Declutter your home and your life

Thanks! It was overdue for a cleaning.

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You got it! I’ll definitely take before pictures, if they aren’t too bad, I’ll share some. I fear silent judgment, even though I have reason to believe that being the case. :unamused:

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Anyone who judges you can answer to me. We are all just human doing our human best. Get that organized life!!

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I’ve been spending energy on little de-cluttering projects around the house since my elderly kitty passed away a couple weeks ago. It’s a far better focus than other things. At first it was sort of, a bit here and a bit there, but now I’ve decided to really zoom in on my kitchen and do an hour or so each day there until I am satisfied.

That said, there is a cupboard full of all my glassware. You know, all my martini glasses, and wine glasses, etc., etc. They just sit there now except for the odd holiday where I might pull a couple out for a bottle of sparkling juice, but otherwise, they’re all covered with quite a bit of grime and dust. I want to move them out of the cupboard so that I can use it for other things, but… I honestly don’t know what I want to do with the glassware.

I love my glasses. I spent a long time collecting them and some are quite expensive. I used to entertain quite often and I loved bartending for my guests, and I guess I have this idea that one day they will be used again but for virgin drinks (which I am very adept at making since my partner has always been a teetotaler and coming up with suitable substitutes was a great challenge).

Buuuuuut, I don’t know. I could package them up, and there is a part of me that knows if I do that they’ll just stay boxed up for 20 years before I finally donate them or something, but at least they will be out of my cupboard. :person_shrugging:

I will have to make this decision soon enough because my kitchen is small and I only have so many other projects to put first. :thinking:

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Maybe pack them away for a few months or a year and see how you feel about them then? I’ll do that with stuff if I’m not sure how I feel about letting it go.

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Yeah I might do that. I’m gonna have to wash them all first, which I don’t look forward to. :laughing:

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I donated any martini like glasses but kept a few sentimental wine glasses when I want to feel extra fancy with my soda water.

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I used to drink my energy drinks out of them like a degenerate, but I’ve given those up too. :rofl: I don’t have any that are really sentimental, as I bought them as sets and don’t have any “off pieces”, but some of them were quite expensive and I just love how they look. I still have my decanter out by my desk, though it is empty now. I just think it’s beautiful to look at.

I tend to be pretty good at getting rid of things, but I struggle with items that I genuinely love, but no longer have an actual purpose for.

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In a cleaning fit frenzy I gathered up all my wine glasses and threw them in the bin. And the corkscrew and any other drinking paraphernalia I could find. But I didn’t have any special glasses or collectibles. I was actually quite angry at the glasses somehow. How dared those enablers live in my cupboard? :rage:

But if you really like to find new sober uses for your glassware, you could use bigger ones for potpourri. Fill some with colourful marbels and use as deco. Fill with colourful sand and a candle. Serve desserts in them, from jelly (that’s jello in american english) to fruit salad, ice cream, mousse… Starters like prawn cocktail or houmous. Use them as fancy dip bowls for nachos etc.
:squid:

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I can see that for sure. I did drink very heavily for a time, but in the end drugs were my worst issues so maybe that is why I don’t have such a visceral reaction to having them.

Thank you for the fun ideas :heart: I like the idea of using them for food, though some are so fragile I’d worry about them breaking in use. Perhaps I should invest in some soft rubber spoons? :laughing:

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I had glasses like this… they didn’t survive my drinking :pensive:
:squid:

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I watched a few videos when moving and packing/unpacking about decluttering.

This is what helped me :

  1. Stop buying more stuff now. Otherwise I’m not really decluttering if I’m replacing what I’m throwing out/donating with new stuff.

  2. Just because something is pretty it doesn’t mean I have to buy it or keep it.

  3. Once you have a pile of stuff to go, close the bag or box so you can’t see in it and start retaking bits out.

  4. When you feel yourself has had enough and feeling overwhelmed just stop. It’s unrealistic in most situations to get it done in a day. Set time limits and don’t let yourself get into a state of stress, stop before that happens.
    A little example of this I experienced when I kept pushing myself too far was there were a few things left on the dining table. But that evening after going through so much stuff it looked alot of stuff. I just couldn’t carry on.
    I left those bits on the dining table for the next day.
    The next day I woke up walked in and laughed at the stuff on the dining table. It was not alot of stuff - it took a few minutes to sort out. But my mind set and pressure from the night before felt like it was huge. Give yourself a break and go back to it.

:sunflower:

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So, I posted some lovely photos of my home and plant rearrangement on the recovery and plants thread and now I’m going to get real. I have procrastinated HARD since we moved here to organize and put away my wardrobe, my dressing room odds and ends and my craft supplies. They have been stacked in bins and boxes for over half a year and just been shifted around. When my parents came to visit I had to clean out a spare room for them and it all ended up in my dressing/craft room. There it stayed and there were hardly pathways to walk. It really was cluttering my mind and stressing me out and depressing me. I finally have had to do something about it so I have started. I got this bug up my ass to rearrange furniture (it’s a love of mine) and I’m so happy with the new arrangement, it feels more spacious and open. More importantly, it came from a plan for how to deal with my stuff. I simply had to accept that my dream and my plan of having all my craft supplies in one space and easily accessible in the main part of the house was not happening and so I’ve carved out space for a big metal shelf in the basement and I’m excited to move forward with that! We have big project tables down there anyway so it works. I’ve made so much progress with my piles so here are midway photos. I should have taken before photos but it was shameful to me to be honest) I know it wasn’t that big of a deal but whatever, stuff builds up in my brain).

Library - mostly my craft pile

Dressing/craft room - some craft stuff but mostly clothes, random. Not pictured is a closet and folding table piled with clothes and a dresser piled with stuff.

We are taking down Christmas tomorrow (yes, this late), I’m going to go buy some shelves and then the rest of the weekend I’ll start diving into this. I hope by next weekend I’ll be mostly finished. I already feel lighter.

EDIT to say I can’t wait to paint those blue walls this spring!!!

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I know the pain of wanting an area to be a certain way then having to come to terms with the fact that it just ain’t gonna happen. You are well on your way!

What color are you going to paint your walls?

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I don’t know yet but I’m partial to colors like lemongrassy or pale pistachio. Definitely
Something to lighten things up. Our whole house needs painting because the colors darken our space.

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Alright… here we go.

The before pics.

before...

The corners of my room are black holes for crap.





Ok, let’s do this!!

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You got this!

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We know you can do it because we’ve seen what you’ve done before! :+1:

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You finished yet?

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Not yet, I paused for dinner. But now it’s nearly bed time. :face_with_diagonal_mouth:

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