Gettin' Rid of Stuff~the fine art of downsizing

[Nyboy]

As kids I think one of my mothers biggest fear, was ending up in the hospital with holey underwear. All those early years of her warnings, had their effect to this day. first sign of a hole I toss them. Funny story for a while I would throw underwear away, some how the would magicly end up back in my draw. My very frugal cleaning lady would see nothing wrong with them and take them out of trash. When I realize what was happening I told her take them home then, I was joking, but she does!!

 

[Nyboy]

Anyone need to declutter their car? I once had a friend get in look around and ask if I was living in my car. i always used to have a convertible, they where only cars i had without clutter, top down speeding down road clutter took care of its self.

 

[Beekissed]

My children all drive in a horribly cluttered vehicles...I cringe every time I see them. They were NOT raised that way. When you have to get out a trash bag and spend 15 min. clearing a spot in order to let someone ride in your car, that's a problem.

ETA: A problem for ME, but not necessarily for other folks....there are all kinds of being and we all have hangups. Mine happens to be excessive clutter but that doesn't make my hangup the rules for living, by any means!

 

[Smart Red]

I confess I do need to clean out my car. Not that I leave anything messy, I blame the mess on the Grands and on the dog. Cee Cee leaves her doggie bags and cartons all over the back seat. Since I never get to the back seat I don't often see her mess on the floor.

Gypsy and I took the car for a wash earlier this week. I did intended to have one grand or another clean out the dog's part of the car this weekend. The front area is dusty, but uncluttered.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

yeah, i have to clean the clutter out of my car too. should do that today. my back and knee are feeling much better today so i have some energy to get things done.

 

[buckabucka]

These days, my car looks okay, a little dusty, and I drive the speed limit mostly, but back when I was younger I think my horribly messy car saved me from a speeding ticket.

I got pulled over in my rubble heap and was asked for license, registration, and proof of insurance. It was raining lightly. When I opened my glove compartment, papers absolutely exploded out of there, landing on the floor with all the other garbage. I quickly handed over my license and registration, but where was that insurance card? I was digging frantically, - I had put it in there just recently.

The officer, tiring of standing in the rain, eventually said, "that's okay ma'am", but I said, "No! Wait! It is right here somewhere!" and kept digging in a frenzy. Then I had a recollection of putting it in my jacket pocket, where I quickly pulled it out, only to realize that was the expired one. Finally, he just gave me a verbal warning and retreated to his dry car.

 

[Beekissed]

Canned sweet corn yesterday and took it out to the storage room this morning....it was simply lovely to be able to place it on the shelf without pushing other things aside or lifting them off the space. It was even doubly wonderful to go out and choose my canning implements off the shelf without doing the same...things not falling off the shelf when I pulled what I needed.

That's the pay off...that good feeling of being able to find things, place things and see things clearly and easily. It just makes life so much easier. Now, if we would just KEEP it that way instead of slowly but surely jamming miscellaneous items on those shelves in a hurry, telling ourselves we'll "put it away" later.

 

[thistlebloom]

I know exactly what you're talking about Bee. I'm so guilty of the "do it later when I'm not in such a hurry" method. The truth is, when I'm not in a hurry, organizing is not a priority, I'd rather be doing a chore I enjoy.

Dh and I share an office and our desks, two old dining tables, sit next to each other.
His is neat and organized, because he actually sits there and uses it, and mine is a semi organized stack of things that I need to go through and file or toss when I'm not so busy.
There's no possibility of actually sitting there and using the desk top until that happens.... so I'm here writing about it instead of doing something about it.

 

[Beekissed]

Oh, boy! "Put it away later" features highly into my MO...and I have good intentions, I really do!! But...life gets away from me and every time I walk past it, I tell myself, "You really need to put that away" and I feel guilty....but I'm in a certain gear to elsewhere, and if I stop that forward momentum, I'll stop for the day and get stuck in a ditch. So, I just walk on by, promising myself that, after I'm done doing what I'm currently doing, I'll come back and "get right on that" other thing. Never really happens or not enough to keep things right and neat.

 

[Carol Dee]

Great Thread you started here @Beekissed . Now to just find the time, energy and WILLPOWER to begin decluttering in earnest!