Iowa caucus for Americans today. I'm really curious about how things will go. [Confession: I am so not paying attention to anyone but the top three contenders on each side, and confused the candidate Ron Paul with rapper Sean Paul (turn down your speakers if you're at work). And every time I saw a "Ron Paul for President" sign I thought it was an ad for a new album coming out. I only figured they're two different people the other day while watching CNN. Duh.]
Can we talk about organization? I am not a great organizer in general, and was barely holding on with the new holiday influx of toys. But yesterday my older son brought home a beautiful little pinch pot from his art class at school. And I realized I was going to have to start really processing 3D art projects and figuring out what to do with them. (I've been putting the drawings and paintings into file folders and saving them.)
Gah!
So I guess what I'm looking for is ideas from those of you who are good at this sort of thing. I could use ideas on processing the unbelievable amounts of clothing we end up with, the toys, the art projects, and the seasonal stuff. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like it's all getting away from her.
I wish I could just shove it all into an attic or a garage, but I don't have either of those right now. (I'd be willing to bet there are readers who could use tips on organizing basements, attics, and garages, if you've got any ideas for that.) And I watched a show about hoarders that scared the living crap out of me, and now I'm actually afraid I'll get rid of too much stuff in an effort not to end up with stuff that runs my life.
What do you keep and what do you get rid of? How do you manage and store the kid stuff you do want to keep? Will I magically become organized if I buy a labelmaker?
Thank you.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought Ron Paul was Sean Paul at first! LOL
Wish I could help on the organization, but we're trying to figure it out ourselves right now. I look forward to suggestions from others.
Posted by: Erica | January 03, 2008 at 08:34 AM
Baby clothes can be stored in those vacuum storage packs. So too can stuffed toys, foam blocks, baby blankets etc.
BTW, I've finished with having kids, but my MIL (who we share our cellar with) is pushing me to empty out the cupboard with all my used baby clothes and the thought of giving them away/ giving them to charity/getting rid of them one way or another, is just so heart-wrenching. There are so many memories associated with every piece of my children's clothing.
Posted by: paola | January 03, 2008 at 08:44 AM
having just spent the Christmas holidays organizing my life, I have something to say on this topic. For paper clutter and managing the "to do's" in your life, the book "Getting Things Done" provides a system that encompasses home, work, and everything in between. If you can stick to it, it's a good way to keep on top of all your commitments. HOWEVER. Different systems will work for different people, and you should really just keep trying systems until you find one that works for you. Generally, if a system is too difficult to keep on top of, it'll fall to the wayside. So the trick is to find a system that you personally find easy.
Labelmakers are fun. If they encourage you to spend time on organization, because you enjoy using it, it might magically make you organized.
As far as managing "stuff" I'm a lot less help. I think deciding what to keep and what to get rid of is very personal. Even for those with hoarding disorder, I could never advocate getting rid of things you're not emotionally ready to get rid of. That being said, there's something to be said for taking pictures of the 3-D stuff that will never be used and passing them on to people who will use them. But not before you're ready.
Posted by: songbird | January 03, 2008 at 08:56 AM
I'm a bit of a fanatic on this topic!
For 2D stuff, we found a fantastic wicker container--about 6" deep but about 3 feet square. It's perfect for drawings. We got it for a steal at a yard sale. You could also go to your local art supply store and buy a cheapish drawing portfolio. Big and flat, and would fit under the bed or against a wall of the closet.
For 3D stuff--this is a lot harder. We're just entering this phase. I will probably buy Rubbermaid containers for each child and wrap items as they move from display to storage. I am a huge proponent of labeling everything--I have found that I think I'll remember, but I don't. So included with each item will be: "Made by Eldest, age 4, Jan. 2008". I use Rubbermaid containers for holiday items--each holiday gets it's containers. I label the outside of these, too--"Christmas", "Halloween", etc. I think labeling this way helps even though in a way it's obvious what each container is holding.
We are lucky, having a basement and an attic. But in just a few years we will be finishing the attic and moving the girls up there, so will effectively be losing about 800 square feet of storage space. Eep! Regarding attics and basements and storage spaces in general, I think it's good to look at them with a fresh eye every 6 months to a year or so. Your needs can change and how the space is configured may need to change, too. We just recently made some big changes to our basement storage to adapt to the increase in stuff.
The seriously storage-space-impaired will just be forced to do what we all should do--weed, weed, weed. 1 pinch pot from a phase may be enough, 2 drawings may be enough. It's hard to let go of these things.
Oh, also for clothes, I have weeded out all but the most precious. The precious items are in my sock drawer, waiting for me to figure out what to do with them. Clothes are hardest, as they don't like extreme conditions and need to breathe (so Rubbermaid isn't good for them over the long haul.) They will need to be stored in our already too crowded closet.
I'm also looking forward to other suggestions!
Posted by: rudyinparis | January 03, 2008 at 09:05 AM
I just have one little tip...I keep one of those huge zip lock bags in my son's closet. As soon as something is too small or out of season I immediately toss it into the bag. Right now he has way too many items of clothing (thanks to great hand-me-downs) so I've also been known to toss in something I just don't really like! Anyway, when the bag gets full I close it up and it goes into the attic. It helps at least with the glut of clothes. Good luck!
Posted by: aimee | January 03, 2008 at 09:10 AM
What a timely topic! I've just been looking around the house wondering what I can do with all this stuff that seems to be everywhere. Even more so now that my 7mo is crawling, so I have to find new places to put everything.
I'd love any suggestions on what to do with the piles of shoes that accumulate by the door, or the somewhat necessary clutter around the coffee table (remotes, pens, bookmarks, etc). I had kept things fairly manageable with plenty of baskets and cubbys, but the boy likes nothing better than to dump everything out of baskets or to chew on the bottoms of our shoes (ick!)
I just ordered some space bags, so I'm hoping that will magically organize the outgrown clothes (both his and mine), or at least let me store them in our unfinished attic.
Posted by: Laura Lou | January 03, 2008 at 09:33 AM
We just had our closets done professionally about 2 months ago and while they are still nowhere near where i want them to be in terms of things put away properly, I am telling you it's the best money I have ever spent.
It has really allowed for me to put things away neatly plus create extra storage space. So for those of you have ever been on the fence about it I suggest getting someone in to do a consult and really consider it.
For shoes by the door we have a big box (with one of those slow hinge lids) where we keep all our shoes. The box is big and bulky but it keeps our shoes out of panda's mouth and instead of being greeted with an onslaught of shoes it is just one big box.
For clothing, I purge every season and we go with the 1 year rule. If it hasn't been worn in a year it goes out.I have been wanting to try space bags since we seem to have endless blankets and I need a non-bulky solution to them. So those who have them/will try them out please share your thoughts on them.
