We had just come home from a trip. When we entered the home and I realized how much I had to put away and how things were already full here, I just hit my breaking point. I was done.
Done with the clutter.
Done with repeatedly asking toys to be put away.
Done with always trying to find a place to put something when all the spaces were full.
Tired of being unhappy with my home and yearning for another place to live.
My home wasn’t the problem. Clutter was the problem. It was eating away at our happiness. And I wanted it OUT.
I’ve already told you about the book that changed our lives. After reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, I knew we were ready – ready to let go of clutter and live a life of JOY instead a life of constant cleaning up.
And can I tell you something? While on this journey, I realized that I can make this house work for me – I don’t have to yearn for something more. I’ve got a great home here and a fabulous space – I just have to fill it with JOY instead of CLUTTER.
Joy in your life and home is there, ladies. It’s just waiting for you to reach out and grab it!
So, where do you start? I mention this in the video, but I wish I had taken Marie Kondo’s advice and gone in the order she suggested – but I started before reading the book…but, I did FINISH in the correct order. (And I guess finish is a relative term because we’re still cleaning out every day.)
We just began ridding ourselves of EVERYTHING that didn’t bring joy. Now, this is relative. It should bring joy or be useful…because let’s be honest. My toilet brush doesn’t bring me intense joy…but neither would a nasty, dirty toilet. So, I kept the brush. 😉
This concept has permeated every corner of our lives – not only our home, but also our activities, emails, social media, and even our landscaping! Ha!
I thought that that because we were frugal, we were minimalists. Boy howdy – I was completely wrong. SO MUCH STUFF has left this house that at times, I’ve felt it embarrassing. Loads and loads to the dump. Loads and loads to the thrift store. Loads of stuff sold. In fact, we’ve sold so much stuff, people are talking. Some have asked if our rent is due (no rent, because we bought our home with cash) OR if we were getting divorced. Ha ha!
Being frugal means that sometimes you hang on to things that you don’t really need to – just because you MIGHT use some of them. Clutter was filling our home because I felt it to be useful. But even if it might be useful one day, I would have to say that it’s not worth me keeping right now. It’s not worth the stress and the constant cleaning it requires. It’s just not.
And yes, I might need 10% of the stuff I’ve thrown out…one day. But when that one day comes, I can buy the ONE thing I need instead of hanging on to the thousands of things I didn’t need. Yes, I said thousands.
So, I would like to tell you exactly how we’re cleaning out…but honestly, I’m following Marie Kondo’s advice. I’m also reading a ton of stuff about minimalism – currently reading You Can Buy Happiness, And It’s Cheap – I’m watching oodles of videos on You Tube about minimalism, capsule wardrobes, and decorating minimally.
The amount of happiness I feel about my home is crazy – I’ve also had a ton more time to play with my kids. And I’ve started actually hanging out with my husband and learning some of his hobbies. It’s what life is really about – not me staying inside all day and cleaning up stuff.
I’m tired of stuff – it’s left. And it isn’t coming back.
In this process, we realized we could make our home the way we want it instead of yearning for something out of our current grasp. So, we plan on making MORE renovations and doing some painting. I’ve got some great help from my wonderful friend Angela from The Grocery Shrink – she’s a great decorator…and I am not. So I require help. 🙂 I am so excited about having less.
Less really IS more. It’s not just a cliche phrase.
You can continue to follow along with me on Instagram. You can see our progress using the #clutterclearout hashtag (others have used it as they also play along).
I also plan to hire ArborPro Tree Experts serving all of Lake Oswego when we’re done with the clearout.
If you’re unhappy with your home – unhappy with your life – stressed out about cleaning and such…please read this book. I promise, you won’t regret it.
Barry plans to have a post up on Friday about how we’ve managed to sell so much stuff so far. It will include some tips and pointers for ya. 🙂
Ha…I bought the book at Costco a year ago. I opened it with enthusiasm but felt tired after the first page so I closed it quickly in case any of her suggestions caused me to hyperventilate…lol. All kidding aside I deal with fatigue from heavy metals toxicity. But I have heard great things and want to do this one day. Great suggestions Stacy…you are inspiring!
PS…you have inspired me to start with paper!
Don’t be overwhelmed! It is a lot of information, but you don’t have to do it all TODAY. It’s a lifestyle. It took me 6 months to do our major declutter and guess what? I’m still decluttering. It’s about a change in your thought process. 🙂
I just finished reading this book and just the fact that all my clothes fit in my half of the closet and my own dresser has already positively changed the way I view our home. Our tiny 600 sq. foot apartment really should be all we need right now! Books next – that will be our hardest!
Hooray for you! YAY!
There are 22 holds on this book at my library. Imagine my delight when i looked online and saw that Marie Kondo’s e-book is FREE on Amazon prime right now! Yay! – UPDATE – sorry. Just realized this is the summary, not the full book. Darn.
