Decluttering Clothes

 

How can you be ruthless when decluttering clothes?

If you are decluttering clothes, shoes, sporting items, or accessories, ask yourself the following questions.

• Is the item in good condition?
• Does the item need repair?
• Is the item faded, stained, pilled, or ripped?
• Does the item fit or is it too big or too little?
• Does the item flatter you with its color and style?
• Do you like the way the material feels on your body?
• Do the shoes make your feet hurt?
• Does the item have an unpleasant odor?
• Do you still participate in the sport or exercise?
• Would you buy the item again?

Getting rid of things

• Get rid of faded, stained, pilled, ripped, or smelly articles or clothing.
• Get rid of items that need repair.
• Get rid of items that don’t fit.
• Get rid of items that don’t flatter you.
• Get rid of items you would never buy again.

Sorting

• Sort the items in the keep pile.
• Try articles on and have someone take pictures of you in the item.
• Ask yourself if you really want to keep the item now?

Success

• Set up a core wardrobe of clothing.
• Supplement needed items with quality mix-and-match timeless pieces.

For the future

• Keep a Goodbye Bag or Basket in your closet for ongoing purging
• If you put the item on and realize it no longer works, put it in the Goodbye Bag or Basket.
• Clean the item and put it in the bag immediately

Decorating study or work tables

 

How can I decorate my study table by DIY?

The easiest way to decorate a study table or side table or coffee table is to add a glass or plexiglass topper. 

Slip flat cards, pictures, mementos, underneath the glass on the tabletop.

If the desk is large enough, add a shelf at the back of the desk.

Hang a bulletin board with hooks and drawers above the desk.

Add an organizer or holder to the top of your desk for your pens and pencils.

Make certain lighting is adequate and that your seat is an adjustable one so that you can change your seating position often.

Have a shredder and trash can in easy reach.

Note: that plexiglass or glass top will help protect the top's surface from dirt, moisture, and grime.

Decluttering sentimental paper items

 

How do I declutter my house when I’m so sentimental over so many gifts, letters, cards?

Are you up to taking pictures or scanning items? Can you get someone who loves you help you have “memory snapshots” which you can then do slide shows on a picture screen or your computer?

My husband scanned all the pictures that his parents owned when we had to go through their things. He placed all the pictures on CDs or DVDs, and made a copy for each son, grandchild, greatgrandchild. We then had a picture party and passed out all the pictures, including any frames, to any we could get to take them. Of course, we sorted family photos and offered the sons the pictures first. We only kept 2 hardcopy pictures of his mother and father. The rest we let go. We have all the photos in a slide show. We have cd copies all over the US and could easily copy another copy if necessary.

Have you ever heard of Swedish Death Cleaning? Take pictures, gift the things away now and watch someone enjoy the items as much as you have done in the past.

Queen hide-a-bed sofa to a niece who needed a bed for children.

Reclining love seat to a nephew for his TV room.

Love seat to a sister who needed one in her family room.

Curio cabinet to my daughter who needed one and I couldn’t help buy one.

Baking pans to a niece.

Cooking utensils to church.

Large Dining room table to a large family.

Clothing too little or too big to a homeless shelter, nursing home, church storehouse.

I find getting rid of things is easier if you know you are helping someone with what you are giving away.

One Christmas, I gathered a lot of Christmas decorations (no ornaments) and placed them on a table. I asked all of my family to go through them and take any and all that they wanted. [We have our party on the first Sunday of December.]

Another Christmas, I gathered Cookbooks and did the same thing.

We had numbers for each person, drew them, made a selection, rinse, and repeat. Swaps were encouraged.

We no longer do name drawing or dirty Santa presents. We do the Wright family game with a one-dollar item each—preferably non-breakable.

How do you effectively declutter unnecessary items?

 

Can you become a minimalist?

I’ve been getting rid of things for years. I want more open areas in the home and fewer things to dust.

Last week I took two chairs to see about getting them recovered. They were great to sit on; however, they seemed to have developed a skin condition and black material was flaking off constantly. The starting price to recover was $250 each. I paid $99 for them. I asked the upholster owner if he would like them for free. He took them. They will not be replaced.

My newly married granddaughter needed a computer desk for her new home. Her mom and I took her to look at desks. The one she liked was over $200 dollars; that just wasn’t going to happen right now. 

I offered her a 4-foot wide by 2.5-foot deep glass-top metal computer desk that was in my craft room. She can add a wood top if she wants to since her new father-in-law builds cabinets. Or wait, save the money, and buy the one that she wants. (I used the glass top table for around 3 years.)

