Counteracting the clutter in 2023

[Squirrel]

I’m going to attack my doom boxes at some point and post on here for support. I’m sure we will be able to help each other with suggestions for organising, that are obvious when it’s not our own stuff IYSWIM.

[Cerise]

We just all need emma_p to come and shout at us. Imagine all the shit that would get done!

[FiveO'Clock]

The thing that has helped me the most is a you-tuber recommended by Little My. She talks about everything as a container, and you can only fit so much in each container. Your house is a container, each room, each closet, etc. We've been going room to room and in each room deciding what its purpose will be, what will be stored there and when it's full, everything else must go. I lived with so much guilt about my stuff, having too much, the feeling I was wasting money by getting rid of it, the fear that I would miss something or need something that I gave away and watching these videos really helped me. I'm not yet done, so am joining in here. I'm also being much more mindful about what I buy and bring into the house.

Mr5 has not been officially diagnosed, but he is most definitely ADHD and everyone who knows him has agreed with my "diagnosis". He doesn't want to take medication and just understanding this condition has helped both of us a great deal. But if anyone has any advice to help him cope, I'd appreciate it!

[Lola]

My entire bedroom is a doom box I want to renovate it this year so all the clutter needs to go. I also have the same problem with toiletries & keep meaning to look into those schemes that take them (I think Superdrug is another).

With books, you could put them in boxes outside your house with a sign telling people to help themselves, or put a post on your local facebook group. It’s amazing what you can give away for free on there.

[Lola]

You can also post stuff to the British Heart Foundation:

https://www.bhf.org.uk/shop/donating-go ... -donations

[Squirrel]

Five - that’s Dana K. White I think. Her book has also been recommended to me.

On the subject of ADHD in women, a friend recommended this book which may be useful for anyone ADHD-curious.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Understanding- ... a02bd7e972

And this one
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Power-Neurodiv ... 9225494892

[Squirrel]

I’ve just had a quick look through a doom pile and there’s stuff in there over a year old.

I’ve binned lots of paperwork and moved the few leftover bits to another doom box which I will go through properly next week as I need to do actual work now .

[rosy]

Doom boxes and bags IMO can be a good tool to start decluttering in that you can see what a space can look like without all the clutter. But you have to be disciplined in attacking the doom box/bag rather than let them sit elsewhere.

[Texaco Shirley]

Boxes from my mum’s house to make everyone else feel better about their clutter.

I have my own clutter elsewhere as well as all this.

[Morganna]

You can also post stuff to the British Heart Foundation:

https://www.bhf.org.uk/shop/donating-go ... -donations

This is very relevant to my interests, as they take books - thanks, Lola. Our local Lions Club has a massive booksale, but only once a year and they don't collect until nearer the time (October), so being able to pack them up and take them to a collection point is a great idea. They are too miscellaneous to be worth putting on the garden wall. The odds of a passer-by wanting novels, engineering text books and old atlases etc on a given day are slim. I've seen people offer books on the FB page, and they are asked for one or two particular ones, which is more hassle than it's worth - I just want rid of them, not to have people asking me to sort them out. If I could be arsed to do that I wouldn't have a million of them needing to be dispatched .

Thanks for the recommendations, Squizz. When I've decided which books will have to go to the BHF in order to accommodate them, I'll invest ;). Seriously - I'll get them on Kindle.

I've done online tests, Cos, and they suggest that yes, I do have it. S does too, and it was when she was getting tested for dyslexia that hers became apparent and made me think. I'd be very interested in T&T strategies for managing it as an adult.

[FiveO'Clock]

Five - that’s Dana K. White I think. Her book has also been recommended to me.

Yes, that's her

[Cosmopolitan]

The Additude magazine is really good and has loads of helpful tips https://www.additudemag.com/

While I'm not glad you have adhd Morganna, self knowledge is so powerful and I hope it helps your self esteem. It's definitely helped mine.

[H1ppychick]

I've never made a distinction between books and other charity donations, all the charity shops in my area have a book section, and in fact there are a couple of book-specific charity shops (generally Oxfam-run) locally, one in my local "village" centre (Westbury village) and one a couple of miles away in a more posh area (Clifton Village).

So Oxfam is also a good shout if you're donating locally, they have bookshops.

[Little My]

Dana K White has ADHD and her methods are great for avoiding doom boxes, and a wonderful place to start if you're overwhelmed.

MinimalMom is really good for people struggling to get rid of things. (Useful to anyone, not just people with kids.) She recently posted a mammoth video that takes you through her entire home as she revisits decluttering and re-explains many of her concepts. It also highlights that decluttering is more of an ongoing process than an end point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48rXxs5pgME

[Little My]

Today Mr LM's parents announced they are coming to stay, so that will definitely make him spring into action - except that usually means more doom. I am hoping not though.

[Squirrel]

Great thanks LM I’m going to start watching that now.

It also highlights that decluttering is more of an ongoing process than an end point.

Ain’t that the truth .

[Lola]

It never ends, especially if you live with other people

[emma_p]

Cerise! Straighten your lampshade at the very least!

Thank you It looks like such a nice room and you deserve a nice space for your new business!

I made my colleagues declutter our studio today (it had got into a huge mess with an actual wall of packing boxes surrounding us and we couldn't find anything). They both said they felt so good about it and wanted me to declutter their houses. It is loads easier with other people's stuff though.

I really like Shira Gill's book, insta etc for minimal inspiration: https://shiragill.com/journal/

[Morganna]

Thanks for all the links. I'll follow them up and attempt remedial action before inviting emma round .

Some charity shops don't take books, H!ppy. I think they take up too much space for the limited financial return. I know Oxfam take them, and BHF, but some are quite explicit about not wanting them.

[Froozy]

There’s an Amnesty bookshop near me that takes all the books. They’re happy to recycle the worst ones too so it’s very useful. I’ve found more general charity shops sometimes have a limit on how many books they’ll take from one person. Do you have a local library/college who could use some of your books Morgs ?

So much to do here, although I’ve had some toy successes due to birthday and Christmas happening close together. My clothes and my part of the office are top of the list and I really need to go through my filing but that really fills me with dread.

In the absence of Iheartorganizing (does anyone know where she went?) I’ve recently found another blog who uses theSPACE method which I’m going to get round to trying any.day.now