apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Wow, that is a ton of storage space. I come from a family of hoarders so it's hard not to do it, but I try to go through things and take them to the Brown Elephant or see if my friends want them. I just moved and I have a couple things I will probably try to sell on Craigslist. Paper is a big accumulator for me, so I try to trash old magazines and get the old paper shredder out for old bills, etc. (though mine is broken right now and I'm getting kind of desperate to get a new one so I can get some of this paper out of the house). I try to go through my mail as soon as I walk in the house to weed out the junk mail right away.

I come from a long line of hoarders. It's mostly books, papers, bags and clothing. Growing up with that, I have tried very hard to break the chain. I always have a box for outgoing things. That really helps. We make a habit of bringing things by our goodwill store periodically. I toss junk mail right away. I think the big problem is people don't know what is important since we just have so much of it. Let go. I find that hoarding is emotionally draining. It's expensive, too. I don't even buy books anymore. I borrow them or get them from the library. Life is just better with less.

When my 2 boys have outgrown clothing or toys, we have lots of friends with kids who we can pass stuff on to. Sometimes having a friend in mind who would appreciate a toy (or grown-up treasure) makes it much easier to let go of a thing.
I regularly have a Sal's Army bag in the works for clothing or other household stuff that won't fit with a friend or is just too worn for me to feel okay about passing it. I, too, tend not to buy new books, since I don't feel the need to keep them after I read them. Conversely, I tend to hang on to magazines?! Paper is my biggest hang-up and I would LOVE to have someone stand over my shoulder for a week to help me figure out where it all comes from, what to do with it all and how to let go!!

Hey! Someone's using my 7 sq. ft. of storage space!!

i clean out the house pretty much quarterly... which is totally necessary since I am a thrifter and yard/estate sale girl. I look around and think: do I really love this? If not, I'm learning to part with it. First I take it to our local buy/see/trade boutique and get either cash or store credit (they often take vintage housewares, etc, as well as clothes), then the remainder is back to goodwill. I have a hard time with magazine clutter, however, I'm trying to teach myself to pull out the pages I like and put in a three ring binder, and recycle the rest.

No outside storage place needed, ever!

Books, books, books. And shoes. I'm planning to move across the country in a year or so, so I have a good incentive to not buy too much. Still, I've got an awful lot of books and shoes.

I just helped my parents clean out their garage, and among other things, we got rid of a dozen boxes of science journals from the 80s, a broken set of drawers, and two extra beds. We craigslisted the beds and left everything else out on the front sidewalk. People took almost all of it.

There's an abbreviation for this in the yarn world: SABLE Stash Aquisition Beyond Life Expectancy.

One of the reasons I am most looking forward to finishing my dissertation and leaving academia is that I'll be able to get rid of the books, CDs and movies that I've accumulated as a music historian who studies film musicals. Heck - if I get rid of the books and such, maybe I'll need fewer bookshelves! A smaller apartment! Nah - there's always something new to read and put on the bookshelves, no matter how many books you get rid of.

I disagree about books being a problem. They're only a problem if you're using free-standing shelves that are really intended for about 10 books and a few dainty decorative objects.

My apt has a wall of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, and it accomodates all the books of two ex-English-major writers (including books by friends that can't ever be tossed). As an added plus, the shelves are along the wall separating my son's room from the living room. (Good noise insulation!)

We're ruthless about giving away one-read-only novels and tossing out-of-date reference books. But can you really live happily without a copy of The Great Gatsby? I think not.

I don't see having an off-site storage unit as a problem. Finding a storage unit was considerably easier and less expensive than finding a well-laid-out apartment in a nice urban neighborhood with sufficient closets to store the holiday ornaments, the husband's hockey goalie equipment, luggage we use once a year but really need when we need it, and certain other projects.

Is it truly morally better to rent a larger home in a neighborhood we don't like -- with greater cooling, cleaning, and commuting costs -- to avoid the horrible taint of using off-site storage?

(I should add that our current apartment is <600 sf.)

I also come from a family of hoarders and have gone the opposite route -- I give or throw away relentlessly. Recently, I have had 2 people in my family die and had to clean out their "stuff". These people lived their lives accumulating and storing massive amounts of things (that they never used, mind you) rather than getting rid of them because they thought they were "valuable". After they were gone, the stuff was just tossed or donated without a second thought. Time and quality of life are immensely more valuable than any crap in the attic, basement or closets.

Also, has anyone noticed the proliferation of commercial storage units has correspoinded with the building of dollar stores on every corner? I think it's the same target demographic. Hoarding is no joke, its truly a disease.

