Good job @BunsenBurner. I didn’t get any bags done. But I followed someone’s suggestion outbreaks and pulled a few packs of photos out of the Rubbermaid bar and went through them while i watched the basketball game. I got quite a few put in albums (nothing fancy or arty). I felt like I really achieved something and it was such fun! Those photos have been buried in that box in the closet for a long long time.
Talking about nothing arty, it is so hard to find regular photo albums nowadays (must check Amazon). Scrapbooking is great, but I finally realized I’ll probably die before those photos see the light of day of I keep waiting till I have time to do fancy scrapbook albums!
^^such a charming story. The dress is over 8000 pounds now (around $12,000) with 6 days to go! What a wonderful outcome for the charity.
I’m doing horribly. Between quitting smoking and some major stressers coming from my son, I have been SHOPPING instead of purging. I gained 50 pounds so I had to buy new clothes but I think it is temporary weight gain and I love my other clothes so I can’t bring myself to purge them but my closet is over flowing now. I’m supposed to be painting the house and prepping for new floors, which is why I wanted to purge in the first place, but I haven’t had the motivation to do any of that. I’ve been quilting like crazy to keep my hands busy and deal with stress but that has brought MORE stuff into the house. I’m starting to feel like it’s getting out of control though. Hopefully I can reign some self control back in but right now, every ounce of self control every single day goes to NOT smoking. sigh
@2016BarnardMom: Go for a walk. A very long walk.
@2016BarnardMom - Quitting smoking is a MUCH more important goal than purging your house of unneeded crap. Hang in there and be kind to yourself. I hope the stressors go away soon, and then you can find the energy to declutter. Don’t worry, it’ll still be there waiting for you. 
I’m reading a book about clutter and feng shui, it mentioned the clutter of doing too much. I’d never thought of that kind of clutter. To me, clutter was always about “stuff”. I am learning to turn down requests to go here, do this, see that, if I really don’t want to. Also saying no to requests from a few people who try to make me feel obligated to help them out when the fact is, they’re trying to make their own life a whole lot easier by getting me to do the harder things for them.
This in turn is making the things I do more enjoyable. It’s about the quality, not quantity. Spent a nice day with hubby doing some local sightseeing. Took some time in the evening to sort through my clothes closet. I intend to keep my life less cluttered. Perhaps easier at this point as hubby and I are empty nesters.
Barnard, quitting smoking is a worthy goal ( I quit over 25 years ago). Maybe use your quilting as a reward to help you get the house painted. Spend an hour each day painting with the promise that you will quilt in the evening. It’s always rough when dealing with issues with our kids, I hope things start to work out with your son.
I read that holding on to clothes that no longer fit may be a way of punishing ourselves. Make sure that’s not what you’re doing. You don’t have to give your clothes away, but you can box them up and store them so you don’t see them every day.
Barnardmom, kudos on quitting smoking. That is a HUGE thing. Just ask @interesteddad ! The other stuff… you’ll get to it sooner or later.
Can I come and help you with painting? I’m really good, and as a chemist, I don’t mind the fumes. 
2016BarnardMom-- As BunsenBurner wrote, Kudos on quitting smoking! The beginning is a major step.
One idea-- When you feel like a cigarette, how about ridding yourself of ONE item. Decluttering one item at a time might become a habit. And, you’d be reinforcing not smoking by doing something you want to accomplish.
Good Luck!
As for me, I just finished a long project, which involved a lot of paperwork. I’ve started to tackle sorting, organizing, and throwing out what’s left of the project. When finished purging, I hope to have at most a few manila files and lots of pdfs.
So much good advice on this thread. You are all awesome!
I have been doing more than just a bag/week. They know my H. at Salvation Army very well. Last time he brought 2 huge bags, they asked with surprise: “Only 2 this time?”
But Salvation Army is only one place. Another one is Public Library where H. is bringing boxes with books on a regular basis. Still another place is garbage. H’s bagS of “garbage” are normally gone before garbage collectors got it, it is being picked up by “pickers”. And it is also more than one bag by far.
My guess is that it this speed, it will still take us few years. The goal is to have a bare min. when we need to move. We will move after we retire. The hope is that we retire when WE want to retire, but it may happen any time now. So, we may not be ready at our current speed of “several bagS a week”…and we do NOT smoke.
IME, even if you declutter for years and years, when you move you still have too much stuff.
Saw that the garbage can had some extra room and tossed old roller skates and some “garage shoes” (a new set of old wear to work shoes will replace them soon).
I sent off 5 bags of clothes and shoes while changing over winter to summer in my closet. I am interested in the idea upthread about us punishing ourselves by keeping clothes that don’t fit in our sight. I’m guilty of that, and need to move them out of there. A different thing I noticed in my closet this time is that I have way too many casual shirts and jeans from my stay-at-home days. I’ve been working for 7 years and dress nice for work, so all those clothes just remind me that I don’t have much time to wear them, so I got rid of a large amount. I’m behind on my goal # of bags but plan on catching up soon.
"Saw that the garbage can had some extra room and tossed old roller skates "
-Should leave stuff like this outside of the can, in some separate box or bag. these could be “picked up” before garbage collectors come. we leave lots outside of can, most get to be picked up, it is not there early In a morning.
Old sports equipment can be dangerous because plastics deteriorate with time - something that looks ok can be structurally unsound. I would not want a child to get injured… so I would never leave things like old rollerskates or baby stuff for freecyclers.
I finally attacked my closet with what S calls an attitude of extreme prejudice. Things were just going to have to prove their right to continued hanger space.
Although I’ve taken up this effort a few times, I’ve had a hard time letting go. Hey, I know that I don’t even like that top any more but it’s in such good shape!! Um, really, I’m going to wait until I wear out an item of clothing before removing it from prime closet space??!!
Maybe it was because S returned for the summer with his bags upon bags of stuff and is decluttering with happiness and ease. Or, because D finally went through her pile of stuff which came back last year and has reduced a small ski mountain into a few large plastic storage containers
Or maybe a divine and loving being zapped my brain and I finally was able to get on with the task.
Out went about 1/3 of the stuff in my closet. I can actually see what I own and I find myself feeling rather protective of the new found space. My little shopping addiction involves stopping in at Marshall’s, TJ Maxx etc whenever I happen to be near a store and have time. I found myself in one of these places of temptation and kept asking myself…do I really want to dedicate a hanger to this item? Walked out empty handed.
Now…onward to all that mismatched silverware and the cooking/baking items that never get used. Next will be the bookshelves, and upper shelves in cabinets where no one has looked for at least 2 presidential election cycles.
I’ve noticed the cat seems worried…he’s staying away from the ‘out it goes’ box. :))
@dietz199 Congratulations on your accomplishment. In terms of shopping, I now make it a rule that if something new comes in, then something has to go out. That way the stuff doesn’t pile up.