May Clutter Control, 2015

[Harmony]

I am determined to follow the one-in-one-out rule. Today received from FedEx a beautiful pink vase of pink tulips and blue iris and after I had them all arranged I stood there looking at my vases, trying to decide which one I would donate. Sigh. This one is hard. The new pink one is a little bigger than the others... but it's definitely a keeper.

I have reached the place where all the easy decisions are made and I'm just about into maintenance...well I wouldn't be, but I'm at the place where anything else leaving the house might aggravate DH...so, even though things aren't exactly how I want them, I'm just sorta stuck now. I really feel for those people who live with true hoarders...and don't want things like that. It must be very hard for them.

Now I wouldn't call DH a hoarder, he just has too much stuff. There is a difference. We had a conversation last week about the 2 "storage" spots on the outside of our house... where his "useful" stuff is that's too big for inside the shop. He agrees 1 mower should go...even though the motor is still good...I've offered to help him put it in our trailer and haul it to landfill... and I'm trying to talk some sense into him about the other big piece of equipment there that I believe he'll never use again...and he's inching toward agreement. His resistance is "it's the end of an era". Exactly what he said. Sigh...y'all keep a good thought about this problem around here.

[ellyphant]

That's a cute story, HARRIET! This snake didn't do anything wrong either. I just didn't want it hanging around scaring me all summer.

It's so nice to read of everyone's decluttering efforts. Keep up the good work!

[Harmony]

I worked in the kitchen today. 7 drawers decluttered. A bunch of plastic stuff to recycle, a couple kitchen utensils to donate bin (who can use a hand potato masher that doesn't mash, just clogs up the holes) and a couple aprons I had duplicates of (not the ones I made or the Grandma's kitchen one). Now the drawers are neat and I can get into them more easily. Lots of plain junk tossed.

I also decluttered my vitamin/medicine drawer. We have 2 drawers, one for DH's supplements, 1 for mine...most of the stuff is different and the drawers are small. All in one space, like Harriet said. Ours have magnetic locks on them and won't open unless we use the small magnet against the outside. We don't keep them locked unless there are little ones in the house.

[Harriet]

Harmony, yes throw out the ones that only have tiny holes that clog! I tried to keep one for years for some UNKNOWN reason and all it did was also clog up drawer space. This is the old-fashioned, and best design, I believe.

[BookSaver]

While I was waiting for the cable guy yesterday, I did some tidying in the shed and picked up a bunch of trash that had blown into our front and side yard. Ended up with a very large bag of trash for the bin.

I pulled some fallen branches around to the back yard. We can cut them up once we find where DH left the saw.

Then after the guy left, I started a fire in the back yard chiminea and burned large bag full of personal papers, plus a cardboard box to make sure there was enough flame to burn everything. I stayed out watching and stirring the fire until it was done. That was kind of fun.

Filled the recycle bin before taking it to the curb tonight.

[Nancy]

One load delivered & one box of books left this week.

[ellyphant]

I attacked my piles of paper this week. Many statements filed, others shredded. Still need to spend another hour or so and the office (guest room) will be under control. I've been just walking by and admiring the change in there for a few days! Don't know why I had such a mental block about filing things as they came in...

[Nancy]

Two bags of groc. Bags left today for recycling.

[Nancy]

Dropped off a bag of donations yesterday.

[ellyphant]

One throw rug gone. The rubber backing was starting to disintegrate.