DeCluttering and Organizing the HOME

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Kay Cee:
What he’s got is an addiction. No amount of pleading seems to do any good. I almost didn’t marry him on account of it and only did because we made a pre-marital agreement that he would keep everything in one room–a promise he has broken over and over again. But what can I do to make him keep his promise?
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Is it possible that each time you find something out of its designated room to put it in that room? If he asks why you’re doing this, you could tell him that it’s part of the “agreement”. However you decide to handle this, good luck and God bless.
 
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auppie:
Is it possible that each time you find something out of its designated room to put it in that room? If he asks why you’re doing this, you could tell him that it’s part of the “agreement”. However you decide to handle this, good luck and God bless.
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Oh, how I wish I could do that!

Trouble is, there’s no more room in the “designated room,” that is, the storage shed. That’s why records and CDs are in the kitchen, the livingroom, the bedroom.

We would have purchased a larger storage shed, but we would have needed a permit for that, and the cost would have been prohibitive. I would like another storage shed (apparently we can put up as many small ones as we like), but at $3,000 a shed we just can’t afford another one right now.

But you’ve given me an idea. What if we put our ebay money in a special fund to save up for another storage shed?

Maybe I’ll suggest that to my husband when he gets home. Can you guess where he is now? That’s right–he’s out at garage sales buying more.
 
Kay Cee:
I’ve told him. I’ve told him and told him–for all the good it does.

Our house sits on a cement slab, so this hasn’t been a problem. The floor in the storage shed, however, slopes toward the middle.

We’ve been selling on ebay for years. We have items up for bid right now. I would insist on him putting more up today, but he is going to sell at the swap meet tomorrow and will spend the day getting ready (going through stuff in the garage, pricing it, loading the car). He usually makes a couple hundred dollars each time he sells at the swap meet. We have made thousands on ebay. The problem is he brings in more than we get rid of, and it piles up.

What he’s got is an addiction. No amount of pleading seems to do any good. I almost didn’t marry him on account of it and only did because we made a pre-marital agreement that he would keep everything in one room–a promise he has broken over and over again. But what can I do to make him keep his promise?
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A lot of people like to collect stuff or hold onto things that maybe they don’t really need; however, it can be a real problem if the accumulation is so much that you can’t easily move about your house, can’t have friends over due to the clutter, or if it is severely affecting the happiness and well being of one’s family. Hording can actually be a serious psychological condition that requires counseling. If you look at it spiritually, it can be a real problem too if you are becoming so attached to the things of this world that you are isolating yourself amongst your posessions and alienating loved ones. I hope it isn’t this bad over at your house, but if it is, you are probably going to need to get some outside help.
 
Kay Cee:
What he’s got is an addiction. No amount of pleading seems to do any good. I almost didn’t marry him on account of it and only did because we made a pre-marital agreement that he would keep everything in one room–a promise he has broken over and over again. But what can I do to make him keep his promise?
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This sounds like more than “Honey, you need to tidy up your stuff.” Sometimes I’ve had to sit down and really define why something is bothering me. After I decide that I goto him at a calm time and talk to him, telling him exact reasons why things are bothering me. I limit myself to the topic at hand (don’t complain that he leaves hair in the sink) and avoid saying “you never/always.” Men sometimes tune out the daily ramblings of their wives—at least mine does. He is an engineer and it has tkaen me about 15 years to figure this all out.

Good luck and God bless you. Pray for your husband and pray for strength in you rmarriage. Things are so much better when you can work to resolve these types of things. You will GROW in your love for one another!
 
