First comment, yay!

What I was going to say (but didn't want to take the time to type it, so I could be first and all) is that you should take all those books over to a used book store. They probably won't give you too much, but it's more wine/yarn money than you had. If you have more textbook-type things like your Norton's Anthology (I still have mine, actually), you might want to try selling them online at Amazon or one of the used college textbook sites. Somewhere someone in freshman English needs one and doesn't want to pay full price!

Third!!! wow. Hey Laurie!!! I am Crazy too :)

So... are you throwing away? Donating? Yard sale?

Although I've now come to terms with my ginormous scotch tape and scissor collection, I've been purging material goods from the house this year.

I've been getting rid of stuff on ebay (I just got rid of all things scrapbooky, aka "my stash is your stash"), and it's so much work! But I can't stand throwing it away, and no one local even wanted to take some of my stuff FOR FREE.

by the way, I work for the Army Corps of Engineers, just let me know if you need a task force or anything, ok?? =)

BigWords.com is a very easy website to try and sell books! Good luck with the paring down. It's a tough job!

P.S. If you find someone willing to come clean your home, give me their number! My best friend and my niece are sick of doing the job!

Why don't you try to "feng shui" your teevee? Whatever the hell that means.

You want to see a mess? I'll take some pictures of my packrat palace on my blog in a little while. You'll want to wear rubber gloves while looking at the photos, trust me.

I'm doing this in our apartment RIGHT NOW!!! Well, *right" now, I'm actually commenting on your post, but you know what I mean. I have these rules, like if I'm in a room for more than 5 minutes, I have to grab three things and put them in the throw away/sell/give away piles. And we have so much clutter, I'm not even struggling to find things yet.

I second amazon for re-selling books, DVDs, CDs. Although it can take a while to get rid of a lot, and some stuff might not sell. Or put together a lot of books to sell on eBay--used bookstores buy them. I'm also donating a ton of books to our public library.

Good luck! (And don't forget to sell the Living Large book once you're done.)

I so, so need to do this. I have closets and an attic full of boxes of books and, well, stuff that we haven't used in FOREVER.

My local used book store doesn't give cash for books, unfortunately--they give you credit to take more books away, which is precisely what I DON'T need. So I tend to drop off the decent-quality stuff at Goodwill.

(um, that is when I actually do any cleaning-out, which is rarely)

(help)

Send me a plane ticket, and I am so there to help you clean. And I will even bring along extra Cleveland beer to celebrate our being finished. Unless you would rather have wine, in which case I will bring some Lake Erie winery samples.

I donated a butt load (real term) of books, including my worn copy of Norton's Anthology of Literature to the local library when we moved from house1 to house2; which required 8 months of storage & living in a teeny tiny apartment to accomplish. I was FORCED to part with my precious text books that I never cracked the spine of; it wasn't pretty.
I didn't get a darn dime for the things - but mr. tax man sure heard about them :) I loves me a deduction!

Oooh - and do you ever watch "Clean Sweep" and go all crazy for like 15 minutes on something trying to get it organized and then give up and leave a bigger mess than when you started? Me neither.
Nobody is allowed in my basement.

Do you have Freecycle in LA? I'm sure you do. It's a egroup that you join and offer your free stuff and someone takes it if they want it. If you want something, you can post a want. It's very cool.

Ya know, I totally love shoes and would be more than willing to help you out and take any size 10's you have hangin around and want to pitch :)~

Seriously though, have you thought about eBay? Maybe you could make some extra yarn (or wine) money.

When you get done decluttering your teenytiny place would you like to come do mine? The husband will NOT part with anything...arrgh!

Dude, sell stuff on Craigslist! It's free! It's easy! And it's astounding what people will buy! I just moved so needed to unload a bunch of crap right beforehand (it's amazing how easy it is to let go of items when you start weighing the pros and cons of having to pack it and/or schlep it across town :)). So I used Craigslist and got rid of it ALL! Woot!

My thoughts are with you, girlie! I have recently moved from a 4 bedroom house into a 1 bedroom single wide mobile home. (it's at the beach!)

I hear tell that my house has carpeting, but you couldn't prove it by me because I haven't seen it yet!

