Weekly (ish) check in

[fred_mouse]

... this was meant to happen on Friday. I am not entirely sure how it is already Tuesday!

Hi Everyone!

This is your check in for the week ending Friday 13th December. Have you found something to declutter? Made a plan that you can implement later? What are your recent decluttering wins? -- big, small, it all counts.

Open to regulars, drive by commenters, and lurkers alike!

Comments

[dame_grise]

I am working largely independently, as Auntie Iroh is tied up with mandatory overtime. We are decluttering/downsizing for both financial and political reasons. This is a household living in fear. I am no disability so cannot get a job at the moment, but I am considering going back to work if I can find something I can tolerate.

However, even with the help of our long-term house guests, the house is quite enough for me for the time being. I have my entire household inventory from my previous marriage/storage to go through, plus an overly large wardrobe, two households of kitchen stuff, and just general packrat clutter to sort through. Also, I am trying to sell/donate a large pile of Auntie Iroh's books.

I find it all very overwhelming. I thought having the house guests would mean I'd have body-doubling help, but I don't. They hide in their (my "old") room all day or are gone doing I don't know what all day.

Apologies, I know that is beyond the scope; I feel overwhelmed and am trying to work through solutions.

<3 this group.

[tanaqui]

I'm sorry you're feeling overwhelmed.

One approach to decluttering that I know a lot of people here find helpful is Dana K White's 5-step No Mess Decluttering.

It's (basically) 1) Trash 2) Easy Stuff 3) Duh Donations 4) If I needed this, where would I look for it (and take it there now) 5) Keep what will fit

I think you get a copy of it if you sign up to her newsletter, but she goes through it in a podcast here:

https://www.aslobcomesclean.com/2021/02/285-my-5-step-decluttering-process-podcast/

She also has a lot of videos online and there's a decluttering basics page with links to various blog posts at https://www.aslobcomesclean.com/decluttering-basics/

(She's very entertaining and funny to listen to/watch and she really gets how hard decluttering can be because she used to be very very bad at it herself.)

[fred_mouse]

This is absolutely not beyond the scope, we are here to support each other. tanaqui has given one suggestion, if that doesn't work for you, we can find other suggestions.

As people have to keep reminding me, it took years to acquire the amount of stuff, it isn't a trivial job to sort through. One item at a time, and if today is a one item day, there is always tomorrow.

Would it help to talk it through with someone who is working on the same thing? Or to find an online body double buddy? Depending on where you are time zones might make that tricky, but we can absolutely find you someone. If not on this community, there are a couple of others I can think of that we can ask.

[the_broken_tower]

One thing at a time. You got this.

- Crane (he/him)