Confessions of a Reformed Pack Rat

Someone on a message board I frequent asked about how to get started decluttering.  As a reformed pack rat, I shared some advice with her that some of my other friends may like, so I'm putting it here as well...

I am a reformed pack rat. Growing up and being single, even when I was working FT, I kept everything. Never knew when you were going to need it, right?


Then I started staying at home. In the clutter. Every day. It made me insane!

Now people can come over and I'm not embarrassed. People marvel about how my house is neat whenever they come over. Decluttering is key, you are correct.

Get rid of the knick knacks, esp ones you don't care about (you can also take pictures of them and get rid of the knick knack!) and take care of papers immediately.

I open my mail and sort it AT THE MAILBOX or immediately upon getting in the house and recycle the junk and envelopes. Then bills and such get put in my inbox which gets cleared out at least once a week. My inbox is never allowed to be higher than the top of the inbox.

About donating. Do not save for a garage sale. It's too much work and then the clutter is STILL IN YOUR HOUSE! I mean, maybe if you are committed to doing the whole house, set a date for a garage sale and have it, but then donate the rest immediately. Then using either big boxes you get or garbage bags keep 2-3 in your garage of stuff you come upon on a daily basis that is outgrown, etc. and when you get 2-3 call a truck to pick it up or drop it off. I recommend:

www.satruck.com Salvation Army (they no longer accept toys, though) you just go online tell them what you have and what day to pick it up.

Community Services for the Blind will also come out. They take toys and I think they have a once a month schedule of when they will be in your area. Punch in your address and tell them you want them to be sure to stop on that day.

We also get Northwest Center sending cards in the mail that they will be coming on a certain day.

Toys & Clothes: If you or your kids don't love it, don't fit it, it's not the right age or they or you haven't touched it in 6 months, get rid of it. If your youngest is 5 and you have maternity clothes or baby clothes, get rid of them, you probably aren't the same size anyways and the kids' clothes are probably out of style.  You probably know enough friends with kids that if you get rid of your kids' clothes or your maternity clothes and God has other plans, you can probably scurry around and find enough second hand things to use.

Books Once you read it, if it is not a reference book donate it or pass it to a friend. You can always get it back at the library.

Manuals and Parts Do you even own the appliance anymore?

Broken things Fix within a month or trash and get a new one. It is no good to you broken! This includes toys missing pieces.

Food/pantry items I kept throwing away expired stuff or having stuff that I never used and it was taking up my pantry. By going through and either using stuff up or donating it, I now use half my pantry for storage, half for groceries! I now shop once every 10 days or so and ONLY buy what is needed for that week's menu. Sure, I'm not stocking up on sales, but that's a savings issue, not a decluttering issue.  Plus, I'm not spending money on stuff I'm throwing away because I couldn't find it before it expired.

Toilettries- see above. These things go on sale often and aren't really that expensive. Use up what you have, donate stuff that people gave you that you will never use to a women's shelter and buy shampoo when you run out of it.

Have you seen the show the show that used to be on TLC? I think it was Clean Sweep. They emptied the whole rooms, but you don't have to go to that extreme, but they had keep, toss, donate. Keep it if you love it, need it, use it donate if you don't but it's still usable-duplicate items, no longer use it or need it or love it. Trash if it's just junk.

Is it important to you or someone else? I have received stuff from people that was important to THEM, but not me.  I don't need to keep it if it's not important to me!

Things like roasting pans, stuff you only use once a year either store in a hard to reach place or just get rid of it and borrow it from someone when you need one! It's not like you are going to wake up Christmas morning and say, "hmm... I think I'll roast a turkey" no, you go to the store 3 days in advance, thaw it, etc. Find a friend who is going somewhere for Christmas and won't be using their pan and borrow it! Also, remember, you need one set of everyday dishes, one of china. I had some china from my first marriage for 4 people, I had gotten the set from my grandmother who entertained a lot. I gave away the smaller set to an organization that is for single women getting out of homelessness.
examples: my soy milk maker-I hadn't used it, um, EVER and had held on to it for 2 or 3 years and was no longer lactose intolerant. I sold it on Craigslist for a nifty $25; Cutting boards- I think I had 6 and they didn't fit in the shelf I had allotted, so I got rid of 2.

Decide on how much space you want to devote to something and stick to it. Some examples for me: One shelf of home improvement/gardening books, one of parently books, one of cook books. One shelf of bath towels in the linen closet. One box of cleaning rags. One bin of hand me down clothing for the boys in each size. One shelf of wine glasses. I got rid of anything that didn't fit. It forced me to really decide which were my favorites.

Holiday Decor Every holiday, put out the pieces you LOVE. Donate the rest. Seriously. If you don't LOVE that plastic Frosty the snowman that you store 11 months of the year, get rid of him.

Don't buy party plates 75% off for holidays you don't have parties for. I had Happy New Year plates for literally EIGHT YEARS that I stored because I bought them at 90% off. I've never had a New Year's party. I used them as cake plates at birthdays for 3 years in a row and donated the rest to my mops group for crafts-putting glue or paint on. I held on to Halloween stuff to throw a party for 5-6 years before I actually threw one, and all the games and leftovers I DONATED. If I throw another party, they'll go 50% off 3-4 days before the holiday. I promise.

Hand Dr. update

So I've been sent to a hand therapist for the carpel tunnel.  It was awesome!  Warm heat packs, nice, chatty ladies and ultrasound and hand massages.  What, you want me to come back twice a week?  Oh, yes!

They also gave me exercises to do 3 times a day (I'll be starting those tomorrow, the paper's in the car and I'm already settled in for the night).