For the last few years, I have been working hard at making sure we do not become hoarders. Ok, honestly there is no chance we will be hoarders, but I don’t want to end up overwhelmed with clutter or stored useless things.
I am ruthless. If it hasn’t been used recently (in the last 6 months to a year), it has to go.
Twice a year, the girls and I go through all their toys and get rid of several bags of stuff they don’t use any more. Compared to many other kids we know, they have very few toys. That being said, they honestly don’t even play with much of what they have. (I only pitch what they agree to, so we can empower them to participate. Empowerment is part of my diabolical plot to nip any inherited hoarding tendencies in the bud. They do a great job, I have to say.)
Mr. A and I have whittled down our clothes so we each only have two dresser drawers of casual clothes (including underwear and socks) and a few sweaters on a shelf. Mr. A has a bunch of suits (etc) for work, but I have only about 3 dressy outfits in my closet. I keep exactly one storage bin of hand-me-downs for each size for L. As soon as L out grows something (which rarely happens — this is her third winter wearing size 2s!), it gets handed down to my sister or friends who have daughters.
Now that we know we are moving, my de-cluttering/downsizing has kicked into high gear.
Out go the decorations and furniture I bought only for staging the house. Out goes the furniture that I bought because it suited this house, but I didn’t really love it that much. Out goes the varsity letter and other memorabilia that I don’t really have any emotional connection with. Out goes 10,000 pieces of the girls’ artwork (only the best will stay and get stored). And the point of biggest contention, OUT goes Mr. A’s comic book collection.
It feels GOOD to get rid of things. It feels good to let go psychological weight that house full of STUFF creates. It feels good to be moving forward without so much baggage. And dust. And clutter.
It feels good to know that the stuff we have is here because it is actually valuable to us. The things we have that hold memories are now stored safely to protect them for the long haul. The other junk, well, it has gone on to find a brighter future than our attic/basement/closets could ever provide.
I’m impressed that you are getting rid of the comic book collection- I’d LOVE to know how you pulled that one off. My husband has so much crap that he refuses to part with, that it fills our storage unit and he still has 4 bins of baseball cards at his parents’ house.
I went through my whole house over the summer and cleared out an entire carload of stuff. It felt AWESOME. Good for you!
Let me guess, is your MIL 65-75 and grew up in a poor family?
My mom is a hoarder and it has driven me to be the opposite! When she gives me things I take them, but they normally go right from my car to the trash can in the garage. I actually have more than I thought in my basement…I was disturbed when putting the Christmas decorations away when I found a tote of household decorations down there I didn’t know I had.
I moved to a smaller house 4 years ago and PURGED like crazy…it was great.
I still have a lot of stuff I never use, but no time to get rid of it.
However I take BAGS of stuff to the 2nd hand store and Goodwill each season (if not month).
My sister and I were just talking Saturday about how we are almost too extreme because we will get rid of things thinking, if I need it I’ll just buy it again; with money tight that’s not always an option, so I need to be a little more selective.
My mom’s basement flooded recently because she decided to ignore the telltale signs that the sump pump was dying. It took 4 people over an hour just to carry empty boxes out! We flattened them and still filled the bed of a pick-up truck…I so feel for you!
I keep saying that when my mom dies we should let everyone get what they want out of the house and just burn it down…she’s been in it over 50 years…my dad died 3 years ago and most of his stuff is gone and now that space is full of crap. I hate even going there!!
I hope you are not just throwing those things out. Sell them on Craigs list at least, especially the furniture and comic book collection. Good luck on de-cluttering.
ahhh… this is speaking my language. i love it!
Mmmm, I love getting rid of stuff!! I’m so happy to be currently moving into a smaller house so that I have the opportunity to further pare things down. The accumulation of stuff makes me so anxious and it soothes my soul to see it go.
The hardest, though, is getting rid of my boys’ toys. I worry endlessly that I’ll get rid of the one magical object that is key to their creative play-related development and they will be forever damaged…or that I’m just getting rid of their toys to satisfy my own clutter-hating nature without any consideration to their feelings — because if it was up to them, we’d never get rid of any toy, ever, ever ever. 
Careful with how you get rid of the comic book collection. If they are from the early 70′s or before they could be worth something – if they’re in good shape. Check their cover price, if they are 20¢ or less they are probably worth selling. In our most recent bout of decluttering I unloaded a box of about 40 comics (in not that great of shape) at the local comic shop. I took their first off of $60 cash. The little research I did assured me they were getting the better deal but I didn’t want to make a career out auctioning them individually. If his books are less than 25 years old you don’t have to lose any sleep over recycling them.
We have lived in a very small house for over 23 years so decluttering is a way of live, but I have been happily rewarded with a few saved items, particularly nice children’s toys and books. With a 12 year gap between sets of boys I’m glad we didn’t have to rebuild our children’s library, or rebuy Little People, wooden blocks, Brio trains, Lincoln Log, Playmobil and Lego. What survives brothers 3 and 4 will be put away again, and this time it really will be to save them for grandkids!
My mother’s name is Ruth.
No, not the comic book collection! Have you ever seen “The Forty Year Old Virgin”? lol j/k
I need you to come visit my blog, my house and my life. (moaning) WISH I could be a Ruth.
Your MIL is a normal Taiwanese, hoarder woman. Mine still kept some old VHS tapes (Sesame Street show) from the 80′s and wanted to passed them on to another in-law for his children to watch Barney. She still remembered how much she had paid for those tapes. Have to get the best value out of them.
I also love getting rid of things, and feeling that I have a manageable amount of stuff. I like to have an empty cupboard, shelf or drawer in every room.
We are within a couple of years of our oldest going off to college, and while my heart cringes at the thought of her ever moving out, there is also a little glimmer of daydreaming about how I could just leave her room and closet empty, close the door, and be free of a whole room.
My mother is even more of a purger/non-acquirer than I am; one of my three daughters is a “keeper” of things, and it scares me.
[...] little spring cleaning and pre-staging in the girls’ rooms. I have written before about my war on Stuff and Clutter. Despite the general messiness in the rooms, once they were cleaned up, it was clear we are [...]