I’m kind of jealous, I’d like a freshly painted room! 
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It’s that time of year again, the days are shorter, the nights longer, colder and more time is spent indoors.
The purge has continues. The wife, whom is an emotionsl pack-rat, is out of town for 2 weeks so I have complete control! I’ve already made 2 dump runs and have at least 2 loads of.donations staged and ready to go today.
Clothes still remains on of my biggest challenges. Not just for my self, but for my kids too. Getting them to filter out what they cant wear or don’t want is like pulling teeth.
At some point I’m gonna tackle the garage again, might wait until spring. 
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Ha!! I have to wait for my husband to leave town too.
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We have an agreement, I can get rid of her stuff except pictures and anything that is actually sentimental. We’ve been together long enough that I have a pretty good idea what those things are, but some times I mess up. 
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I tried to declutter my house but apparently I’m not allowed to get rid of my children
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Reading this I exhaled a big calm breath. My husband and I both come from Moms who collect. Enjoy the purge.
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My wifes parents weren’t really collectors or pack-rats per se, her Dad had a lot of tools and gagets as well as books on various American wars. Her mom had a lot of family pictures that had been passed on from the generations. I had found a family portrait from the early 1990’s of her recent ancestors when they lived in China, prior to immigrating here. They had both passed at relatively young ages and we had inherited most of their “invaluable” belongings. The other siblings only wanted the items of real value.
So I now have boxes occupying the garage, closets, and nooks and crannies of stuff I really have no connection to, but I can’t get rid of it.
It made me think, what do I want to leave behind for my kids? Do they care about my own sentimental items? Probably not. That has been my guiding principle when deciding what to allow occupy my space. But its not easy!
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My Mom hasn’t given much away since her children left the house 20+ years ago and there is a lot of stuff in it. The hard thing is that she wants all of it to go to houses where it will be loved. It is a challenge to break my sentimentality with items. I have to remind myself that memories and my love of certain people doesn’t live in things.
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Moving each or every other year made me declutter out of anger and frustration to pack this and that AGAIN without having touched it beside the moving. 
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My parents both got most of the “invaluable” items. They’re lucky all three of us kids do see the value but as the oldest I’ve always been the most interested, not sure how that correlates but it does for us. He’s passed on some stuff to me but it wasn’t what he thought it was so I don’t know how to let it go. A whole box of news clippings related to my grandfather and his retirement. Just don’t know what to do with that. He did, however, spend a few months digitizing several sets of slides (photos). He had to go through them and pick out duplicates and then sent them off to a company to digitize. He didn’t do them all, there were so so many. I think with old precious photos that will be the best choice.
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I have finally gotten back on the decluttering path and made a significant dent this weekend. Looks like I mentioned here back in May about my big table in the basement covered in craft supplies…well the table is cleared! I have sort of organized things into plastic crates and they’re stacked but still not very accessible for my crafting needs. There may just not be a good solution beyond that with the limited space I have.
I also started on my personal space, my “zen den,” and it looks much more pleasant. I am tackling the hall closet today where toiletry/medicine cabinet type items are stored. I have a bad habit of impulse buying “beauty” type items that I don’t end up using, creams and cleansers and whatnot, and I’ve already disposed of a ton. I also found out our women’s shelter accepts partially used beauty/toiletry supplies so I’ve got a box going for them. Items I bought and tried once that just didn’t work for me and so on. I think I’ll add some new items to it as a bit of a holiday gift for the women there.
Making progress!
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I bet this feels great!
I am the same with music gear. I just bought a new microphone that I don’t need and likely will hardly use… I need to stop that! Bad Dan!!!
I also made a good dent this weekend with 2 dump runs and 3 trips to Goodwill.
I have learned a valuable lesson, DON’T accept free stuff just because it’s free! Most of what I got rid of were things that people gave us and things we’ve never used, basically their crap became our crap. I have a new rule going forward, unless it is something I am actively shopping for, I will not accept anything for free.
While cleaning for hosting TG dinner, my daughter said, “You Dad, our house is a lot less cluttered than it was even a year ago”. That felt good, I’ve been working hard on it and I feel like I have made real progress.
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Sounds like you truly have and it’s great to get validation, isn’t it? My husband saw my den and said, “When did you get a desk?” Since I had cleared a giant pile from it. He kids around, but then said it looked great.
That sounds like a great guideline to follow, no free stuff!!!
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I want to revivify this wonderful thread. Decluttering, yes please 
I am going through my summer/winter cloths at the moment. Wow, some of this stuff is really only for garden work in solitude. I was lucky and found replacement for it so it goes to the “use once again and then in the bin with it” staple .
My guest room still waits for an overhaul. I am proud I DID threw out stuff in autumn but unfortunately lost my drive. Seems I went to hibernation mode on terms of decluttering.
Well, I have season plans
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Ditch that pile straight away. No keeping things for just one more time. You will feel so much better getting rid of things straight away. Physically taking things out of the house in big heaps is the most satisfying part of the whole decluttering process. Stuffing a bag of old clothes in the recycle container gives me kick of accomplishment that the task is done.
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Today I had a job of the reorganising and donating it throwing away stuff. I must say in bed right now I’m so glad it’s done. It does feel good.
Things are so much easier to keep on top of when everything has its own place. It also keep my mind clear also.
I really liked @Minatasha ideas of 15 mins everyday to tackle it. How are you doing @Minatasha ?
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Yes!!
In the shuffle of all the crap I’m going through right now, I finally got rid of our old car that was in pur garage! I got my garage back and now have the space to declutter it!
This is exciting!!
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Yeah to get rid of the old car 
Thinking of decluttering the garage brings back nightmares and belly laughs from long ago when we decluttered my late father’s garages … OMG what we found there 
The highlight was grandpa’s book keeping from the 70s before he retired and closed his firm. Could you imagine this? Still cracks me up 
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No worry, I’m strict on this throwing away thingy
Yes, throwing out cloths (and anything else) IS satisfying. Mine are mostly in a state that they don’t go to recycling, too shredded and worn 
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I’m happy that I filled another garbage bin at my late mum’s house today as it was collection day. The kitchen surface is done. Emotionally hard and good to see that little steps add up 
Oh, and I threw away all the old cloths I sorted out in my own cuoboard. I’m accountable
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