Living In the Material World: how often do you de-clutter your life?

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Just filled numerous black bin-liners just to be able to regain control of my flat.

I'm beginning to be attracted to And Warhol's fantasy - living in a studio apartment and boxing up each month's belongings and sending them away for permanent storage.

― Bob Six (bobbysix), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:00 (twenty years ago)

Every time I move. Which seems to be about once a year at least at this rate. I hate doing it. I hate parting with my rubbish. I wish I had a big house where I could just move from room to room, filling up every room with clutter and junk, and when it got too much, just move to the next room over. So I never. Have. To Throw. Anything. Away. Ever again.

(Lord help me before I turn into the Dirt Queen.)

― Super-Masonic Black Hole (kate), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:06 (twenty years ago)

The therapeutic powers of de-cluttering cannot be underestimated .

The window sill in my kitchen was full of books, photos and all sorts of bric-a-brac. Last week, I cleared it and the amount of light coming in now is incredible. I feel I can breathe again. And the kitchen is sunny and light again and we really enjoy eating and chatting there once more.

― Penelope_111 (Penelope_111), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:07 (twenty years ago)

Decluttering that you choose to do is fine. I just really resent forced decluttering that comes from having to move when you don't really want to. :-(

Man, I am bitter today. What's up with me? I must be PMS-ing!

― Super-Masonic Black Hole (kate), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:09 (twenty years ago)

De-cluttering is also very frustrating when you create a big space by throwing away lots of things that you were sort of attatched to, and the person you live with sticks all their fucking useless things in the space.

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:11 (twenty years ago)

I find de-cluttering sooooo difficult - so what if I've read a book once, and probably won't read it again, why would I want to throw it away?

How many of you de-clutter via E-bay??

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:12 (twenty years ago)

Sorry, I have had this the other way around. When you declutter and declutter and throw away precious things to fit into someone else's space when they have EMPTY CARDBOARD BOXES AND BROKEN ART INSTALLATIONS AND BITS OF USELESS ELECTRONICS that are clearly more important than your right to have your own space or even exist.

― Super-Masonic Black Hole (kate), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:14 (twenty years ago)

every time i move, i decide i'm going to become a minimalist. anyone who has seen my flat knows this is not the case. i have so much crap. and people think i don't need it all, but i really do! (ok, could lose some of the clothes, probably. but a lot of the weird stuff i really use)

i love stuff. i just wish i had more nice storage. like a whole wall of wardrobe space/closet.

― colette (a2lette), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:14 (twenty years ago)

I am really, really bad at 'spreading out' in terms of papers, books etc going everywhere but much of that can be solved with shelves and storing things properly. We're redecorating the back bedroom and I am amazed at the number of old computers which have crawled back there to die.

When it's done, Ed will have space for his stuff and I will have office space where I can't overhear the goings-on outside. Hooray!

― suzy (suzy), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:34 (twenty years ago)

collette, wardrobe a bad plan. clutter monkies like us, we need to see the useless crap we own. I suggest lots of shelves

― lukey (Lukey G), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:46 (twenty years ago)

Most of my clutter is in wardrobes. Big, Victorian, deep ones. I love them. It makes me think I might not just have clutter, but also QUASI MYSTICAL LIONS in there as well, or something.

― Super-Masonic Black Hole (kate), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:47 (twenty years ago)

I am the master de-clutterer. My wife on the other hand is queen clutter. She can't seem to part with anything.

― Velveteen Bingo (Chris V), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:47 (twenty years ago)

one day i'll learn that dumping things into a box != "de-cluttering."

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:54 (twenty years ago)

this is the story of my life. i treat my apartment like a campsite: "pack it in, pack it out".

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:58 (twenty years ago)

I love to declutter. I hate to part with things. I live a hard and complex life.

― the impossible shortest special path! (the impossible shortest specia), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 11:02 (twenty years ago)

i have lots of shelves. it's depressing to look at them. that's the problem!

i like being called a clutter monkey, though.

