Start with a Plan January, 2011

[Lynlee]

My`plan`is`to`declutter`daily...At`least`some...otd,away`if`useful.
dd`talked`/suggested`I`prepare`to`sell`up`and`find`something`smaller,more`managable.
thats`a`huge`project`on`its`own.
I'm`attempting`Kelly's`missions..a`mix`of`cleaning`&`decluttering.
When`I`first`started`FL`a`lot`got`done`that`way.

[Nancy]

Yesterday I noticed the neighbor guy was up on a ladder taking lights off of his house and she was inside taking their tree down. So that motivated me to get our decorations down.
I have them rounded up to the storage room.
{This was good and counted for my exercise too.}

Next up
I will take a bit of time and put away the decorations. x

[Harmony]

Yikes! The garbage tonight was so full I pounced on the top to get everything down enough for the lid to sit down; not quite there but I think enough that we won't get the dreaded notice from the company. Also the recycle bin tonight was so heavy I sat it down to see what on earth was making it so heavy...3 big thick phone books at the bottom for starters. I had to take some things out, take the bin outside, then come back for other stuff to reload it. Yay for Monday morning pickup when all this stuff is g-o-n-e gone!

[blessedw2]

Motivation! love it!

I went through my recipies again as I bought a new cook book from america's test kitchen and I had some of the recipies from cooks country that matchend. yeah more gone.

[Indiana]

I did some decluttering on Sunday with dnephew#3. We worked in the basement. We finished decluttering all the holdiay things (halloween, easter, valentines day, and christmas). I kept what would work in my new home, some was thrown out and the rest when in dniece#1's section of the basement to go through. I had a plastic grocery bag to throw out.

We also went through the legos and took them out of my dh's air force footlocker and put them into the big opcorn tins. I still have a tote bag for the kids to play with here. Their legos went in dniece#1's section of the basement.

[Indiana]

This is stretching it but I decluttered Christmas cookies too. I had a dozen of the cherry bars and sent them home with dnephew#3. He said they all love them especially his "adopted dad".

[bittersweet]

Decluttering is decluttering, Indiana!

[Indiana]

I know not everyone is getting Peter Walsh's new show. I watched 3 of his shows so far and I took notes for those that can't see him.

Here are the notes for his first 2 shows. I watch it and then go back and take notes.

He has such good ideas and puts things into perspective. I just couldn't watch the hoarder show anymore it was too emotional for me. When you first see the rooms Walsh is working in you think hoarder until you look and you see it is major clutter.

Walsh starts out by saying clutter is destructive.

The women whose homes he worked on feel over whelmed by the clutter yet decluttering is also overwhelming. It is just too much to handle. The clutter has gotten out of hand. They don’t know what to keep or get rid of so they will do it later.

Walking into a cluttered room is depressing. [Opening a cluttered drawer, closet drawer, etc. is also depressing.] An uncluttered room, etc. is freeing.

Walsh said get to it later is a mind set of people with clutter. Clutter is anything that stands between you and the life you want to be living – physical, emotional and mental.

There are two types of clutter. Memory clutter that reminds you of a person or event and the second one is I might need that someday. Memory clutter holds you to the past and I might need clutter holds you in the future. Clutter robs you of enjoying the present. When everything is important then nothing is important.

There are three major steps to organizing a room.
1. Empty the room into organized piles of like things.
2. Have a vision of the way you want the space to be.
3. Sort into 2 piles – the vision pile to create the mood of the room and an out the door pile.

[bittersweet]

I watched an episode of the Hoarders last night. Yes, it's a very emotional show ...and this episode was particularly emotional for me, because both of the people involved were animal hoarders, but with very different perspectives on dealing with the issue. The man had started out with the intention of breeding pet rats for sale, but it had TOTALLY gotten out of hand!! They had all gotten loose, and by the time the situation was dealt with, he had over two thousand rats in the house!!!!!!! He couldn't live in there anymore - they had literally destroyed the furniture, the walls...everything! Although he loved the rats, and was using them as a way to avoid dealing with the sudden death of his wife several years ago, he realized that the kindest thing to do was to get them all caught. The Humane Society and a local rat rescue group came to help, and so far, over 500 have been rehabilitated, socialized, and sent to new adoptive homes.

The woman, on the other hand, had 43 cats in her house!! She admitted that she couldn't get more than two hours of sleep at a time in the small area that was still available to her (the entire house was dreadfully hoarded, too). The house is owned by her father, who has threatened to evict her if she doesn't deal with the situation. She refused, though...wouldn't work with the doctor or the team of cleaners that came, blamed everything on everyone else - NOTHING was her fault, and in her view, all would be fine if people would just leave her alone! In the end, she kicked them all out, and she's still there, living in her mess.

Peter Walsh has a great view of how to deal with clutter, which is mainly what I have here. Throwing out the broken stuff, the empty boxes, etc...I have no problem with that. It's all the crafting stuff everywhere, the books, the Christmas stuff, the "I'm going to do...... with that one day" stuff. That's where my problem is. But he's totally right...the clutter is overwhelming, dealing with the clutter is overwhelming, and making plans, lists, and whatever all else to deal with the clutter only ever ends up being just another way to procrastinate and not deal with it.

OK...I didn't quite intend to write a novel here.. LOL

[Harriet]

Wow, I am so appreciating the notes on programs here. Thanks.

bittersweet, although that particular kind of hoarding show seems far-fetched and probably wouldn't be what any of us would ever deal with, I think it has its place. It's good as a society to be aware that situations can get this far out of hand, that there are ways to deal with it, that someone is out there right now properly correcting it, that it's not just hopeless. Also, the info that comes through about the specific types of health dangers is important info for all of us. Too often we breeze through life ignorant about bacteria, etc.

Indiana, a lot of your notes from Walsh ring true to me. Ultimately, when you really need to deal with an area of clutter, there is no substitute for clearing the area and (literally) finding the space at first. Then the area can be properly cleaned (which helps with the feeling of control), and you're empowered to choose what goes back there.

I don't know what Walsh would say about some of my completely logical explanations for what certainly looks like clutter. Sometimes I will say to HRH, for instance, "don't touch that stack, now, I know exactly what's in that stack and I'm getting to it. I think I am being truthful but also I am in denial sometimes about being overwhelmed. Also, I think it is telling about me that without even seeing bittersweet's crafting items I already disagree with her and don't think they are clutter. With me, creative items always get a reprieve!

I have continued to organize generally between the master bedroom and master closet. Shoes, holiday (all) decor, linens, boxes/wrapping/bows. The Goodwill bag has grown.

Trash Day - We will not have pick up this week, I'm sure. We are completely iced in - the whole area is.