If anyone is reading this in the confines of the greater Orange County, Ca. area....c'mon over and grab some stuff! We got your tv's, we got your craft stuff, we got your shoes! Come one come all, we're GIVIN' it away!

I wish I lived closer--I'm actually really good at cleaning out other people's stuff and I'd work for wine. I have trouble doing it for myself, but for some reason, I can look at someone else's stuff and know instantly what they can live without.

I have just gone from a 3700 sq. ft. house that I was living in (with, at times, an ex and 2 daughters) to a 750 sq. ft. 1bdrm apartment. Whew! It was done in record time of 6 weeks. Mind you, I have an 8 X 8 X 16 ft. PODS waiting for me in SoCal when I get there in October. It is overwhelming at first so PHASE I is the first cut. But the scaling down continues. I see things in my apt. that arent' going to make the PHASE II cut.

I must go back to my original thought of, "If I were to move to France (my ultimate goal) what would I have to take with me?"

Gotta go throw some more stuff out. Bye.

If yardsaling/ebaying is taking too much work and effort, just take everything and dump it in a garbage bag and toss it.

Or you can take it downtown and put all the stuff in a big box with a sign saying "FREE!" and leave it there. May be you won't get arrested.

It's like buying that magazine, "Real Simple". It's simple; don't worry about it.
And by the way, if you have any guidelines for getting rid of things that work in the real world, would you pass them on? It's kind of been a dream of mine to leave a house full of stuff for my daughter to figure out, like when I bought my grandmother's house with 50 years worth of stuff. So I have issues.

Clean? Clean I rarely do. However, should you ever want the help with organizing? Dude, I'm your organizing wench! I love the Rubbermaid containers! I love the stacking shelves! I love Ziploc bags you can write on and store a live moose in! *ahem* As I was saying, need help with stacking and organizing? Drop me a line =) Good luck with that whole declutter and cleaning!

You should check out the Fly Lady, too. http://www.flylady.net/

Good luck to you! I don't mind clutter so much...though, my apt isn't dirty.

I am also a fan of Fly Lady. While my husband and I are still taking the very babiest (is that a word? It is now, I guess) of baby steps, it does work. In fact, I just finished shining my sink and am thinking about heading to the bedroom to work on that!
Good luck!

Awwww... I was gonna tell you about flylady! Really, it's a good system. You sort through and get rid of 27 things (from old undies to cracked dishes) once a week or so and in no time at all (or maybe several months), you're living in clutter-free paradise. Just maybe ignore the preachiness a bit.

We are decluttering, too, although both sets of parents have reached the stage in life when the wish to give most of their possessions away (mostly to us), so we get the fun job of sorting through it and finding appropriate homes. Of course, we now have an added decluttering incentive - babies don't really like to sleep on wobbly book towers (and child welfare doesn't approve, either).

Oh this sounds like me. And I want to see the houses on Flickr. Do you have the link?

Who wants to have a KAL (a klean-a-long)? Post pictures of your clutter weekly and steps you've taken to remedy the situation. Okay, so I'm shuddering at the very thought but shame is a powerful motivator.

Thank you for the inspiration! I am looking at buying a condo this year or next, and although I really want to do it, it would mean (ulp) moving (hate moving!), and I know that I should do some sorting and purging Ahead of Time, but I haven't been getting to it. I know what you mean about Signs, and for me today, your post is A Sign!

I also find inspiration from watching Clean Sweep, and wish I could hire Peter (but not Shelly), but I'm afraid of him at the same time. He'd make me purge!

Perhaps that is why Franciso went crazy on your shrubbery. He was just trying to help you declutter!

I would loooooove to get a cleaning person, but I am the kind of person who would clean before the cleaning person showed up.

My voyarism comes in the form of flipping through the IKEA catelog and sighing while whistfully looking around my place. That or reading Real Simple or watching any of the numerous de-cluttering shows (Neat, Life Laundry, Clean Sweep).

It is much easier to scale down clutter when you are not living with someone who is OC about his STUFF.

good luck with the decluttering. coming from a family of pack rats, its a hard habit to break. i'm working on applying the "one in one out" rule for myself. i work for the Corps of Engineers too, but i'm an ecologist, so i can't help you move to a bigger place, but i could put a nice wetland in the back 40.