I have a label maker and I love to organize but it still hasn't made me magically organized because halfway through one system I am struck with an idea for another system and well you can figure out how that goes. But i do agree that storage containers and labels do help out a lot more.
Oh for endless photo albums and pictures, if you have no sentimental attachment to the album itself, I recommend spending time yourself or paying some high school or middle school kid to scan them for you and burn CDs/DVDs for you. We are trying to get my 13yo nephew to do this for us this summer.
Posted by: z | January 03, 2008 at 09:50 AM
I toss a lot of kid art. There. I said it.
I keep the ones I really like. I take pictures of them, too, so I can show my mother, and that is sort of a backup. But do I regret that my mother doesn't have piles and piles of drawing I made as a kid? Nope, and let's hope my kids agree.
For clothes, I have found it to be vital to overhaul every 3-6 months (depending on how fast a growth phase we're in) and the key is to box up and label ("3-6 months, boy, 9/2005") as you go. I may yet have another child, but I do ebay/donate most of my daughter's outgrown girly stuff - if I do happen to have a 3rd child, it's only got a 50-50 chance of being a girl... I only keep clothing items that were made for my kids (mostly sweaters).
Posted by: flea | January 03, 2008 at 09:58 AM
I'm not at this phase yet, but we don't have a ton of space (A basement too wet to put much into, no attic, just eaves on one side of our small house, and really just 2 closets).
I should start by saying that I moved, often interstate moves and usually by myself, every year for 7 years, so I have a rather ruthless and unsentimental approach to purging stuff.
My advice about what to keep what to toss/give away is try to really look ahead 5 or 10 years. What is your goal for the items you are assessing? Do you want to be able to take them out and see them, will you wish you still had them, how important will they be to your son? If you don't seriously see yourself pulling out the item and reminiscing, then it should find another home. Maybe gift them to grandparents or aunts and uncles. That might be a nice holiday thing. Bring out art projects you've been displaying for the year. Have them pick one they want to keep and one they want to give away and then you get to pick one (if they didn't happen to pick one you wanted to keep!) They can even wrap it up and give it to you and the grandparents/favorite aunt/uncle for your winter holiday of choice, starting handmade giftgiving early!
Basically, all that last part is a way to come to what you'll keep for sentimental reasons. Everything else shouldn't take up space and sap your energy. When I get rid of all the stuff I don't need or use, I find I feel lighter and freer. If only because I don't need to open a stuffed closet and spend 30 minutes rearranging so I can stick something in it.
With clothes, I do the same thing Aimee does, and just chuck things into a holding area has they are outgrown and then when it's full, it goes into permanent storage. I also have a small dresser for next stage clothes that is sort of in an odd hallway area between bedrooms (my son's room has a very small dresser which the top drawer dedicated to toiletries and diapering stuff). So as I accumulate clothes of the next size (on sale of course) it goes into the dresser in the hall until we're ready for it in his room.
Posted by: Nutmeg | January 03, 2008 at 10:08 AM
Art - we literally just got our first pieces of 2D art in the last month, so it's hanging on the wall. However, I think digital pictures will be a great way to keep the majority of art, 2 or 3D, in the long run.
Toys - I am a big fan of bins, whether open top or closed top. They are easy for kids to use and our toys have been much more organized since moving to a bin rack from Ikea. A label-maker is a great tool for an adult, but for storage that kids are involved with, I highly recommend making your own labels by printing pictures on paper and using shipping tape or clear Contac paper to affix them to the outside (AND INSIDE, if it's not see through) of the container. Natalie can (I said can, not necessarily does!) put away her own toys because she knows which categories go where based on pictures.
I tried to do a toy purge this past weekend but was largely unsuccessful because I am too stingy and sentimental. For example, my dad gave Natalie TMX Elmo for her birthday. I HATE IT, but I am scared to get rid of it for fear that my dad will come over, notice it's gone, and feel upset. Stupid, no? I did get rid of two plastic shopping bags worth of toys, which has to count for something. My next plan is to put together a box to take to my mother-in-laws as she has a pitiful selection (read: virtually none) of toys.
Clothes - we have bins for different sizes and one catchall bin for outgrown/new hand me downs. This gives us a place to put clothes as they move out of circulation but we don't have to haul all the bins out each time. We go through and sort every few months, at least in theory.
But bins and bags are in general, my saviors.
Posted by: Jen (yup, another one) | January 03, 2008 at 10:14 AM
This place makes me salivate with joy.
http://www.containerstore.com
Posted by: Allison | January 03, 2008 at 10:25 AM
We are in the middle of this as well - case of having to with a huge (international) move this year.
I have used space bags, they are good at first, but eventually all the air migrates back into the bags, so if you have the bags filled with stuff and it's under the bed - beware, eventually it will expand to full size and get stuck under the bed (speaking from experience.)
As for keeping art etc. It is actually quite a burden on the adult kids. My MIL kept all of her kids art, including scout uniforms, stories, sticker collections, scholl reports, photos, toys etc etc. She did a fabulous job of organizing it. But here's what happens. Eventually the kid receives it and then what do they do with it? DH has been spending HOURS and HOURS trying to cull stuff. He wants to, but when he reads or sees stuff he just can't part with it. What do you do with his 20+ year old scout uniform? It is hard to go through this stuff, and we both really wish that his mom kept maybe one stand out story/picture etc PER YEAR. What is great to have though are the school reports!
My suggestion is keep everything for a year, but at the end of the year, keep only 1 thing that is stand out from that year (apart from the school reports etc). It will be far more meaningful than a thousand pieces that you don't want to do with it and just want to throw it ALL out because it's too overwhelming.
Posted by: Alice | January 03, 2008 at 10:48 AM
I confused Ron Paul with Rue Paul, the transvestite singer. But I've been reading a lot about Ron, not Rue, and he's actually an honest, consistent politician.
I ebay my daughter's clothes once a year since I don't plan on having any more kids. I get 3D art from my grandma (senior art class) and I take them to work to put on my desk. Makes for a great talking piece.
Posted by: alice | January 03, 2008 at 10:55 AM
Could my spelling and grammar be any worser?
Also for the truly sentimental clothing - for me the hat that my daughter wore home - frame it. Turn it into art for their bedroom wall. But only a couple of stand out pieces. Otherwise it will lose the impact.
