Organizing and decluttering the homestead

[baymule]

I dropped off three more brown paper grocery bags stuffed full at Goodwill. (Where does the stuff even come from?! )

STUFF is like a cat having kittens.....STUFF just multiplies.

 

[Beekissed]

STUFF is like a cat having kittens.....STUFF just multiplies.

I agree! Just add some dust and the stuff seems to reproduce when one's back is turned. After decluttering my life possessions 2 times in big ways, I resolved to keep my personal possessions at a minimum...right now I could throw all the clothing I own into two duffle bags and be out the door.

When I acquire a new piece of clothing, I make sure to subtract an old piece from the closet and send it off to Good Will if it's still wearable. Same way with shoes...out with the old, in with the new, though I never really buy new shoes if I can help it...always get my shoes from Good Will now. When I get done with shoes, they aren't good enough to take to GW and are fit only for the trash.

 

[tortoise]

My MIL gives us gifts. DH insists we keep them. It's like kittens. . I donated a book to goodwill and his mom found out and he's all mad at me.

I have noticed that gifts are frequently a source of family conflict. Not just DH wanting to keep it, but more with my children. I can keep a functional homeostasis of toy type items, but every wave of gifts creates conflict. Even something as seemingly benign as the comics page of the newspaper can cause days or weeks of conflict. My MIL has no experience with ADHD

 

[Beekissed]

My MIL gives us gifts. DH insists we keep them. It's like kittens. . I donated a book to goodwill and his mom found out and he's all mad at me.

I have noticed that gifts are frequently a source of family conflict. Not just DH wanting to keep it, but more with my children. I can keep a functional homeostasis of toy type items, but every wave of gifts creates conflict. Even something as seemingly benign as the comics page of the newspaper can cause days or weeks of conflict. My MIL has no experience with ADHD

That's a sadness that she understands your family so very little. Any chance you could explain it to her without her getting offended? There's so many other ways a grandma can give love to a family that doesn't involve buying stuff.

I only have the two grandgirls and the oldest one is just now finding out what kind of grandma I am....which is vastly different than her other grandma. Her other grandma takes her to Toys R Us, to the mall, to the movies, shopping and out to eat. After a bout of that, Aliza will usually ask me to do the same thing, to which I always tell her "I'm not THAT grandma...I'm the granny that takes you home with her to stay all night and works and plays with you, I'm the country grandma not the town grandma." It's great that she has a variety of grandmas and we aren't trying to outdo one another, we each have our areas of expertise.

If I buy toys at all they are from Good Will and are just as easily returned there when no longer wanted or needed...but I rarely buy toys now. Usually I'm the making grandma....I make her stuff like her own garden, a playhouse, a quilt and matching pillow, a bed, a swing, a tiny Doc McStuffin lab coat.

Those girls have more toys than any kid I've ever seen and I don't like to add to that chaos!

 

[DebLewis]

Well...today's clean out wasn't NEAR as extensive as previous years. Each year we whittle away at the stuff more and more and this year was no different. I just keep going back up there to the shed and walking into the neatness of it all...it looks and feels so good!!! .

It looks awesome!
I know this doesn't help with the "declutter" ... but my aim to declutter is overridden by my war on waste. You can "re-purpose" pool noodles to improve safety around your property ... cut pieces to put on sharp corners, or to highlight bracing cables ... just a thought!
well done on your progress ... my declutter is a future project

 

[sumi]

Catching up here… Beekissed, reading your post about leaving the house clean and tidy when you leave, just in case brought back memories now. A few years ago, we came over to Ireland the first time and thought about buying a house, so we viewed a few properties… One house we got sent to… The owner got up in the morning, had breakfast, left his breakfast things on the table and left… He didn't come back… I didn't ask what happened, all I know is he passed away. The house got locked up as is and the farm sold. The land cut off and the new owner decided to sell the house, not being interested in it, just wanted the land… He never went into the house... For the first time in some years, someone (us) walked into the house and found it just as the previous owner left it, with this breakfast stuff still on the table like that… It made me feel both sad and very uncomfortable and like we were intruding… It was really, really awkward.

 

[Beekissed]

Catching up here… Beekissed, reading your post about leaving the house clean and tidy when you leave, just in case brought back memories now. A few years ago, we came over to Ireland the first time and thought about buying a house, so we viewed a few properties… One house we got sent to… The owner got up in the morning, had breakfast, left his breakfast things on the table and left… He didn't come back… I didn't ask what happened, all I know is he passed away. The house got locked up as is and the farm sold. The land cut off and the new owner decided to sell the house, not being interested in it, just wanted the land… He never went into the house... For the first time in some years, someone (us) walked into the house and found it just as the previous owner left it, with this breakfast stuff still on the table like that… It made me feel both sad and very uncomfortable and like we were intruding… It was really, really awkward.

That would definitely feel odd and kind of sad that no one cared about the home enough to clean it up and out after the owner was gone. Spooky, almost.

 

[Beekissed]

It looks awesome!
I know this doesn't help with the "declutter" ... but my aim to declutter is overridden by my war on waste. You can "re-purpose" pool noodles to improve safety around your property ... cut pieces to put on sharp corners, or to highlight bracing cables ... just a thought!
well done on your progress ... my declutter is a future project

Done that! I've got pool noodles on my hoop coop and used them on the winter hoop structure I had in the garden this past year. Sent some that I had this year to my son's house, where they were going to glue them around the edge of the baby pool they had there, as the edges were scraping the girl's legs each time they got in and out of the pool.

Lots of uses, those pool noodles!

 

[NH Homesteader]

@tortoise I SO have the same problem! So much stuff, and my daughter can't handle when I recycle the boxes her toys came in, or throw out an interesting looking piece of junk mail. We're working on it, lol. And my husband won't toss anything. I don't even touch his stuff because I'm afraid he'll be all mad at me. So I am the only one whose things get sorted and tossed regularly!

 

[Britesea]

Isn't it comforting to know that we all seem to have the same problem? Clutter is especially bad in my 850 sq ft house when you add in the fact that we are ALL bibliophiles. Although I get rid of books as much as I can, we have many that I cannot bring myself to get rid of- books that are out of print or hard to get, beautifully bound classics that belonged to my father, cookbooks, how-to's of all types...