Clutter's Last Stand is an excellent book - it's easy reading, the illustrations are funny, and he makes getting rid of clutter a virtue.

I highly recommend it - if not for oneself, one probably knows someone that has a bit of clutter around.

It's a book I've actually read about three times. (Doesn't mean I've gotten rid of my clutter, but I at least manage to get rid of a car full of stuff every time I read it.)

thanks for the info bearisgray, i have been trying to do that for 2 days now and altho I have made some good progress i am afraid i have a very long long way to go.

I'm afraid I am hopeless....I just find more creative ways of storing it when faced with the prospect of getting rid of any of it :lol: :oops: :lol: :lol:

I read somewhere that it helps to think of it not as getting rid of stuff, but of blessing others with items that you don't need. That's helped me declutter a lot of my home. (Hubby's stuff - that's a whole 'nother subject.)). Once I pick something up and wonder when the last time I used it - or even saw it was - I tell myself that someone else would love to find that at a second-hand store, and they might really need it, and out the door it goes.

one of my former neighbor's takes some of the oddest stuff - I feel somewhat guilty about unloading this stuff on her - (I saw her garage) - but it's gone from MY house!

I remember when I left home to get married. I had basically had bedroom furniture and everything else fit in a van. Now I almost need half a semi truck.

I long to get things back into a van and just be done with it. I'm not a minimalist or have a clutter problem, but more things than I really want at this point in my life now. Would love to purge if I ever had the energy.

fabric and sewing stuff is probably over 50% of my STUFF

Anyone remember George Carlin's routing about "stuff"?

Hilarious - and true

Did you know the BEST way to de-clutter? I am doing it right now. It is called MOVING!!! Yard sales, donating, burning old sensitive paperwork, crying over old memories. If we were not moving, I am sure this job would have been done by my kids when I die. We are probably still not getting rid of things that we should! DH has a big truck load for the dump tomorrow.
Four weeks to go and we actually feel we have a handle on getting everything packed.

I always think about George Carlin when I get overwhelmed with all my STUFF! I cannot say no to people when they offer their STUFF to me! I must learn to "Just say no!"

And I have a whole stack of books on decluttering that friends have "found" for me! :?

There is an excellent website called FlyLady. I have used her system for years. I don't have any stored clutter, except my sewing room but it's organized. I learned to clean a clean house. Nothing ever gets messy or overwhelming any longer. I don't have laundry piled up ever. I spend maybe an hour a day doing housework. Once you get the system going it's a piece of cake. You start with her system one step at a time. The first step is to keep you kitchen sink clean. It really works!

http://www.flylady.net/

I have seen that website. Now I have to USE that website! :?

Oh, beachlady, I FEEL for you. When I moved from the UK to Ireland in 2000 I went through such heartache. Like you, I cried buckets over so many memories. I sent stuff to the local auctions, sold stuff, gave away stuff, then resorted to taking stuff to the local land fill, and bonfires for what I couldn't get rid of any other way, and I STILL had two trucks filled up to bring over here! Plus it was in storage for 4 months until I could buy this house. Can you tell I was a bit of a hoarder? I wish you and your DH well in your move, and hope everything goes very smoothly.

Thanks Lacelady. We really feel like we will be ready in 4 weeks, but if we aren't we will be working 24 hours a day the last week. DH finished the basement today and grandson is coming next week for 2 days to help with the attic. Have already done some of the attic, but Christmas decorations still up there and some other things. Have one more cubby hole to do, but most of that is sewing stuff that would not fit in my room here, but will in the new house. This house had too many hiding places and we are finding things we have not seen for years!

BellaBoo - that is a great site - put it in favorites. The house we are moving to is immaculate and hopefully I will be able to keep it that way! The lady at the town office told me how clean this lady was and one of the neighbors we met said that she used to clean her house and she really missed her - I have a lot to live up too! LOL!

I'm afraid clutter is my middle name. :D :D

I remember it. Jim has that whole disk of George Carlin.

Beachlady, I just moved my stuff from Alabama to Illinois. 1/2 the F150 truck was quilting stuff. The other 1/2 of the truck had my washer, dryer, clothes and pots and pans. I gave away several black garbage bags full of clothes and shredded a whole bunch of paperwork. But I kept every lick of fabric!!!
I started to think I had a hoarding problem! Didn't realize I was such a collector of clothes.

if i buy that book, i have to find a place to store it .because i have too much clutter to find it ever again. :mrgreen:

LOL BFW!

put it in the bathroom - then you can read a paragraph at a time -

use the post-it flags so you don't need to read the same paragraph over and over -
one flag almost lasts me for a whole paper-back book

It took me the whole morning to go through Roy's old hunting truck. '79 Ford 4 wheel drive. I fell off the dang thing, didn't realise when I got up on the truck to move stuff to the tailgate area for Neil that the tailgate was rusted out. I hurt bad bad bad. If there was ever a clutter hog it was my dear departed husband. I was scared to try to get into his room (remember 5 trash bags of trash, 5 totes of STUFF) and it's all still in the shed. :-(

I'm going to look for the book to buy but it may take me a couple of years to find it again, I'm real sloooooooooooow going through his stuff, especially since my granddaughter would not let me stop Thursday until we got most of my sewing stuff in his room.
:? :roll: :shock: :cry:

It took me four and a half hours to declutter, organize, and save to jump drive all the pictures off the laptop this afternoon while I've been on the heating pad. I'm so baaaaaaaaaaaaad about saving thing to my puter!

Hugs,
Sharon

hope you feel better soon, mimisharon

t

oh, sharon......

http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-sad029.gif

Oh Sharon - you're so brave to start de-cluttering now. Get better soon. I hope the heating pad is doing the trick for you.
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