How can I become an un-hoarder?

[ERD50]

One shelf is not a lot of stuff, and it is just not enough to feel much change. Get radical! Frank and I both think it really feels great to be so free and unencumbered, and so far we haven't missed any of the junk that we no longer have.

Yeah, I know. But doing more than a shelf at a time drives me bonkers. Part of my ADD-like tendencies I guess. I can rarely read a book either, gotta stick to magazines and articles.

Nothing wrong with whittling down from 5 boxes to 2. The key is to do that as your first stage, revisit the area in 6 months and you will wonder why on earth you kept any of it.

I find the more you sort in one sitting the easier it becomes to just toss it all out.

Don't even worry about having a project for the space, you would not believe the sense of joy we get from gazing at an empty space that was once consumed by junk.

Yes, but I do a lot of DIY stuff. I actually do find a use for stuff that I kept for 10 years once in a while. And it will end up being when the stores are closed and it's an emergency fix. That makes it hard to throw stuff out just because I have not used it for 6 months. That's why I need more motivation than others I guess. Like I said earlier, I might sort it all out and decide I only need 3 of something, not 10. That takes a lot of time, and I end up with the 2 boxes instead of 5 or whatever.

Maybe that's it, most of what I keep isn't 'junk', I really do find a use for much of it. And the time it takes to separate out 'junk' from potentially useful stuff is just too hard for me.

-ERD50

 

[freebird5825]

Many of us have been doing some major decluttering this year, and now we have hoarders on the verge of un-hoarding.

Has anyone noticed how FREEING it is to get rid of a lot of stuff? It's hard to do sometimes, but wow - - - it is really worth doing.

I just found a home for some wine and drinking glass sets I was given over the years and never really used. Mr Boston's cousin's daughter's son and GF are are just starting out and [-]cannot afford [/-] need stuff like this. I'm packing them up in liquor boxes for delivery at Christmas.

I just dropped off 2 boxes of misc good usable small stuff at the church for their rummage sale.
I'm back to decluttering and on a roll....

 

[GoodSense]

I have had a lot of success since I first started this thread! I've made several trips to the local Goodwill, took one box of books sent to Half Price Books (and made $7), gave many scarves/hats/mittens/sweaters to a friend of mine who teaches English to new immigrants, and, most amazingly, recycled 12 years worth of old electronics yesterday! There were 4 monitors, 3 laptops, 4 desktops, 3 printers, 1 scanner, and numerous keyboards and mouses (mice?). They totaled 284 lbs!! I was so proud of myself.

 

[Ronstar]

I'm back to decluttering and on a roll....

Same here. My workshop was cluttered to the point that I considered a $15,000 addition. Instead, I started what I believe will be a winter long de-cluttering project. It involves:

1. Tossing almost everything in the house attic. mostly building materials left over from building the house 15 years ago.
2. Tossing almost everything from unfinished portion of basement.
3. Move brewing stuff from garage and workshop to
unfinished basement with new utility sink to create a new
brew room.
4. Move lawn chairs and other non workworking stuff from
workshop to house attic.
5. Build high wall shelves in workshop to hold lumber. Throw
away lumber scraps and sell/toss unused tools.
6. Move unused lumber from house attic to workshop to be
used for future projects.
7. Build shelving and drawer units in master closet. Toss/donate seldom worn clothes.

The garbage man is not going to be happy.

 

[haha]

(6) Does it make me feel happy and pretty?

Good for you!

YouTube - Julie Andrews - I Feel Pretty

I must say though, I have seen your picture and I think you would be pretty no matter what you wore.

Ha

 

[W2R]

Thank you, Ha!!

I love that song.

 

[Nords]

1. ...mostly building materials left over from building the house 15 years ago.
5. ... Throw away lumber scraps and sell/toss unused tools.

My strongest emotion with these steps is "But I might need these to fix something someday and I won't be able to get the right parts!"

I have enough spare window frames, hardware, & screen pieces to fix most of the house. Yet someday we're going to replace many of the windows and no longer need those spares. The trick will then be finding some other poor sucker to take my "priceless" inventory off my hands.

