Decluttering Project Update

I wanted to write a little update on our decluttering project, partly because I want to remind myself that we have in fact done some good work, and partly because I wanted to assuage fears that we are living among Costco bags of junk.

We have done some good work. My husband made amazing progress in the kitchen last weekend, and four big boxes/bags of stuff were gone the next morning. We also cleaned out one side of the mantel bookshelves, getting rid of a bunch of books there and reorganized them to better use the space. Now many of our board games live on those shelves, along with books and picture albums. I cleaned out four drawers in the living room and have put back three of them: one with the tools/tape/permanent markers we use regularly, one with cat care products (brushes, nail clippers, etc) and one with rechargeable batteries and their accoutrements. I also have two cameras in with the batteries, which doesn’t feel like the right move because we don’t use either camera very often. They will probably get moved again. One of the drawers is still empty, but there is a small-Costco bag worth of junk I still need to go through. I also went through all the pens and pencils and tried each one out and threw away a sizeable bag of writing utensils that no longer write.

Today I went through the “tools.” For me tools are anything that provide a utility, including tapes, glues, zip ties, etc. And of course, all the nails and screws and nuts and bolts. We’ve purchased and put together a LOT of IKEA furniture over the years and we have so many little bags of left over assembly supplies, including all the wall mounting equipment I’ve never used. My actual tool box is also a disaster. (Yes, all the tools stuff is mine, I am the one who assembles furniture, hangs art, fixes broken things and generally uses tools around our house). So I left the car outside after I dropped my daughter off at a holiday party and I sat on a stool in the garage and went at it. I got rid of a large Amazon bag of random junk, and I reorganized everything else in my tool box, a set of four smaller tool boxes I got at Costco, and my kids’ old LEGO sorter (this was so clutch).

There are several more weird drawers to dump out, cull and reorganize in the other half of the mantel. And the two biggest categories have yet to be tackled: “technology” (which for me means anything with a cord or charger, including ALL THE CORDS AND CHARGERS) and self care (which includes vitamins, medicine, beauty products, etc). Tech is going to be tough to tackle, but self-care is just sprawling. We have self-care products in both bathrooms, and the hall closet. Self-care is going to be a PITA. I would be more worried about it, except I reorganize the hall closet pretty regularly (every six months or so) because it becomes totally untenable without attention.

My daughter’s bedroom got a little attention ahead of her friends spending the night. We got rid of a box of LEGOs and threw away several bags worth of junk and old art work. We took a bunch of book series out and rehomed them in her brother’s room (she LOVED the Horrible Histories, Horrible Sciences, and Murderous Maths series from Scholastic UK – each of which has 15-20 books) to make space for her drawing guides and other art suppies. We put all her painting stuff where the LEGOs had been, Her room still needs real work (especially her closet), but for now things are a lot better than they were.

We also donated my son’s BeyBlade collection to his aftercare program and got rid of a bunch of his books.

We’re doing the work, slowly but surely. Obviously being sick and having a packed week didn’t help, but I’m getting back at it. The only reason why any of this is working is because we live in a neighborhood where you can put anything out on the street in the morning and it will be gone by the time it gets dark. Last Sunday we put out five large boxes/bags full of kitchen stuff and book at 8:45 and by 9:18am they were ALL GONE. Someone must have pulled up with their car and taken it all. It’s crazy. My son’s school also has a clothing pantry where I bring their still-wearable, but too small clothing.

Being able to pack things up and then just put them outside to get rid of them is truly the only reason this is happening. If we had to get rid of one pile of stuff before putting more in its place (we have a very small spot to “stage” give-aways so not much fits there), we’d still be one step one.

I recently read How to Keep House While Drowning, and was reminded that things are now as dire as they could be. There was a time when that book would have been way more useful to me, because I needed to know that it was okay for clean laundry to just sit, unfolded, in Costco bags, while we pulled out what we needed. It helps to be reminded that my mess is not a moral failing, but I don’t need tips on how to wash enough dishes to be able to use my sink. Organized Living finally became available at the library and I picked it up last week. It’s a beautiful book. I enjoy reading about all the professional organizers – and seeing their beautiful homes – but I have no desire to curate living spaces like those. I’m not looking for perfection, I just want to think about my shit less, so I can enjoy my life more.

I will say that I have a lot of stuff. I like to have what I need – I loathe running out to grab something in the middle of a project. But, BUT!, it doesn’t help to have what you need if you can’t find it when you need it. I still haven’t found the Ki patches that prompted me to open every junk drawer in my house. Maybe I threw them away by accident? But I won’t know until I’ve tackled every single space. I’ve decided the goal is not to purge as much as it is to organize. I will absolutely get rid of all the stuff that we don’t need – the junk that is making it harder for us to access what we do need – but in the end I don’t want the immaculate, minimalist living spaces presented in Organized Living. I just want to know what we have and where all of it lives. If I can manage that, I will be happy.

This work week is only four days and we don’t have much in the afternoons (the dojo is already closed for their winter break), so I’ll have more time to work on this project. I also have a TON of assessments to score and projects to grade, and if there is one thing I’d rather do LESS than decluttering, it’s scoring assessments. Let my procrastinating in one area push me to do something I want to do only slightly less!

UPDATE: The tech stuff has been tackled! I used the old game box (you’ll remember the games are not in the mantel book shelves) to sort the tech stuff into two different big boxes. I also moved the camera and all its’ accoutrements into a smaller shelf/box. I’m feeling pretty good about things right now. This week I’ll tackle the random junk and after Xmas I’ll start in on the self-care products.