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I live in a small condo, and for years I just kind of threw stuff wherever. Once all the covid poo poo blew up and I was home all the time, I got to thinking about making my environment a bit more pleasant. I also got interested in interior design, and I realized that before redesigning my home, I first needed to declutter. I would have stuff everywhere, stuff on all the counter, clothes strewn on the floor, etc. I'm also someone who gets REALLY into new things quickly, so I started decluttering with an almost religious fervor. It really does have a lot of benefits though, and I highly recommend it to everyone! Very simply put, decluttering is the process of reducing the amount you own, and keeping what you do own more organized and tidy. There are multiple benefits to this, such as: 1) You can earn money by selling things you no longer need 2) Things that you sell or donate can help someone else! 3) Decluttering makes the process of keeping your home clean in the future much easier, as well as keeping things organized 4) For me at least, having things clean and tidy has psychological benefits and reduces stress 5) Decluttering can reduce or eliminate the need for other items in your home or expenses. For example, you may think you need a big new bookcase to hold a bunch of stuff, or even to rent a storage unit! But after decluttering, you may find you do not need those items at all! You may even find that new home you are looking at that you thought was too small is now just right! Oversized houses (most houses are oversized) are one of the main causes of acquiring too much stuff, because you feel the need to fill all that space with something. 6) Tied in with the above, decluttering is a necessary step prior to redesigning or remodeling your home. It doesn't matter if you want your home to modern, art deco, Victorian, whatever. You can be a minimalist, maximalist, no matter what decluttering allows you to design your home around only the items that are important to you. 7) Decluttering will lead to buying less in the future, as you will end up reconsidering the negative impact of having too much "stuff." I am much more into "quality over quantity" now. The actual process is very simple, what you want to do is go through everything you own. Okay not LITERALLY everything you own - here are the things you can safely ignore food "personal" clothing like socks and underwear (lol) things pertaining to the actual structure of the home, please do not rip out your countertops things that would stay with your home if you were to sell (appliances, HVAC, etc.) things that it would be fair to say are basic home needs, for example a sofa, bed, dresser, etc. both for humans and pets! also things to maintain your home, like cleaning supplies. So let's get started. You want to divide everything into the following categories 1) throw away 2) donate 3) sell (if unable to sell, be sure to donate, don't just let it sit around!) 4) keep I always thought I never had a lot of stuff, and relative to most people I don't, but I still came up with probably 200+ "things" since covid started that I no longer have. And it's a continuous process, whenever I see something I no longer need or are attached to, I get rid of it ASAP. The dividing is the biggest part. After this is more of the visual parts, i.e. not having stuff sitting out on countertops, on the floor, etc. keeping the "chaos" inside closets and storage. But now that you've (hopefully) gotten rid of so much, storing the rest will be much easier! Feel free to ask me about decluttering your space, or just to chat about it! If you are too embarrassed to post your goon cave overflowing with empty flaming hot cheetos bags and action figures, you can PM me 
actionjackson fucked around with this message at 01:09 on Oct 5, 2021 |
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Oct 5, 2021 01:07
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| # ? May 3, 2024 12:02 |
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What's the best tip for not losing your mind as you start combing through your stuff and it ends up taking more space in your place before you have a chance to sell/throw it away
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Oct 5, 2021 02:21
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Eight-Six posted:What's the best tip for not losing your mind as you start combing through your stuff and it ends up taking more space in your place before you have a chance to sell/throw it away good question! I would start with just one room, probably a small one. You'd be amazed how much stuff you can get rid of just in a bathroom for example. I remember I had quite a few old OTC medications that had expired, and some cleaning supply bottles in the linen cabinet that were basically empty, or ones I didn't need anymore. A closet is a good option as well. I found out that for some reason, I had three umbrellas and two scarves. One scarf I hadn't used in 10-15 years because I used the other one, so I gave that and a couple umbrellas to goodwill. There's a lot of stuff we just stick in a closet and forget about because we don't normally look at it. While I know I said to exclude food, if you want to try the kitchen, check for any expired food products, or utensils and such that you don't need or use. I had multiple chef's knives! Some oversized wine glasses I only used once a few years ago! I immediately take stuff like that and put it on a table to remind myself to get rid of it ASAP. I would definitely take as much as you are okay with donating and just bring it to goodwill. actionjackson fucked around with this message at 03:46 on Oct 5, 2021 |
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Oct 5, 2021 03:42
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I did this as preparation for my move earlier this year, and it's amazing how much stuff I got rid of in the process that I had just never bothered to unpack since my last move five years ago.
