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).

33 1/2 weeks (wasn't that a movie?)

Here are some belly shots.  She hangs out on my left side, so looking down I do not have the round baby belly!

Nursery!

Bedding is Raspberry Swirl by Lambs & Ivy and the paint on the wall is Benjamin Moore's Strawberry.

33 week appointment update

Today's appt was two hours long and a lot was discussed, so if you asked about my appointment and I sent you here, please do not be offended, I'm just tired after a long morning and it's easier to type it up once than to say it over and over.

Let's see.  I met my doctor's new nurse today.  Heidi has decided to go to dental school, so Bri is now my new nurse.  Today was my first Non-Stress Test (NST).  Planning babysitting for these is hard because they want baby to go up in heartrate (meaning she is active) 15 beats per minute for more than 15 seconds.  So if baby is soundly sleeping, it could take awhile.  Well, first the machine's paper jammed, then baby kept kicking the pads off, so they'd see the up and down, but couldn't catch the middle.  Then the Dr. checked and forgot to tell the nurse that I could get off the machine and go home. 

Before all this, the dr was about 20 minutes late and we had lots to discuss, so it ended up being a 2 hour appointment.

The new nurse took my blood pressure right away and as she kept trying I assured her I knew it was going to be high.  My lower number, which is supposed to be 80 and it's bad to have it 90 and above was 110 this morning.  Dr. checked my blood pressure readings I've been keeping at home and saw that most were around 90 and the upper number was hanging around 130-140.  For those non-medical types. Normal is 120/80.  140/90 is bedrest.  160/100 was what it was the morning they decided Henri should be born.

So, my blood pressure readings while not horrible haven't been so hot, either.  So, as of today, I am to double my dose of blood pressure meds.  Also, she let me know that as of 36 weeks, I can no longer take the baby aspirin.  I will also now be going in every week for an NST.  Next week all I have is NST, at 35 weeks, mom's birthday, July 8th, I'll have Dr. appt to see if the blood pressure med change is working, NST to make sure baby's tolerating everything well, and an ultrasound to make sure baby is growing as we think she should.

We talked about two things we are assuming at this point.  This baby will be a little smaller, like Henri rather than bigger like Carter.  Also, we still are assuming baby will be delivered between 36 and 38 weeks.

In addition, we talked about the carpel tunnel problems.  If you don't know, I've had horrible pain, esp at night or lying down all down my arms (esp right) due to carpel tunnel. The problem started with Carter and flares up with each pregnancy.  It's particularily bad with this one after flaring up when I did my spring cleaning in late April.  As in it's waking me up at night and at this point, the ends of my fingertips are constantly numb.  Grocery shopping with a cart, driving or using a stroller is enough to make me run screaming for the Tylenol, which is all I can take.

So, I have been referred to a hand specialist which I will see Monday morning and we will see if there is anything else that can be done.  Meanwhile I sleep with hard splints on at night and have been having people help me with chores that trigger the pain.  Our pastor's daughters came and mowed the lawn, vacuumed and did other odd chores (including taping in the baby's room, which I tried, but couldn't finish) while my friend Jennifer started painting the baby's room since holding a paintbrush is impossible at this point.  She's coming back to tomorrow to do more painting.

Also, doctor does not want me to gain any more weight.  This should not be a big deal, I've gained only 2 pounds this month.  I'm 4 pounds ahead of where I was when I was at this point in Henri's pregnancy.

Also, I have to cut out as much sodium as possible, eat lots of protein and drink lots of water to abate any swelling that may be contributing to the carpel tunnel & high blood pressure.

As long as my blood pressures don't get any worse than they are and I don't have protein in my urine samples, I can remain pregnant.  If they get worse or I start "spilling protein" as they refer to it, we'll start talking induction.

Oh, and once I pop out this baby, I need to lose 50 pounds including baby weight to get to goal weight and to make sure the carpel tunnel does not flare up in the future.

TEETH!

Henri has been a trooper.  He had 8 teeth last month.  4 on the top, 4 on the bottom.  By the end of June, he'll have SIXTEEN!  He added 4 molars first, then filled in with 4 more teeth...

Keeping Henri busy while Carter's away.

Yes, that's his lunch in front of him and yes, that's me behind the camera trying not to laugh.