Backstory:
So, I get really attached to objects. Like insanely attached. I could not for the life of me decide to get rid of all this junk. My mother would bring me boxes and boxes of her old junk that I wasn't allowed to throw away because it has sentimental value to her, or so-and-so relative owned it.
I'm not talking about heirlooms, I'm talking about crappy ornaments or weird decorations that I had no use for, not in this life or the next.
Then there is also all the junk I've gotten. Old candle sticks, old long abandoned art projects, books and books, and not even good books, just books, books that I would never read. Yet I would always have a hard time getting rid of stuff. Oh it's so wasteful to buy stuff and throw it away. Oh I can't get rid of this it's so ugly but it's practical. Yes I could buy a nicer, better one but this one has to break first.
So I've moved a fair bit in my lifetime. Each time just before the move I'd "declutter", and I'd get rid of 2-3 bags of stuff. But it was never enough - There was always this clutter around me and in my head.
The last time we moved was in 2016 and we've been here the longest. Last Monday I thought to myself, fuck it. I'm going to declutter my apartment, when we moved, when shoved everything somewhere and called it a day. Now it was time for me to declutter, organize and don't have this looming pile of mess hanging over my head.
How I did it.
During work hours I'd have Marie Kondo's show playing in the background, it served as inspiration, I made a plan, instead of doing it her way, I know I wouldn't stay motivated doing it like that. So I decided to do each room for itself.
Monday was the Laundry Room. Easy room, to get into the groove. I store cleaning products and misc there. I filled a bag full of odds and ends that we weren't using, including a broken tent that was just there, and a fish tank from that fish we had 5 years ago that died. I rearranged all products, little odds and ends were put in small plastic boxes (screws, nails, tools) It took about 4 hours.
Tuesday was the living room. This was what I thought was going to be the hardest, but honestly it was pretty simple. Luckily my SO was sick home from work so I recruited him to help me go over his vast DVD collection. Our bookshelf was completely unorganized and I wanted to go over it and make it look gorgeous! Old school books, DVDs for movies we didn't like, Empty DVD cases, and Games for consoles we didn't even own were thrown into the trash. After a good clean through of the shelves, I rearranged everything, making it look absolutely stunning, special books, DVDs etc got their own shelf where they are proudly displayed in all their glory. This took about 4 hours.
Wednesday was Computer Room.
Now the computer room was rough. We have a huge closet in there that I used an a linen and junk closet, and it was filled with stuff. I had asked my SO to go over his stuff, I was a woman on a mission and I wasn't willing to wait around for him. I pulled everything out of the closet. I folded linens and organized them (By what bed) I threw away 5 broken gym bags! why the hell did I have 5 broken gym bags?!?!?!?!?! I put things on the top shelf that we reach for rarely, and lo and behold, the closet was actually looking really good. There was no longer a risk of a deflated air mattress and pump falling and hitting me on the head.
This took 6 hours.
Thursday was bedroom.
I actually did something different here. Usually they tell you to go through clothing first. I didn't. I left it. When I do clothes I find I run out of steam really quickly. Bedroom was the easiest because of this. I just clean the closets out, threw away a ratsnest of power supplies and cords, and did the same for my knitting stuff.
Friday was bathroom, entryway, and kitchen.
Bathroom was easy, Kitchen was annoying but easy, I had to clean dust grease off the top of the cabinets and put down plastic wrap so I can remove it next time, entryway was just a whole lot of folding and getting rid of orphaned gloves.
All trash went into piles. Straight up trash went into bags, donated stuff went into other bags, waste that needed to be recycled properly were sorted. I also had decided to empty this giant Malm dresser that stored junk. Most of that stuff went into the trash, things that I had no use for that I had previously had a hard time parting with was thanked and thrown out.
On the Thursday I panicked because I didn't have any storage boxes, but decided to wait to buy them, turns out, I didn't need any. I already had what I needed and then some. We did go and buy one nice box for the SO's sentimental items so they would stay safe.
All clutter that I was getting rid of went into one spot. I didn't take any trash down, it helped motivate me to see how far I'd gotten. On the Saturday we took 10 trash bags, 2 boxes of broken electronics, A dresser, an old coffee table and a small cabinet, and a very broken papasan chair to the trash heap. We managed by some miracle to fit it all into our rav4.
Tips, Tricks, and regrets.
- Listen to a good podcast or music. I listened to Hello from the magic tavern while doing this and it made everything go a little bit faster
- Stock up on trashbags, but if you're throwing out bags (LIKE BROKEN GYM BAGS) use them to store stuff in that needs to be organized.
- Set up a to-do list. I put everything that needed to be done in a list before I started.
- Keep hydrated!
- When feeling overwhelmed, I lit a candle and open windows/turn on the fan, has a glass of water (or pepsi) and took a deep breath. I would even try and leave the room I was working in just so I could come back with (fresher) eyes.
- The only thing I regret was not taking before photos.
Benefits
I actually hosted a party at my house on the Saturday evening and I just felt proud, I felt at ease, it was like the clutter in my house had cluttered my mind. Things that I loved and cared about where proudly displayed instead of hidden inside of junk.
It's easier to keep my house clean and tidy and I want to keep it clean and tidy, I feel at ease, I feel at home, and I'm also just proud of myself. Everything just seems a little bit better.
Sorry for how long I rambled on for, I hope this inspires someone. <3
tl:dr; I was a hoardy dragon, unhappy on my pile of trash. I threw out the trash, now my life is better I guess.
Submitted April 17, 2019 at 06:58PM by mattylike http://bit.ly/2Uqjk9U
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