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JGheen:
I’m an organizational freak and my husband is a neat freak and we don’t have children, so our house is almost always guest ready. We both work full time but we manage our 2800 square foot home without a maid. Here’s a couple things we do:
  • Review all our clothes every six months and donate anything that no longer fits or looks good to charity. We don’t save things for a rainy day! Anything that hasn’t been worn in a year gets donated.
  • Review boxes stored in the attic and basement about once a year. It is helpful to remember what we have and to weed out undesirable items. We each have a box or two of memorabilia, but otherwise we donate everything we haven’t used within a couple years.
  • We have storage shelves in our basement for giveaway items. Whenever we encounter something in daily life that we don’t need, we stick it there. We drop stuff off at St. Vincent DePaul about once every 3 or 4 months.
  • When our younger siblings got their first apartments/houses, we let them “shop” in our house and basically take whatever they wanted. In most cases, we didn’t even need to replace what they took because we had more then we really needed already.
  • We “straighten up” after each actively, so the home is always in order. My husband will not go to sleep at night until the house is in order – this includes emptying the sink of dishes. When your house is always in order though, it only takes a few minutes to tidy it.
  • We entertain about once a month and we will spend several days before each event cleaning the entire house ceiling to floor (dusting, glass cleaning, vacuuming, swiffering wood floors, moving furniture, ect …). The anticipation of guests motivates us to clean everything two or three times over, so it is spotless.
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Thanks for the tips they are great ideas and have motivated me to dejunk today. This is a perpetual project in my house.
 
Okay. I talked to my husband, and he has agreed to take a week off to work on the problem. Frankly, I think it would take more than a week (more like 6 months), but it’s a start and might make a dent in things.

Right now he’s out in the garage working on getting ready to sell at the swap meet tomorrow. That’s something, at least.

I agree that he’s obssessed. And I think I know where it started. When he was a kid, he had a collection of baseball trading cards, and a friend asked to borrow them for a day. He promised to return them the very next day. But when my husband went to the friend’s house the next day, the family had moved. Those cards would be worth a fortune today, and my husband’s never quite gotten over it. It could explain his reluctance to let go of things.
 
I number the boxes I have stored in my basement.

I keep a list on my computer of the box number and its contents. That way, when I need something or just want to show someone a piece of memorabilia, I can easily find out what box it’s in and go right to it. I used to tack the list on the box itself, but this is easier.

It also doubles as an inventory of at least some of your household contents for insurance purposes if you should ever have a loss (fire, etc.) (I keep a copy in my safety deposit box).
 
Well worked on the issue again this weekend. Have a garbagebag of clothes to be dropped at the juevenile diabetes box.
Also will try and fill up my 3 garbage bag limit on Garbage day. We normally only put one bag of garbage and whatever is in the grey box and blue box (recycling) my plan is to use up our 3 bags every week from now on. May be that will help eliminate clutter.
For this week ( garbage day Wednesday ) I already have 2 bags ready for the curb. Will have to work on filling another bag 🙂

Also started some spring cleaning over the weekend - washed curtains, cleaned the kitchen freezer, sorted a tiny bit of DH’s side of the walkin closet (cleaning the whole thing will need months)

Well small steps towards getting rid of the junk 😃
 
we moved into our new home a year ago and I’m still trying to get things straightened out. A friend of mine turned me onto this site that is all about decluttering with daily email reminders and inspirations. I enjoyed it for awhile and got some good tips.

FlyLady.net
 
Well I slipped and got side tracked, have to continue with my mission to throw out and DECLUTTER.
 
My roommate moved out 2 weeks ago and I went on a cleaning fit. Everything is organized and clean, dusted, everything. Everyone who comes over has commented on how clean the place is, even the Super told me it looked great when he came to test the smoke alarm…weird what a little cleaning can do…lol.
 
Hey, I always thought I was a pretty in control housekeeper. Thanks for the tip on FlyLady. I’m in love with flying and my house has never looked so good. I’m recommending this tip to all homeschool moms I’m in touch with, because FlyLadies philosphies fit perfectly with the homeschool frame of mind… or at least it does with mine!