Posted by: Alice | January 03, 2008 at 10:56 AM
My experience with space bags:
When I moved from CA to PA a few years ago, I had to drive in my little Saturn with all my clothes and a futon mattress and many books and cds. I bought space bags and did the whole vacuum thing. Well, as I drove eastward, the bags began to expand. What had started as neat, dense flats of plastic-wrapped fabric became fluffy piles of clothes and a comforter spilling out of big plastic bags. The seams of the bags broke and there was no way to reseal them. My backseat became filled with clothes and I had to stuff them in all sorts of weird places of the car so that I could see when I drove. Maybe I didn't use them right, overstuffed them or something. So, I don't recommend them for things that you would be devastated to lose because they could break or leak or whatever.
I also spilled 5 pounds of red lentils in the trunk on that trip. 5 years later I STILL find red lentils rolling around in there.
That was a long trip.
Posted by: marsupial jones | January 03, 2008 at 11:00 AM
HA! For a pretty hilarious look at a comparison of Ron Paul vs. Ru Paul, look at iambossy.com. I don't necessarily agree with her political leanings, but she never fails to make me giggle.
I'll be obsessively stalking the comments today, as SOMETHING has GOT to be done at my house. As always, timely topic Moxie!
Posted by: hydrogeek | January 03, 2008 at 11:31 AM
Though I haven't had to actually do this with the kid yet (I'm due in June with our first baby), I've found the following works best for my own 3D art:
1- Definitely take digital photos and file by year (great for seeing an evolution)
2- Set aside a (limited) space to store 3D projects.
3- Once that space is full, something has to go before something new is put in. Regardless, you'll have the photo, so you won't loose any memory of it.
4- If you have enough space to keep all or most of the projects for one year, I find it's easy to be more objective in weeding out once some time passes. Then, as others have suggested, pick out a couple of favorites.
5- Involve the creator/child as appropriate in the process. Their view point of what to keep may be different from yours. They may appreciate having mementos of the projects that have the strongest memories for them. Also, you're setting them up to be good clutter managers of their own stuff in the future.
As a designer/artist I totally understand the emotional attachment to art projects, and as somewhat of a packrat, like my mother, if I don't keep close tabs on things it can get way out of control.
Luckily, my desire for a clean (relatively) clutter-free space is stronger than an attachment to things. My mother kept all of my finger painting drawings from kindergarten, and I've kept a few knick-knacks. The drawings are by far my favorites - most of the drawings had smiling suns. Very interesting to look at with 30+ years perspective!
We'll see if I can still keep up my own rules after the little one arrives...
Posted by: the milliner | January 03, 2008 at 11:37 AM
Great discussion.
I am always amazed at the psychological hold things have on us. Alice's story about her husband is a case in point. It is really emotionally wrenching to go through stuff, and very, very, hard to part with it. I was angry with my husband recently, because he "rescued" a bunch of my college and high school papers from the trash. I had gone through them, read them and the teachers' comments (Hey! That work was good! I was a smart kid!) and then got rid of them. Emotional work done. Then bam, my husband brings them all back, why did you throw these away, etc. I got really upset, crying, explained that it was hard to throw them away but really, we have no space (550 sq ft 1 bedroom apartment with no storage on site, and we have a toddler). We can't keep everything. And even if we had more space, why do I need every paper I ever wrote in high school and college? I kept some of them, got rid of what I could, and why was he doing this to me? He understood, and felt bad -- and then went through them himself and kept more of them. I said OK, as long as I did not have to look at them again. For some reason, throwing them away again would have been very painful.
My parents have a hoarding problem and it is very upsetting to witness it. The worst part is, experts really don't know how to break the cycle. So I guess I am reacting in large part to my parents on this issue.
But I think all this feeds into a larger problem in our (US) culture. We are culture of stuff. You can never have too much, and only the newest will do. Even if some of us reject the "newest is necessary" idea (I'm thinking of folks who consignment shop, or hit the thrift store a lot), I would argue that most people (myself included!!) have too much stuff. If we keep accumulating new or new to us stuff, and keep all the old stuff, and every art project, and on, and on, and on, we are going to drown. Or at least make clearing out our homes very difficult for loved ones when we die.
Anyway, I guess my view is, you can't throw enough. I really like the suggestions to think about the thing in time -- will I want this 10 years from now? Do I need to keep every single picture my 2 year old draws? Keep some things, yes, absolutely. But do it thoughtfully, for a reason. For me, it is very important psychologically to resist the hold stuff has on me. I have to remind myself, this is a THING. It may be a pciture my daughter drew, but it is NOT HER. SHE is the important one, not the thing.
My husband likes to say we value experiences, not things. I find this really helpful to keep in mind.
One thing about photos -- they are one of the few things I think are really worth keeping, although, again, you may want to keep the good ones, not every single one. But I have been reading recently about storage issues. I think Atlantic Monthly had a piece about this recently. Basically, historians are concerned that there will be a huge information gap between the stone tablet/paper/printed photgraph era and the digital era, because digital info only lasts 20 years or so on a computer or CD or DVD, even if you store it with great care. By contrast, paper and photos can last a really long time, if they are not exposed to water, fire, etc.
This really worries me on photos, because we have almost 20,000 digital photos, and only a fraction are printed out. We've uploaded all of the ones of our daughter to the internet (we chose snap*fish, but I've heard others are good, too), but haven't printed out enough of them.
Anyway. Sorry this is such a long post. I find this to be an important and difficult issue. Thanks for bringing it up, Moxie.
Posted by: Helen | January 03, 2008 at 11:39 AM
We haven't done well with scanning or taking pics of artwork yet, but we've done some. It's only M at this point, so we aren't buried yet.
For toys, it's harder, because the kids think they still need to play with baby toys. We had kept the baby stuff for C, but now that he's older, we need to start purging. We do the bins, just bins to hold most anything for C, smaller bins with a classification system for M (tea set and dishes in this one, little dolls in that one, etc).
For clothes, I use the giant ziploc bags too. I try to do it by gender, size, and season. As we find friends and family to pass them onto, we do. After M, I only lent. But now that we're done, when they outgrow it, it can go. I do have some sentimental pieces that I'm holding onto, but I revisit those from time to time, to see what I can let go of now. Little by little, it's getting to a workable amount.
We got lucky that a neighbor had B/G twins, and we were able to get rid of a lot of our baby stuff that way.
Oh, and the reason I never confuse Ron Paul with anyone else is because his son and I graduated from high school together. Small world.
Posted by: Jean | January 03, 2008 at 11:41 AM
I keep the artwork that was either monumental in the making (first time they drew a person... etc), or are made special by virtue (their handprints or something). The 3D art got packed in a box when we moved, and is still in said box. I tend not to keep too much (like pp said I don't mind that I don't have all my artwork from school, I just threw out all my report cards that my mother saved). I'm slowly working towards a rubbermaid container system (just bought two for Christmas decorations) and want a shelving unit for the basement to put the containers on. I use a laundry basket for our shoes by the door, but I also don't have little children that chew on them anymore (thank goodness). The clothes that my children grow out of are PASSED ON. We aren't having more children, and the sentimental value is enriched by seeing the clothes on my best friend's little ones. I kept some of their special outfits, and they hang in my closet. The rest, purged.
