You Are Organizing Your House Wrong

What is your biggest struggle when it comes to keeping a clutter-free home?

My hardest thing to declutter are things from my "old self." Hobbies, crafts, projects I used to do. It feels like I'm letting a part of myself go.

I struggled with my large stamp collection which I had for 50 years!!!! Finally i found a stamp club which will use it to teach students about stamps. I felt better that it was going to be put to good use. Another item that was hard to part with was my late husband's beloved golf clubs and equipment. Then I found a golf pro who teaches teens to play the sport. He was going to give the items to his promising students who could not afford them. My husband would have loved that. Last thing that was very hard was disposing of a lifetime of photos. It took weeks of work and lots of tears, but the collection of 10 photo boxes were reduced to 3. All what are left are the photos that mean the most to me.

one thing that helped me get started about 13 years ago - - we were being evacuated in 2 hours due to wildfire, not knowing if we would have a home to come home to. Hubs and I walked around our house and asked "could I live happily without this?"... The answers were resounding YESSES, and we ended up leaving SO MUCH. We had one car-full of stuff (and almost forgot clothing). It was a FREEING experience!!! and when we did get home, we purged! I sleep so much better now without all the STUFF. Good channel - love watching!

Your tips at the end for "Would I buy this?" and "If a fire burned this down, would I feel relieved?" is helping me enormously to clean out my parents' estate. Thank you.

I have a hard time getting rid of older things since manufacturing went utterly to shit. I have clothes in a range of sizes (because I do fluctuate) and I feel bad about getting rid of any of it because the stuff in the stores or online is terrible now.

I have tried to clear out my basement for many years. At a convention I decided I would get rid of 1 thing a day. It has been magical.

Something else to ask yourself is "if a friend came over and said they really loved something of yours, would you hesitate to simply give it to them?" If you'd thrust that thing into their hands immediately, then you should probably just get rid of it (or find that friend.)

Getting rid of stuff while married is like trying to get rid of a drug habit while hanging out with druggy friends.

1-Open shelving-OMG, yes! I've been saying for years that if it's open I have to dust it and that's a no. 2-About 10 years ago my brother & I had to move my mom into a retirement community. She went from a 5000 sf house to a small 2 bedroom apartment. We told her we were putting everything in storage that she could not take with her and due to her early stage of dementia at the time, she was fine with that. He and I then had to go through said 5000 sf house which was full of stuff. It wasn't a hoarding situation, just many years of stuff she did not want to part with especially after my dad died. It was also stuff she had also "saved" for us to have one day. Well, neither of us wanted what she had saved. I said then that I would NEVER do this to my son and went home and began the great declutter so my he would never have to go through what I did. Several years later we had to move her into a 1 room skilled nursing facility and had to get rid of the stuff in her apartment and once again, I came home and did it again. I was brutal. What I have has to be (very) useful or truly bring me joy. What I did not know was that when I did this so my son would not have to, I was doing Swedish Death Cleaning. I highly recommebd it. Your kids don't want most of your stuff and I now ask my son about certain things just in case he does and if he doesn't, it's out of here.

I use to move a lot. A question I always asked myself when deciding to buy something was "Do I LOVE this enough to move it?" If the answer was no, I would take another moment to enjoy it and then put it back on the shelf.

I have to learn to just appreciate things without bringing them into my home!

Someone mentioned trauma & not wanting to let go of pieces of yourself, memories of loved ones that are no longer with us. 💥 💥 It's nice to look over and be reminded of them.❤️ Some things are a compulsion. Can't toss a really nice jar or throw away veg seeds. 🙄 (I do grow a lot.) Also, I like to be as independent as I can. I was taught that "it's better to be safe" than sorry, that being prepared & not wasteful was being responsible. Difficult times are perennial, there's no escaping them, & my family taught me what they learned going through them. We coasted through the lockdown/ shortages, & toilet paper panic. 😁 I don't think I got enough credit for that! 😄 Thanks again for "If I had a fire...?"

Your channel is great! I get so annoyed when people buy me stuff, because clearly, they are not listening to me when I say I'd rather take a trip, go to an event, go to dinner etc with family and friends. We have a houseful of "thoughtfulness" and it seems to multiply instead of shrink. It's deflating

Alternatively, put things in a basket on open shelves, which creates a sort of drawer situation without having to find new furniture.

Open shelving works for people like me who forget about things if they can’t see It. I do agree though that the dust is annoying

I don't keep friends that are jerks. That's more stressful than clutter.

My biggest challenge with this way of doing things is that my brain is very much the “out of sight out of mind” type. If something that isn’t used daily is in closed storage it will never be used at all and forgotten about. I may even accidentally buy another forgetting I own it. So for me, anything I want to make an actual part of my life either needs to be out and about or share closer storage with necessities items so l’ll be running across it regularly. Books I want to actually read need to be shelved in my office or bedroom. Board games I want to play need to share a cabinet with video games or something else I do more regularly etc.

Our rule is - we keep what we need, use & love. If it does not fit in one of those categories, it does not come into our home. It took time, but our family & friends now understand that we don't want gifts. We do experiences instead.

I like the idea of “what if there’s a fire?” That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking recently! The decision is easy now.🐇