Tag Archives: decluttering

Memoirs of a Downsized Declutterer is here!

By Claire Posted in My Books Tagged ,

Now you know what I’ve been doing during the pandemic since I clearly haven’t been blogging. Memoirs of a Downsized Declutterer is the true story of why and how we had to sell our large paid-off home and find affordable housing in another state, all the while dragging our enormous amount of possessions with us because we didn’t have time to go through it all. There is a happy ending: we now live very happily with minimal clutter in a much smaller house than the one we gave up.

I hope you’ll enjoy this book, especially if you need to either downsize or declutter your life. If you need to do both, this book will encourage you that it can be done, and will show you how to do so. Just click HERE to get started.

Use It or Lose It, Procrastinators

By Claire Posted in Clutter, Personal, Simpler Living, Small-House Living Tagged , , , ,

Have you ever been called a hoarder? It’s possible that you aren’t exactly a hoarder, but you’re a procrastinator.

Procrastinators have a hard time making decisions. They’re afraid they’ll regret getting rid of something, so they just let it sit. Do that enough times and your house begins to look like a hoarder’s home.

If you’re a procrastinator, have you considered that by not making a decision about whether to keep something, you’re actually punishing yourself? You’re preventing yourself from either enjoying the item, or enjoying the extra space you’ll claim by getting rid of it. Plus you have to deal with that internal struggle every time you see it.

If you really used the item, you wouldn’t be debating with yourself about whether to keep it or not; you would keep it and use it. If you never used the item, it would be easier to just let it go, unless something is preventing you from doing just that.

That “something,” most likely, is that you’re worried about whether you or someone you’re close to might need it “Someday,” that mysterious time in the future. Let me tell you now, if you’re keeping it because your kids might need it someday, forget it. When we made our big decluttering effort, I kept certain special things for my kids. As it turned out, none of them wanted what I saved for them! They’re a different generation and they like different things than I do. Plus they aren’t nearly as sentimental as I am so they have no desire to keep things just because Mom saved them.

All of my kids live in larger homes than I do, and none of them keep a lot of clutter. In fact, one is a dedicated minimalist. I’ve learned that anything I give that one’s children is destined for the donation pile before long. I just hope the kids have fun with it before their mom sends it along to the Goodwill.

So I don’t think my kids have the procrastination problem, and I know I’ve mostly conquered mine. If you have this problem, I hope you conquer it, too. There’s enough stress in this world without adding to it by having an internal debate about things, mere things, that we can’t decide whether to keep or not.

Second Thoughts About Decluttering

By Claire Posted in Clutter, Simpler Living Tagged , , , , ,

Yes, I know I said this time of lockdown is a good opportunity for decluttering, even though most thrift stores are closed and there’s nowhere to donate our unwanted clutter. But some items in the news have given me second thoughts.

JC Penney’s has been in bad shape for quite a while and now they are shutting down. Ditto for Neiman Marcus.  Yes, you can buy clothes online, but thanks to the virus, supply lines are down and inventory has been greatly affected. Even appliances aren’t always easy to find now. For instance, people have been buying up freezers to store meat; at the local chain appliance store, there is not a freezer to be found under $2,500.

So I’m thinking we shouldn’t get rid of things unless we already have their replacements. The virus has changed everything and we don’t know what to expect. So let’s hang on to things we might need down the road until we see how things shake out.

Adapting to Self-Isolation

By Claire Posted in Clutter, Small-House Living Tagged , , , ,

Thanks to our current self-isolation, our living room redo has been put on hold. Our chosen businesses for buying new furniture and carpeting are still open, though by appointment only. But with all the economic chaos going on, we hate to order expensive items and then wonder if the American factories we’d be ordering them from will be able to make them and ship them in a reasonable amount of time…or at all. It depends on how they weather the current situation, and how long it lasts.

So we’re living with our current furniture, which is no big deal, but I sure was pumped to get new stuff. Every time I sit down in the living room, I note how the chair creaks, or how the finish on the leather loveseat is kind of beat up. Not that they are in bad shape, really. It’s just that I was so ready for new furniture.

But more important things are going on right now, so it will have to wait. In the meantime, there are a few areas in the house that could use a little straightening. I’m sure I can find a few things that we don’t need anymore. I’ll do those things now, because once we can go about freely again, I’m not going to want to stay inside and declutter, that’s for sure!