I live in "Chez Clutterbug East" -- and I have the same urges and lack of motivation. The Flylady does nothing for me... I think because she goes by the credo that cleaning up will give you a sense of fulfillment and it does nada for me. Stuff, too much stuff.

I love love love you, Laurie. You are able to say things in such a funny way! I also love all the comments that people write! But more than anything? I LOVE to clean out stuff and get rid of stuff! I sold a stack of my nursing textbooks on Amazon - it was a great way to get a few $$$ - the only problem was shlepping them to the post office.....

what timing! My husband just dragged me out to see the perfect house (2000 sq ft)for sale in our neighborhood. After tormenting ourselves for 2 days we decided that the perfect house was not "our" perfect house. Now we are trying to fit our minds back into our 900 sq ft bungalow that is 8 years from being paid off. We decided a big old fashion "de-crapping" is in order.... and I'm thinkin' it is finally time to get rid of my Norton's Anthology!!

Tell ya what Laurie, you come to Indiana and pare down my stuff and I will go to Cali and pare down yours. We are in the process of moving to a house that is slightly smaller than our current place and doesn't have a garage... which is bad, not because I care about parking my van inside so much as it is bad because our garage is full. of. stuff.

I have been spreading my mantra to my family. "We are going to simplify." I think they are taking secret stapler throwing lessons in order to make me stop. But that is just my paranoia. It is, isn't it?

*ducking potential hurled staplers, just in case*

I may offer a trade as it seems that we are totally dealing with the same house-consuming clutter... I have made lists, game plans, and untimatums with myself - but by the time I get home from work - it's majorly overwhelming until I start knitting and watch teevee instead (love you knitting & t.v.)
Cleaning someone else's house however, when completely unattached to their sentimental matchbooks and scraps of paper; and have no guilt in passing the torch on a pair of shoes that may work someday, but haven't seen the light of day yet; is something that sounds great!
I may just go home and pretend it's not my house.
Whoa!Who lives here!? What a piggy-packrat!
But what lovely yarn and dogs! (mine might look cat-like, but they're dogs)
So, Much Good Luck on the piles purl.
If you need a little inspiration, watch the Labrynth (with David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly)
The woman who carries the pile of sentimentalities on her back and lives in the dump can really put it all in perspective.

Another one here recommending flylady.com. She's about decluttering your crap 15 minutes at a time and so much more.

I am also a big fan of reading about gettting myself organized as opposed to actually doing it, but if you want some good, one-day-at-a-time tips there are many at www.flylady.net.

I tried flylady once.. but that whole no shoes thing doesn't sit right with me. Who needs shoes? Bah!
I am married to a clutter bug.. who has spawned a child just like himself (thankfully the girl is like me.. we all balance each other out nice).. so between the 4 of us.. well sometimes it's ugly.

I applaud your de-clutter strategy. I cleaned out my book cases this year. Got rid of a whole bookcase worth of books. Moved my drysink and put in a tv instead.

Actually, cleaning your house sounds lovely. It has several things going for it. Like yarn, the possibility of being called upon to organize patterns, the delightful distraction of cats. Not to mention the cast offs. But I must say, for a lifelong barefoot girl, my most recent solution to less than spotless floors has been to wear socks - and to clap them like erasers before getting into bed.

I've heard that in the Netherlands, it's comon for people to leave their windows uncovered in the living room even at night, so when can walk down the street you can see into all the houses and it's not creepy. You should check it out. :)

I've heard good things about flylady too, but her website kind of makes me crazy.

Whenever I get the urge to de-clutter - I just sit my butt down in front of the t.v. and watch clean house or neat and then pat myself on the back that their piggy-stye houses make mine look fabulous!!

Put it all out on the curb. It'll all be gone by sundown.

When the People Who Like to Clean House are done with your place, could you please send them to me?

