Eliminating Excess: Part Four

The hanging rods and shelves in my husband’s closet, though organized and color coordinated, were cram-packed.

Randy’s job requires dressy and casual items. Interests and travel necessitate layers for various weather conditions. He has golf shirts, a handy-man ensemble or two, and memorabilia t-shirts.

Preoccupied with other junk, his closet didn’t register on my eliminating-excess radar.

But my sick-of-stuff symptoms must’ve been contagious.

Or the evidence of my de-cluttering was motivational.

After selecting only a few kitchen items to save, he went to his closet.

The photos tell the rest of the story.

Isn’t he awesome?

 

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Eliminating Excess: Part Three

With my closet, the desktops, and the laundry room efficient and comfortable, I was ready to face the kitchen.

My husband, Randy, is an awesome cook. I’m a decent one. And, consistent with other areas of our lives, our approach and preferences differ.

I’d love to toss out the coffee pot and travel mugs. But, I won’t. He would retrieve them.

Randy could easily discard my pasta maker, cookie molds, and flower-and-heart-shaped bread pans. He won’t. I’d cry.

WE can’t get rid of anything!

Desperation forced me to a solution. I unstuffed the cabinets.

When he came home from work, I said, “Don’t worry. I won’t get rid of anything you want to keep, but I need space to unload the dishwasher. What we don’t use, but want to save, I’ll move into storage. Look through the stuff to see what you want.”

He looked at the items that filled the tabletops. “What kind of storage?”

I assured him, “I’ll label the boxes and keep a thorough inventory of what’s in each one. They can stack in the basement.”

To my delight, and surprise, he chose only a few things for me to store. Everything else went in my Driveway Giveaway.

Wow, that was easy. It can’t get better than this.

But it did.

Can you guess what Randy did next?

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Eliminating Excess: Part Two

Those of you who were Sick of Stuff finished cleaning out your closet and moved to another needy storage area. Right?

Shipshape surroundings produce energy. Often the best way to celebrate one achievement is to let it push you toward another.

After de-cluttering my closet, I moved to a nearby desk. Not yet confident enough to attempt areas that include Randy’s belongings, I stuck with personal places.

The pleasure of using the no-longer-cluttered closet and desktop made me want to continue. I moved to our tiny laundry room. The size of the room implied ease, but it wasn’t. With little to discard and cookbooks overflowing from the kitchen, I stared helplessly at the bulging shelves.

Paralyzed, I told myself, “You can’t stop now.” After all, I hadn’t tackled the kitchen, basement, and garage yet.

The laundry room’s limited space required tough decisions and creative solutions. Decisions made there provided the momentum to continue through other difficult areas.

Tough Decisions and Creative Solutions

After eliminating excess in my closet, the area seemed adequate. My cleared desktop felt spacious. But the laundry room is tiny and cleaning supplies, spare lightbulbs, and laundry-care items belonged there. My ironing board already camps-out in the basement.

I came face to face with the reason I’ve stopped in the past. This is too hard.

At that moment, jumping out of an airplane sounded more appealing than methodically working my way through the laundry room. My plan needed to push beyond: Get rid of stuff. The question was, “When there’s not stuff to discard, how do I make an area feel adequate and user-friendly?”

I recalled the storage system Donna Otto recommends in her book, Secrets to Getting More Done in Less Time. Similar to the method I read about in Sidetracked Home Executive, I knew it was the key to success in the laundry room. It also remedied my reservation about eliminating excess in shared spaces: areas where my husband and I must decide together what should stay and what needs to go.

With renewed enthusiasm, my paralysis ended. I rushed to gather stackable tubs, index cards, and a permanent marker. Each shelved cookbook held valued recipes. Fortunately I resisted the urge to copy and organize all my recipes. The books referred to infrequently went into a tub. As I packed the tub, I recorded each title on an index card. I labeled the tub and card: LR #1. LR told me the contents were from the laundry room. I took the tub to a storage area in the basement and wrote the location of the tub on the 3 x 5 card and filed it.

With relief, I sighed. The laundry room looked better and the cookbooks were easily retrievable.