 

[GoodSense]

Thank you, Ha!!

I love that song.

Me too! That was very nice.

In my last job I worked for a man who was always making inappropriate comments with sexual connotations. I stopped wearing clothes I felt pretty in, because I did not want him to pay any attention to me. That was pretty sad. When that happened, I knew it was time to leave.

 

[powerplay]

My strongest emotion with these steps is "But I might need these to fix something someday and I won't be able to get the right parts!"

I have enough spare window frames, hardware, & screen pieces to fix most of the house. Yet someday we're going to replace many of the windows and no longer need those spares. The trick will then be finding some other poor sucker to take my "priceless" inventory off my hands.

Craigslist or Freecycle would be a good starting place for that "priceless", vintage, nostalgic. etc inventory you will be attempting to rehome.

 

[Ronstar]

My strongest emotion with these steps is "But I might need these to fix something someday and I won't be able to get the right parts!"

I have enough spare window frames, hardware, & screen pieces to fix most of the house. Yet someday we're going to replace many of the windows and no longer need those spares. The trick will then be finding some other poor sucker to take my "priceless" inventory off my hands.

I have your window fetish also. I'm tossing a lot of stuff, but I'm keeping anything I find relating to doors and windows, including installation instructions. Hopefully the windows will last longer than I will.

 

[happy2bretired]

I just found a home for some wine and drinking glass sets I was given over the years and never really used. Mr Boston's cousin's daughter's son and GF are are just starting out and [-]cannot afford [/-] need stuff like this. I'm packing them up in liquor boxes for delivery at Christmas.

Yeah...I found that works really good. I unloaded a bunch of kitchen stuff on my daughter when she moved into her small apartment with a very small kitchen. She said the other day "I have so much stuff I don't know where to put it all"....he he

 

[Nords]

Craigslist or Freecycle would be a good starting place for that "priceless", vintage, nostalgic. etc inventory you will be attempting to rehome.

Nah, our neighborhood was built at pretty much the same time with the same materials, so all I have to do is walk up the street or set it at the curb.

We used to have three complete sets of parts in our attic for the neighborhood's original 1989 Frigidaire range/oven. Repair parts for that model were all gone by 2002. When we finally upgraded our kitchen and gave away the old parts I made several neighbors pretty happy...

 

[BigMoneyJim]

I caught two episode of Hoarders while on a business trip last week. (I don't have cable/satellite at home.) Interesting. At least 3 of the 4 featured people/families seemed to have emotional/separation issues at the core of their hoarding. The 4th was an older lady who had collected mostly valuable stuff; she was able to get rid of the actual junk she had started collecting but had no interest in selling or otherwise parting with her valuable collectibles, even though they filled her house preventing her husband's access to most of the house. And even though they had appraisers come in and tell her how much money she was likely to get from selling.

The last lady kind of reminded me of one of my grandmothers. She collected some nice things but never used them or let people touch them. I never got that, although I think it may have been a result of her growing up poor in the depression era and ultimately fulfilling her vision of having certain possessions: an Oldsmobile, fancy formal dining and living furniture, etc..

As for me, I took the seldom/never-worn long-sleeve shirts out of the closet and put them in the give-away bucket. I continue to use my document scanner to keep the paper moving towards the trash can and away from my files. We demolished one of my old PCs with a sledgehammer for the web show. I was tempted to take the memory, video and network cards out of it first but didn't. I disconnected my 20+-year-old big stereo and big speaker system that I was only using for AM/FM listening that I could duplicate with online streaming or handheld tuners with amplified speakers. I haven't gotten rid of it yet, but I may be buying a house soon, in which case a big, loud stereo system may be warranted again. But if I sign another apartment lease I'll definitely get rid of them.

I'm glad the OP found this thread inspiring. It's always cool when online bloviations translate into some real-life goodness.

 

[Sarah in SC]

If you decide to get rid of that big loud stereo...please send it to REW's neighbor's kids!
Or send it my way...I've got neighbors who'd love to hear my music at top volume!