My Clutter War

Opening Salvo

Yes, I live with clutter. Lots of clutter.

No, I’m not a candidate for one of those hoarding shows. (Thank God.)

But it is distracting, embarrassing and out of my control.

I even hired an expert to come in and help. And she did…we got one room in much better shape. I’d say, about 70% better.

Too bad it wasn’t one of the main rooms we use or, for purely selfish reasons, it wasn’t my sewing/craft room. But the husband is happier to have his we-don’t-have-a-garage-any-longer-tool-room in better shape.

This is our biggest problem. We don’t have places to put stuff. No storage. Ten years ago, we moved from a 1700 square foot home, with a garden shed and a two car garage, to an 1100 square foot house. No garage, no sheds, not even a carport.

We’ve struggled ever since with the accumulation of clutter. We tried! We didn’t unpack stuff for months that turned into years, but eventually it all had to come out of boxes. Plus new stuff came in, of course.

My clutter specialist has since moved to Montana. Sigh.

So, I’m declaring war again on the clutter, but I’m taking smaller bites and I’m opening myself to public scrutiny… It’s okay, I’m ready.

This time, I’m not shooting for a room at a time. I’m taking aim at a corner at a time. So, here’s the snapshot of the first corner.

It’s basically the dining room, I always envisioned an “L” table with benches against the walls… And yeah, I need to paint those walls. But first, the clutter! Some of it is stuff from this year’s Romantic Times Booklovers Convention…bookmarks, postcards, buttons…some of it is dog nd cat paraphernalia. The blue thing is my magazine recycling container…

No, I’m not sure where I’m going to put this stuff, but I think it’s going to take a lot of … *gasp! …throwing away, donating and stacking. I’m good at stacking. I should start with a closet, but they are just too damned scary.

So, let’s start with a corner!

Any suggestions on organizing? Anyone else have a clutter problem they are willing to admit to? And next week? A new corner, if I finish this one… No, let’s be positive, one corner at a time!

4 Comments:

  1. I’m on a battle to declutter too. I’m doing cabinets and closets in my downstairs this summer.

    Suggestions: yard sale. BIG yard sale. If you haven’t used it in a year (2?) sell it. I’ve got the happiness of selling all my baby stuff. I can’t wait until that stuff is out of my house. Big plastic baby stuff. *shivers* It’s like a dust buster’s dream.

    I suggest closet maid for closets (inexpensive and versatile).

  2. I’ve never heard of closet maid…is it a closet designer thing or just maids you know how to clean and organize closets?

    Yard sale…well, problem here is the street we live on and the fact that there is, technically, nowhere to have a yard sale. Let me see, imagine a long private driveway off a busy street with no sidewalks, barely bike lanes and only two lanes…

    But we do have a flea market at the drive in… Hmmmmm!

  3. We just did a yard sale a few weeks ago to finally get rid of some clutter! My rule when I finally clean out is what Marnee said – if you haven’t used it in 1+ years then get rid of it. Now, we consider if it’s something expensive to replace – what could we make on it at the yardsale? If it’s nothing, then we ask can we use it now? For some other purpose? If not, then it still goes.

    Good luck! I’m still working on decluttering too!

  4. I don’t know, Sabrina… I think I need a house mother. Sigh.

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