Posted by: amy | January 03, 2008 at 11:42 AM
I will definitely be following the comments on this one! I am still only in the 2D phase, but for now, I am just saving the stuff I actually like. As my kids get older, I am planning on saving stuff on a yearly basis, then at the end of year, they can choose what will go "long-term" into a tote labeled with their name. For baby clothes, I let myself save a few outfits from each size. I will also save some of the "good" toys.
The goal is 1 "baby" tote and maybe 1-2 "kid" totes for each kid. I think that is somewhat reasonable. When I went to college, I had about 2-3 totes of "memory" items myself and I do not remember it being particularly onerous lugging the stuff from apartment to apartment.
For baby clothes in general, as the kids grow out of them, they go into a garbage bag designated per size and then go into a closet. VERY EASY method of storage! All I have to do is pick out the correct size when rummaging for clothes - I do not even separate boy vs. girl clothes. When garage sale time comes around, it is very, very easy to just pull them out and mark them for sale.
Posted by: cagey | January 03, 2008 at 11:44 AM
I also wanted to add that I would never, in a million years, consider throwing away our pictures/photos. Even IF I put them all on CDs? Gawd... what if the CD becomes damaged or inaccessible? I MUST get all of my digital pictures printed out. I have most of my photos in a picture box, not even in an album... but it's all chronologically ordered and death to the person who messes that up!
Posted by: amy | January 03, 2008 at 11:50 AM
We just did a toy purge last night. We have a LARGE slide in our living room that has wonderful space underneath it that could be used as a fort if there weren't so many toys crammed down there (this slide was made by my father for my 1st birthday, and we restored it and gave it to my daughter when she turned 1). I finally managed to purge enough toys that they all fit in the toy boxes or elsewhere. My daughter woke up this morning and was thrilled to have her fort. She hasn't mentioned the missing toys yet :-)
Thank goodness for freecycle! Now someone else can have the toys!
Other than that, I'm HOPELESS at organizing stuff.
Posted by: sue | January 03, 2008 at 11:50 AM
Like Helen, I find this topic to be pretty fascinating. We live in a culture that practically forces us to accumulate mountains of stuff, stuff, stuff. Cheap, plentiful stuff. Here's an example--just the other week DH brought home a DVD he bought (Borat, natch) saying "It was only 5 bucks!" Now, he and I do have the classic conflict of him being the hoarder and me being the disposer. So I didn't want to engage in that whole conversation again so I let it go, but what I honestly thought was: "You paid 5 bucks for me to have to store that damn thing for the rest of my f*cking life." We DO need to value experiences, not things. That crap just weighs up down. I--and I think most people--can really see the emotional appeal to hoarding, and it's hard to let go of that. Especially when your husband is always fishing the crap out of the trash. But that's another story...
Posted by: rudyinparis | January 03, 2008 at 12:04 PM
Perfect timing as usual, Moxie - I read an article yesterday on hoarders and the chronically disorganized, and ... well, yeah, PANIC (though I'm not worst-case, we have many people, small space).
Many great ideas and points! I particularly like Alice's point about the burden of taking these on as an adult. My mom was executor for a cousin who was a hoarder, and it SUCKED cleaning out decades of crap from his house. She became quite good at it, but it was not fun.
My mom kept a total of six drawings from my childhood, which unfortunately were lost in a move. But I do remember her taking them out to show me before we moved, and the pleasure I had in remembering them. But there were SIX. TOTAL. I thought we were doing a good job culling, but now I think we're keeping WAY too many. Time to reassess! Thanks! I like the idea of one folder for LIFE, which will be culled as each new year is added, or as soon as it reaches 3/4 full or so. I already do that with clothes/baby stuff (one box for ALL FOUR kids!).
I have only four to add that aren't covered already:
1) Siberian Ginseng and Korean Ginseng - taken daily, they reduce my 'overwhelm' reaction to many small tasks in series piling up. Reduces inertia, helps with the last haze layer of PPD. That helps me keep moving on those endless anti-chaos activities.
2) Toy Library (ours is a small room, but it could be a closet, corner, whatever): http://www.parenthacks.com/2007/04/toy_library_pro.html
3) Clothes, since we're done D.O.N.E., the rest goes 2 places: a) to relatives/friends with younger kids (for them to pick through, so they only take what they need/want); and after that, b) to a friend who is self-employed (itemized deductions by donation to offset her taxes). Unless you're giving any one person more than $12K (current value) of stuff, no issue for gift tax, either (US).
4) SHOES: We borrowed ideas from school for this stuff. Coat rack is attached to the kitchen door. Hats, gloves/mittens, scarves, all have their own drawers in the kitchen (by the normal exit door). For shoes, DH nabbed the mail bins that were being discarded by his employer, and on their side it makes a lovely shoe cubby - each child has two cubbies. We also have a hanging shoe rack for the adult shoes, plus a milk crate for boots/wet shoes. Cubbies work.
If I don't stay absolutely on top of the sort/organize thing (and I don't), it escapes and rampages around the house, flinging toys under the sofa and leaving stacks of books on the edges of the book shelves. I cannot stay on top of it all the time. I try, but it's worse than the laundry - it is a matter of always doing, but never being 'done'.
My mom tells me (often, as reassurance) that it is a lifelong process, and reminds me that when there are more kids than adults in the house, and/or *ANY* child is not school-age yet, there is no reasonable/sane way to stay utterly on top of it. All you can do at that level is try; it will get better as they get older - or at least when they leave the house! At this point, I'm a bit one foot on the discarder side of the line, but I still tend to bring stuff in that I later need to discard. I need a pre-in-the-door discard filter. Sigh.
(Oh, and same issue with Space Bags - they lose vacuum, and puff up again. UGH.)
Posted by: hedra | January 03, 2008 at 12:14 PM
I love Ron Paul! I don't love all of his positions on everything, but he doesn't want to force his positions onto me. I wish the GOP would allow him to get the nomination, but I doubt it...
This post is great. I will be stalking the comments. I am terrible about having emotional attachments to things.
Posted by: Leah | January 03, 2008 at 12:31 PM
I am ruthless at purging. I moved over a dozen times in 10 years so I got good at accumulating, then good at purging. And even now, in our own house which we might stay another 10-15 years, I still ask myself, "Will I want to move this?" before I buy something,
I think the key to good purging is to do it often. For example, I've done my closet 3 times in the past year. The first time all the easy decisions were made. The second time the ones you originally thought were on the fence are now decided. And by the third time you realize that what you thought you might wear you didn't and you can get rid of it. If you did it three times in three years it would still be like the first purge.