When I went through my break-up I left a 6000 sq ft house and moved into a tiny studio apartment with a hotplate and a mini fridge. (And yes, actually I did get screwed, thank you so very much) You need to recognize that a small house has a very *delicate* eco-system! Just one thing moves out of its assinged place - and POW! - the whole thing goes straight to hell. Which doesn't make the whole situation any easier to live with, but it does give you a nice excuse if you want one. You can always explain away the mess by pointing out that you forgot to put that can of cat food back in the fridge which totally thru off the whole yin and yang of the house and thereby caused the whole eco-system to collapse!

I'll clean your bathroom for a case of good beer. Just because, you know, a) I'm wacked, b) I'll be drunk half-way through so "clean" is a relative term and c) I'd like to meet you. Oh yes, and d) I'm stalking Bob.

A great way to get rid of books is www.bookcrossing.com ... and i'm there with ya, always want to pare down, get organized...but it really hits me on January 1.

You are so lucky I live 3000 miles away. Because I would totally come over and clean your house. I drive my friends crazy because I go to their house and empty their dishwasher and all of that stuff in front of them and it makes them feel bad. The irony is my room? Total mess.

Plus, I help move for pizza and beer, I'd totally clean for wine.

You and the mason dixon gals are totally inspiring me to get off my duff and make the house liveable again. Woman can not live on yarn tumbleweeds alone. Oh and Flylady rocks, even if you just take a part of her advice. I also highly recomend "The Not So Big House"--it is a gorgeous book and very inspiring.

I just had a thought: (sniff sniff....I thought I smelled smoke! as my annoying husband always says to me) why don't you give all the crap you don't want to Crackhead Bob and Drunken Julie? It'll give them stuff to burn during the next fight, and quite possibly a tax deduction. I would be careful with that, though. The IRS is much better with the math than we are.

Ann at http://www.masondixonknitting.com/ also had a clean-up that she describes in detail. Compared to me though, Ann is an amateur at crap collecting.

I highly recommend the book, "Clear your clutter with Feng Shui" by Karen Kingston--it helped me find my floor!

in case you weren't aware, this is one of my great talents. i am gifted in scaling down and also in organization and cleaning and general bettering.

and i don't even need to share wine, i just like conversation and water. and cats.

I too have a lot of clutter. And I just moved halfway across the country.

Maybe it's good that I work for the Army Corps of Engineers. They paid for the move, but they're really not helpful when it comes to the clutter. They won't even let you move any cleaning products - or beauty products. Hazmat, apparently.

how successful are yard sales? i've thought about having one, but wondered if the $$$ is worth the work.

We're doing it too - when i thought I was moving, i pared way down and then never unpacked again - except for my jewelry and knitting books. Now that the man has moved in with his GIANT truckload of stuff - we're paring down even more. It's bad when the man has more and nicer clothing than you do. But now, when he's not looking, things will go away. (In all fairness I told him I would do that....that's fair, right?)

I love that book! I bought it when I got remarried and we had to combine 2 households into one house. I had been a single parent for 12 years and had accumulated a lot of stuff. I especially like the advise about clothes and also about taking a picture of something you don't think you can part with. Have fun with your new found freedom and peace of mind!
P.S. Don't freak over the 12 years - that's what it took for me and I am really grateful I waited.

I pare down constantly. In fact, I have a great urge to pare down this weekend but really have to get ready for my new niece/nephew (niephew) and so paring down this weekend would actually only be procrastinating. Maybe next weekend...

I am trying to psyche myself up for a huge de-cluttering. I am scared. Somehow, though, other people's things aren't scary, so count me in! I just hope the baby isn't allergic to cats like his father (and me, but I pretend I'm not).

Yes! When I get home, the Norton Anthology is finally going to go. (I graduated, uh, 25 years ago and have moved it with me about 12 times and opened it to read - never.) Thank you for releasing me from this burden.

Typical conversation between my husband and our diva-cat:
Hubby - "Hey, Nebbi, why don't you do something useful like clean out your litter box?"
Nebbi - *baleful glare*
Hubby - "No? Well, how about taking out the trash? That could be helpful."
Nebbi - *gazes about the room with absolute disinterest*
Hubby - "Thanks, you totally useless moocher!"

Typical conversation between my husband and our diva-cat:
Hubby - "Hey, Nebbi, why don't you do something useful like clean out your litter box?"
Nebbi - *baleful glare*
Hubby - "No? Well, how about taking out the trash? That could be helpful."
Nebbi - *gazes about the room with absolute disinterest*
Hubby - "Thanks, you totally useless moocher!"