― colette (a2lette), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 11:11 (twenty years ago)

i used to keep everything because i grow attached to things and the people i associate them with..

but the other day i did a big clean of my house and realised that i don't really like all of those people now and it felt great.

"aw but i will never get those moments when i pick these things up and remember this person"

"Woot! to the bin now"

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 11:18 (twenty years ago)

http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/arts/story/0,9848,649481,00.html

― bert (bert), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 11:22 (twenty years ago)

I am ultra-minimalist and so is Mrs. Dr. C - even with my vast amount of recds and our books. Luckily we have lots of space. I own v.few things really. However we are not necessarily *tidy* - with kids and cats this is impossible!

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 11:23 (twenty years ago)

I don't like having stuff. Major decluttering has gone on over the past few years and I keep only GENUINELY emotionally important things now. I appreciate the stuff I do have much more when it isn't surrounded by material white noise. Like, I used to keep all my old schoolbooks but never ever look at them. One day I ripped out the pages which had really nice drawings on, or were really interesting, and stuck them on the walls. I chucked the rest away and now I can get a nice memory just looking at the wall instead of through dusty old boxes.

I still have a bit of clutter-monkey in me though - I think it's ok to keep things as long as you have some storage space, whereas Matt is not down with the idea of storage AT ALL. Sometimes I think he only wants to be minimalist because he knows that the concept of having a 'place' for something is alien to him and he puts anything he DOES own in a random pile on the floor, which gets messy-looking much quicker than a cupboard.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 11:34 (twenty years ago)

http://www.network54.com/Realm/Squalor_Survivors/

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 11:35 (twenty years ago)

Engaged on a very small program of declutter with paring down the CD collection (just). At some point will also winnow down the books further, but I already did a lot of that last year.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 12:05 (twenty years ago)

just...need...one...more...room...

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 12:36 (twenty years ago)

I hardly ever De-Clutter effectively, the space that is gained is usually filled up again in two minutes. I have entriely too many CD's now, 1500+ I think, most are stored in boxes. Yeah, another room would be the solution...I can't get myself to be brutal enough about what to get rid of.

― jel -- (jel), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 15:33 (twenty years ago)

I love the idea of decluttering. My things seem to breed every night. Things keep falling down in the bedroom closet. You can't even open the coat closet at this point.

Every once in a while I force myself to make a bag for Good Will. I don't wear anything in at least 2 of my dresser drawers, but it's actually painful to put stuff in there. I haven't worn most of this stuff in over a year, but I think What if ONE DAY it's the PERFECT THING?!

And I love to buy a bunch of crap every weekend. It makes me happy.

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 15:42 (twenty years ago)

If I buy a flat screen TV, I think I will gain 2 cubic feets worth of space! Perhaps I should get rid of this collection of half-empty water bottles...

― jel -- (jel), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 15:44 (twenty years ago)

oh dear, that process is what I am undergoing at the moment, only because I have to. horrible little students will be traipsing through my flat now, so it is time I rediscovered the floor. I am about half done and I have found I own lots of cool stuff and I don't want to lose any of it. I still have heaps of papers and fabric to go through yet, maybe I wont like some of that

― Menelaus Darcy (Menelaus Darcy), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 15:44 (twenty years ago)

I hung all the coat collection up, that makes a big difference

― Menelaus Darcy (Menelaus Darcy), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 15:46 (twenty years ago)

I do a purge about every six months. I moved so many times as a student that it became necessary to be able to chuck out the things that I had absolutely no space for. The only thing I will NOT get rid of are old CDs and cassettes. I have storage bins full of these suckers - no resale value, no one to give them to, so I have a horrible feeling they will be buried with me when the day comes.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Thursday, 2 September 2004 01:05 (twenty years ago)

I never ever declutter and I really truly should. I'm a hoarder of the worst quarter. I still have boxes Ive taken with me each move that I never open or unpack! This cant be good. I have 5 year old stuff I never see or miss. I have old clothes I never wear or even CANT wear (tears, holes etc) but theyre still in piles in the corner. I have piles of plastic bags. MOnths of old magazines and papers to chuck.

