Tothill

I have a man helping me purge my home of 20 years of detritus. Raised 3 kids, many pets and stuff got put into boxes and bins over the years, but not sorted or purged.

I have a large laundry basket of socks missing their mate. Why am I keeping them? I truly have no idea. There are socks that would fit a preschooler and my dd is 19. Before Christmas I did one last sort of the socks. When school starts back up, I am going to ask if the elementary school could use them for craft projects, otherwise out the go.

So back to the fellow who is helping me. He started with the yard, filled a trench, removed a retaining wall and leveled the back yard, build raised beds and placed a boarder for a new flower bed. We will wait until spring to bring in top soil. He tool away old tools and mowers, fixed both mowers, brought on back and he can do what he likes with the other one.

Next the garage, it is a single car garage that was chock a block full of stuff (we could not park in it for over 10 years as an RV was parked in front of it (oh yeah got rid of the RV too).

Now he has moved into the house. Friends have asked me if I am worried about him working in the house when I am not home. The answer is no. If he tosses something that I later decide I 'need', so be it.

He is also going to help me get rid of some furniture that my ex was supposed to remove 3.5 years ago, but did not. We will have to wait for dry weather for that as he only has an open truck.

Books and fabric are my downfall. I have lots of both and need to sort through the fabric myself. I will donate the non quilting fabric to the Home Ec program at the school. The quilting fabric I will take to a guild meeting and set out on a free table.

I donated 6 boxes of books before Christmas, there are many more to go through.

I am not in a rush, I hope to have most the work done by the end of June. I start back at Uni in a week, plus am away the month of May. I have a heavy course load and need to work hard to get through the program.

JanieH

I read a de-cluttering tip about the rule of 3: go through things 3 times -the first time is usually the easiest as you are getting rid of the things you know you don't want or need without hesitation. The second time is a little harder as you are making decisions about whether or not you really need that item. And the third time is the hardest as you are really analyzing the item and deciding its fate. The first time you get the most items, the second, fewer, and the last, the fewest but by then you should feel that those left are the ones you want to keep.

I am planning a move in the summer and so have been doing this throughout my house. I have done the first round with everything except my sewing room and will do that this coming week. I have started the second round in some of the closets and drawers and actually realizing how much stuff I have is making it easier to make decisions about letting go of things. There is something about doing a whole house clean out and seeing just how much I have that makes it easier for me to let go of a lot and my third round will hopefully let me focus on keeping those items that are the most meaningful to me. I think though that doing my sewing room will still be the hardest room for me to go through. I am hoping not to play the "but what if I need that piece of fabric 10 years from now for a quilt?" game. I have already looked at some projects that I don't remember ever getting to do, have lost interest in, no longer like the fabrics, or wonder what was I ever thinking of when I got it! Hopefully my purge, not only of the house but also the sewing room will be freeing for me and I will move only those things that I really want!

Juliebelle

I too have been purging, there is something about packing Christmas away that makes me want to de clutter. My sewing room is pretty good I did a good cleaning before we put the decorations up inside but I see I am still holding on to a too many scraps. Looks like a bunch of project Linus quilts coming up.

Teen

i'm moving to another state this summer...this makes perfect sense to me. I've been through round 1 throughout the house except sewing room, which I keep organized and pitch stuff regularly. I bought the storage containers I will use for fabrics and quilts to move. After holidays, I'm doing round 2 to add to yard sale stuff, which I'd rather not do but hubbie insists. The one area in house to yet be purged is the garage, which is hubbies stuff. I'll help him but I'm not looking forward to that...

cashs_mom

Every time I decide to toss stuff out, I immediately need it and end up going to buy it again. I hate wasting money.

And who has time to organize 3 times a year? With a full time job and other interests, if I spent time organzing 3 times a year, I'd never get any quilts done. I guess i'm just not messy enough to have to organize that often. I can move around fine in my room and find things without having to go to all that work.

themachinelady

Oh tropit, wish I lived near you, I could use so many of the things you are purging for our small quilt club who makes quilts for those who have lost their homes and possessions to fires and quilts for the children's hospital as well. We are always in need of faricc, scrappy or yardage, backing etc. We are a group of elderly ladies on fixed incomes so it is a big challenge to come up with supplies. Happy New Year to all and good luck with your purging.

tropit

OMG! Where did you find this wonderful guy? You are very lucky to discover a worker that is willing to help you wih this set of tasks.

I know what you mean about the laundry socks. I'm about to tackle the laundry area next and that big basket of socks is already slated to go. Socks behave so strangely. You think that they are gone, but they always reappear...one at a time...especially my kids' socks. My son and daughter are fully grown now, but still, their socks seem to find their way back into my laundry basket. I keep saving them because they might need them, but no...they really don't.. Those socks are history.

~ C

tropit

Themachinelady,

I totally understand. But rest assured, I'll be donating a lot of stuff the local quilt guilds and charities that are making quilts for the fire victims here, in Northern California. (Sadly, there are no shortages of victims, due to the recent, devistating fires.) I'd love to keep making quilts for victims, but I'm out of time and engergy. This is one way that I can continue to contribute.


~C

sharin'Sharon

I never have good luck to purge my fabric. I save everything down to one inch square. I find my taste for a pattern does change over time, too, but can't part with it!!! Am looking forward to getting all my fabric in one room and organized so that I can see what I have. I measure and mark my fabrics so that I don't have to take time to measure it when am in need of that particular piece. All my scraps are sorted by width, not color, for a future Log Cabin. My triangle cut offs of various sizes are stored in Schwan's ice cream tins. I probably have 20 queen size quilt kits besides enough fabric to make into an infinity of quilts. I'm a fabric hoarder and I can't seem to change so need to get a lot of sewing done since I've reached the age of 72 and am legally blind (I can still sew to perfection).

Rose_P

I carried a box of books to Goodwill a few days ago and reading this post I realized that today I can't remember the name of a single one of them. Obviously, there's not much chance I'll miss them. Other than quilting books and other books that have a lot of pictures related to my hobbies I have to wonder why I keep any books. I have a Kindle and will look at a print book only rarely, but still have a few hundred around. If I can purge enough books, there might be more room for fabric. Heh-heh-heh!