Typical conversation between my husband and our diva-cat:
Hubby - "Hey, Nebbi, why don't you do something useful like clean out your litter box?"
Nebbi - *baleful glare*
Hubby - "No? Well, how about taking out the trash? That could be helpful."
Nebbi - *gazes about the room with absolute disinterest*
Hubby - "Thanks, you totally useless moocher!"

Typical conversation between my husband and our diva-cat:
Hubby - "Hey, Nebbi, why don't you do something useful like clean out your litter box?"
Nebbi - *baleful glare*
Hubby - "No? Well, how about taking out the trash? That could be helpful."
Nebbi - *gazes about the room with absolute disinterest*
Hubby - "Thanks, you totally useless moocher!"

So sorry. Computer froze, and i - apparently - went nuts. :-/

Oh crap. I still have 2 Norton's anthologies from freshman year...

speaking of clutter and bacon, check your mailbox in about a week.......

Getting rid of your stuff will be one of the most freeing things you ever do. Unfortunately, you have to keep a good watch on your stuff because it will multiply again when your back is turned. Good luck!

Megs, we have the same conversations with our cats.

Me: (arriving home to find both cats lounging on the furniture, depositing more cat hair) You two didn't look for work again did you?

Cats: *blink, blink* *yawn*

Me: You were home all day. You could have unloaded the dishwasher.

Cats: *ignoring me/staring out window.*

Me: You two are kinda worthless. You know that?

Cats: *now exiting room to avoid any more silly human observations*

I ssoooooo feel you! I used to be the one who would dust the ice cubes and scrub the kitchen sink on a Saturday morning and actually get down on my hands and knees and wash the kitchen floor- not just Swiffer WetJet-it, but WASH, with a BUCKET. Then I started realizing that my roomates were really really not-cleanly, and that every time I washed that kitchen floor it'd be dirtied up again in about 10 minutes. So I stopped. Now a few years later I'm out on my own again, and I've lost all my cleaning skills- just totally lost all willpower to clean. And my house is clutterly and awful and full of furballs. I'm moving into a new apartment this weekend and have made about a thousand resolutions that this time I WILL BE CLEAN, NO REALLY. Phew.

Oh, and some advice that my mom (who is one of those "people" who actually loves to clean) always gives me: Instead of always trying to tackle the whole house at once, pick one room or one area per day and concentrate on cleaning & tidying it. That way it's more of a maintenance thing than an overhaul thing. Good advice-I've never managed to follow it, but maybe you'll have better luck.

Laurie, as bad as you may think your house is, I can assure you that mine is much worse. MUCH WORSE! So, anyone good at cleaning out other people's homes, you're welcome to mine as well. (And yeah, I'm much better cleaning up anywhere but my own space - go figure)

I wish that I could come and help but I live in Sweden so it isn't exactly near by. I really LOVE to clean and organize. Yes, I'm a Virgo.

I also recommend a book called, "Clear your clutter with Feng Shui". That is if you want the whole Zen perspective. :-)

When they're all done cleaning your house, could you send them up my way? I've got beer.

I love to clean and organize... sometimes. Other times it just makes me mad. But I get that feeling of needing to quite often. My dh is a packrat, though, but when we recently moved he finally gave in to the realization that he just had too much stuff. The kicker? His fencing set from college. Please why do we need a fencing set?

I hear ya, Ms. Purl. I think it's a good idea to start small. Clear out the bookcases. Next, a cabinet. Before long you'll have lots of space. I need to remember this advice myself.

Heh heh, I also believe in signs, and totally would have bought the book about owning less stuff.

I could have written this post if I was less of a slacker and a better writer. Also, I would have to clear a pile of crap off my desk to do so.

Hand me a glass of Pinot Grigio and I'll bring my fluffy sheepy-wool duster. The cats might like it! ;)

I tried Freecycle. All it did was clutter up my e-mail inbox.

I try but have too much stuff in too little space. I make up for my lack of a housecleaning with being a good cook. I just tell people point blank that I try but my calling is to be the cook and the upstairs maid.