We are only on kid #1. I've sorted clothes in bankers boxes, by size. When she outgrows something it goes back in the box. I had 11 boxes of hand-me-downs (which I am only now beginning to appreciate) to start. I also keep a bag for donation/second hand store going all the time. Every few months I drop it off. Ask me what I'll do when we're done having babies - I hope to get rid of all but a few items (not keep 11 boxes like my SIL). Oh, and if something has a permanent stain I chuck it right in the laundry room.
My LO only started on art. Right now the only thing I've kept is her first finger painting and it is on the wall in my office. When she does her 'colouring' I usually recycle it after the markers are put away. It is about the process right now, not the product. A neat thing I did last night, though, was cut down one of her pieces into an interesting shape and mount it onto a blank card. It made some good, fun, impromptu birthday cards for some aunties.
And toys? Well, we haven't got that figured out entirely yet. She currently has one corner for toys in the living room, and a couple of drawers in the entertainment center. The rest is in bins in her room. Hubby was complaining the other day that they were everywhere and I reminded him that if he finished the built-ins for her closet there would be more organization (we took the doors off her closet and he is doing a combo hanging area/cubbie configuration. I do rotate the toys to keep her interested. Again, what isn't being used is in a rubbermaid and some boxes in the basement -all to be given away after we are done having babies.
My final thought, and this one is based on personal experience. If you are purging your kids stuff, or keeping it for that matter, involve the kids in the decision making if they are old enough. My mom threw out a few boxes of things I knew I had put aside before I moved across the country. I'm still a little upset about some of the lost books. As for when they are younger, ask yourself this, "Will my 25 year old son want his finger paintings from when he was 2?"
Posted by: cheryl | January 03, 2008 at 12:31 PM
I once diagnosed myself with OOD- Obsessive Organization Disorder- I made it up. I love to organize.
I have all the kids clothes in rubbermaid type storage boxes with labels as to season, size and gender. When we were in our 2 bedroom apartment I just stacked them in my daughters room. We moved to a 3 bedroom house with a basement when she was 2.5 so everything went to the basement. We now have 2 children and a third (surprise) on the way. I plan on selling them at consignment (keeping a few sentimental pieces) when the third has grown out of that size. We cloth diaper too so I have extra containers for the two difference sizes I have and the covers. For now they are all stacked in the basement with a tarp over because the toilet leaked and sewer backed a few months ago and I was lucky to just wash the outside of the containers. I have one container for shoes but I also have given some of those away for charity and another for winter wear and boots. They each have a keepsake container with their babybedding (difference for each kid) and the like. My 5 year old is in preschool so we have a lot of 2D art projects and some 3D. She is in a lab school at the university where I work which is used as a learning environment for the college early education students. Each semester a college students makes a "me book" with the preschooler's development for the semester with pictures and some art projects. As the art projects come home each day I stacked them in my work area of the basement. At the end of the semester I pick some projects that will fit in a 9x12 envelope and store it with the "me book" in a container. I'm sure I'll have to change the system some as she starts kindergarten next year and my 2.5 year old starts at the same preschool. Next on my list is to find storage for all the bead art kits my daughter has. Her other art supplies are in a Iris scrapbook box. She has a second at my in-law cottage with basic art supplies. I found if I limit to what fits into the box instead of find a bigger box each times it saves space. I put together a basic toy box for the cottage as well. Sometimes toys we don't play with much go there or toys I know my nephew would like when he visits I store there.
My husband and I have our out of season clothes and my maternity clothes also stored in containers. Our fancier dresses and suits and extra coats and winterwear are in hanging storage in the basement as well.
Over the years I have been able to get my husband to really reduce the amount of things he keeps. He still finds the need to keep his leg braces from when he was 2. Why I'll never know. We live less than an hour from family and his mom always finds somethings of his to bring over.
I also have a few storage containers with emergency supplies. I found a good basic set from Target (American Red Cross First Aid Preparedness Starter Kit) and have one in the van and in the basement with the emergency things. I'm in the process of getting extra supplies and water. I also store our camp burner with it.
I had a fire in my dorm room my sophomore year so I lost a lot. I realizes it is not missed (except my babybook- Mom had packed up my things when I was home on break). So I try to keep that I mind when I save things.
Just last night I was finding a place of the kid's Christmas toy gifts and told my husband we need to weed out some things. If we were not expecting a third it would be easy to do. I do have the baby baby toys packed away but like the Little People sets I can see getting popular again with my kids I don't want to pack those away. For now I have shelves (plastic put together type which I only made to three shelves so the kids could reach everything) in our playroom (extra add on porch 4 season also mudroom and dog crate room) and toys are categorized and labeled. My rule for that room is it needs picked up on Saturdays so I can sweep but otherwise I don’t care how it looks. For the mudroom part of that room we have a bench with a lid for hats, mittens, snowpants and scarves. There are hooks for everyone's coats. I have three Komplement shoe racks from Ikea on the wall to hold shoes (mostly my husbands he takes his shoes off when he comes in) and plastic tray in from on the heater vent to hold wet boots.
My husband is a photographer. There are thousands of pictures stored under our bed and a million more on our computer. We have just about everything stored on Shutterfly and print from there. He is very good about making backups every 2 weeks.
I looked into becoming a professional organizer once. I read a lot and learned that we need to use our vertical space better than we do. I can see the need for it in apartment living for sure.
Posted by: Katie | January 03, 2008 at 12:32 PM
RE: Clothes: I don't plan on having any more kids - which I think makes a big dif in how I handle Zoe's clothes. I have three laundry baskets on a shelf in her closet labeled "consign" "goodwill" and "hand-down" and I toss stuff in each every day. The most precious / nicest stuff (the Hannahs my mom bought) get tossed into "hand-down" and 90% of it does go to a friend with a baby girl. The other 10% gets put in a cardboard storage box of my very very favorites that I cannot bear to part with ... yet.
RE: Toys: Z has bins in her room and in the playroom labeled "Polly Pocket" "Fake Food" "Jewelry" etc. etc. etc. ... but sometimes I feel like we need one labeled "crappy plastic stuff from fast food meals and birthday party goody bags" since that is the stuff that accumulates. And tochkes from conferences ... my husband CANNOT STOP himself from bringing her crap (little padfolios and laptops mouses and the like) from engineering conferences. She loves it all. My solution is to sneak in there when she's at school and fill a plastic bag and immediately bing it out to the trash ... then feign innocence when she asks "where did my frisbee from Taco Time go?" ...