I think a lot of people have made that same oopsie. 🙂
If you want to see Marie Kondo in action she is on youtube. Here she shows you how to fold and organize your underwear drawer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=72&v=tglp9eWQEhY
Yeah! 🙂 I love that video. I watched it over and over and then folded everything in the house. 🙂 I put my short little videos on Instagram.
Thank you for sharing this gem. I bought the Kindle version and read it today. I have wanted to de-clutter more in anticipation of putting our house on the market next year, so this was very timely. I am looking forward to Barry’s post on selling, as I would love to make some money off of my unwanted things. We have sold quite a bit of home school materials on Ebay and I donate regularly to National Kidney Society (they have a truck for donations in our neighborhood once a month) or Goodwill. Even with that, I have way too many books (over a 1000), if that is possible! KonMarie would say yes. As a home schooler, I might disagree. : )
I can’t wait for a more stream lined looking home and less clutter to move around. I am going on Instagram just to follow your progress. Thanks again for sharing.
Diane
My homeschooling friend, Karen, has tagged hundreds of books for an upcoming book sale after reading this book – so there are others out there like you! 🙂 It’s so easy to keep books…I love books SO much, but I”m so tickled with the few that I kept that are my favorites.
Stacy, your post just hit my current problem on the nail! We live in a very early 1900’s story & a half farm house with very small rooms & hardly any closet or storage space. I feel like the things, items, okay junk is taking over!!! I can relate to you post so well! I love a good bargain and over the years it’s been helpful in saving me $, but also helped to clutter my home with un-needed stuff. I just had a garage sale over the weekend to try to get rid of part of the clutter, but still we have a long way to go. I will definitely be checking out the book you read & start to work on this problem that I seemed to have let get out of hand. Looking forward to your upcoming post on how to sell some of the items that need to go. I want to feel the joy again. Glad you have had success de-cluttering your home & life, hopefully we can all gleam some pointers from you. Love your blog! Thanks for keeping it real. 🙂
Oh, I hope this helps you too! I know how hard it is with older houses – ours was built in 1960, so not as old as yours, but not with spacious closets and such like you see on Pinterest. 😉
Oops, here’s the addendum I forgot in my last post… what to do with all the empty storage containers you now have? If you can, and we did, you can use them to pack up the items you really use and keep, and move to a smaller dwelling. Downsizing…
We’re keeping them in the attic for clothing storage for now. That way I have somewhere to put clothing when the kids out-grow it or when someone gives me clothing for a larger size. 🙂
Ahh, so something I’ve been doing for years has caught on! People compliment my appearance of neatness and organization. This has been my “secret”: to be neat and organized, and have more time to enjoy what really matters in lide: one must develop a close, frequent and loving (yes, really) relationship with the most unesteemed item in the house – none other than your TRASH CAN! I mean this figuratively, because one doesn’t want to add more stuff to the already full landfills. All those plastic food containers, for instance can be donated to ReStore, Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc. after being sterilized in the dishwasher. Save all your Rubbermaid totes; empty ’em out and nest them and the lids. Tell ya why later. The policy at our house is if it hasn’t been used, moved or seen in a year, then time for it to go bye-bye. There is always someone who could use your excess clothing, housewares, appliances, tools, furniture… folks who really can’t afford to buy those things for themselves – oh yes, they’re out there! What works faster than a yard or online sale? How ’bout a yard GIVEAWAY? Yup, set up your yard “sale” and sign it Yard GIVEAWAY! You probably won’t be sitting outside for very long. People will come and your clutter will go. One’s trash can be another’s treasure.
I’ve donated a ton to local thrift stores that benefit charities – and some to our church – and some we’ve just given away. But we’ve also sold a lot to help with house renovations. 🙂
I have a Kindle and went to get the book Amazon has it for $7 and change. they also have a summary of the book which hits all the important points without the fluff for free!!
I’ve been told NOT to buy the summary because it leaves out some really great parts of the book. 🙂
I will have to read it and see what I think. For free its a good starting point. Then I can decide if I want to buy the book and delve further
I will tell you that I borrowed the book from the library – and after only a few chapters, I knew I wanted the print version. And I’ve had a few friends who also did the same – tried to listen on audio and ended up buying the book to make notes. 🙂
I think you know that my husband’s brother and sister in law are visiting us for a couple weeks. My sister in law is definitely a minimalist. I’ve been talking to her about the book and now she’s reading it while she’s here. She’s loving it too. 🙂 Even as a minimalist herself, she’s finding good things to follow.
I wish I could sit down and chat with a minimalist!
I’m picking her brain! Already I found myself asking “Would Julie (that’s her name) keep this?”. HaHa!! It worked though…I threw it away! After reading the whole book she says she needs to go through her clothes and a bag full of pictures…that’s it! Wow!
I’m still getting rid of stuff – even things I had already Konmari-ed. It’s scary.