I really REALLY REALLY need a massive clean out.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 2 September 2004 01:10 (twenty years ago)

I always feel better once I've gotten rid of stuff, it's just that the process itself is kind of painful. I have this fantasy of a minimalist apartment, but then I buy huge heavy thrift store furniture and clutter everything up with books and clothes and cds. Oh, well. I guess it's cozy that way.

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Thursday, 2 September 2004 13:17 (twenty years ago)

I should just get rid of everything.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 2 September 2004 13:41 (twenty years ago)

I actually often feel the same way at points. Reducing everything down to a computer and clothes would be freeing.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 2 September 2004 13:47 (twenty years ago)

The timing of this thread is really poignant. I got rid of a bunch of stuff last night, in the process of getting my friend moved in properly, some of which had sentimental value through the roof (boxes of old clothes of the boy's going back to when he was 6-months old, fr'instance [which I gave to my sister as hand-me-downs for her little boy], books of crappy old poetry/songs/stories I wrote back when I had The Hunger, things that remind me of people that I A] don't like anymore, B] am still in love with who are disappeared so I don't want to think about them anymore, etc.).

I felt strange going to sleep last night, having so many things-tied-to-crucial-life-moments gone from my home, but this morning, I've felt rather fantastic. Now I'm all excited to get home tonight and get rid of more of my bullshit!

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 2 September 2004 13:49 (twenty years ago)

I think the most free I've ever felt in my life, the contents of my apartment consisted of:

*a rug
*a mat for sleeping on
*a home-made upright bass
*a radio boombox
*a skillet
*eggs
*ramen noodles
*beer
*clothes (in a big tupperware bin)
*a bong
*toothbrush
*soap
*shampoo

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 2 September 2004 13:52 (twenty years ago)

That sounds like a good boiling down to essentials. I'd still need the computer, though. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 2 September 2004 13:56 (twenty years ago)

what's wrong with you people. The Stereo! The records! the books! and most of all The Coats!

― Menelaus Darcy (Menelaus Darcy), Thursday, 2 September 2004 14:21 (twenty years ago)

I've reduced my life down to a 5 x 10 storage unit. Going to take a much needed vacation from everything for a couple days and then it's time to chip away at it again.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Thursday, 2 September 2004 17:06 (twenty years ago)

All clothes I don't wear and all clothes with holes are going out the door this weekend, I swear.

― sexyDancer, Thursday, 2 September 2004 17:44 (twenty years ago)

twelve years pass...

i am so bad at this stuff, the time for action is now.
the "touch it once" rule seems like a great idea but will require a herculean amount of discipline on my part.

http://moneysavingmom.com/2015/04/how-to-eliminate-99-of-the-paper-piles-in-your-home.html

http://www.onecrazyhouse.com/paper-clutter/

https://reallyrathergood.files.wordpress.com/2007/01/filing001.gif

― a but (brimstead), Saturday, 24 December 2016 20:12 (eight years ago)

Paper is easy. If it isn't a birth certificate or a passport, it can pretty much be torched.

― Jeff, Sunday, 25 December 2016 03:27 (eight years ago)

one month passes...

I'm beginning to be attracted to And Warhol's fantasy - living in a studio apartment and boxing up each month's belongings and sending them away for permanent storage.

Interesting, but you'd still have the items in storage weighing on your mind. My fantasy right now is to move into a hotel room, with just a high-end laptop and maybe three changes of clothes.

― Diana Fire (j.lu), Monday, 20 February 2017 14:10 (eight years ago)

I'm too attached to cooking my own meals to do anything like that. However, I sometimes daydream in great detail about living in a one room cabin in a pine woods.

― a little too mature to be cute (Aimless), Monday, 20 February 2017 17:12 (eight years ago)

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