RE: Photos: I had a reality check when I looked at my own baby book. There are maybe 5 photos of the newborn to 12-month phase - with one single first-birthday-cake-on-face shot. Whereas I have 2 gazillion of my daugheter from the same age (including about 12 of her eating her birthday cake). MUST. STOP. THE. MADNESS. I upload all to shutterfly and print maybe 1/2. I'm having Shutterfly make archive CDs for me. I plan on taking more photos of Kid Art and keeping them all in a Shutterfly album - so I can toss more originals (including 3D). Though Z is giving HER first ever pinchpot to her ballet teacher, not me. (Maybe she perceives that I am not so sentimental and doesn't want to waste her efforts on me ... )
Posted by: Lucky | January 03, 2008 at 12:35 PM
I saw a gorgeous throw/quilt someone had made from their childs favourite clothing! And while thats a little ambitious for me, a pillow cover or a seat cushion for his chair seems doable. That way I keep the memory trigger of his favourite (well, I suppose they are MY favourite outfits) but with a practical purpose.
Posted by: d | January 03, 2008 at 12:37 PM
For shoes, I love my Ikea storage cabinet. It's narrow, so it can fit in the hallway, and stores all the shoes we regularly wear (up to 9 pairs).
http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/10099048
For art, what about buying one special frame and layering your favourite art for the year inside (newest piece on top of the old)? You could clear it out at the end of the year and pick just the 'best of the best' to store.
A friend of mine displays her son's art on mini clothespins on a line that hangs on the wall. I thought that was neat.
Clothes: pick your very favourite outfits and dress teddy bears with them. I had a special bear that wore all the baby clothes my mother saved for me.
Posted by: bree | January 03, 2008 at 12:40 PM
My wife and I are in a no-attic, no-basement apartment like Moxie but, on top of the lack of space, we also move every year and a half. I grew up moving frequently so I've had the fear of god put into me about staying on top of sentimental items but we have quite a lot of stuff we have absolutely no space for but feel like we should keep because we know we're going to want it later when we have a bigger home like extra twin-size bedding and these antique wine glasses my mother gave us as a wedding gift. Some of those things just have to stay in boxes (I have no desire to repack twenty wine glasses every year and a half) so I, and I am totally ashamed to admit this, have made slipcovers for certain sized groups of boxes and we use them as furniture. Our coffee table for the last several years has been a padded and slipcovered collection of four packing boxes. I swear, if you throw a little batting underneath the slipcover it looks like real furniture. I'm afraid the only other thing I've done which has been of any use at all has been to accummulate those mission-style collapsible shelves and line as many rooms as possible with the darn things so I can have storage space all the way to the ceiling somewhere outside of our closets. Though it does make our house look like some kind of deranged library...
Posted by: Jamie | January 03, 2008 at 12:41 PM
Ditto what Alice said about burdening your kids with mountains of their old stuff when they're older. My in-laws have done this to my husband and it's overwhelming. They have boxes and boxes in their attic and every couple of months another one must come out and be dropped off at our house because it's "his." All my husband says is, "why didn't they get rid of this years ago?? I don't want it!" The scout uniform example was exactly right on, as I do believe they have his still! Ugh. I do believe it's nice to have a few things, but really, 90% of it could be long gone and he'd never know or care. It's funny, because they were a military family and moved every few years, and still dragged all this crap around. THEY didn't have to pay for the move! I am terrified of the day we have to downsize them into an apartment/retirement home.
I am in the midst of cleaning out/donating/storing a bunch of baby and toddler clothes. The baby stuff I'm only saving the nicest/handmade items, just in case we have another (we have two boys). But if we do, I'll start fresh with a minimal amount, which will be nice. I just wish I *knew* whether or not we were done, so I could commit either way.
Don't even get me started on toys or photos. *sigh*
Posted by: Jen H. | January 03, 2008 at 12:54 PM
Hubby and I had a discussion about all of this just last night as we surveyed everything from christmas that hasn't found a home yet. We have a lot of square footage in our house, but little storage, so we need to figure out how to store things that won't go in closets (IKEA storage, bins, baskets, shelves, etc) and cull our stuff.
The artwork to deal with is all mine and is half the problem in my office. I find it difficult to part with even when I have nice photos. Although in some cases I need to make sure I can find the photos before getting rid of the art. Sigh.
For DD's clothes, it gets sorted into diaper boxes (the jumbo pampers boxes) or any other used box that's available. I only plan to keep the hand knits and a few dresses long term, but we plan to have at least one more kid, so I'm not parting with any useful baby item yet.
Christmas caused our first big influx of toys (DD is 11 months). We've got some bins, but I think we need more or they need to be in different rooms (living room, bedroom, etc). And I need to remove the 'baby toys'. Everything is in the living room at the moment and I can tell that it is just overwhelming for the little peanut to have so many options in front of her.
We also plan to request 'no gifts' for her birthday and say that books are okay if you just can't resist. It might not prevent the grandparents from getting more toys, but hopefully it will keep everyone else at bay. For now.
Posted by: Amy M | January 03, 2008 at 01:05 PM
I don't have anything to add re: organization, as my methods are haphazard and only moderately effective.
However, in case you need motivation to clear up, check out the New York Times' Well blog from 12/31/08 "Tackling Clutter to Improve Your Helath" which links to the 1/1/08 article "A Clutter Too Deep for Mere Bins and Shelves" http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/health/01well.html
I was particularly intrigued by the woman who cleaned out the "solid block of clutter" from her garage and lost 50 pounds in the process (I read it in the NYT so you know it's true...). Does that mean for every square foot of clutter I clean up I could lose one pound? Dude, the possibilites. . . ;)
Posted by: Nick | January 03, 2008 at 01:54 PM
i've only gotten through about 1/2 of the comments but the ones about burdening your adult children with their things struck a nerve- when i was a baby my biological mom died- my biological family was broken up, and different family members took the responsibilities of packing up my parents apartment and distributing boxes/furniture, etc. i imagine a great deal of things were thrown away or lost, including most of my baby items and nearly all of my sisters. it's something that i still miss, and when i have been able to locate something that my mom wrote or drew, that has been a treasure for me.
a few years ago, after the mom who raised me died, i was cleaning out the attic and found a number of those boxes- to me, those things were precious. i'm glad that someone (mom #2) thought enough to save those things and let me as an adult go through them and save what was meaningful and discard what wasn't. granted, it was a no-brainer to toss some ancient dried out dishrack, but what a sweet moment to find old child cups my sister must have used as a little kid.
while i completely agree with those who question our attachment to 'stuff', i hold some stuff to be more important than others- i wish mom #2 had saved more of my toys and clothes (maybe the stuff i really enjoyed?) so i could have them for the pnut- how awesome would it be to have all those original fisher price little people sets now for her! or my fire chief pedal car, or my table and chairs, instead of giving them away after i had outgrown them.
there is definitely some 'stuff' that probably shouldn't even be bought to begin with, but there are some things that are meaningful just by their existence- when my husbands grandpa died all of his cousins and siblings were allowed to go through their home and keep whatever was meaningful to them from their lives- as an outsider it was amazing to see how something that looked like nothing to me would hold so many memories for a grandchild.
mom #2 *did* save most of what i created and did at school- one large manila envelope per year, dated and marked all lined up in an old steamer trunk in the attic. that was awesome to find a few years ago- to be able to see what i was able to do developmentally by year, etc. i think it's a gift to be able to decide now as an adult what to save and what can be tossed- but i'm glad i am the one who gets to make the decision.
