A few weeks ago, there was another fire in a hoarder house and the occupant couldn’t get out and the fire fighters couldn’t get in easily. Â The person inside died. Â It’s just so sad to think about that. Â The person may not have even realized they had a problem. Â Or maybe they’ve been struggling with it for years, trying to deal with it, but the clutter monster won this time.
It sounds silly to call it a clutter monster, as if the clutter is a living being, but some days it seems like it has a life of it’s own.  Flylady says it best when she says that you can’t organize clutter, you can only get rid of it.  It takes over the whole house filling every bit of empty space.  I swear the stuff multiplies on it’s own.  Very few people can handle an organized hoard, I’m definitely not one of them, so I must keep decluttering.
As I was watching an update on the news story about the fire last Friday morning before work, I got that sick feeling. Â There’s too much stuff in my house. Â Are the hallways blocked? Â Could we get through if we needed to? Â Would we be tripping over things? Â Next, I thought about the worst part of my house right now. Â It’s the basement for sure but since I’m already short on time, is it worth it to work down there? Â This sparked my impromptu decluttering!
It was an early day of work for me and as soon as I got home, I went into the basement. Â I had a goal of working on one small shelf. Â I decided to tackle two shelves instead and I’m glad I did. Â It wasn’t too much to handle and I surprisingly got rid of a lot! Â I guess this really is getting easier.
Here’s the list from my impromptu decluttering:
- Bread maker
- Insulated Lunch bag
- Cookie Tin
- Plastic pumpkin
- Pager system (when is the last time you saw one of these?)
- Tupperware Tray
- Giant cooler cup
- Blue drink cooler
- Electric wok (I’ve always wanted to try this but after 15 years I think it’s time to give up that dream)
- Little purse
- Safari Alarm Clock
- Fondue set
- HALO game case (yep it’s empty)
- Santa candle lamp (I think this is what went with that little shade I got rid of a few weeks ago)
- Wrapping paper
- Toy bowl
- Another cookie tin
- 5 Peppermint taffies (I wonder how long those have been down there?)
- Plastic terydachtl – (why can’t I think of how to spell that? Â It’s a plastic dinosaur)
- Sock
- Bratz Dollz boot
- Little toy girl with no head
- Princess hair tie
- Piece of train track
- Metrics made easy card
- Playdoh knife
- Plastic turtle
- Tiny plastic horse bridle
- Toy boat
- Square Tupperware container
- Half yard stick (who knows where the other half is)
- Wooden train car (one of those fake knock offs)
- Waffle block
- Toy plate
- Tiny plastic dinosaur
- Pencil cover
- Digimon action figure stamper
- Stuffed animal  (dinosaur actually)
- Foldable frisbee
- Half of a toy – (no idea what to call this thing so let’s leave it at that)
- Wooden letter tray
- Little Davy Crockett book (it’s so cute that I spent 10 minutes debating about this one!)
- VHS battery
- Toy slide
- First aid instructions
- Bubble wand
- Another little dinosaur
- Easter tree
- Green hair tie
- Jesus pin
54 Things!
Not too bad since I didn’t even have plans to be decluttering that day! Â And I know I say it all the time but that’s 54 things that I never have to pick up again! Â I’m sure that I’ve picked these things up and moved them around the house many, many times. Â What a waste of time, energy, and space! Â I’m sure they’ve caused arguments with the kids because they were laying on the floor a million times. Â What a stress on the family! Â All because of STUFF that we never needed in the first place.
Just let it go…….
Here’s a few after pics!!
Wow! You did some serious work there. I think that the “clutter monster” can be personified. I know when my daughter had an eating disorder and was in a rehab hospital one of the books she got me to read was about a person with an eating disorder who had personified it and called it ED and referred to ED as being in an abusive relationship. The book helped my daughter and also helped me to understand her eating disorder.
You are doing a great job. Baby steps. Set a time and don’t overdo. If you try to do too much in one session you will be overwhelmed. Take breaks and you will get there. You can do it.
Looks great and 50+ items gone forever! I know that counting can be a pain sometimes but we found it reassuring.
Sometimes it is a pain and seems like a strange thing to be doing but I love seeing that number grow!!
That looks so amazing, Jen!! Woot woot!! and not a single sock in sight!!
https://purpleslobinrecovery.wordpress.com/2017/06/22/single-socks-seeking-solemates/
Do you have any minimalist/decluttering websites that you follow? There are a lot of different ones out there and maybe they can encourage you and give you new ideas. I’d recommend No Side Bar and Becoming Minimalist and Zen Habits to start. But there are others if those aren’t quite what you need.
Thanks! I definitely need some new ideas so I will check these out to start with. Progress has been very slow lately but this time crunch and being sick hasn’t been helping either.