Cleaning & Organizing
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
When to purge stuff
I'm packing to move and I hate having STUFF everywhere. I have pictures from my ex that I finally am getting rid of, not that I was holding onto him or anything, I love my husband and my ex was emotionally abusive and controlling. I don't know why I had those pictures... Anyways the point is my husband and I have a storage unit, I have fabric and patterns, we have camping stuff, scrapbook stuff, purses I have never used, all my HS and MS yearbooks. How do you pick what should go and what should stay? I would love to be able to get rid of it all but I know I like to keep clutter and I made a vow to not have more stuff than will fit in this house without storage since we will be here a while. I don't want to get rid of our camping stuff but I don't see a camping trip anytime soon, nor do we have a place to store it in this house. Small closets. Anyone have any advice. How do you get rid of stuff you don't look at? I mean I can honestly say I have not opened the box my yearbooks are in since I moved out on my own when I was 18 and I'm about to be 24.
Re: When to purge stuff
I love moving for two reasons 1- I get to purge and 2- getting to put everything away in the new place. Otherwise I despise it.
I would purge the photos of the Ex. Then only keep your favorite fabric and purses. You can re-gift, sell or donate whatever you don't want to keep. Keep what is in good condition when it comes to camping equipment and get a storage bench that you can store it in.( http://www.homedepot.com/Outdoors/h_d1/N-25ecodZ5yc1vZbx82/R-100319738/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=storage+bench&storeId=10051). Ours is more storage and less bench giving us more room.
I personally have kept all my yearbooks and look at them once in a blue moon. But I keep them visible on a bookshelf instead of in a box.
People say taking images of sentimental items and scrap-booking the images helps. That way you have a photo of the item and can get rid of it guilt free.
I kept only 1 of my MS yearbooks and my senior year yearbook from HS. After lugging them around for 15 years I can tell you that it's very freeing to get rid of ALL the old pics of exes, old yearbooks, etc. do you have a garage or laundry room? Get a shelving unit to store things in large bins or crates, it will help, but get rid of anything that you don't look at. for purses and clothes that are in good shape or like new, take to a consignment store or if they are name brand, I sold mine at "I sold it on ebay" store (they do all the work and take a percentage).
If you want to donate things you can set a pick up w/Lupus Foundation (or many other charitable groups) and they will come pick it up at your house!
There is no point in moving things that you don't need - why add to your moving load!
Exactly what I was going to say - I can look at a photo of a huge stuffed animal from my childhood and have the same warm feeling as I would think I would have had I kept the actual stuffed animal - but haven't had to store it all these years later.
I went through today and send a truck load of stuff with my friend to Goodwill and have more to go. I was trying to get rid of stuff on craigslist/facebook but it was too much time and we dont have time. I actually made a trade with a neighbor. We needed to get rid of our sectional and she wanted a bigger couch. She has a loveseat and a recliner. Perfect for us, and the sectional is what she wanted.
I got rid of a lot of pictures, I am keeping one small one of my proms. Otherswise pics out the door. I got rid of more than I knew I had. Purses, clothes, and more and I haven't touched the storage unit, which will be a day task next week after we move so we can get the dog house out of the back.
As far as a storage bench/shelf we don't have any space for it, laundry is in kitchen, and we have no covered porch or anything. I told my husband today he gets one closet I get the other, we are trying to eliminate storage but it may not work since we will have christmas lights/trees, and holiday decor. But I did bring a lot to Goodwill and more is going this week. Fingers crossed my hubby cleaned like he said he would and got rid of his junk.
Congrats on purging so much already! It sounds like your space is tiny in comparison to what you have now.
Can you downsize to a smaller storage unit? That way you have a place to store Christmas decorations & tree along with any camping equipment you keep (If you decide to keep any).
The things that are sentimental you should keep. Things that don't have much meaning to you anymore you should purge. As far as the other things go, pick an amount of time (6 months, a year, etc), and if you haven't used the item in that long, then toss it (there will be some exceptions of course). Also think about what your vision is for your home, and if the things you have do not match your vision, then toss it.
When I was younger I had a problem with having too much stuff. I didn't have anything growing up and so when I had the money to buy things, I would say to myself "I better buy this now in case I don't have the money for it in the future" So I amassed all this stuff that didn't really go together. When I got out of that way of thinking then I had a lot less clutter. I also found creative ways to store my stuff in my place rather than put it in a storage unit. The container store has great stuff. Good luck!
I used these suggestions when we moved into our house. There is still a lot more to go, but it sure did make a difference in how I thought about "things" and what we moved!
http://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/flying-lessons/moving/
My Ovulation Chart || Ovulation Tracker
I recommend that you read the except from Peter Walshes new book Lighten Up: Love What You Have, Have What You Need, Be Happier with Less found on the link below. You have to scroll to the bottom of the article to find the PDF to download.
http://lifehacker.com/5739254/how-much-money-is-your-clutter-is-costing-you
When my husband and I moved we moved with all the crap we'd aquired up to that point. Three years later we're finally getting rid of things we don't use and that honestly don't mean that much to us. I really love the chapter of the book mentioned above. You can tell yourself to only keep the things that you love but you can easily convince yourself that you love everything. The book puts it in perspective.