I purchased a folding 4-feet by 2-feet height-adjustable table for the craft room (can double for tailgating) before I was gifted the computer table by my brother-in-law. 

All of the above to say, if you find something that no longer works for your in your home, or it no longer fits your lifestyle, or someone you know can use it, then, it is time to let the item go. 

You are not losing something, you are gaining space and more free time to play since you will have fewer things to clean.

How do you make a bookshelf look less cluttered?

 My bookshelves will always need a dedicated effort to keep them looking less cluttered.

I have bookcases, six of them.

• My kitchen ones look the best since they are shallow (on purpose.)
• There is only one layer of books grouped by the publisher, cooking method, or size.
• I have gifted thousand of books to others over the years, and I am not kidding.
• Remember, I have four additional bookcases. I love books. Letting some of the older books go has become more comfortable since I now have a Kindle Fire.

Now, for the hard part.

• Get a few boxes that will be leaving your house, no you are not putting the books into storage, the boxes will not just sit around in your home.
• Set up a table for sorting.
• Go through the books.
• Remove the ones no longer relevant to your current lifestyle.
• Remove the books that you read and didn’t like.
• Remove the ones for which you have newer, more relevant, current information concerning the subject.
• Remove duplicates.

You have completed your sorting process.

• Arrange the books by subject matter.
• You can add matching labeled covers.
• Place the books on the shelves.
• Pull them all a certain distance from the front edge of the shelf.
• Use bookends to keep the books neat.
• Add a few decorative items to the shelves if you have made room for them.

Or if all your books fit on the bookshelves and you don’t want to do additional purging or organizing, hide the books behind fitted shelf inserts, shades, blinds, or opaque doors.

Don't Retire My Master Bedroom!

Should the term “master bedroom” be retired?

The term “master bedroom” should not be retired. A prospective homeowner knows it will be the largest room in the home, probably have a large en-suite bathroom and a large closet. It might have a sitting area. It generally is used by the owner of the home. Some of the newer homes have a “mother-in-law suite,” which is a duplicate of the “master bedroom.” Multi-generational houses often have this feature.

Of course, I grew up in a time where there was only one bathroom with running water—if you were lucky. Mom and dad should have had the biggest bedroom; however, their three daughters and a grandmother occupied it.

The bathroom was added years after acquiring the house. Yes, we had an outhouse and took baths in the kitchen in a tin tub next to the wood cookstove which heated the kitchen.

My current 1925 mill home doesn’t have a master bedroom in a sense the term brings to mind. I do not find the term offensive in any way. We have one bathroom located off the hallway that used to be part of the back porch.

It is time to get over this, “I find whatever offensive mindset.” Terms, names, buildings, streets, are not offensive unless the so-called offended are small-minded. Life is too short to hunt terms and things to declare offensive.

Find something real with which to be offended. Come up with solutions, make them happen, write letters to the politicians. Run for office. Make the corner of the world that you live in better, look for the good in others, pay your blessings forward, and live!

 

Upgrading Your Taste?

How do I upgrade my taste in clothing, furniture, and home decor?

Decide what your current style is. Do a storyboard of styles you like. You can use Pinterest as a digital source. Go for quality over quantity.

A wardrobe of 10 to 15 well-fitting mix-and-match pieces of clothing is better than a closet full of trendy outfits that will be out of style in a year. I love the program, "What not to Wear." Pick flattering clothing styles that are not too small or big. Wear proper foundation clothing before trying on and buying the outer garment.

Get the foundation garments that fit you currently, not the mythical "when I lose/gain weight."

Try on all of your current clothes. Keep only the clothes that fit correctly, you like, and that makes you feel good about yourself. You will notice a trend in the clothes that make you feel good about yourself. You will probably find a "core" color/style that dominates your clothing. The clothing should skim the body, not envelope or sausage it.

You should be able to walk in your shoes, note your feet get longer as you age because your arches flatten. Shoes should not hurt your back or your feet.

If you are frequently moving, keep that in mind when purchasing furniture.

Remember, you need to clean under and around furniture and keep the size relative to the room in mind.

Every room should have mobility space in it. Choose storage or dual-purpose furniture pieces if open space is at a premium.

Visit retail furniture stores to see how sets of furniture are displayed. Doing so will give you an idea of the styles and material that you want in your home.

Follow the maximum that less is more. After all, you'll have to clean and dust everything you put into your home. Go to some house openings that brokers are showing to get an idea of how to present home styles. Look at houses that are representative of your home. Many times professionals stage the homes for sale.