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- Help! My magazine clippings have invaded my clutter threshold. The clippings are images of homes, interiors, gardens, decor items, recipes, lifestyle, places I want to visit, and articles.
- In response to your decluttering for your current self, instead of keeping stuff for who you used to be, my struggle is unpublished manuscripts. How do you decide when to throw it all away. The research, the notes, the manuscript itself and the many idea boards?
- I am recovered from an eating disorder and having a range of clothing sizes to account for life’s natural weight fluctuations has been key to my recovery. I have now been recovered long enough that my weight fluctuates minimally, which is different than the initial dramatic fluctuations. so there is no reason for the range of clothes i have. How do I declutter when I’m compelled to keep all these sizes?
- I’ve been doing some great decluttering but as soon as my hubby says ‘ I think we should declutter…’ or ‘our house is a mess we should get rid of stuff’ I lose all motivation! How do I combat this?
- What do you do if your container for a type of item is perfectly filled but then you receive an unexpected gift that you could grow to love, but you don’t want to donate a current favorite just to try it out?
- I want to declutter. I want to get rid of stuff. But since I was a kid I was kinda “shamed” for throwing stuff away.
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I just want to say I love you!
I worked on decluttering for several months in my bedroom, kitchen, LR, and foyer, and made huge progress. I didn’t actually use most of your methods, but I read your books and listened to your podcasts all the time. My home looks SO MUCH better. It’s functional, and it’s easier to keep it straight. When I declutter my stuff, my husband feels internal pressure to declutter his stuff, and he does. I never pressure him to get rid of anything. He’ll do it at his own pace, just like I do.
I love your decluttering questions. They’re perfect. Guilt-free questions that somehow encourage me to declutter and put things away.
I still mostly resist “take it there now.” So far I can mostly afford to, because my kids are grown and out of the house. Mess doesn’t build up even when I’m working on decluttering a bunch of things together. I’ve been able to keep it under control. But I know what to do if I can’t in the future.
I love your container concept. It’s so true, and I’m one of those people who need it pointed out. No guilt, no inadequacy. Just facts.
I love waking up to a clean kitchen and being able to put away my dishes from the dish drain first thing in the morning.
I love your attitude that any decluttering we do at all is progress. Less is success. That’s wonderful!!! Decluttering is dispiriting for me, but your reminder helps.
Now I am tackling our home office. It is a huge, scary job. So very many papers, and they take so long so sort through. Now I NEED your methods, and I am using them. I love the permission to “just look, look, always look” without decluttering anything today. I love the affirmation that even if all I’m doing is getting rid of trash (shredding years and years of old bills and credit card statements), that’s progress. I don’t have to organize all the other papers in the pile too. And if I’m not sure if something is trash – it isn’t. And that’s ok. I’ll hit that stuff when I get to another step. The piles start out so big and scary, but you are right – starting with the trash makes it less intimidating and gets me started.
Thank you so much for the work you do! You helped me, and you never met me. I believe you are doing holy work – helping families function better in their homes; helping people feel better about themselves; providing hope, community, acceptance, inspiration; and gently enabling us to improve ourselves and our homes. Thank you thank you thank you.
My neighbor introduced me to the Podcasts. I listened and tried the “5 minute pickups” first. That was a good place for me to start. My kitchen was a place to walk through, quickly. That became my first major de-cluttering project. I am amazed at the difference that it has made in my life and my husband’s daily behaviors. He has dementia and until I decluttered the kitchen, he stayed in his room and ate all meals in his bedroom. Now, he gets up, goes to the kitchen, makes himself a cup of coffee, and sits at the table and reads his newspapers or magazines. I used the container concept in his bedroom. He LOVES books. They were stacked around the room and were a risk of him tripping and falling. I had 2 matching bookcases built, since there were none that exactly fit into his available space. They replaced tall bookshelves that were a hazard of being pulled over when he would lose his balance and grab them. I got a box and asked about each book, “Do you want to keep this, or can it be donated to the local library.” When a stack of books was dealt with, i thanked him and removed the box of books and donated them as soon as possible.
I am so thankful that my neighbor shared this with me. Our lives have been improved because of the Slob Comes Clean. Thank you.