I think a clean, organized, uncluttered home is, frankly, frightening. Those OCD peeps are scary.

If I lived closer, I would come over and help, but you would end up hating me and my cat would end stalking Roy...

And not in a good way. 0.o

It's like I've been telling my 24 year old daughter. The more you have, the more you have to manage, so make sure that you really love what you have enough to spend time and money caring for it...

p.s. I did not learn that lesson until after I had a whole bunch of stuff so I've spent some time decluttering as well.

I had the Norton Anthology, and I got rid of it in my attempt to scale down before I moved cross country.

Then one day I thought, "Hey-- I would really like to read..."

And of course it was in the anthology that was gone. I ended up going to the book store to get it (I think what I wanted to read was some native american lit you probably couldn't find anywhere else), and the new version of the anthology didn't have it.

I have never been so sorry.

four furballs of the apocalypse....

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

norton?!?! you're tossing norton?!?! blasphemer.

This is where I come to be funny, but I have to wade through all of Laurie's "junk" to get here. Move some of those cats so I can do funny for today. Ok, I am a neat freak, so I can't relate. There is nothing funny about that that a good oneliner won't cure. But what is it...and where is it. Oh, geez, Laurie, it's under your couch. Anal retentive types like me can't be funny under such pressure. Now where did I put my joke. It's rolled under your bed. I better quit while I'm ahead. Rim shot...hit the cat. Sorry.

I just did that purging thing recently. My husband couldn't believe that I still have a 12" vinyl remix of Take on Me by a-ha (hey, that one I'm saving! Vinyl is coming back big!) in my collection of things from previous lives and one previous marriage.

must've dumped 20+ bags of crap from old life, including a letter from my mother that came during my divorce warning me that no one would 'ever love me' as much as my soon to be ex. Blech. Thanks, Mom. Beloved Second Husband with Angels Wings and I both had a hearty laugh over that. (there is hope, dear laurie, trust me honey!)

Btw, living at the mercy of the cat is the norm around here. I can't cancel or alter my cable service because my cat is addicted to Animal Planet. Think I'm kidding? Nope. I just blogged about it.

Love your blog. When you turning it into a book so we can go to bookstores and come home with it as our purchase of the day? :D

Sometimes I wish I could just take the cats and the yarn and move out. Fortunately, I'm far too lazy for that.

I have been trying to "decrapify" for months. Sadly I am married to a man who says, "First, you have to believe there is a problem and I DON'T."

ooooh, I'm so glad I'm not the only one having those very unproductive conversations with their cats. Mine goes like this
Me: "Hi Hogan, I see you didn't fold the laundry again today"

Hogan: *streeeeeeeetch*

Me: But you look beautiful LYING on the laundry

Hogan *prrrrrrrrrr*

*sniff* gets me every time

I checked in to read what you have to say today and noticed your plea for a clean house. I'm watching Clean House on the Style channel right now (ridiculously addictive TV). They only film in the Los Angeles area, so all you have to do is go to their webiste and sign up. They'll declutter your house and then glitz it all up in a style befitting CAP. Cost to you? Nothing except do old junk!

Yes, what time should I be there?

Oh wait, that was addressed to "Dear People Who Clean House A Lot" and I am not one of those.

I'm the person who puts all the stuff in our house back where it belongs because nobody else remembers where they got it from. I'm not clean but I am organized (or is that OCD?).

I live with three men who could care less if the house is spotless, so I quit caring too. But I do think about burning it down so I don't have to clean it and can start fresh. Better make sure the insurance is paid if I follow through with that crazy idea.

I hates flylady--mainly because I work, dammit, and I'm taking of my damn shoes in my house if I want to, and other mainly because of all the emails. But there's some good tips there.

My rule is, if I haven't used it in a year, it goes. Unfortunately, I'm not so good at following my own rules ... which would explain a few of my previous relationships. I make an exception for books if they're part of a series I'm collecting or saving for when my kids get older. Oh, and objects of sentimental value. And stuff I can't get to the box to see what it is yet.

So you can see how organized I am! I should be a consultant!

Oh close call--I was just down in the LBC this weekend and threw away half my best friend's wardrobe. She even thanked me today! You're new mantra can be the very un-newagey "throw that shit out". Good luck!

