<p>1214, welcome to the club. </p>
<p>I canāt remember where I read this at, maybe it was here when this thread started a year ago?</p>
<p>Anyway, the idea is to turn all of the hangers in your closet backwards. As you wear a piece of clothing, hang back the right way. It is then easy to tell what has and has not been worn at the end of a year or season or whatever.</p>
<p>I like the hanger hint. </p>
<p>I do a similar idea, but done by clothing sections. For example, all of my short sleeved shirts hang together. After Iāve worn and/or washed one, it goes to the ārecentā end of the section. Items at the other end of the section are prime contenders for give-away. </p>
<p>Today was a good day. Just cleaned out a section in my closet for the upcoming shipment of clearance stuff! Mr is in the garage disassembling the old halogen lamps he found under the pile of stuff he also disposed off.</p>
<p>Returned the pair of navy patent JC pumps that I was so excited about (they were too tight 
), so I do not feel guilty about āadoptingā the pair I mentioned in the Good Buy thread.</p>
<p>I use small binder clips and clip socks together before washing. Works great and no sorting.</p>
<p>Sorted through all the gift wrap ribbons and boxes. Now have a large black bag of ratty looking and crumpled and outdated gift wrap items and the closet looks much better. Next up - breaking down all the cartons from Amazon for recycling. </p>
<p>I keep thinking about the basement and getting overwhelmed quickly. I need to remind myself we aim for a bag a week because it is small and manageable. So for 2015, I am aspiring to one hour of basement work per week. That sounds doable. That may make more than one bag a week even.</p>
<p>@1214mom, Dress for Success takes used womenās suits and provides them to women who need them. Google them and see if thereās a branch near you. It is a very worthwhile organization.</p>
<p>VeryHappy, thanks. I will do that. It would be great if I could help someone in need. </p>
<p>I believe some YWCAās and other orgs also help women get back into the workforce, so that would be another option to inquire about if you canāt find a Dress for Success near you.</p>
<p>We set some items free yesterday. Usually I feel lighter almost immediately after letting something go, but there was one item that had a lot of sentimental value attached, and I am missing it this morning. I hope some little girl loves it. Sweet dreams.</p>
<p>WE unloaded 5 white elephants last night. Ended up with 2 new ones (groan). But I do have my bag ready for this week.Getting H on board has been lovely however he still cannot part with sentimental things. I asked him why he was leaving these items for D or S to get rid of in the futureā¦no answer. The truth is that if I did not show them to him he would never ever remember they existed.</p>
Happy ONE year anniversary of this thread!
As the OP, I have to say that you all have succeeded MUCH MORE than I did - so I guess Iāll restart the challenge for 2015!
My incentive to get rid of things is a possible trip to France this summer. I need extra cash to make it happen so Iām planning on taking the ābestā of the junk and hoping to make some $$$ on ebay.
For those of you who are veteran ābag a weekā experts, care to share some tips on what jump started you or tips for starting the process of purging??
I donāt post here often, though I do have it bookmarked and read every post. I have found that it is easier for me to purge when my H is not around. He has to have a 10-20 minute discussion over every. single. item. even if it is mine (like a piece of clothing) and even if it is not useful anymore (it is broken, doesnāt fit, whatever). So, I wait until he is at work and start purging. I then tell him later what I cleaned out, and sometimes that motivates him to do something similar. (if I cleaned all of my dresser drawers, he may clean one of his.) He is a hoarder, so him purging anything is progress.
Iām an on again/off again member of this club. Today Iām in the on again category as Iām back to purging torn out recipe pages and posting the good ones to Pinterest. I need to purge my unfinished storage closet off our playroom, but with no heat there, itās way too cold a task for today:) In my case, thereās no hard deadline in my future, so waiting for the urge to purge is fine. Good luck with your e-baying and travel plans, abasket. Happy New Year, everyone.
While I was at the office yesterday H got rid of 9 sweaters (his) , several household items, etc. Yay!
Iāve decided to do this as a New Yearās resolution. H is on board as well. I figure weāll go room to room and clear stuff out; Iām prepared for the fact that some rooms may take us a few weeks!
I think the hardest part for me will be things I have been given by my mother or grandmother; I donāt use them and they are mainly just hidden away, stored, but I would feel bad not keeping them āin the family.ā And I know my own kids wonāt have any use for them. I suppose I can offer them back to my mother?
But how do you deal with things that are adding to clutter, and yet are āfamily heirloomsā? I can totally see myself being guilted into keeping these things even though I donāt really want them around anymore.
I purge when:
my house feels heavy to me
I am irritated
I cannot find something because there is too much in a drawer or closet
when others move and have to purgeāit is catching
my motto is āif you do not even know it is there then it might as well not beā.
I also feel it is unkind to keep nice clothes that others can wear until they are so old and outdated that others would not wear them.
I really like to get rid of things and I think it is from living with a mom who was far too attached to objects.
Re: family heirlooms. Hereās my thought. Pick the ones that are meaningful to you to keep. Then offer up other things to other members of the family - if they donāt feel āobligatedā to hang onto things, why should you clutter up your space with them? If you can detach yourself from the idea of āgiving your family awayā and just āgiving things awayā - it will be easier.
Or consider selling things of value via ebay or another source. Better for an item to be loved by someone - even outside the family - then just set on a shelf collecting dust.
S is the best in our family about purging. H will finally get rid of the stuff in the carport that makes it impossible to park a car on HIS side so he can get a NEW car. That will be exciting for both of us!