Today’s post is from our regular Wednesday contributor, Cat.
Way back in 2011, I made it my New Year’s Resolution to get rid of 2,011 things.
It helped that I had to downsize a three bedroom town home when we decided to move to Grenada, but it definitely wasn’t easy.
After many months of planning, a big garage sale, and a 42 (yes I counted) trash bags, I reached my goal of getting rid of over 2,000 items.
Now that I’m back in the States after living three years abroad, I’m faced with a similar problem.
All those items I thought were so precious to put in storage don’t really seem that interesting anymore.
We have to move again in May, and we don’t want to bring boxes of unnecessary items. It’s definitely time to get into decluttering mode again, and I’m going to use the same tricks as last time:
1. Go One Section at a Time
When you think about your entire house and everything you’d love to organize, it can be really overwhelming.
So, instead of fretting about how much there is to do, you should take it one space at a time. You can start really tiny, like the junk drawer in the kitchen and build up your momentum until you are ready to tackle the garage or the attic. My advice is to make a list or a spreadsheet of every single area you want to declutter. Take it one day at a time and mark off things as you go so you feel accomplished.
2. Involve a Friend
I had a lot of gifts in my nursery. There was paper and boxes and tiny socks and everything everywhere. I kept telling myself I was going to get in there and organize it, but even with the countdown ticking, I couldn’t get motivated to do it this past week. So, when my mom had a half day at work, she came over and started helping me.
We spent 4 hours in there and got the entire room organized. It felt so good to get it done! All I needed was someone to cheer me on, help me make decisions, and encourage me for a little bit. So, whether it’s your spouse or your best friend or your sister, ask someone to help you declutter and then return the favor to them at a later time.
3. Ask Yourself If You Really Need It
There are probably plenty of things you want in your stuff. There are things you’ve probably long forgotten about, but inevitably you’ll find them and decide that you want them again.
If you struggle with an item or don’t know what to do about it, just ask yourself if you really need it. Ask yourself what it contributes to your life. If it’s a sentimental item from a family member, try to decide what they would have wanted. Would they have wanted you to keep it forever and pass it down to their kids or do you think they’d rather it go to someone else who needs it more? These are the types of questions that can get you through the tough parts of decluttering and help you succeed!
I wish everyone the best of luck on their mission, and I hope you can get rid of thousands of items too!
Do you have an area of your house that you’d like to organize? Spill it.
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I think my closets could use a little TLC!! I actually enjoy organizing and having a clean organized space- but like you mentioned above, it can be hard to get started sometimes.
I really do too. It’s so nice when it’s done!
What on earth is all of that stuff, Cat??!!?!?!?
Lol we had so much stuff from college even high school that we carted around with us. Plus I used to go to garage sales a lot! I got rid of it all for reals!!
We just got rid of a lot of stuff when we rented a storage unit. We needed to declutter and our house does not look the same.
Ah it’s so nice right?!
Our garage looks like something exploded in it – a crap bomb! I’m determined to get rid of a bunch of it this year – I just ask my wife when cleaning stuff out because she just wants everything thrown away. ;)
Yes I need someone like that over here! I get sentimental!
Our basement is fast becoming the dumping ground for all things storage. It’s definitely a summer project/cleaning in the making.
Woo hoo! Good luck!
I try to keep on top of not accumulating too much stuff but lately, like Brian @ Luke1428, the basement is gathering a little too much stuff! Time to fire up the old eBay account again :-)
Oh yeah I made a good bit of money selling stuff!
2,011 items to get rid of in 2011? That’s a novel way to approach purging accumulated and unneeded items. That seems like a really large amount of stuff though…my initial reaction is that there’s no way I have 2,011 items to get rid of – but, I’ll bet I actually do! We are fast running out of storage space at our place, so I think we need to put a similar plan of action in place sometime soon.
Yes it’s true. When you count doubles of pictures and broken tools and books and candles and old folders you’d be surprised at how quickly you get to 2k!
We definitely have to declutter since we live in a 1 bedroom apartment and the baby stuff is taking up a lot of room. My wife was a lot better in getting rid of stuff when she used to move often, but now that we’ve been living in the same place for awhile, things have definitely started to accumulate.
Yes the baby stuff is impressive for sure!!
When I bought my house I did a lot purging. My old apartment was getting so cluttered. Once we moved into the house I was really motivated to get organized and we built shelving units to keep it that way. It’s good to try to stay on top of the decluttering as things can get out of hand.
Yeah I think it needs to be apre regular thing around here.
Whoa, 2011 things? That’s awesome. We’ve fallen off the wagon with our 30 things every 30 days goal. Alas…but maybe we can start again.