Posted by: pnuts mama | January 03, 2008 at 02:05 PM
I'm not very organized, so I'm probably not the best person to chime in here. But I'm going to anyway! A few years ago when we were moving, I went through everything in my storage boxes, and anything I hadn't thought about since I packed the box, I got rid of. I figure if you never think about it, why do you need to keep it? One major exception was a Dollywood mug that had my name on it. I took that out of storage and use it every day now.
Posted by: janel | January 03, 2008 at 02:12 PM
rudyinparis made me laugh- i should add that while i may seem like an emotional attachment-to-stuff sap i actually have no problem culling much of the crap when it comes in. i've been known to say to folks in my family (when i see them taking 4-6 prayer cards at a wake) "fantastic- there's one more thing i get to throw away after you die"- i think the difference is saving *one* prayer card for meaning vs. 6 for, what exactly?
i've found that hoarding is genetic in my family- something about going through the great depression with nothing seemed to spark a hoarders mentality with all the 80-somethings and they have passed it along to their kids and grandkids. hedra is right- bearing the responsibility of cleaning out a hoarders house is overwhelming- and unfortunately so many of the golden nuggets (old passports, naturalization records, photographs) gets tossed with the 4 million pieces of saved junk mail, readers digests, prayer booklets, 40 year old utility bills, etc. it's a real nightmare.
it *is* hard for me to get rid of something that could re-used or used 'someday', but it's become easier. but after cleaning out 3 families worth of stuff from our attic last year (because you don't just hoard your own stuff, you hoard others stuff, too), it was really easy to chuck a box of travel brochures and home improvement flyers from the 1970's (oh to be kidding) vs. saving a notebook with my uncle's records from flight training during WWII. that's the stuff i treasure, things that have history. vhs tapes with 15 year old taped programs on them? goodbye.
but i do have a hard time not rescuing certain items from the curb on big trash night. sigh. damn hoarding genes.
Posted by: pnuts mama | January 03, 2008 at 02:19 PM
ok, read through all the comments, some awesome ideas in there! i love the idea of taking digital pix of kids art and storing it digitally, or printing those images and saving them. flat stuff is way easier to save than 3-D, i'd probably save the 3-d for a year, pick my faves and gift the rest to grandmas, etc. i write name and date on a piece for the memory.
you made me laugh with the ron paul/ru paul/sean paul. ron paul scares me, i saw an interview where he said he hoped to eliminate most federal systems within the first two years of his presidency- like the *federal reserve* my husband turned to me and said, "yes, since that seems to be working in kenya right now"- oh well, at least he's been interesting to watch.
moxie, my husband is a 3-D ceramic sculptor, so your predicament with a pinch pot made me laugh- our garage is lined floor to ceiling with in various-stages-of-firing hand-built monstrosities that i have absolutely no idea what we'll do with. we have so many pieces from friends as well, but between having the pnut and doing the work on the house we've stored everything to keep them protected. sigh.
we swear by the sterlite storage tote/tub, stackable, with good handles, not see-through. you can get them at discount stores (like a big l*ts) for pretty cheap. we store everything we're saving or keeping or seasonal in them- clothes, bedding, holiday stuff, etc. one tip is don't get them too big- i find the 18 gallon ones work best for most everything, the 30 gallon ones for stuff that is light (bedding). you don't want to make the mistake of packing a 30 gallon with a ton of heavy stuff that you can't lift or move anywhere. i put a big strip of masking tape on the lid (where the next tub *doesn't* rest on) and write what's inside.
my husband's valuable wisdom is once you pick a tub you like, always buy the same kind/size, so you can stack them and store them easily. he also has a system of numbering each tub (back from the days when we used to move every year- so they were boxes then) and keeping a list that had a more specific description of what was in each numbered box/tub. on the back of that list was a diagram of where each box/tub was in the stack- this sounds crazy anal but man does it come in handy when you are looking for 'x' and you don't want to tear through 32 boxes. just check the list and find that box on the diagram- just don't be like me and forget to re-stack accordingly.
so far with just one kid i've saved the stuff i've liked for her (clothes, bedding, baby stuff) for whoever comes next- gotten rid of a ton i wasn't crazy about or was extra by passing it along, etc. i have one tub for every two sizes (3-6, 6-9 month, etc) and i use the old zipper bags that blankets or comforters come in to put each size in, then into the tub. we used to use space bags until we realized how much they suck (hahaha, sigh) and what a scam they are. i also have a tub with baby specific toys, or feeding stuff, etc, until we are done for good with that phase. then i imagine i'll just save the really sentimental or worthwhile stuff, and pass along the rest.
wow, three comments in one day. i need to go sit down.
Posted by: pnuts mama | January 03, 2008 at 02:56 PM
@marsupial: Thank you for sharing your experience with Space Bags. I will never buy another one, but for a different reason.
Whatever I put into them must be washed after it comes out of the Space Bag. Even if it was washed and thoroughly dried before going in, it comes out smelling of chemicals and plastic. And I mean bad. I tried to use them to store crib sheets in the shallow drawer below the crib, but when I pulled one out in the middle of the night post-poopslosion (so you know I was desperate for a clean sheet), I couldn't use it. The smell immediately gave me a headache.
Maybe mine are defective, but they cost too much money for me to try again with another set.
Posted by: amy | January 03, 2008 at 03:07 PM
We LOVE the huge ziploc bags-they certainly don't look as cute as other storage options, but they're cheap, and out of the way.
We bought 2 unfinished storage benches over Xmas break as Xmas brought the senseless influx of toys-that really helped clean things up-and they are cool pieces of furniture (we painted them great colors to go w/ the room)!
