I’ve spent a lot of this year dealing with mental clutter and finally feel ready to deal with the physical clutter. I’ve lived in the same apartment for 7 years (a lifetime for someone who used to move every year) and had a child in that time so a lot of stuff has piled up. We have a lot of storage space, which is a mixed blessing in that we stuffed things in the attic that we would have gotten rid of if there were less storage room.
My husband was the organizer. Or so I thought. He used to take things up to the attic, store things in closets, and take care of the organization. Perhaps I should have supervised this more but after he left I discovered that things were not organized at all. One end of the attic contains every box that a package arrived in. I have spent two hours breaking down boxes and have barely made a dent in the pile.
When I think about everything that needs to be done, I get overwhelmed and the task of reorganizing the house seems insurmountable. I try to do what most organizing sites recommend; break the task down into manageable parts. And this is what I am trying to do although sometimes I feel like I’m never going to reach the end.
Since organizing and removing clutter is on my mind, the RSS feed of the week is Unclutterer, a blog about getting and staying organized.
Recent articles have included, Opting to Stay in a Small Urban Space, Bare Bones Baby Buying Guide and Small Living in a Refurbished Shipping Container.
RSS: http://feedproxy.google.com/unclutterer
photo credit: ClintJCL
Nice pick :) This blog deals with something really unique and I found that hugely popular as well (33K+ RSS visitors alone)
Cheers,
Ajith
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I did a lot of uncluttering the last time I moved. Probably got rid of 1/3 of my things, simply because they were always packed up in storage, and I never missed them.
You husband sounds like one of my old bosses… he kept boxes for everything he bought, just in case he had to return them for some reasons. But the boxes were around for years after the items were returnable.
~ Kristi
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Hah, our cat Misfit (RIP). Our drawers were getting full of clutter, and because they were closed, you would forget what was there, and it would fall into disuse. So I took them out. At least then, we could see the clutter, so useful items got used, and useless items could at least been seen and thrown away if so chosen. Sometimes something visually disorganized can actually be more organized and engaging mentally :)
…Then the cat got in it, haha.
ClintJCL’s last blog post – links for 2008-10-21
@Ajith – I’m glad you like Unclutterer. It’s amazing how many RSS subscribers they have. I almost didn’t recommend it because I thought that maybe everyone already knew about it.
@Kristi – Well, there is a reason he’s almost my ex-husband ;-)
When I moved here from Tucson, I got rid of almost everything I owned and only kept what fit in the car I was driving. What frustrates me now is that I’ve accumulated all of this stuff again. Granted, it’s been 14 years and I got married and had a child but still – I should have done a better job keeping control over the clutter.
@ClintJCL – Thanks so much for visiting! I’m sorry that Misfit isn’t around anymore :-( Cats love to nestle into places like that. I was looking for a photo of clutter and saw some that were much worse than yours but couldn’t resist the photo because of the kitty. Thanks so much for sharing.
Two years ago, we moved from a three story house to a one story house with literally one-third the space. We got rid of half our “stuff” accumulated over 35 years of marriage. But one-half is not two-thirds, so we still have stuff we moved here, but still need to get rid of.
What we need to do is to borrow a Goodwill truck for a weekend, back it up to the front door and just start tossing!
Thanks for the Unclutterer feed URL. I’d visited a couple of times but never subscribed.
Mike Nichols’s last blog post – Suicide and Anxiety Disorders: What Is the Risk?
@Mike – Are you happy to be living in a smaller space? Where is all the stuff that you need to get rid of – all over?
It’s hard getting started on these projects? Once we do it’s not so bad – it just seems so overwhelming.
The move coincided with a big lifestyle change for my family in which we consciously simplified the way we live. It has done everybody good, and we enjoy the quality of our lives as much or more than we did before.
Sure, it’s sometimes hard to live in a house 1/3 the size of our previous house, but it’s something we’re adjusting to well. The main thing we miss are closets — this is an older house with very few and small closets — but that just helps us to simplify our wardrobes!
The stuff that we need to get rid of is all over the place, stuck in corners, lined along the wall in my office — everywhere! We are gradually getting rid of it, but it’s harder than before, because these are things that have been important in our lives in the past, and it takes a good deal of letting go of that past to get rid of them.
Mike Nichols’s last blog post – Suicide and Anxiety Disorders: What Is the Risk?
Hi Mike – Thanks for the information. I’m glad you decided to simplify and that you enjoy your smaller space. I guess the best thing to do is keep in mind that even though the objects contain memories they are just things.
Hehe it is lovely to know that your husband is the “unclutterer” and not you. :-D
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Hi Kuanhoong – I think you misread me or I didn’t explain it very well. I thought my husband was the organizer but after we split up and he moved out I discovered that things were not organized at all. :-) But it’s true, overall, he is a much neater person than I am.
OMG You have a blog? didn’t you read the new wire article? you’re supposed to abandon your blog asap I can;t believe you aren’t listening to “Paul” from Valleywag. Why the hell would you be wasting time networking and building relationships? they’re probably all bots anyway.
I am shocked and appalled that this blog exists, im going to report you to wired and to paul immediately, we can’t tolerate this sort of self expression and independence and what the hell is “RSS”?
In the word of a wise man named paul “suck mccain’s ass”
that is all………..
Hi Kim – I hear you about decluttering. That has been my mission for this year. Little by little I’ve gotten rid of a lot of “stuff” and reorganized what what left. I love how the simplicity feels and it’s so much easier to find things.
The blog you’ve highlighted sounds like a great one, I’ll check it out.
@Jacob – lmao :-)
Before anyone thinks I am allowing trolls to comment on my site I’ll give a little bit of background …
Wired wrote an article saying that blogs are dead and that we should all just stop blogging (this was written on a blog) http://www.wired.com/entertainment/theweb/magazine/16-11/st_essay
Jacob then wrote an opposing article, on which I left a comment – http://www.jmorganmarketing.com/wired-magazine-bad-advice-quit-blogging/
Silly me – I made a joke in the comment and Jacob followed through by leaving that comment here. Jacob has an awesome blog – definitely worth checking out.
@Barbara – Hi. It’s slow going but I’m hopefully to really make some progress this winter when we are home more.
Same thing here. The biggest onset of clutter that we had was the stuff that comes along with two kids. I need to do a lot of de-cluttering, the task seems insurmountable though!
Hi Jason,
Thanks for visiting and commenting. The amount of stuff that children accumulate is incredible. And it’s not just the things that they need – it’s also the annoying toys that relatives buy for them.
Exactly. It’s the junk the relatives bring over to them. Arghhhh. I feel like I through 5 things out and they bring 10 new things in.
..”dealing with mental clutter and finally feel ready to deal with the physical clutter.”…
I know exactly what you mean… I also spend a few months dealing with the mental part ! lol !
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Hi Flyfishing – I think the mental clutter is a lot more difficult than the physical. Honestly, I haven’t made much progress since I posted this. Last time I worked up in the attic, I inhaled so much dust that I had a sore throat for a week.