doesn't it feel good..

It helps, rather than looking at the mess and clutter and dirt, to visualize how nice it will look all cleaned up.

I'm still in the throes of declutter..probably will be for a while..
I'm finding that my desire to SELL things really slows me down..i used to just pack it up and take it to a charity..but attempting to sell things on craigslist..the things are still HERE..and still in my way..
I may have to stoop to giving things away again..just so i can be free of it..one more week of listing things..maybe..and then they go..or else..if they haven't sold..pack em up and send them off..on their way

Everytime I watch that show Clean House or (even worse) the one with the British ladies..How Clean is your House...I get the urge to declutter. Anytime my house gets out of control, I just turn one of those shows on, and get busy making sure I don't end up being a candidate for Niecy Nash or one of her counterparts to show up at my house!

I LOVE her..that is one craaaaaazy woman

I like the idea of saving time to put the other things away or get rid of, because at times I get like that and if I have to go fix dinner or something I don't want to go back and it will take me time the next day or even the next. I am going to do that next time. I don't have a problem with dropping things off at GW, but when it comes to figuring out where I want to put the things that I want to keep and totally haven't finished I have a problem.

One thing I got from another housecleaning website- when you begin a project such as cleaning a closet, allow a full hour at the tail end to put everything you took out away. I "modified" that to say-no matter what I do, it must look okay by the time I finish, so allow some time at the end to stash the mess.

mitchdesj , oh, I need to get the urge!!

I keep looking at the *under the batroom sinks* areas and thinking they really need a good going through. I have to STOP buying toiletries. Body lotions shower gels...etc, my weakness!

I love this forum too...it motivates me:-)

Hi Mitch! Funny, those are exactly the things I'm going through right now; kitchen and dining room. I had to...realign...some space because I bought a small appliance I wanted to stash. In order to do it, I had to make some room, so out it goes. I have added incentive, as the DAV truck is coming by on Friday which helps, and it's Spring of course!

My kitchen timer is next to my computer, so I think I'll do a 15 minute swing and fling (or put away) and see how many it takes me to see the top of my desk...

my urge continued till yesterday, I couldn't be stopped.

Today, I flew to Dallas to join DH for the weekend so it will be nice to stop
my decluttering blitz, I'm pooped. But happy with the results.

That de-clutter guy on Oprah says to take 10 minutes (just 10) every day (EVERY DAY) to sweep up the stuff that's not where it should be. After you get your house in order, 10 minutes a day will probably be a snap. I'm definitely not there yet, because in addition to de-cluttering, I have a couple more organization projects. But, I keep a tub that I carry around when necessary and scoop up stuff, then take it to a place where I can sort through it, tossing, filing and putting away. It's important to get right to it though and that's why limiting yourself to 10 minutes (plus the sorting and filing) is doable.
I could probably toss about 4 or 5 boxes of stuff that I've sorted through and seemed to think I needed to keep or organize into other projects. If I had the nerve, I'd toss them all this week end without even looking in them and will probably never know or care about the stuff in the future.
Can you tell, I'm getting that frustrating urge to simplify and remove excess from my life!?

I've been forcing myself to do this lately: Instead of a tub to sweep up stuff that's not in it's place, I grab whatever I can carry in my arms and redirect it immediately in it's proper place, even if it means walking all over the house, it saves an extra step of having a tub of stuff that still needs sorting through at another time.

When I was preparing to move, I ended up with 4 large shoe boxes of assorted small things and I just got around to sorting through those last weekend; half of it got tossed and the rest went to it's proper place, such as office supplies, change, needles and thread, etc...

sometimes we are not in the mood for quick decision making, hence the procrastination of gathering all that junk in a bin or box to sort through later.

I'm trying to be better at snap decisions, instead of creating an extra step in the decluttering process. I tend to have a short attention span, so I have a bad habit sometimes of stopping my decluttering one step short of the finish line.

When my daughter got to the age where she'd drag things everywhere and still too young to take direction to pick up & put away, I got into the habit knowing exactly what room/area in the house was I going to next, and making sure I was carrying something to be put away in that room, or put away on the way to that room.

After doing it consistently for a short while, it became an immediate brain reflex to pick something up.

Over time, I've kind of designated spots in my rooms where I "collect" objects that don't belong in the room. When I leave that room, I pass by the collection spot, pick out what goes into the room/area I'm going to next.

It's like I'm always picking up & cleaning, but not really spending the time doing it. Also, I commit myself to correctly putting things away when I put them away.

On another note, I admit my computer desk can fall into disarray REALLY fast. When I notice the workspace is testing my nerves, I make myself correctly put away 3 items before I allow myself to check email or get on the computer. Over the course of a day or 2, my workspace gets cleaned up without a real invested block of time.

The key point is putting things away CORRECTLY and ALL THE WAY. If that means making a special trip to the basement to put away the hammer I drug out last week...I do it. If that means something needs to get put back on a high shelf, I commit to doing it.

It takes so much less time to put something away correctly the first time versus moving something from 1 dumping spot into another dumping spot, and making a nomad out of it.

I can honestly say I don't have any object in my house that doesn't have a designated home. If I don't have a proper place to house things, they don't belong in my house.

Anyway, that's what I do.
Gayle

I think for me, it is that I'm kind of a cluttery procrastinator a good deal of the time, or just pooped out after a long day or weekend at work, but on a basic level I know I keep too much stuff and don't need the half of it. So, when I have those moments of clarity, and I can "see" that I don't need something--like I've got on new vision glasses--then I can deal with it and I want to make it right, right then.

I also do the 3 things or 10 things deal--I will sweep the table top or desk top that I can't face, into a box, and just deal with 5 things, or whatever, a day until it's all done.

I tackle what ever tabletop or surface is in my range. My husband thinks I'm crazy when I go into the house to get something like my gardening gloves and end up taking ten minutes. I swear he thinks all of those things he leaves laying around walk back to their assigned spots by themselves. Spring is my best time of year for this. I seem to have a neverending supply of energy, or it may be that I know that summer is coming and I never get anything done when it is hot outside.

Unfortunately, the bug/urge has left me, I need another jump start......... I had some time to spare on monday and just could not get started.

I did make lists though............ of things TO DO ,
in the decluttering department.

Clutter is my big problem, not dirt. Sometimes I just say to myself, "You don't need to clean this room, just put some things away." I'll grab things and put them in their proper storage place. If I can't find a storage place for something, maybe I don't really "need" it and it can go in the garbage.