Just stuff...

Did you ever have a chore you really know you should be doing but it has become so daunting and overwhelming that you just can't get up the gumption to start to it?

Well I happen to have not one but two of those chores!

First one, paperwork. I save everything, I don't know why but I do. I have phone bills in a file for every month from five years ago! It has become so bad I have a hard time looking at my desk let alone opening one of the many drawers that have piles of paperwork. In order to do this task I must go through every single thing because somewhere along the lines I quit caring where I put the stuff, just put it somewhere so not all of it is in order.

My second agonizing chore (just thinking about it is tormenting) is as I do save everything I have a ton of stuff. My son recently came home and said "Mom too much stuff in the house, where you do want this to go?" I said as I usually do, oh just put it in the garage. Well folks the garage is stuffed! Furniture, weights, bins of clothes, animal stuff, fishing stuff, camping stuff, tools, the first computer I built myself from, oh lets see now, 12 or 13 years old that I couldn't part with. I finally relented, gave him some wiggle room to start to make room in the garage, I told him the boundaries of what he can throw away, I just didn't want to know about it. He chuckled and made some room in the garage (I just know my precious computer is now gone) I am now at a stand still. I have a whole back room that needs to be done for my reptiles but I have no clue where to put the stuff. My kitchen is filled, hell everything is filled and I have precious little room in the garage that my son managed to make. We are not talking about a small garage but a very oversized two car garage, I bet I could get four normal sized cars in there, oh and did I mention a storage shed? I have nine, yep count em NINE barrels of clothes! That doesnt even include the summer/winter clothes bins that are stored every season. Oh and the books and dvd's, how did I get to this point?
I simply thought one day it would be nice to clear out things I no longer use and from that simple thought came a crap load of stuf EVERYWHERE!

I am thinking garage sale, but man where to start, how to get motivated for this task, I have no clue, it has become this obsession to do but is so overwhelming that I want to shut it out at the same time. It is my things it is security that has turned into a a huge blanket that is sufficating.
Ug, done with my rant, I feel better but still have no clue on even where to start.

Garage sale = extra money extra money= that cute little beardie or snale you've had your eye on but "just don't have the money for". Don't be surprized at how much stuff really isn't needed, wanted, or used anymore when you have your eye on the prize. Make a deal with the son that 1/3 to 1/2 of the money made CAN be his IF he helps. The more he helps= the more you both make. Just remember- if you have something priced at $5 and get offered 2- take it, thats 2 bucks in your pocket and 1 less item you have to move again.
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Doug Martin
D and D Dragons

Originally Posted by Stardust

a crap load of stuf EVERYWHERE!

I am not a pack rat, I try to go through stuff regularly and dispose of stuff I don't use. I recently went through the closet, reorganized everything, bought decorative baskets to store shoes in.

My block (the same group has lived here on the block for 20 years) has a garage sale and block barbecue at least once a year and that helps.

My garage is cluttered now but it is because there is some furniture in there being saved for May when my son will move out of his dorm into an apartment.

In the last few years I don't always wait until the block garage sale. Most of the small items that tend to clutter up the house don't bring in enough to wait around and put them in a sale, so here lately I take boxes of stuff and donate them to a local church resale shop. For larger items that I no longer want there is a national internet classified system called Craigslist and they have a 'free' section that one can list stuff to give away. I've given away furniture and a dog kennel that way.

To me, the key to uncluttering is to pick a small area and clean, organize and unclutter it and let that be my project for the day; and not worry about other areas because taking on the whole house would be too daunting.

As an incentive I purchase cute storage accessories: when I organized the closet I put one of those inexpensive metal shelves in the back of the closet and bought sixteen matching baskets to go on the shelves that now hold shoes, hose, and shoe accessories such as polishes and cleaners.

I feel for ya...I am a "keeper" as well, and I know there is a lot of things I have stored here, there, and everywhere that I probably should do away with, but can't help but think that as soon as I do get rid of it, I'll need it or have a use for it.

My other half tends to balance me out some.....he has managed to whittle some of it down (he's one of those that if ya haven't used it in awhile, or sometimes even if you have, lol....it goes out to the burnpit). But it still gets to be too much sometimes.

