2024 Decluttering - Minimalism thread

[♥ms.pacman♥]

Update - BIL and family came over this weekend and stayed and it was SO AWESOME to have a decluttered house. OMG, i felt like a different person. Everything was easier. I was less stressed. Also, i noticed that DS, DD and DNiece were actually playing together with stuff that DD /DS hadn't played in years - indoor basketball, playdoh, board games, etc. I was gobsmacked! These are kids that usually were on their iPhones 95% of the time...even when they got together couple weeks ago at my MIL's house (which is not only small, but is filled with stuff making it feel even smaller). I could not beleive it. . I guess bc now the kiddos actually had the SPACE to relax, play and could actually see the fun toys & games we had! It was incredible.

I am never going back. I wish i would have realized this sooner!

[georgiegirl]

I’m inspired! Today I cleaned out our drug/medicine/band aid cabinet. We generally save drugs forever (DH thinks they never go bad), but today I tossed some really old stuff…some stuff from 2015 .

I also cleaned out the water bottle cabinet and tossed some old ones that don’t have lids/mouthpieces.

Ds2 (10) loves to purge, and last November he cleaned up the entire playroom mostly on his own (he also went through his desk and DS1’s desk )


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[♥ms.pacman♥]

update - throughout the week i've been able to declutter area near fireplace/ in living room. our living room looks better than it has in years. the cleaning lady came yesterday and was shocked at how orderly our house was, especially the upstairs kids areas! LOL. i feel like i can breathe easier.

the only hard part is DH's ongoing negative comments about it. Even though i'm doing all the work in decluttering, getting kids to declutter, taking things to donation centers, selling my items on poshmark/FB marketplace, and the house is considerably more organized, easier to clean, I can sense he is bothered by it and seems to looks down on it. In that sense, I can't help but feel somewhat defeated I do not know how to handle that aspect. If anybody has advice on how to deal with this sort of thing, i'm all ears.

[echoesofspring]

congrats ms. pacman, it sounds like you've made so much progress! I did not get the decluttering done that I wanted to last year, but we're working through it. One thing we did do was move our furniture around downstairs and I have to say that made a huge difference in how I felt about our house, and in the amount of clutter, there was something about the old layout that made things accumulate in a way they don't now.

the only hard part is DH's ongoing negative comments about it. Even though i'm doing all the work in decluttering, getting kids to declutter, taking things to donation centers, selling my items on poshmark/FB marketplace, and the house is considerably more organized, easier to clean, I can sense he is bothered by it and seems to looks down on it.

This is so frustrating, but I've found my DH is just a little behind me in making decisions about these sorts of changes, has some latent sexism (seems to thing kids clutter is ...my problem), and most importantly sometimes grumpiness/snark etc. are really a defense mechanism. I've seen my DH double down on stuff when he feels threatened by changes I'm making to make myself/my life better. (Recently with some lifestyle/weight loss changes I did - the better I was doing the more snarky comments/questionable food choices he was eating, etc.) When we changed our furntiture layout I spent a lot of time decluttering after it, I was so encouraged by the potential it revealed, I couldn't stop. But DH was basically done with that project once we moved the furniture and def dismissed some of my effort. Now he comments on how nice it is. Hopefully your DH can comes around once he lives in the environment and is more comfortable with the changes.

[mommytoalyssa]

I spent last school year decluttering--knowing this school year I would be working full time. It felt amazing! For me it was helpful to break big, overwhelming tasks like the kitchen into smaller jobs. One cupboard a day--but I pulled everything out, wiped it down, put in new liners, decluttered, and then put the remaining items back in an organized fashion. It also helped me not want to buy anything else!

Gretchen Rubin talks about "Underbuyers" and "Overbuyers" and people that like abundance and those that prefer minimalism. I feel like my dad, coming from a childhood that was dramatically affected by poverty, loves the feeling of having lots of items around him. Many displays of his collections, tchotchkes, etc. As a result of growing up surrounded by so much stuff and not loving that feeling, I feel better with very little in the form of collections or decorations in my home. I wonder if your husband likes the feeling of having "enough" or lots of things surrounding him?