Thanks for the shout out! I’m enjoying the KonMari method too! It has become a verb in our house, ie “I think I’m going to KonMari this….” I have a long ways to go to get through our whole house of too much stuff, but what we have done is life changing.
We say the same thing! Ha ha! 🙂 I’m so glad you’re willing to help me!
I requested the book from the library. My current method of clutter clearout is watching an episode of Hoarders on tv and determining NOT to be an episode on that show. I’m sure the book will be more profitable 🙂
Ha ha! Yes, I”m sure the book will be much more helpful. I too was all “Well, I don’t have as much as they do!” When in fact, I had too much anyway. I can’t compare myself to someone else. 🙂
OK, OK, OK. I can’t take the pressure… or the clutter. I’m ordering the book. Who needs a husbands permission for something like this? : )
🙂 Well, you know I would say it’s always good to have your husband’s approval.
Yeah, me too. However, in this case I have a sort of permanent pre-approval. : ) He’s a messy himself, but he likes a clean environment… provided by someone else. Hmmm, don’t we all! : )
P.S. Permission granted! No marriages were harmed by this post.
LOL That seriously made me laugh!
I was already in the mode of getting rid of stuff and trying to have less clutter in my home and then I read this. Thank you!!
I need help on where to start? I have a hard time knowing what to do with some things. I really do want this to be a wonderful change. I also have listed a ton of items for sale right now with no success and because of it the stuff it cluttering up my garage! Help!!!
Start? Read the book of course! That’s why I haven’t listed any steps here…because it’s completely covered in the book. And it’s such a quick and easy read!
I am enjoying moving less crap around to do stuff. I also LOVE opening my dresser drawers every day now with this folding method.
However my mind keeps wandering to what I want to get rid of when it isn’t that category yet LOL I also have a 4″ pile of paper to shred that isn’t getting done, whoops. And it’s also hard to balance major decluttering and organizing with keeping the kids satisfied, meals cooked and bills paid (meaning working for money). Sigh. But it’ll only get better from here!
I know – the whole time, and even now, I struggled with meals. So we ate a bunch of easy stuff. And we still are. But once I am “done” I will have much more time to cook and bake! 🙂 Hooray!
This is soooooo me. I’m DONE, too. The “we might need it some day” is the biggest hang up for us. Example, there are hobbies that haven’t been participated in since before my husband and I met 12+ years ago because of time constraints. We have closets full of stuff dedicated to these hobbies because “maybe one day” we’ll do them again. Um . . . I’m thinking it’s not realistic at this point.
I’ve had big problems with selling stuff. Apparently I don’t have anything anyone wants to buy 🙁 I’m starting now, but am going to dive in head first once the kids go back to school in August. As much as I philosophically preach that I had busy-ness and I’m NOT one to schedule us to death this summer has been one on “fast forward” where it feels like there’s something pressing that needs to be done every day 🙁 Sometimes it’s appointments and other times it’s family obligations. Either way . . . it’s making me crabby and not leaving much time for much more than maintenance. I CANNOT WAIT to be on the other side of the clutter clearout! My goal is to be mostly done by October during the annual HOA garage sale. (We’re ONLY allowed to have them on sanctioned days—one in October and one in March)
Some of the stuff I thought no one would buy was the first stuff to go. LOL 🙂 Barry is tackling selling on Friday.
I’m decluttering the crafts…again. Right now. In the process. Because I kept too much. So, I”m KonMari-ing again.
I’m looking forward to Barry’s post! I’ve been listing on local swap sites with no success. The few things that people expressed interest in they low balled me so much I was better off donating it and taking the tax deduction.
Today I finally sold some brand new (in packaging) homeschooling curriculum that I’ve been trying to sell for nearly 2 years (and I got the price I wanted for it!) so that felt good.
Yay for you! Yeah, some people are always going to low ball you. We just laugh and go on. 🙂
Thanks for the recommendation. Does the author discuss options for when your level of joy and your spouse’s level are several staircases apart?
She touches on it a little bit, but not about spouses specifically. She says to declutter for yourself and when others see your joy, they will follow suit. I’ve seen this happen for a friend of mine.
I don’t believe the author is married or has children. I had seen or heard that anyway.
She is married, but I have not found information that says she has children. 🙂
In one of her interviews, she made a point of saying to leave other peoples’ stuff alone (she said those that complain about spouses/children/roommates not being tidy enough had rarely finished tidying themselves). Focus on yourself and your items only (and your kids if they are under 3 years old). No one else’s stuff.
If it is a shared item, if it brings one of you joy, it stays. If you have to keep an item that doesn’t spark joy (the examples were textbooks or an old spatula [useful but not sparking joy], but I presume it applies to items your spouse delights in that you don’t), she said to give the item lots of praise and thank it often for doing its helpful service. Doing that will at least keep it in a positive light from your perspective, even if it doesn’t explicitly spark joy.