What should I do next?

Spare light bulbs were moved to a shelf in the entry room closet. No longer crammed full, my laundry room was finished.

Whew! With confidence I looked forward to de-junking my craft area.

How are you progressing?

(The stories you’ve shared through texts and emails are delightful. If you’ve tried to leave a comment in the past but couldn’t, please try again. Settings have been changed.)

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Eliminating Excess: Part One

The Driveway Giveaway would never have happened if I hadn’t been Sick of Stuff.

My friends talked about their need to de-clutter, not their desire to accumulate my excess. I wondered if anyone would come. In an attempt to invite everyone who might want to participate I feared annoying those that wouldn’t dream of carrying my junk into their homes.

Those who plan to host a similar event should know:

• Only ten percent of those invited came.
• I received calls, texts, emails, and Facebook messages from an additional fifteen percent. They loved the idea but didn’t attend. Reasons were schedule conflicts and, “We have too much stuff already.”
• Approximately seventy-five percent of those invited didn’t respond, at all.
• One hundred percent of the Driveway Giveaway guests took more than one treasure home.
• I kept the refreshments simple: bottled, organic lemon-aid and hot-air popped corn.
• The weather was perfect.
• A plan for donating the remaining items, when the event was over, was a huge help.
• I intended to take lots of pictures. In the relaxation and fun of the day, I was sidetracked. There are only a few. Fortunately, a thoughtful mom took this one.

Eliminating Excess: Where Should I Start?

This is what you’ve waited for: the system I used to clear out the storage areas of our home.

How Sick of Stuff are you? The sicker you are, the more effective the method.

You can start anywhere. I’ll ask questions to help you customize the plan to suit you.

1. What area of your home consistently irritates you? And seems (comparatively) simple to complete?

The storage areas of my house seemed to be exploding with stuff. I’d accumulated toys and baby gear for the months my grandchildren and their parents visited, and I was behind on general maintenance. De-cluttering the whole house (or the kitchen) intimidated me. I needed to start where I would see, and feel, results quickly. I began with my clothes closet.

Tired of tripping over my camera case and digging through stacks to find a cami, I returned stashed stuff to its’ appropriate space and tossed out-of-date and rarely-worn clothing. With no need to consult other family members, I was ruthless with my wardrobe. I bagged up discards and took them to a donation drop-off spot the next morning.

Now, when I enter my closet, it’s easy to find what I want and quick to put things away. When I leave, I’m smiling.

Where did (or will) you start?

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Sick of Stuff

I hope you don’t have my habit. When the house is full (guests) and the calendar is crowded (events) I make stacks and cram things into cabinets and closets. At first, it’s bearable. After several months of full and crowded, it’s nauseating.

I’m sick of stuff.

Yea, my house looks neat but the storage areas should be labeled: Danger Zone. You probably wouldn’t get ill if you stepped inside (because you aren’t responsible for the mess.) You might get hurt though.

My symptoms began in my closet. One morning I tripped over my camera bag and tripod while grabbing a pair of jeans. The first annoyance was easy to ignore—and the second. Before long, the sick feeling came often and in lots of locations.

While unloading the dishwasher, does your stomach hurt when you see there’s no cabinet space for all those cups? Have you gripped your husband’s shirt tight when the ironing board you need now holds stacks of homeless stuff?

Neat was deceptive, simply an illusion. I’m on a quest for true order.

That’s right. I’m sick of stuff. Soon it will be gone. I’m sorting through everything.

My daughter told me on the phone this week, “Mom, you do that every six months.”

Nope. Rearranging and tidying isn’t enough. This time is different. I’m not just tossing the junk, I’m getting rid of good stuff. I’m annihilating my excess.

I want less. I want items I use accessible and convenient. Even things too good to get rid of will soon be out-the-door. No more stumbling over surplus.

What will I do with my stuff? Meet me here in a week (or so) and I’ll share my plan. I think it’s brilliant; maybe you will too. 🙂

Top photo: My downstairs desk in need of attention. Bottom photo: My upstairs desk—near the closet where my symptoms and de-cluttering began. Which desk would you rather use?

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