Years ago we hosted a huge Boy Scout event at our house and a woman walked into our house, threw open her hands, and shouted, "You're minimalists! I love it! I didn't even know people actually lived like this!". I guess it was a compliment?! LOL

[♥ms.pacman♥]

thanks to you both! yeah hopefully DH will come around. he hates throwing anything out...but then he is starting to see how easy things are now that we have SPACE to do stuff, so maybe he will eventually get it....

i did a ton this weekend, and DS having a bunch of friends over (semi-bday party) on Sunday was a huge motivator. I did an "all day declutter" as part of that Take Your House Back course by three Youtubers (Minimal Mom, Clutterbug, and Dana K White). It was on sale for $94 and so far a few days in has been pretty worth it for me! Their approaches made tons of sense to me. The livestreams were very energetic.

updated progress 1/15
DONE (for now)
- kitchen
- master closet
- pantry
- guest room
- guest bathroom
- DS room
- DS closet
- back patio
-game room - 1/5
-DD room - 1/6
-DD closet 1/6
-living room 1/11
-downstairs craft area 1/13
-entryway console 1/14
-mudroom 1/15

in progress
-master bath
- kids half bath (this also has a storage closet inside it, which is why it takes a while)


still left to do (and estimated time it will take:
- kids computer room (1/2 day - maybe 1/27)
- kids bathroom (1 hour)
- master bedroom (2 hours)
-garage (1/2 day, at least - may have to break up)

areas that already decluttered somewhat, but probably could use more work later after everything else is done

-laundry room

[Percycat]

I've been decluttering a bunch over winter break. I took one trash bag full of clothes (mine, DH's, and DS2's) to the thrift store this week and gave away a bunch of stuff on Buy Nothing. Today I'm Marie Kondo'ing all my clothes as I've run out of hangers and refuse to buy more! So every piece of clothing is currently sitting on my bed and so far I have another 2 trash bags full to donate and just started a 3rd bag.

I did this over the new years weekend. I ran out of hangers and had clothes laying on top of my clothes rods...... I now have more than 10 pants hangers and I think 8 shirt hangers --- but I also got rid of a few platic hangers that didn't match the rest of my closet. I have a few shelves and drawers in my closet system which are all cleaned out. I still have to finish my night stand, three drawers in my dresser, my jewlery drawer, and two 'collect everything' shelves in my closet. I also need to get the bags of shoes and clothes for donation out of my house. I had hoped to finish this past weekend, but we were so busy getting two kids off to college and putting Christmas away......

[Percycat]

Congrats!! Sounds like you’ve great progress!

I have realized that I have very little time left with DC at home. I want to clear out as much as possible so we’re not spending our time moving stuff. I made progress the last few years but still have more to go. I’m copying my list from last year to concentrate on those areas first.

Um - guess I didn’t get that much done last year after all…..


52 projects in 52 weeks
1. Library - counters, shelves, cabinets, toys
2. Mudroom - drawers, hooks, cabinets, closet bins, hanging clothes
DONE 3. Playroom closet - right shelves, left shelves, top shelves 4/22/23
4. Playroom cabinets - right, left, drawers, bottom
5. Dining room - china cabinet
6.
7.
8. Guest room large closet - right side, left side, shelves
9. Guest room large closet - bins, cedar chest
10. DS1 room - closet, dressers, book case
11. DS2 room - closet, dressers, book case
12. Office - bookcases
13. Office - closet
14.
15. Master closet
16. Master bath
17. Guest bath
18. DC bath
19.
DONE - 20. Kitchen - Drawers 2/1
DONE - 21. Kitchen - cabinets - 1/29
22. Basement - pantry
DONE 23. Basement - small storage 3/6/23
24. Basement - large storage middle
25. Basement - large storage right
26. Basement - large storage left
27. Basement - kitchen
28. Shed - shelves
29. Garage
30. Digital files
DONE - 31. Laundry room - 1/6
32. Taxes
33. FSA
34. Contacts / glasses reimbursement
35. Photography course
36. DC physical photos
37. My physical photos
38. Hallway linen closet
39. Hallway large closet - left
DONE - 40. Hallway large closet - right 2/6
41. Hallway large closet - center
42. Shed - floor
43. Outside - cabinets
44. Admin week - insurance quotes, going to get to it items - digital frames, outside camera,
45. Office - desk
46. Organize “If I were abducted by aliens” files