That is an excellent idea!
I don’t mind having a lot of “extra” stuff, but if you have so much stuff that you can’t fit it all and can’t organize it you need to purge some. I think it totally makes sense why you would downsize and get rid of a bunch of stuff before moving to Grenada. It would feel so strange to get rid of that much stuff! We have been getting rid of a lot of stuff and with our house the challenge is how to best organize what we do have left.
DC @ Young Adult Money Yeah I have this dream of a house where every single drawer and closet are organized. :D
We had a period of about 7 years where we seemed to move almost every year or two, and it was amazing to see that every time we moved, we were able to give away, sell or throw out numerous items. It was a great process for keeping our lives “de-cluttered” so that now that we are in our permanent home, we calendar a “move weekend” once a year where we go through our home as if we are about to move and get rid of numerous items.
blonde_finance that’s a great way to look at it. A “move weekend” – I like that. :)
My mom is the best decluttering partner, too. She had a lot of fun getting rid of trivial things when her and my dad moved. She can’t stand messes, so that helps. When we next move, I’m planning on discarding everything I haven’t touched since living in our apartment. It’s been about a year so I think it’s been enough time!
JourneytoSaving My Mom is exactly the same way!!
Ugifter JourneytoSavingThat helps so much!
Asking a friend is a great one! My Mom does that ALL the time for her friends, she’s a declutterer extrodinaire. I would totally be down with sorting out nursery stuff! It’s also easier if someone else is helping you, because they don’t have the emotional attachment to stuff, so they can tell you that your highschool alarm clock is really truly broken and should be recycled.
Ugifter Exactly. She really enjoyed hanging up the tiny clothes and organizing the diapers and all of that. She’s ready for the little beans!
I have a guest room/study/room where everything lives that I am unsure of where to put it. We moved into our apartment a year ago and I still haven’t set up the second room as a viable work/live space. It is supposed to be a study that doubles as a guest room when we have people staying with us, but mostly it’s been a collection of boxes I never unpacked and miscellaneous items that we needed to move out of the way and didn’t know where to put them. I have it on my to do list to tackle the room (really, its on the list, right next to take pictures of our stuff for our renter’s insurance) but it’s hard to get motivated when there’s no deadline. Luckily, we have family coming into town in about 2 months and that’s more than enough time to tackle this project. Like you said, I just have to divide it up into areas and deal with one part at a time.
Alice @ Earning My Two Cents I had a similar office situation. I’m embarrassed to say it sat that way for a long time until I moved out and finally HAD to deal with it!
Wow! I admire that you were able to get rid of that many things! I set a goal to get rid of 365 things this year and for every actual new procession I get, I have to get rid of an extra things. I’ve been getting rid of most of my things through selling online and resale stores. I’ve cleared 75 things so far and hope to see more things gone when I do my annual spring decluttering.
Yokihana That’s awesome!!!
I’m all about getting rid of stuff (lots of stuff), I just need to find a way to get Eric on board. He’s so sentimental (which I love about it) I just wish he could be sentimental without wanting to keep “stuff”.
StudentDebtSurvivor Aw it’s so hard. I think organizing and decluttering is one of hubs least favorite things lol
One section at a time is key! When we were moving a couple of years ago, I would start in one area of the house, and move to another before I was completely done… big mistake. I ended up with a bunch of messes and didn’t get rid of as much as I should have. But having a minimalist wife helps things, as I’m a recovering packrat.
I want to fly out and help you declutter! I’m such a weirdo, but purging unnecessary belongings is so much fun to me. We recently went through our clothing (we do so quarterly) and sold a few items. The rest are getting donated.
Other than that, I recently went through all my paperwork and purged unnecessary papers. I love getting rid of stuff so I don’t need any motivation :)
We are having a yard sale in May or June. If it isn’t nailed down, it’s fair game. Our closet is too full, and we somehow seem to have too much stuff, even though I feel like we sold everything a couple of years ago. It’s funny how it seems to regenerate over time.
I’m trying to do the 333 wardrobe challenge. I’m not yet down to 33 items a quarter, but I do only keep the clothes that I actually need for the season and at the end of 3 months everything I didn’t wear gets donated. I’m hoping I can slowly pare down my wardrobe. Now to tackle the rest of my stuff…
It always feels so good to get rid of stuff. I have a small place already, so I don’t necessarily do one big purge, but when time permits I like to tackle a small section of the apartment and see what I can sell or donate.
Oh I hate “stuff” it takes up space and it looks messy. Good for you Cat. With those two babies on the way you will need the extra space!
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