About books...I wholeheartedly agree that an overabundance of books is not a issue. Artwork and books cannot be classified as clutter.

brian ulrich's photography is amazing! thanks for that!

my big issues are books and papers (i'm a writer!) and media (i'm a big music snoot) and mementos (grandparent stuff i can't ever part with) and clothes (which i purge pretty regularly).

my mom and sister are shopaholics, i am to a certain extent, and i've known a lot of clinical hoarders. it's really sad, so i'm constantly keeping myself in check. still, things get out of hand and i get angry at myself - "you don't NEED any of this!" - with promises of going off into the wild to live minimally (yeah right). i also use shopping to treat depression. bollocks!

where's the balance? my closets are full, my desk is overrun, my mother's a hoarder, my sister can spend $200 in a dollar store without blinking an eye, and i simultaneously want to get rid of everything i own and also buy a sectional sofa since i'm an adult and should own a sofa.

right. it's psychological and weird and how does one truly live in a world of constant consumerism without finding themselves with too much of something? i've yet to meet a truly moderate person. do they exist?

Robyn your comment made me so sad.
I have a magazine problem. Those shiny pages, even though I am ready to get rid of them I can't just toss them, what can I do with 5 years worth of dwell magazine?

Brian Ulrich rocks!

About three years ago I started sorting stuff -- throwing out, giving away, giving to Goodwill/Salvation Army. Then a little over two years ago I moved, and got rid of more stuff. Now, I'm doing it again -- all the stuff I thought when I moved I just had to keep and am now finding I'm still not using, is on its way out.

The way to avoid accumulating books you'll never read again is to take them out of the library (thereby also saving $$ for --among other things -- the nice editions of the books you must have).

I'm frankly nervous about advertising stuff for sale on Craigslist and having some weirdo show up -- what have people's experiences been?

At least once a year, maybe twice, I host a clothing exchange with friends. We all clean out our closets and everyone brings their goods to my place. We organize everything, then everyone looks through the clothes, shoes and accessories while drinking champagne and snacking and talking. Everyone finds a few new things, and we bag up everything else and walk it three blocks to the clothes donation bin near my apartment. If feels great getting rid of all that STUFF!

Anyone see that Oprah episode about the hoarders that had their house filled with stuff? Obviously normal Americans don't have issues to that extend, but it was insane!

My boyfriend & I clean out our apartment 4 times a year. That means, our 2 storage closets (where the worst crap piles up), our clothing closets / drawers and desk drawer. The more you do it, the easier it is each time!

Donations: Salvation Army is super easy- you just log online, pick a day and time, and leave your stuff outside. They'll pick it up! ReSale: Craiglist for large items, eBay, and local thrift stores for clothes.

Also, it is committing not to bring more crap in to your home. You have to commit to editing your purchases and really viewing the holes you have in your wardrobe or home BEFORE you go and shop.

My best tip for my desk-top mess (bills, papers, etc?) 1) For important docs that DO need to be kept, have a labeled file for each type. Keep those in order in a drawer. 2) Buy a beautiful dish or basket. (Mine is a silver square with slightly upturned ends made of basketweave wire) All the incoming items go into / onto it. You'll be MUCH more motivated to keep that clean when you wan to see the pretty, decorative item underneath.

Deborah -- All my experiences with Craigslist have been fine. If you are uncomfortable about people coming to see the items, make sure you have a friend (preferably male) there with you to watch / protect. Also, you can show furniture (or smaller items) in a garage or even the driveway instead of letting them into your house!

Deborah, I just had a great experience with freecycle.org (in queens) getting rid of a TV set. I think since the audience is a narrowed down (and local), you'll have better luck than the big net that Craigslist casts. In my case, someone wanted a TV and I was itching to get rid of mine, so it worked out great. Give it a shot and good luck.

I have been fighting for years my deeply rooted idea that if I can put it in a container and organize it--whatever the item is I obviously need to keep.

The most eye-opening moment for me in the last number of years was a friend moving into an apartment in my building with a nearly identical layout to mine--and realizing how spacious and open my apartment could feel if it weren't filled with things I don't need that I hang on to.

Finding storage space for books you read, luggage you use, etc. shouldn't be frowned upon--but I think all of us often end up with unintentional collections that we can pare down or live without.

I used to have stacks of design magazines, but I finally went through all of them and cut out the pages w/ just the things I liked. Then I filed them in a 3 ring binder according to the subject. It is a huge space saver, and time saver when I want to refer to a paticular item.

The only magazines I kept intact were my collection of Nest, which I just can't part with.

