Decluttering | Imamother

amother

Wed, Jan 29 2020, 2:10 pm

ive decluttered the entrance hallway, living room, toys, kids clothes, kitchen cabinets/pantry, bathroom/meds, shoes, basement/storage, bedroom and office.

NO ITS NOT MINIMALIS STYLE, but it is definitley LESS STUFF and everything is neat/has a 'home'

it was a lot of work. I work and have three little ones, I took a babysitter every day for the past 14 days (except shabbes) and in the afternoons/nights I worked on this task.

I have noticed it is MUICHE ASIER to clean when sheves, floors and cupboads are easy to access/free.

any advice how to keep it this way? anyone been there done that and stuck to it?

we will have relatives over next week. they already announced that they bought toys/outfits/gifts for the kids... it stresses me out jhaving to find new 'homes' for new stuff Smile

is that crazy? tehy mean so well and im sure the kids will love the presents.

dh is actually happy (eventhough he is a bit worried that I might have got rid of sth we might need in future)- I disagree. its highly unlikely. most of the stuff I got rid of we NEVER use and they juts clutter up useful space. eventhough our appartment now is not EMPTY ELEAGNT HOTELLIKE, it feels like there is more empty space so things can 'breathe' ...does that make any sense???

I mentioned this to a collegue and she said she watches a show on netflix (we dont have it) about some jaanese lady who says we sould all declutter our home, so it seems im in trend Smile

amother

Apricot

Wed, Jan 29 2020, 2:22 pm

It’s really hard work, but yes, it feels so good!

My parents and ILs are both very generous gift givers with our kids. Not just birthdays and Chanukah either. I have asked them to please stop gifting “stuff” and start gifting experiences. Meaning instead of toys and clothes they don’t need, they now get music lessons, karate classes, special outings boating or horseback riding or taken to a museum or theatre followed by dinner in a fancy restaurant... more meaningful and enjoyable with zero added clutter.

amother

Khaki

Wed, Jan 29 2020, 5:42 pm

When my kids were small, before every bday or similar occasion, we would have each one choose a toy to give away. It wasn’t strictly one in one out but close enough. We did this before the occasion so the joy of getting something new shouldn’t be tarnished with the pain of giving something away.

ra_mom

Wed, Jan 29 2020, 6:31 pm

amother [ Seafoam ] wrote:

Good for you! For the clothing, toys, gifts, you can use the one in one out method, for each toy that you get then give a different one away, same for the clothing.

This. The only way to maintain this without having to declutter again is to have a rule that if something is coming into the house, another item has to be removed first in order to make room for it.

zaq

Wed, Jan 29 2020, 10:55 pm

ra_mom wrote:

This. The only way to maintain this without having to declutter again is to have a rule that if something is coming into the house, another item has to be removed first in order to make room for it.

And they need to be fairly equivalent, space-wise; not a banana out and a watermelon in or a baby sweater out and an adult sweater in, but a child’s skirt out and a child’s skirt or pair of pants in.

SingALong

Wed, Jan 29 2020, 11:01 pm

I did a major declutterring in my house last year and life is just not the same. Everything has a place, I know what I have so I dont end up overbuying an extra case of toilet paper cuz I didn’t see them stacked up behind a mountain of clutter. So much easier to clean. My kids can be more independent since it’s easier for them to find what they need

I do have a hard time maintaining though and end up decluttering certain areas frequently: fridge, pantry, toy closet, desk in kitchen that’s a catch-all for entire family stuff. Kids closets get done when we change seasons. However there’s always a period of time where both seasons are in the closet together. Like I’ll be buying the spring stuff in February but it will still be cold so I don’t get rid of the winter things yet. I wait till after Pesach do that.

boysrock

Fri, Jan 31 2020, 12:29 am

I feel like this is a life battle! Bh we live in a society with an over abundance of STUFF! I find myself constantly reorganizing, one important thing about throwing, don’t throw something you would buy, I know it sounds obvious but often when cleaning I am over ambitious and want to THROW... the rule is if I would go to the store and buy it again...

amother

Khaki

Fri, Jan 31 2020, 8:12 am

boysrock wrote:

... the rule is if I would go to the store and buy it again...

. That depends on how soon you would buy it again. When my dc outgrew their baby things, and I include equipment like booster seats and doorway gates, I gave all that stuff away. Now that we have b”h einiklach, I’ve had to acquire some baby equipment again. Sure, I could have held onto it, but I would have been storing everything for twenty plus years, cluttering up an apartment with no attic, basement, garage or storage room. I have the space now because the kids moved out and took their possessions with them. The money I’d have saved by hanging on to this stuff would have been outweighed many times over by the medical bills from the stress and increased risk of fire and injury from living in a crowded warehouse.

As it happens, I bought very little this time around. Most of what we have we got free from people whose children had outgrown the need for it and they were decluttering just as I did 25 years ago. And when my einiklach outgrow the need for these things, I intend to pass them along, if they’re still usable, to someone who can use them.

avrahamama

Fri, Jan 31 2020, 9:50 am

I once heard in a shiur that the sitra achra lives off the stuff we keep that have no use to us. All the stuff we are hoarding... I love getting rid of things to begin with. So this was just all the more motivation.

I keep clothes because my kids are all so close in age and all the same gender. And baby gear I keep. I'm still in that parsha. But if something doesn't fit me anymore. I don't fantasize about being that size again... I will treat myself to new stuff once I become that size. And so on.

zaq

Fri, Jan 31 2020, 4:44 pm

Decluttering is a journey, not a destination. It needs to be done on a regular basis, just like brushing your teeth and washing the dishes.And just like brushing your teeth and washing the dishes, a little bit done every day is better than daily neglect and a semiannual marathon session.