I LOVE this idea -- but I probably need to identify a project a month. I could never keep this schedule...... Or, I need to identify small, managable tasks.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

I LOVE this idea -- but I probably need to identify a project a month. I could never keep this schedule...... Or, I need to identify small, managable tasks.

yup, small bite-sized pieces is key. it makes me much less daunting and thus makes me more likely to complete it. if i say "i have to wait until i have 2 hours on a weekend" then it less likely to get done - bc it's too easy to procrastinate. i know that/s why i put it off for years. whereas if i could do one drawer here in 10 minutes, one small area on counter is 15 minutes, a cupboard 15 minutes - that helps A TON! several youtubers (Minimal Mom, Simply This life) recently mentioned this tactic and it makes sense.

i did my kids bathroom (which was a DISASTER!!) on a weeknight (when i had meetings so not like i had tons of free time) and i was able to declutter 90% of it within one hour.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

updated Progress. at this point i make Goodwill / Half Price books dropoffs multiple times a week, and i give away at least a dozen items per week on local buy nothing grouip. this past weekend DD was hosting a party and we had several of her friends over for a few hours. this is third week in a row we host ppl over which is crazy to me. Normally i'd be embarrassed & very anxious to have people over given the cluttered state, but it was AMAZING how great it is now that things aren't as cluttered.

Also i've noticed my confidence in work etc has really improved. i heard several of the minimalist YT'ers talk about this and now i get it!! This whole time (more than a DECADE) i always just felt like i was a crappy mom for not being able to keep my house in a decent state, and it really did a number on my self esteem. I now realize it wasn't me, i just had waaay too much stuff . Many ppl dont let clutter bother them but it did always get me. Especially as i live in an area where many people show off their houses a ton (i've lived in various cities in 5 states, traveled a ton and never seen any other place take their housing aesthetic so seriously like the Dallas suburbs - lol ) .

Decluttered so far as of 1/21

- kitchen
- master closet - updated 1/19 to clear even more clutter /donate items
- pantry
- guest room
- guest bathroom
- DS room
- DS closet
- back patio
- laundry room
-game room - 1/5
-DD room - 1/6
-DD closet 1/6
-living room 1/11
-downstairs craft area 1/13
-entryway console 1/14
-mudroom 1/15
- kids bathroom 1/17
-master bath - 1/18 - decluttered my side/cupboards, not DH's - will have to do for now


still left to do (and estimated time it will take:
- kids computer room (1/2 day - maybe 1/27)
- master bedroom (2 hours)

STORAGE areas (putting this separately bc it's really a different category)
- kids half bath storage (1 hour?)
- laundry room storage (30 min?)
- gameroom storage (30 min?
-garage (4 hrs?)

My goal is to declutter the whole house (not-storage areas) by end of the month and then take a break for a few weeks.we shall see! im kinda addicted to it now and in a major groove so don't want to lose momentum... but on the other hand i am eager to take a break bc it is physically (and mentally) exhausting .

ETA: if anyone is interested, i signed up for this course few weeks back and it was EXTREMELY helpful for me (and i'm not even 10% way through all the videos). there's also a private FB group for the year and that's motivating too...it's like a huge virtual support group for decluttering. my new obsession!
https://www.takeyourhouseback.com/courses/take-your-house-back