I kinda have the other problem, I am an organizing freak, so much so that it gets in the way of my productivity. Since I am in school and work part time (sometimes from home) I spend a lot of time at my apartment. I can't live with clutter so I am always taking time out of my day to organize and reorganze my crap until it is neat enough to work in (which it never is). I am always throwing stuff away. But I guess if I had a problem with acumulation it would have to be all my notes, papers, research from school that I just can't get rid of. Who knows when I'll need that paper I wrote about underwater basket weaving!

as a 20-30 something who is still moving around a lot, i used commercial storage to hold items that were dear to me, predominantly furniture, that i knew i would use in the next, larger abode i would live in. i didn't really have a guilt problem with that. a lot of people used to leave that "crap" in their parents' house until they were settled in a home of their own. my parents divorced, both moved into rentals, and there was no "home" to leave things in. my box of childhood toys, the dining room table my father made by hand, the bed my mother grew up sleeping on...those things weren't going to fit into my college apartment, and i sure as hell wasn't letting them go on craigslist. so i spent $480 over a year to keep them until i was ready for them. that's a lot cheaper than going out and buying a antique metal bed and a solid wood dining table from a store.

Since there is 7 sq ft of storage for every person in the US to stand inside secondary storage at the same time. I just find this frightening!

I've had a serious problem with this, going back to 2000. I've been battling it in various stages over the past few years. A couple years ago, I hired a cleaning crew of 5 who spent 4 hours in my small one bedroom to come through and just throw tons of crap out. I todl them if it was on the floor it could go. They also misunderstood and took all my dishes and pots and pans. And lots of other stuff they kept for themselves. Aside from 2 or 3 items, it's amazing how little I missed it. I've started reaccumulating, and so I've got a friend coming over tomorrow to just do a major purge. I'm hoping it'll be enough to get my place in order.

Here's an incentive: You can donate up to $5,000 a year and not trigger an IRS audit. Now, you do need to value your donations appropriately - there are guidelines on-line. But, if you do it, you get both more space AND money back on your income tax!

There are also people at work who don't have a lot so I'll offer them larger items in good condition. Since they're my friends they don't see it in a negative light - sometimes they keep things, sometimes they give it to their kids. You'd be amazed how happy folks can be getting an old but still viable PC!

Housing Works is insanely picky on furniture donations. Fortunately, there are lots of other places.

wende in phoenix and lindsey kathleen: I think you both provide great examples of how off-site storage can be used well. If you live in a small space and have things you use only a few times a year, renting storage makes sense. The same applies those who know they'll be moving to larger spaces and will be able to use the treasures in the storage locker.

But a lot of what's in storage lockers is not this sort of thing. It's just all the random stuff that won't fit in the already stuffed-to-the-limits house.

And I'll disagree that books can never be clutter - and this is from someone who loves books and owns a lot of them. But when someone has no room for the books, is storing them in a way that makes the home a fire and tripping hazard, can never find the books he or she wants - then there's a clutter problem. There are all sorts of ways to move books along to new homes.

Some of my favorite ways of getting rid of excess stuff (for myself and my clients) are used bookstores, my local thrift shop that supports programs for seniors, Freecycle, and groups that collect clothes specifically for those entering/re-entering the workforce.

I am working on clearing out my basement which is where I keep my "storage" items. It's just such a shame to have a small home with a full basement and not finish at least part of it to add to my living space, but instead to use it to store stuff I don't even remember I have. I can attest to the fact that it feels GREAT to get rid of the clutter.

I used to have a family member who was a hoarder. it's very difficult for the people who have to live in the same home. The hoarder's sheer metric tonnage of STUFF takes over everything. Especially when the hoarder thinks of him or herself as a "collector" and claims all that junk is hugely valuable--although you don't see them ever actually trying to sell any of it.

There's a show on the BBC channel about two women who come in and clean up a house that belongs to people who are, basically, hoarders and completely filthy. I've only caught the show twice and I was horrified. That's just mental illness.

I'm one who tends to accumulate stuff, but my husband and I have been thrown into "purge" mode by the anticipated arrival of our first child this July. (We need an answer to my sister's question, "Where are you going to put this person?")

We went through all of the books from college and grad school, have saved those we'll use, and have made a ton of money (really!) selling the rest on half.com. I disagree that one can't have too many books. When we're having to decide between having a place to put our child's crib and keeping books we never read, there's really only one answer.

We are literally going through every shelf, drawer, closet, and room in our apartment and removing things that haven't been used in years, that we forgot we owned, or we just don't like; anything that can't be sold will either be donated or given away on Freecycle. Then we're working to store the remainder in a more compact way. Some things like heirlooms just can't be tossed, but they can be kept more efficiently.

I also reduced my decorator/design magazine collection to one 3-ring binder full of ideas I might actually use. Saved a ton of space.

I personally have a thing for tables. I recently purged two from my collection of six. The other four I just can't live without. Otherwise it is all things typical: books, random scraps of paper, more books, clothes, fabric (I'm a faux quilter, all talk no action)...

My worst worst habit is collecting hobbies and then having no follow through. I have a keyboard, endless fabric/quilting supplies, a whole crapload of scrapbooking stuff I will never use, jewelery making stuff, tons of DIY crap, annnnnd did I mention all the stained glass equipment I never use?