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Oct 5, 2021 05:26
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actionjackson posted:good question! I would start with just one room, probably a small one. You'd be amazed how much stuff you can get rid of just in a bathroom for example. I remember I had quite a few old OTC medications that had expired, and some cleaning supply bottles in the linen cabinet that were basically empty, or ones I didn't need anymore. Nah you missed my question so let me rephrase: I take a box out of my closet and look in it. 90% of the stuff I want to pitch via either junk or Goodwill- good, great, do it. But where to place the other 10% of items? Back in the box and then back into the closet until....? Do you find the place for it immediately? What if the place doesn't exist yet or there's more clutter there? If you don't pack it back up, then where do you keep it? If it's something you're keeping for a remodel or when you change furniture, where does it go in the meantime? Decompressing and eliminating clutter, I've found, tends to make the problem seem to be getting-worse-before-it-gets better, and the first half of that can be demoralizing sometimes, on top of actively making your space smaller, even temporarily.
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Oct 5, 2021 17:46
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Eight-Six posted:Nah you missed my question so let me rephrase: hmm okay sorry I misunderstood, you said "before you can sell/throw it away" so I thought you were referring to that, not what you keep I put the stuff I want to keep in the same area. I wouldn't necessarily worry about storing it in a specific way or anything at this point. You could declutter one room at a time, then go back and deal with what you want to keep in each room. You may find that items from different rooms could all be stored in one area, now that you have much less stuff. Things that you will use only in the future could perhaps put in their own storage bin. You could have one bin or box for each room if you wanted. I just kind of did it all together, for example as I got rid of kitchen stuff, I moved some things around as well so it made more sense (i.e. all the dog stuff in the dog cupboard, all the pantry stuff in the pantry, etc.). I also took stuff that I needed but used rarely and put it in cupboard that were less accessible. Honestly getting rid of that 90% is by far the biggest thing, so I would do all that first. The rest will be significantly easier. actionjackson fucked around with this message at 18:46 on Oct 5, 2021 |
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Oct 5, 2021 18:42
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let's start with a closet, okay here's my laundry closet (sorry it's a bit foggy looking, turns out I needed to clean my phone camera lens). when I got this place there was three shelves of storage, and the upper ones had some stuff on it from the old owners I never paid attention to. Turns out it was all crap I don't need. GONE hmm okay now I only need one shelf, so you can even get rid of the other shelving! so what I have is detergent, and on the shelf I have a dremel (for my dog), stain stick, some of those washing machine cleaning tabs, then I have a "utility box" with tools and such, and one of those ikea toolkits (lmao) with all of the remodeling stuff, I certainly needed some tools, but I went through the whole drat thing and found a bunch of stuff I didn't need. so all of that was donated or disposed of. And I had other stuff just sitting there, gathering dust. hmm an ironing board and iron? yeah I mean that's cool, but all my stuff is permanent press and I'm 100% WFH so I mainly just wear a t-shirt and shorts. I hadn't used it in years, and if I really need one in the future I can just borrow from a neighbor. Gave it to goodwill so someone that actually needs it can have it. The important thing of course is these are all things I could buy again if I needed to. But 99% of the stuff I've gotten rid of I've never needed since. A good way to think about it is, if I had to pay to keep each item, how much would I pay? If the answer is "zero" then get rid of it.  so just to show that I'm not just hiding stuff in other spots, next up we have the utility closet, where the hvac stuff is. I have a stool that I use on occasion, a bike pump, a few storage bins with some backup dog toys, a vacuum, and there's furnace filters behind the hot water heater.  bedroom closet. shirts that need to be hung up, some pants (the rest of my clothes are in a three drawer dresser), hamper, a small box with cables and such that I actually use, humidifier for the winter, printer, a file for important legal or financial documents, one box of personal/family stuff, a bag with scrabble stuff (I play tournaments, I had two other boards, more racks, and tiles, and I gave them to another player! they were just gathering dust)  not a closet obviously, but I use this for living room storage. It only has my ps4 and accessories, some jigsaw puzzles, a few books (I sold or donated most of my books), and of course the bob ross board game)  I keep the floor itself as clean as possible, as well as countertops and any other visible surfaces  coat closet - several jackets/coats as I live in MN so it gets cold as hell. shoes, some paint, box of KN95s (lol), hat, gloves, umbrella, and bike stuff up top, a few bags on the ground, and a few cleaning things like a floor mop and broom. and greyhound stuff of course!  last is the bathroom storage, some cleaning towels on the bottom (very helpful when you have a dog), one container of things like otc meds, and mainly extras of stuff I use for when it runs out (toothpaste, floss, body wash, shampoo, etc.). extra hand towels at the top. In the upper part are some cleaning supplies.  So the idea is to keep all the "chaos" inside after decluttering. I don't even need half the closet space I have, and this place is only 900 SF. I do think having some things out on countertops and such is fine, if it's something that you need to deal with in the immediate future, as it serves as a reminder.
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Oct 7, 2021 04:22
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We just moved to an apartment that's 1/3 smaller than our previous apartment, and we added one adult and one infant to the family mix. I was too sick with babby to do any purging before the move, so when the movers and boxes arrived six months later it was quite unpleasant. Our biggest task right now is getting good storage solutions set up in the new place - we'll install shelving over toilets and in low-traffic corners, get some storage cabinets/shelves with totes for our older kid's toys, then take the plunge and start culling. I'm so not excited.
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Nov 2, 2021 15:37
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