As for the what to throw out-I have not yet come to this phase, BUT, we have recently been given many many things from my MIL who saved a ton of stuff from my DH's and BIL's baby days. She's not much of a pack-rat-I guess she just has good attic space-but she gave us some toys and clothes from when my DH was a baby (33 years ago!). I guess my point is, it has been incredibly endearing and meaningful to get this stuff from her---but I'm sure I'll have a different take when I see the handmade pinch pots come in the door in a couple of years---
Posted by: Jenny | January 03, 2008 at 03:20 PM
Wow, timely. I just did a huge toy reorganization over Xmas. We have two of the Ikea expedit bookcases (the smaller ones), one upstairs and one downstairs, and put toys in baskets (labelled with brown packing labels with pictures on one side and words on the other) and they can flip around between the playspaces... but we are blessed with space in our current home. While we have one child. Lord help us after that because wow do we have stuff.
Will post pics if I ever take any.
For art stuff I am in the "my mother drowned me in cr$#" crowd. It was - and still is when she hauls out another box - oppressive. Also so much of the stuff had fallen apart... 20 year old macaroni rolling around the bottom of the box... *shudder* I think I understand why things can be sentimental - I have a box of everything that ever came into contact with my daughter in any way and it is hugely precious to me. But at a certain point it really becomes a burden.
For my son I initially thought I would have a single banker-sized box and I would fill one every year by selecting the best stuff. Then I thought about it. That would be 18 bankers boxes PER CHILD - never mind the family photos etc. that he stands to inherit? That seems CRAZY.
I think we'll try to eventually cull the year down to 12 reasonable-sized items per year. One per month (ish) sounds sort of nice. Pictures of the 3-d stuff is an awesome idea.
Another idea I've heard is to post a whole bunch of things on a wall and take a picture of the lot - you lose the detail but get the scope of it.
Posted by: Shandra | January 03, 2008 at 03:43 PM
Oh for clothes we do the sterilite thing - but only because we are sort of maybe planning another child. After that I'm keeping 1-2 outfits per size and that's it. My mother also had trunks full of mouldy baby clothes... rubber pants that had disintegrated... and there were people that could have used them gladly, you know? We got so much second-hand and it was so helpful.
What's got me right now is the gear. I have a baby museum in the garage that is probably good if I have another, but it bugs me.
Posted by: Shandra | January 03, 2008 at 03:46 PM
May I suggest Unclutterer.com (http://unclutterer.com/)? It's a treasure trove of fantastic organizational ideas.
Posted by: Marie | January 03, 2008 at 05:14 PM
Love this topic!! I have been to Canadian Tire to buy storage bins twice this week.
There are some great ideas here.
I am ruthless about throwing stuff out. I pitch all the artwork but really like the idea about keeping one thing a year.
Really loving the Rubbermaid Cleverlarch containers. They come in a ton of sizes and are clear so you can see what's inside.
Posted by: Kristin | January 03, 2008 at 05:19 PM
I'm with flea... I throw away the art. If either one is especially proud of it, it goes on display for a week or two then into the trash. I keep planning to take photos of it first... but given that #2 comes home daily with 1-2 pieces of 2D art... and #1 comes home at least once a week with a piece... and #3 starts day care on Monday... well, I could be in over my head with photos of art no one will care about in 30 years. My own mother kept EVERYTHING--still does. I confess that it's occasionally fun to see something I made as a 3 yr old... but I don't care mush about seeing *everything* I made as a 3 yr old. So, I hope my kids feel the same.
Baby clothes--I've kept the outfit each came home from the hospital in. And I've given myself permission to keep one other outfit from each one's babyhood that I can't part with. But that is it. I have a keepsake box for each one and the outfit goes in there with other stuff that can't go in a scrapbook.
As for organizing the rest of the house... like the rest of y'all, I'm working on that. I did a big clean up of the play room earlier this week and came up with 2 trash bags for the curb (broken toys, toys missing things) and 2 for Goodwill. Next up is the kids' bedroom and closets (oh, how I hate the closets).
I try to see it as an on-going process... I'll never actually be done with the organizing b/c as soon as I feel I have a handle on it, something like Christmas presents or my getting sick or a shopping spree by my mom thrawrts all my progress.
Posted by: Amy | January 03, 2008 at 05:30 PM
I just want to make a plug for not taking it all on at once - it's too easy to get discouraged and/or buried in half-begun projects. Instead, my ideal is to do only fifteen minutes at a time on some decluttering or organizing task, but to do it every day. It's a totally focused fifteen minutes; I actually set a timer (yes, I'm an appreciator of FlyLady). And it's incredible what gets done in that short amount of time. Frequently, a whole empty shelf or drawer is revealed, which is very encouraging. And for larger projects, taking it on in short stints makes it not so scary, and gives me time in between to think about what I'm doing. I'm doing this now in preparation for moving cross-country in a year; I hope it makes my own life easier.
Recently had a very intense session with books. Books that are precious should be saved, but not every book that I bought to read on a plane is a sacred object worth paying to haul thousands of miles. Putting my hands on each book I own and asking myself whether I want to pay to keep it, I found myself lightening my load by hundreds of pounds. The amount of money those giveaway books represent is shocking. I have a new love for the library.
Posted by: Rachel | January 03, 2008 at 05:39 PM
Lurker here checking in with something slightly off topic, but somewhat related. Has everyone watched The Story of Stuff? No?? It's a must:
www.storyofstuff.com
You'll need your sound on, and it's not short. But so worth watching!
Posted by: helena | January 03, 2008 at 05:41 PM
We just cleaned out our overstuffed garage yesterday. It is my life's ambition to be able to park my car in there. My husband said "I really need you to stick around today so you can go through all your boxes...you really need to get rid of some stuff if you want that garage" so I did. And you know what? I didn't have nearly as much crap as he did! And near the end he started dumpster diving to resuce his crap that I had thrown away. Sad. My only advice is this: Hire a paper shredder to come to your house and shred your boxes of old bills and documents you no longer need. We are literally drowning in old paper that we don't know how to dispose of. This is a relatively cheap and easy way to do it. I'm excited to be parking in my garage this weekend! Just in time for the big rain storm. Oh goodie!
Happy organizing!
Posted by: Julie | January 03, 2008 at 05:55 PM
I just read an article today about the school stuff. we are a few years away from that ourselves but i saved it for later. School Papers: Save or Pitch?
http://www.simplescrapbooksmag.com/mag/article.ihtml?idx=123&issue_idx=6&results=1
as far as clothes, the stuff that gets stained/ruined, goes in the donation box in the closet. my dogs love to chew up stuffed animals so that keeps the population down, too.
Posted by: michelle | January 03, 2008 at 06:00 PM