Thanks again, Bruised Reed, for the tip! 😃
 
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Gwyn:
Well I slipped and got side tracked, have to continue with my mission to throw out and DECLUTTER.
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Hi Gwyn!! 👋

It’s easy to get side tracked - I know all about that. My weeks are full and I look forward to weekend projects, but then there always seems to be another obligation that sabotages my weekend plans to tackle the spare room or the basement, etc,

For instance, this weekend was supposed to be a huge get orgainzed/cleaning weekend. I was all set for it.

But then, :eek: the evil basketball coast signed DS’s team up for a weekend long tournament - one game Friday, 2 games today, two tomorrow and on to Monday night - at a location an hour away from our house. :banghead:

I am hoping next weekend will be free - so far it looks that way. The next weekend, Mar 11/12, we have another out of town swim meet… :whacky:

sigh
 
I LOVE this thread!!! I have been decluttering for weeks!!! I started 6 months ago, gave it up, came back, and now I’m like a cleaning MACHINE!!! It feels so good. I have a few more drawers to go through in the front room, and then I’m attacking the pictures—you know, the photos all stuffed in shoeboxes:eek:
 
So how is all the Decluttering going?

Mine is going very, very s-l-o-w-l-y… 😦
 
I finally got all the paperwork from 2005 filed, now I just need energy to start on the taxes. trouble is revolving houseguests so I have to keep cramming stuff and keep the spare room clear, no place to work, so stuff gets tossed in my office. I am typing here among mounds of STUFF.
 
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puzzleannie:
I finally got all the paperwork from 2005 filed, now I just need energy to start on the taxes. trouble is revolving houseguests so I have to keep cramming stuff and keep the spare room clear, no place to work, so stuff gets tossed in my office. I am typing here among mounds of STUFF.
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Part of my clutter problem is that my office is also my guest room. That means a lot of hurried shuffling and tossing stuff in the closet when a guest comes with little notice. Hope to finish our basement soon - that will help…
 
Got a lot done over the past couple of days. I have a great sense of accomplishment right now!

Started in the master bedroom and bath - scoured the bath and then moved all furniture in the bedroom away from the walls and vacuumed and mopped under them.

Some of those dust bunnies were big enough to be named :rolleyes:

Then on to the guest room/office - cleaned out the closet and re-organized a bunch of paperwork. Almost burned up the shredder!!

My next task is to get all the family photos out on the table to be organized (now all in boxes). Also paint guest room and bath.

Come on now - who else is in the spring cleaning mood?
 
Amazing seeing my old posts…

we moved 5 years ago, I still have boxes around …

still lots of decluttering and organizing to do:(
 
JGheen said:
I’m an organizational freak and my husband is a neat freak and we don’t have children, so our house is almost always guest ready. We both work full time but we manage our 2800 square foot home without a maid. Here’s a couple things we do:
  • Review all our clothes every six months and donate anything that no longer fits or looks good to charity. We don’t save things for a rainy day! Anything that hasn’t been worn in a year gets donated.
  • Review boxes stored in the attic and basement about once a year. It is helpful to remember what we have and to weed out undesirable items. We each have a box or two of memorabilia, but otherwise we donate everything we haven’t used within a couple years.
  • We have storage shelves in our basement for giveaway items. Whenever we encounter something in daily life that we don’t need, we stick it there. We drop stuff off at St. Vincent DePaul about once every 3 or 4 months.
  • When our younger siblings got their first apartments/houses, we let them “shop” in our house and basically take whatever they wanted. In most cases, we didn’t even need to replace what they took because we had more then we really needed already.
  • We “straighten up” after each actively, so the home is always in order. My husband will not go to sleep at night until the house is in order – this includes emptying the sink of dishes. When your house is always in order though, it only takes a few minutes to tidy it.
  • We entertain about once a month and we will spend several days before each event cleaning the entire house ceiling to floor (dusting, glass cleaning, vacuuming, swiffering wood floors, moving furniture, ect …). The anticipation of guests motivates us to clean everything two or three times over, so it is spotless.
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👍 🙂
 
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