I'm sure most of you have heard of him, he's on TLC's Clean Sweep and he's the author of several books, one of which I have checked out of the library. It's called It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff. The premise is de-cluttering your home/office/garage or what have you. The reason I got this book was because we have a small home and too much stuff. The hubbs and I have lived here for 6 years and have accumulated tons of stuff. I'm not a good housekeeper and have struggled for many years in that department. Since having Baby J, I've turned it around somewhat, but my sewing area is a wreck, the "office" to put it lightly is a mess, and the kitchen seems to be a catch all for all things that don't have a 'place'. I love my hubby dearly and he's a very neat person, but he likes things. He still has every CD he's every purchased (think 250 or more) + he loves movies, so he has at least 100 DVDs. He also loves history and has a Master's in it so he has lots of books and movies and what not that pertain to his teaching. So, what am I getting at? Well, it's time to get this stuff out of here. I'm tired of my clutter, his clutter and the kids' clutter. It's all too much! We only have 900sqft on any given day to live in. With 4 humans roaming around, that's ends up being a lot of stuff we need.
The good thing in reading this book is realizing how much stuff we think we need. Tonight the hubbs went through all of his DVDs and has so far gotten rid of a large stack of them. This has been very hard for him and I'm so proud. He also went through all of mine and got rid of 75% of them. We agreed that if we want to see them again we can just rent them from Netflix.
My mom and I are planning a garage sale this Friday, if the weather permits. Whatever the hubbs doesn't want to put on DVDSwap will go in the G-sale. Later this week I'll be posting my hints for having a top-notch garage sale that will make you some serious cash :)
We have a long road ahead of us but it will be so rewarding at the end. I'll keep you all posted on our progress as we go through the house and garage.
What are the areas in your home that tend to get cluttered? Do you collect anything that you could pare down?
Happy Easter everyone :)
My husband is in a band and really into music so we have not only CDs (thousands, possibly?) but also records, old tapes, and piles of instruments, stereo and recording equipment, you name it. I have lots of sewing & embroidery stuff, but it's been really pared down to what I actually use. I still have too many books, but at least they fit on shelves now- we even have extra shelf space, gasp. We used to have way too much kitchen stuff but the last two moves helped us pare that down drastically and now we even have a couple of empty cabinets in our kitchen. Same with cleaning supplies, toys, and condiments in the fridge. We live in an older house with small closets, so keeping things uncluttered is a must. One of the things that helped a lot was getting a shredder- goodbye, ten-year-old bills and bank statements! Next up I'd like to scan the photos from my way too many photo albums and put the originals in boxes where they'll take up a lot less room.
ReplyDeleteKira,
ReplyDeleteIsn't it funny that when you finish de-cluttering 1 pile, the next one is just staring at you in the face? :)
Luckily we have moved a few times and every time we move we get rid of stuff, so that has helped us. Although, we do have a lot of crap that we could get rid of...I always think, what if I need it again someday and don't have it :)
ReplyDeleteBridgette,
ReplyDeleteDave thinks that way too and I try to tell him that we can go buy it again if we need it. Most of the items haven't been used in well over a year and I don't forsee us using it again. We can do with out ;)
Lacey, that's how we managed to get rid of most of our DVDs and a lot of books- there's always the library if we really truly must watch/read them again. Now all of our DVDs fit into the two drawers under the coffee table.
ReplyDelete