This sounds difficult. Good luck.
@URochmom - I feel for you. You sound like you are pretty much in the same boat as me down to the stuff in the front yard and the little viable living spaces. my husband is the same that he thinks stuff has value and can be sold - Iād be fine with that it heād actually sell it! It is discouraged and I find it a constant battle not to let myself sink back into let it be more and just go back to shutting my eyes to it. i was thinking this week the saddest thing is how it affects interactions with other people. I was sick last week and a friend from work called to see if she could bring anything - I didnāt need anything but if I had I would have said no rather than have her see my house 
. This thread helps keep me motivated. Donāt give up! Keep at it - one bag at a time!
I have not made much progress recently between work, being exhausted from work, then getting sick. I am trying to get back with it. Almost filled a bag today. Been trying to focus on the bedroom which has several piles and boxes that I moved in here to make the living room bearable. thatās one of the problems - in order to make the living room somewhat bearable I kept just moving things into other rooms now every room is piled high ugh. I keep having to reminding myself I HAVE made progress. I have unburied the cedar chest and rocking chair. Still soo much stuff though. Well back to it for a little while.
@swimcatsmom, youāre doing great. Your work was overwhelming for a while but youāre back in the saddle now. I predict that by the end of this year, you will have a very livable house that you wonāt be ashamed of.
Swimcatsmom - right after tax season closed your body was telling you it needed that veg-out time. Donāt be hard on yourself. 
I remember coming home after winging the last final and just falling down on the rug at the bottom of the stairs. Bodies canāt speak. They use ābody language,ā lol. You are doing great with getting back at it.
I watched part of a you tube video about decluttering and feeling overwhelmed. The speaker made the comment that people overestimate what they can do in the short term and underestimate what they can do in the long term.
She went on to say people think they can, for instance, declutter the house over the weekend or clean the garage out in an afternoon which is not going to happen. But they donāt realize the power of 20-30 minutes a day and how much time that adds up to in 6 months. People look at the mess and get overwhelmed and donāt know where to start - itās one step. Clear off a counter top, sort out a drawer, sort out a little section of a closet rail - here she emphasized that you need to move things OUT not just around.
She is paid to go help people declutter and she made the comment about how she finds herself clearing up whatās in front and new stuff is being brought in behind so it becomes a circular thing going round the house and starting again.
Iāve only watched the first 10 minutes cause I was tired and went to sleep. I think she may have some good points though so will watch the rest. The video quality was not that good - looked like she was a speaker at a Houston group called the Houston clutter coaching meet up group and someone taped it. Unfortunately I have to go to work today cause Iām even more behind on a project that is urgent because of being sick last week and I have to miss half a day tomorrow to take H for his colonoscopy. I do plan to watch the end of it and maybe search to see if she has a web site.
Yes, yes ā just a little every day!
Youāve heard the story: How do you eat something as big as an elephant? One bite at a time.
Junked a bunch of old bath rugs Mr. put aside in the garage just in case we ever need to move a large item in our truck. No, we will use other rugs for thatā¦
Iād mentioned earlier that we had to empty just about the whole house as our walls were de-texturized and painted. So we donated tons of stuff and it really felt great to purge so much. Weāve put two rooms back together and dh and I have found more we can get rid ofāsome in the trash can and I have an almost-full bag for GW. So happy to have things we donāt want or need out of the house.
^^ I have heard that if you have the time and space, thatās the way to do it - keep what you want and love, and the rest naturally goes.
Iām sure people have heard of the Kon Mari method? Iām too lazy to go back and search the thread, but here is a link to the book. There is also a great closed group on FB where people share their experiences.
Oh yes. That book has been mentioned, but as someone (famous?) said, repetition is the mother of learning.
Iāve been getting through some things but still feel overwhelmed with paperwork. Thereās just too much old stuff! I have tax folders since 1989.
Old medical bills.
Kidsā report cards.
etc.
Do you think the kids will ever ask for their middle school report cards? For some reason, those are very long and detailed.
Get rid of any old medical bills. If you itemized medical expenses on your taxes, perhaps keep the past 7 years worth only. If not, definitely chuck them.
Went through old tax records and client records in my home officeā¦ Three bags of trash and four boxes of shredded recycling. Then I could file all things lying around and I found my carpet! I also sent 3 boxes of misc supplies to Salvation Army. I stil have a long way to go but I am slowly claiming my office back from being the storage room of our remodel project last year.
Careful on the old medical bills, make sure you shred if they have your social security number on it (many insurance companies used to use that as your account number).
DH and I got rid of at least 6 boxes of old textbooks, some of which weāve had since we were undergrads. I found a Better World Books collection bin to deposit them. It felt good to unload them.
Iāve also been going through all the school papers/projects Iāve kept from my 2 sons which went from nursery school through elementary or middle school. Iāve only kept a very small fraction of what I originally kept. Why did I keep them all in the first place?
Iām back working in my closet - I read an article- maybe here? - about picking 37 items per season and only wear those items for 3 months. Itās an experiment to see how you feel about a simplified closet. You donāt get rid of anything, just put the chosen items out front. I really do wear the same maybe 8 shirts each season, so should probably purge further. One large bag from the closet today. Also a large box from the kitchen last week as I weeded out glasses and cups.
Regarding the kidsā school papers: Give them to the kids. Then youāre done, and itās up to them.
Iāve been away from this threadā¦but have gotten a lot accomplished. Have gotten rid of ALL old paperworkā¦taxes, bills, EOBsā¦junk. Shredded it all. Shredded all the documents from my mothers death in 2003. Shredded everything we had from our previous house.
Finally donated all of my mothers old pressed glass dishes I Never was going to use. Donated all,the silverplate too. Got rid of old books and school things.
Next up for usā¦a dumpster. We just have āstuffā and it needs to GO.
That will be a summer project.
Iām done with school papers, with only a small amount left for each child. I couldnāt wait for them to go through everything & I certainly wasnāt going to ship the papers to them. I donāt think either son wouldāve bothered going through all of it anyway.
Weāll probably have to go the dumpster route too. Itās frustrating to fill up the trash and recycling bins and have to wait til the next trash pick-up day to get rid of more stuff.
With a three day weekend, I am hoping to get back on track with my cleaning. What a sad way to look at three days off! Iām really discouraged though, I had made real progress with getting organized and throwing things away. Then my MIL cleaned out her house to move to an apartment in a retirement community and entirely too much of her stuff ended up with us. Of course my husband views these items as treasures which we will keep forever. Unfortunately, now I have boxes and mismatched pieces of furniture scattered throughout my house with no end in sight. Iām going back to my baby steps approach and hoping to at least consolidate some of these things. I suppose I also take comfort knowing that it would be an even bigger mess if I hadnāt done the previous cleaning, but when I look around my heart breaks.