I keep saying I'm going to do some heavy-duty spring cleaning, but just never seem to get there. Between not actually wanting to do it, and the serious lack of time to do it....I almost wish someone would just come in and take a lot of it away, what I don't SEE getting tossed or moved on won't hurt so much, ya know? LOL.

For me it's working on ONE specific small area. "I shall clean off my kitchen counter". Then that is one thing done, I feel accomplished.
The alternative is to time it. "I will work on the desk for ten minutes." Set an egg timer. The idea that you ONLY have to work on it for ten minutes usually makes it easy to work on it. Then you get to stop and go do something else.
Both of these have worked for me in the past. I'm with you, I have a junk room to clear out, and my shedis full of junk I need to go through. Most of it ISN'T stuff to get rid of, but it's just STUFF.
Good luck!
Wolfy

Originally Posted by dandddragons

Garage sale = extra money extra money= that cute little beardie or snale you've had your eye on but "just don't have the money for". Don't be surprized at how much stuff really isn't needed, wanted, or used anymore when you have your eye on the prize. Make a deal with the son that 1/3 to 1/2 of the money made CAN be his IF he helps. The more he helps= the more you both make. Just remember- if you have something priced at $5 and get offered 2- take it, thats 2 bucks in your pocket and 1 less item you have to move again.
_______________________________
Doug Martin
D and D Dragons

That is exactly what I want to do. I had my first and only garage sale around 5 years ago, lots of "stuff" I still couldn't part with but managed to bring in well over 1k I am going to have to have my kids do it and me leave everyday that it goes. I am NOT a good person to take money, someone wants to haggle and I just say OK take it. (Now I haggle when buying) Plus it is so darn hard for me to see others just taking away my "stuff". So I have avoided another garage sale, this year I am determined!!!! Muhahahah

To me, the key to uncluttering is to pick a small area and clean, organize and unclutter it and let that be my project for the day; and not worry about other areas because taking on the whole house would be too daunting.

Yep yep, I am going to have to section off different parts of my house. Now the living room, dining room are fairly "stuff" free. The kitchen, well I LIKE to cook so everything I have I use at some time or another....well maybe not too much, lol
Although I want to be clutter free I don't want to feel like everything is so orderly either, that is just not me, I am too relaxed of a person, for me it is a nice clean "homey" feel and I am hoping with no more "stuff".

keep saying I'm going to do some heavy-duty spring cleaning, but just never seem to get there. Between not actually wanting to do it, and the serious lack of time to do it....I almost wish someone would just come in and take a lot of it away, what I don't SEE getting tossed or moved on won't hurt so much, ya know? LOL.

Exactly! Not to mention my kids. They are hearbroken every time I try to throw away a paper they got an A on, and there are lots of those. The burn barrel is going to burn high this year!!

The alternative is to time it. "I will work on the desk for ten minutes." Set an egg timer. The idea that you ONLY have to work on it for ten minutes usually makes it easy to work on it. Then you get to stop and go do something else.

Heehee have to be more then ten minutes, lol, I would feel accomplishment and run to the store and buy MORE STUFF
You are exactly right though, I need to set some time away from normal chores just for this project. Tell myself I will live through this amount of time and just get past it. I have made it so huge a project (it is rather huge) in my mind that it is easier to let it go but then the guilt of not doing it stays with me. I have made meaning for all my "stuff".

It amazes me just how much money I have spent over the years to accumulate all this "stuff".

I have 2 methods of disposing of stuff. The first one is I move alot. It really helps, because I get so sick of moving all my stuff I just get rid of about half my personal items everytime I move. Also for me I use my temper to my advantage. I get very focused and driven when pissed off. So if I go in the closet and something falls when I go to grab something else or what have you(yes its that easy to set me off lol) I then put on some music, the harder the better, and get crackin. That always works best for me, I am truthfully a fairly lazy person, but when I am angry I am like an unstoppable machine and the amount of stuff I get done is nothing short of amazing. Also when in this type of mood you are much less rational and more willing to just get rid of stuff and not think twice. This may not work for you, but it does wonders for me. By the way if you made 1k at a yard/garage sale, that means you must have either really nice stuff or a ton of it, I made like $75 last time I had one and I thought I was rollin in it lol. Good luck!!!!! Dan M.