unclutter | Weekend Uncluttering

fred_mouse posting in

How has your weekend uncluttering gone? Did you go all out, and achieve many things, or did you keep it slow and steady and just deal with the basics/one small thing?

Me, I spent yesterday taking kids to assorted training and giving two of them driving lessons, and if I had spare energy I don't remember doing anything with it, but today I have sorted small areas, such that there are several areas clean! I didn't find anything new to get rid of, but I did move several previously identified items to the box in the front hall that will be leaving Real Soon Now. These include coat hangers that don't match (How do these keep turning up? I've been throwing these out at least 5 years!), an IKEA zip up box that used to hold yarn (how good is it that I've used enough yarn to be able to reconcile the boxes to n-1), and umm, Stuff (I'm not going to look. That way leads to changing my mind). I also downloaded two digital cameras, discovering photos from 2-3 years ago. I've done about half the first pass through, deleting the really hopeless ones, and kind of grouping the others together. Still need to work out how to classify them so that I can find them (this is the first pass setting up of iPhoto on that account).

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From:

hooloovoo_42

I am currently undertaking the ultimate in uncluttering. Bro, SiL and I are attempting to clear Pa's house in order to sell it. He's currently living elsewhere, but has to move and we need to sell to raise capital.

He's owned this house for almost 17 years, but before that, lived in the house where I was born for years. During that time, we cleared out my grandparents house and a lot of family heirloom stuff arrived.

Pa is a hoarder. He also bought a whole bunch of stuff. And then forgot he had it and bought more of the same. The 3 bedroom house is basically absolutely stuffed. A whole load of it is just junk and can go to the tip. Some of it is saleable and is being boxed up for resale. Some can go to the charity shop and a small amount is stuff we want to keep - of which some is of family value. We have found assorted things that are up to 200 years old and belonged to various ancestors.

Bro and SiL have been at this for a couple of weeks, but I'm now available to help out. We have shifted possibly half the clutter, but there's still more than you can imagine left. In the last 2 days, we have taken 8 car loads to the tip, 3 car loads to a storage unit and 2 more carloads to the charity shop.

Sorting through things to find the 2 pieces of paper or small envelope of baby photos, or my uncle's birth certificate, or a letter from my father's headmaster, or an article from the student newsletter about Pa is massively time consuming. As is just emptying the seemingly endless boxes of electronic components, and moving the chests full of electronic equipment (Pa taught electronics, amomgst other things).

Bro & SiL are off to London for a couple of days and I will continue. On Tuesday I have a locksmith coming to sort out the back door, so we can get into the back garden. He will then cut off the lock on the garage, so we can see the extent of the junk in there. I can only imagine that most if it will be seriously affected by damp and will mostly just be fit for a skip.

One of the fun finds today was a notebook from around the time we were born that included lists of words that we had learned at various points and Ma's notes on teaching us to read. And a set of transparancies of Christmas with the grandparents the year Bro was a year old.

From:

tanaqui

(now in the right place)

The kind of project is so hard to do! I had to do something similar when my mum died, except she'd been in her house 35 years. She also had some hoarding tendencies, although related to never saying no to anything that was offered to her rather than buying new.

There's just So Much to work through, isn't there? And so much that needs to be looked at carefully, just in case you do find those fascinating items you want to keep.

So I shall be cheering you on! Sounds like you've already made an excellent start -- best wishes for the rest of the project (and a speedy sale and good price at the end of it.)

From:

hooloovoo_42

Today I spent 5 hours sitting in Pa's computer room, working through piles and boxes of papers, receipts, software and more CDs-off-the-front-of-magazines than you can imagine. I filled 6 large bin bags - 4 paper and 2 of plastic cases. I found his birth certificate, a photo of my Grandma and her sister when they went by ship to Australia in 1963, letters from the solicitor regarding the distribution of Granny's estate. I took about 80 VHS tapes and probably about 100 cassette tapes to the tip.

And you can barely notice a difference. That was about 1 shelving unit of half a dozen.

From:

tanaqui

Yikes -- that sounds really tough! But it is some impressive progress: those VHS tapes and cassettes are GONE!

And I'm sure I don't need to tell you that if you keep chipping away at it, it will get done eventually. :-) I found it helpful to keep shifting my focus from one part of the house to another, if you can do that/it works for you.

Good luck with the next chunk of progress, keep us updated so we can cheer you on, and don't forget to give yourself a pat on the back and a reward for what you've managed so far.

From:

hooloovoo_42

Today I had to be at the house by 8.30 to let a locksmith in. We can now get out of the back door, to be engulfed by brambles. I spent half an hour hacking at the jungle to make a path to the back gate.

Another full day working in the computer room. Another 8 bags of paper and plastic cases. Another 480 cassette tapes and more floppy disks than I can count (there are still another 2 shelves of disk boxes to go at!

32 A5 box files emptied of assorted instruction manuals, receipts and program CDs plus at least half a dozen A4 ring binders full of papers.

Notable finds include a photo of a group including Pa in his last year at school (1953) and a photo of Grandpa's school cadet corps (1918), plus Pa's photo album from school age to graduation. The last few pages have groups including Ma. I also found a cut throat razor, but I don't know which of my ancestors it belonged to (most likely my great grandfather, but there's no inscription on it).

Apart from the stuff for the tip, we have boxes for "Important family stuff", "Keep", "Charity Shop", "Sell" and "Other". The charity boxes are multiplying and the "Other" box has collected about 2 dozen pairs of assorted reading glasses. I think there must be a pair on just about every horizontal surface in the house! There's enough stationery to open a fairly large store and we could go into competition with the Charity Christmas Card shop this year.

I haven't moved from a room approx 10'x 7' for the last 2 days, but there's still at least another half day to do tomorrow before I go back home. I should be training tomorrow night, but I don't know if I'll have the energy!

From:

tanaqui

I'm glad you found some nice things like the photos in amongst the clutter, and it sounds like you made some impressive progress. (It's just there's so much....) I hope this morning's sort-through went equally well and that you're not too tired when you get home for your evening plans.

From:

hooloovoo_42

Training was cancelled, so I stayed. Bro came over in the afternoon and we spent some time looking at the photo albums, before we carted 2 halves of a wardrobe downstairs whilst laughing hysterically (not the wisest combination). Bro knows so much about military uniforms that he was able to date many of the pics of Grandpa in WW2 from the style of what he was wearing.

We also found a book both of us had been searching for. Pa's cousin was a famous professor of History and wrote a book about the 21st Army Group. Bro grudgingly let me bring it home to look at on the promise of taking it back next time I go.

Having moved the wardrobe, we moved the bed and found MORE boxes. These turned out to be a treasure trove. A photo album with pictures of my grandparents' wedding, a box of stuff from Pa's time in the OTC/ Territorial Army and an envelope full of his school reports from age 5 to 18. Now that I'm home, I've just read through them all.

For the first time, I'm beginning to see actual progress. Bro reckons we've taken at least 30 car loads to the tip/charity shop/storage space, but are probably only about 30% through. For all the junk, maybe 1 or 2% of stuff is of any meaning, but it is so amazing to find it.

I got home at 11pm and really need to get some sleep before work tomorrow!

From:

fred_mouse

That is an amazing amount to have got done in that time, and it is good to hear that you are finding some absolute treasures to validate the effort of sorting.

And yay for seeing some progress!

From:

tanaqui

I'm really glad that you found some lovely meaningful treasures amongst the junk. Also hooray for seeing actual progress! I think you're doing amazingly well, even if it doesn't always seem like it when you're in the middle of it. Good luck with the next session.