It's easy to say, "Clear your spaces, get rid of your things and clear your clutter." it's another thing to actually do it. We are practicing what we preach here at At:Chicago and while packing to move, we are attempting to thin down our clutter... we mean our stuff... we mean our things... we mean our... ability to click through the jump to see a few simple rules we use when trying to detach ourselves from tangible things.
Clearing The Clutter & Taming Your Inner Outer Packrat
This set of 4 bird prints have hung together as a set for several years now. It's not that we don't love them, but we might enjoy the change of something new.
As we mentioned earlier... we're moving. And in an attempt to make the move as painless as possible we are getting down and dirty with our packrat habits.
So check out the 6 tips we have when it comes to deciding if it should be packed... be trashed... or be donated?
While we love all of these pieces, we feel they will be too small of scale for our new place. In our current mid century abode they fit right in, but in a room with high, high ceilings, we think they might get a little lost.
Sarahrae's Household Clutter Elimination Rules:
1 - Do I like it?
Do I love it?
Do we use it?
How often?
Does it hold real sentimental value?
Can I replace it easier than I can pack, relocate and store it?
Would I like something else instead?
We boxed up our collection of old pharmaceuticals and vintage game pieces, most of which came from grandparents. None of them remind us of a pastime with our Grandparents, so we think it's time to let them go to a new home.
It's not an easy process to objectively look at the things in your home. Most of "our stuff and things" had hard earned money spent on them or were a good idea at one point in time. Being able to sit down and go through each of the rules really puts your goals, perspective and peace of mind front and center in your thinking.
We started this project last fall when the pine cones all fell. A year later we still haven't finished things up, so even though we like the look, they too will find a new place to live (like the upcoming garage sale).
If you need a little help, check out the Fall Cure pages for each city. There are wonderful ideas and motivational photos on each of the following sites:
Comments (12)
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ahh i love those bird prints.. you may send them to.....
animalhouze
c/o ******* *****
**** * ******* ***
Tucson, AZ ***** :)
view animalhouze's profile
Oh that Easter Egg! I had a purple one, It plays Here comes
Peter Cottontail when you turn the handle, Now I wonder what happened to it. I should have kept it.
view Kate (NC)'s profile
When in doubt, throw it out.
- Every season I take some time to sort through the material items that I no longer use or care about. It helps to find a large brown box and place it by your door - over a weekend I fill it up and then donate all of the items to The Brown Elephant. I have never had any regrets about anything I have gotten rid of. I feel that when you let go of old items , you make room for new things. To much clutter weighs you down.
view watersedgechris's profile
I've now become quite dedicated to not owning more than we can actively use in our current space. If I absolutely have to purchase something new, something 'old' must leave or be re-purposed elsewhere.
view wig3000's profile
Ideally, of course, you'd ditch whatever you're going to ditch before you move.
In practice, you may find that things that you thought were great aren't so much in the context of the new place. So you're likely to throw out plenty of stuff after you move.
Or at least, that's how it works for me. As hard-nosed as I try to be about tossing things pre-move, it's when I'm unpacking that I'm least sentimental/most objective about my stuff. It's just one long afternoon of thinking "why did I drag that piece of junk here for?"
Anyway, once you start to empty them in the new place, you might want to set aside a couple of the packing boxes for yet more stuff to toss/donate.
view MollyNYC's profile
Put those bird prints and old game pieces on eBay and I'll buy them!
view artymoi's profile
re: "When in doubt, throw it out"
I can never get past the issue of *my* decluttering then being a contribution to a landfill.
Some stuff I just can't bear sending to uncertain fate on the shelves of a thrift store, and Craigs List and/or eBay is pretty much a full time job.
view patrick (the other one)'s profile
I think you will regret getting rid of the bird prints....you said "its not that we don't love them". I'm not trying to encourage clutter though!
view LaurieLu's profile
Hey, Tucson!--come on over and help me part with my beautiful clutter!
view jen_g's profile
jen_g.. I'm down!! :) hehe.. i'll bring my beautiful clutter if you bring yours!! swap? :)
view animalhouze's profile
but those bird prints are so pretty, i'm sure you can find SOMEWHERE to hang them. kitchen? bathroom? by the entry door?
view *heather leaf*'s profile
I am with MollyNYC. We just moved a month ago. Tried to do a thorough decluttering before we did. Now, as we unpack (going slowly due to work and travel schedules) we have a brown box by the door (as also suggested by someone above) and when we can't find a place for something, it goes in the brown box. The brown box will eventually go to GoodWill.
Things that seemed soooo cool only 2 months ago in the old place (including old clothing items), don't seem so fab now that we are making a fresh start in the new place.
view puigirl's profile