking about it. $250/40% is still a lot of money for 250 pictures. I think I need to figure out how fast I can scan each picture, and if I’d want to fling myself out a window after scanning that many before pulling the trigger on spending money.
eta: I can’t get the 40% coupon to work…
Oh wow. That’s a lot of money.
I just throw out my artificial flower arrangements - they were big dust collectors (kept the vases/pitchers they were in and they look fine empty)
You might be able to find a local person/place to scan them. There could be a tech-savvy high schooler or college student who would probably be better in price. I’m just proud of myself for having labeled, in-order photo albums. I’m not about to tear them apart. I still print photos - even off my iphone, lol.
I just got rid of a bunch of folding tables to my friend’s charity garage sale. I told her to hang onto them or sell them, her choice. They were from an event last year that left a bad taste in my mouth, and every time I looked at them I got mad all over again. Four tables, but 400 lbs. of bad feelings.
@MotherOfDragons for $250, buy a sheet feed scanner! DH scanned ALL our tubs of pictures. And we scanned my Grandmothers albums. We wrote on the back what the pictures were (if we knew) and scanned double sided. Yes, it was tedious, but kind of interesting to look at the pictures at the same time. we had more than 2000, and it took him around a week of just going after it daily. We didn’t attempt it until retired I will say. But what a relief to get rid of the paper. I sent packages of prints off to old friends and relatives when finished (besides just tossing many) and they really appreciated them.
If you bought the scanner and had a trusted high school kid looking for work, they would do it cheap.
Books stacks in my house are getting smaller. Another bag to the library yesterday. And when I am done with CC morning review, I am taking pics and posting on our NextDoor the old robotics bits and pieces. They have gathered dust for 8-10? years. I am hoping some team will want them for parts.
Re: Legacybox…this was just on our morning news…
http://abc7news.com/shopping/woman-says-legacybox-photo-service-lost-her-priceless-photos/2041940/
Only after getting a consumer group involved, Legacybox offered up a whopping $150 to the poor woman…(initially, they only offered $75)
Re photos:
I have scanned some photos on a flat bed scanner - it is a pain because I am tethered to the one spot where the scanner is, and it is a slow process. (At least it was a few years ago when I started.) I took a long break from the scanner, and then discovered a couple of apps that made the process easier.
There are several good apps available for smart phones. They use your smart phone camera as a scanner. You need a fairly good (newer model) smart phone camera for the best results.
I use Heirloom. Basically, you take a photo from straight above the original, which should be on a white (or sometimes black is better) surface, like a piece of plain white paper. The app crops the edges and allows you to adjust color, and add information about the photo. You can put the photos in albums. It has unlimited digital storage, and the digital photos are available to anyone you share your login info with. My phone also automatically adds any photo I take with it into Google Photos, so there is back-up digital storage. My keds have access to all the family photos from wherever they live.
I would never trust any form of digital storage to completely take the place of some kind of “real” physical photo storage. If there is ever a major internet outage, your photos stored in the cloud could be gone forever. And storage on a hard drive is also not necessarily forever, either. My philosophy has been to store the images in multiple places. I also keep all the full photo cards from our digital “good” camera, just as I have kept all the old negatives. I don’t feel as though the physical photo albums take up all that much space.
Lately, I have had photo books made instead of albums. They take up much less space on the book shelves.
Are there wireless scanners? Our printer is wireless and can be taken anywhere where there is a power outlet. You still need your laptop nearby to control and QC the output.
For that price, I would buy a scanner and just deal with the photos when the weather is too gloomy for anything else…
So my latest project is going through years of my S’s paperwork ( with his permission) cause he never does. He just piles it up in our basement. I’ve looked up what to keep and for how long. I have bags full of stuff that can be thrown away and bags full of stuff that should probably be shredded.
Any info on shredding? The good, the bad and the ugly? Or where and HW? And any experiences as to what I really should keep? Sorry if this was already discussed, but I do not want to read 172 pages.
BTW, I’m looking at stuff going back to 2008.
You mean like tax stuff??
Any stuff, but tax stuff too.
I just burn my stuff. Fire pit or fireplace depending on time of year. Good fire starter. S’mores anyone?