I try to work fast so I don't have time to second-guess what I'm doing!

If I move slowly and thoughtfully, I'm in trouble.

When I was a child and teenager, I kept my bedroom very neat and clean. I used to barrel thru closets and drawers and I threw tons of stuff in the garbage. Once in a while, I wish I had saved certain things, like my stamp collection and my Beatles scrapbook. But most of it I can't even remember. I just remember dragging brown paper bags full of my stuff out to the garbage and having the reward of a nice organized neat room!

Oooooooo -- yes -- sometimes I get a feeling that could be close to claustrophobia!!!

I get very cranky and miserable -- then chug a couple of truffles and tell myself to "get moving!!" Put on music --- and make sure that the DH is out of the house!!!

Thats usually when I realize that I NEED "clear and clean" space. I usually re-orangize and rotate my accessories around the rooms -- and see if I can leave more clear space on a counter or table. Very helpful!!

I just re-organized my jewelery drawer, my undies and my nightgowns/pajamas too!! And I dumped a whole load of old socks etc. into the garbage!!! Really helped!!!

Expecting my mum and sis tomorrow -- they will be staying for two weeks of Serious Shopping!!! LOL!!!

I catch myself at that frequently -- and it was a huge stumbling block before I decided to get with the program and simplify my life.

Like Julie says, working fast enough gives you no time to second-guess. That works for me.

True sentimental value? I err on the side of caution and keep it a bit longer. The other exception is a tuxedo (for men and ONLY if it still fits LOL).

But the "I might need it again" thing? Only if it's worth a lot of money or irreplaceable.

Otherwise, if I haven't worn it in ages and rarely need it, it's gone.

I'm a slow and thoughtful de-clutterer. I've found that I need to evaluate why I've been keeping something. Otherwise, if I'm just clearing space, I'll fill it back up. So far, this method has been working for me.

Gloria

Here's how it goes for me:

The Working Fast Me: I haven't used this for 5 years, I'm getting rid of it.

The Thoughtful and Frugal Me: I haven't used this for 5 years but I should save it just in case I need it or it can be used for a different purpose.

LOL... I think it was the "thoughtful me" that caused my clutter in the first place.

LOL attcha, Julie. Glad to know that somebody else has "two people" decluttering at their house, too! LOL

Yes, I do this too. At first, I am ANGRY about all this stuff I have to go thrrough. At this point, most of the stuff left, I have gone through before and not known what to do with. So I get angry that I have gone through it so many times. And I do get rid of a little more each time. I think I will not want to move this stuff with me next time we move, so I will be getting rid of it at some time. But when I start getting wishy-washy and saying, well... maybe I SHOULD keep this for now...that's when I know I need to stop and come back another time. I don't get the volume out that I used to, but a few more things here and there does help. And these are harder things to get rid of. I don't know when it happened, but I can now walk through my storage closet, and do know most of what's in there. I just am still not ready to part with some of it.

I quit my job last July. In my basement, I have a box of memoes, awards,training certificates, posters and other papers saved over my 26-year career. Tmorrow it will be at the curb with my garbage. All that job will be from now on will be a line on my resume.

I have many shirts that I won't wear out of the house but wear them when I don't want to take a chance on getting my "work" clothes dirty. My new resolution has been after wearing each one of these, it gets washed and goes into the rag pile. So far, so good.

I try to imagine the worst thing that could happen if I got rid of something which is just clutter now but had a reasonable likelihood of being useful in the future.

For example, I now work in a casual-dress environment and by the "if you haven't worn it in a year, get rid of it" rule, I should have given away my expensive business suits a long time ago. But what if I lost my job and had to buy new suits...

Krustytopp said,
But what if I lost my job and had to buy new suits...

How about a compromise? Let's say you keep 3 interview suits per season (summer, winter, spring/fall combined). Keep the most conservative, most timeless, nothing trendy. Keep black and navy for sure. Worse case scenario is you would have to build up a new wardrobe slowly, and wear different blouses or jackets with alternate skirts.

as for grubby clothes: I have two sets--one w/ short sleeves and short pants; one w/ long sleeves and long pants. 1 pair of old, worn-out sneakers.

No more than that. I don't need spares--If they get dirty and i'll need them tomorrow too, well, they're grubbies, right? I let them air-dry, and wear them dirty the next day. Then, I launder them eventually. If they get too horrible, I'll get rid of them, and take my next-oldest/yuckiest jeans, and make THEM the work clothes.

They go in a plastic bin in my closet, not in the dresser. Bcs they're not "clothes," per se, so much as they are tools.

I used to own three pairs of jeans: dressy to wear with a blazer, comfy for casual and 'round the house, and shabby for painting and heavy cleaning. I only had to buy a "dressy " pair once in a while, the others naturally rotated down a notch. And I'd cut patches from the worst pair as I threw it away. The patches were handy in case the shabby or casual pair got worn thru, especially in the knees.

Julie, good points about the suits...probably much of my stuff is outdated (gigantic shoulder pads, anyone?) and would make a poor impression at an interview anyway.

Krustytopp,

Start by purging the gigantic shoulder pad suits. And don't be tempted to keep the skirts. LOL They're probaby dated, too.