August 2022, Decluttering by Design, memory edition

[Harmony]

7 items of clothing out into the garbage bin.

13 items in the donate bin. 4 items to try on and decisions made.

This was the bin of someday, too small for right now, clothes.

[Nancy]

Dug out a walnut tree in the front yard that the squirrels planted.

[Harmony]

We have baby oaks all over the place thanks to the squirrels and their acorns. They can't be pulled out, they're really tough. Shovel and dig is the way I do it but DH just cuts them off with the grass.

I must get my donation bin delivered soon. I put a few more things in there this morning and I did some work in the kitchen. Excess glassware is ready to give up. That left me enough spaces to move things around. I am trying for more donate and less shuffling, not always successful with that.

[blessedw2]

d harmony we have the same thing with maples. I cut them off as well.
good for you on what you are ready to let go of!!!!
yay on tossing things you don't need!
I too love minimal mom! She is the reason I am working towards an easy to use house! She is so cheerful. I belong to the minimal mom group that is $11 a month - for me it helps.
I also like Dana k. White on u tube as well.

yay on digging out the walnut d Nancy!
yay on donations

[Harmony]

Blessed, M Mom speaks to me in a way no other person ever has. I've taken out books in the library on minimalism and seen things mostly on design shows about this, but she actually shows what it's like to live it. That's what I like. Her family seems so happy, don't they? In pictures, things look so stark and cold. Her house does not. It's very different. I love to watch her and her husband together, too, they seem very happy together. I watched the video today where she talks about him getting on board and what to do when your spouse doesn't want to do this. It took him 5 years to get on board. I found that one very helpful.

Some of her things, the way she is set up, would not work for us. I need a little wastebasket at every place things get dropped or pile up. I don't see any in her house. No kleenex boxes either, no hand soap at the sink. So like she says, "you do you"... and so I do. I have probably twice the space she does but for just the 2 of us to have all my spaces filled up is just nuts. I need more dishes because I sometimes load the dishwasher till it's full to run, and that takes several days at least. That wouldn't work with what she keeps. Evidently her kids wash their dishes and help put away. Here, it's just me doing it.

Anyway, I have many nuggets of wisdom I took away. I am watching and watching her stuff because I have years to catch up. It's just what I need right now to get unstuck.

This afternoon I went through the master closet; sorted wrapping paper and bubble wrap, paper, ribbons, padded envelopes...the kitchen tall garbage can is now full to the top and it was half way when I started. Other shelves with odds and ends are sorted, several more things to the donate box. Nothing I will ever miss. I've been at it for about 3 hours and now I'm bushed!

Editing: so I'm still watching her and watched last year's shows around Christmas. Didn't find that real helpful but I did see her beautiful full-size Christmas tree all decorated and lit. So cheery and pretty and homey. See, this is what I said about liking her house. It's still warm and inviting. I saw in a decorating book for minimalists where their Christmas decoration was an evergreen branch (a really small one) in a vase. No decorations, that was it! That version is ridiculous. Hers is doable.

Ok I'm back. Today I dropped off that big full bin of stuff. Since I reuse the bin I have to stand there while they sort everything into their big containers. Can't say how good it felt to let that all go. I have a few things in the wash today and I will donate those next time, they were a little dingy and they turned out bright again.

[Harmony]

I must be the only one getting rid of stuff!

Cleaned out the hope chest. The stuff in there has been on my mind for years even though I've moved it from one place to another. Things for a baby...I don't have a baby and I kept thinking oh they'll be grandkids...well how many years for that to happen? So in the donation bin are the 2 baby comforters I kept and changing pads I'd made. Only thing I kept is one hand crocheted afghan for a baby. That's all I'd ever need anyway unless someone brings triplets here in which case I'd be glad to pick up a couple more!

Closet in that room has a bunch of if only and maybe someday clothes and I put 3 tops and a pair of capris in the bin. Last evening I put 3 clear plastic wall file pockets. Had thought they were neat to have somewhere if we moved...but do I want that stuff on the walls any more? NO so it is going too.

Why did I keep some of this stuff? For a different life, for a different me. Doesn't work and I'm tired of storing it.

[Nancy]

I have decluttered one smaller drawer in the dresser next to my soxs. Yea!
Decluttered door handle parts.

[Harmony]

Good job Nancy!

I worked on the master bedroom closet today. We have 2 in there, one is DH's the other is mine. I have other odds and ends in there, the sweeper, the upholstery cleaner, all my fabric stuff, the air mattresses, all the Christmas things, all the wrapping and sending things. So it looks full even without the clothes. My clothes are in the pink bedroom closet except I keep dresses, Christmas tops, and winter things I only wear now and then for a couple months in that closet.

I put in the donation bin everything I haven't worn in years, waiting till I was another size, skirts, tops, dresses, slacks I really didn't like all that much.

A couple things to the garbage. A bag of stuff that yellowed from DH's closet to the garbage. I'm drying a few things I washed and bleached, then they will be donated. The bin is over full, over the top.

I checked the dresser. My stuff I'm currently wearing is in the pink room in a very small drawer unit and that closet. It's all I need. So I got rid of a few things in the dresser.

I have never experienced decision fatigue. But I did today. Looking in the sock drawer my brain said to me, that's enough decisions. So I will tackle that another day.

I have made up my mind never to buy stuff that I could maybe wear someday or if I sewed this or that it would work...no, that never happens and I get stuck with stuff. No More.