It's so easy to de-clutter someone else's stuff. I would totally de-clutter and clean your house while I drank your wine. Thinking of it, why don't you come up here and clean and de-clutter my little house and drink my wine and I will go down there and de-clutter your house and drink your wine. Sound good? Just let me know when to buy my tickets.

i've managed to get rid of plenty of stuff only to replace it with yarn. this is a problem.

How about I come clean your house and you can come clean mine. I can always clean other peoples places better than mine, mainly because I am an emotional sop and get weirdly attatched to the crap I hate so much.

Good luck with the decluttering! I've been working on it too - took a big load of crap to Goodwill on Monday and I've already got three grocery bags full of assorted crap for my next trip.

It's really incredible how stuff accumulates - I think there are like 5-6 insulated coffee mugs in one of today's bags of crap. Sheesh.

I have slowly been decluttering my closet. I still have way too many clothes but at least my S.O. and my stuff sorta fits. Prior to the decluttering it was only my stuff in the bedroom closet, the hall closet the laundry and the spare bedroom. Now I try to do it twice a year. I figure if I get rid of something old or stained then maybe I can buy something new. I want to feel good about the clothes I wear you know what I mean? How many times do I have to try to wear sweater pants before I realize that they just are not flattering on me?

Sweaterpants? I'm scared...

Isn't it liberating to get rid of stuff? I did it when I downsized from a 4 BR/2 story to a 2 BR condo. But it's accumulating again.

Now that my Mr. X is gone, I plan to get rid of everything but kids, cats, dog, yarn and a couple of books. And maybe a little bit of food in the fridge--for the kids, cats and dog.

Love you Laurie, you make me laugh out loud and cry too because you tap into exactly what I'm feeling. Thank you!

And I'll come help clean and drink. It's fun to clean other people's houses. Just not mine.

I'll take the Pinot Grigio and the Swiffer, thank you. (I'm inordinately fond of both of those things. What did I do before Swiffer came along?) I also believe very strongly in Signs - a misfiled book in the bookstore that you HAPPEN to run across absolutely qualifies as a Sign That You Need the Book - so that's not crazy. I'm less sure about Gnomes, but I do believe in Gremlins and the Vortex ("My embroidery scissors have been sucked into the Vortex!" and so on). I'm sure I wouldn't be permitted to take Bob off your hands, but I'd like to pet him a lot while drinking the aforementioned Pinot. :)

OMG, I was just looking at that book yesterday - is it worth buying? Pinot Grigio goes with everything, including Swiffers and the purging of bookshelves.

I moved back into an apartment last summer, and I got rid of so much stuff...AND IT FELT GREAT! And I'm a terrible packrat who never gets rid of anything.
Though, I have to say the crap is starting to build up again. But that's the beauty of de-cluttering...it leaves you room to buy more junk!

Laurie - I just had a GROJ sale and did pretty darn good at "getting rid of junk". Entire stamp collection - gone! All clothes the kids have outgrown - gone! Dishes I never used but were taking precious cupboard space - gone! It was so cathartic, I loved it. I have been working on getting rid of more junk as well! Free at last, free at last, Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last! Cheers!

You go girl. I was just thinking about that this morning when I was digging through all the bras that don't fit anymore. MUST get rid of stuff!

Being a southern down and sideways mother type person and I have comment AAD so someone may have said this. FLY Lady .com. Seriously after you laugh you tootie off. You can glean a little from them. My little is 15 things a week I toss. Why 15??? pick a number. I dust during commericals well sometimes. And I like the 10min cleaning timer thing. I got to where I do alot in 10 min then its over whew wheres the tea.

When I was little I used to organize my relatives houses. I would clean and declutter without even asking. When I went over to my stepsister's, I'd organize her closet. I'd organize her suitcase when we went on family trips. When I was in high school and someone sat on my bed, I'd straighten the quilt back out when they stood up. I am a crazy clean person, it's an OCD in addition to the money OCD. And I am a real life peeping tom. I peep behind the curtains to see what my neighbors are doing and see who is coming to their house for dinner. If I lived in LA I'd be over in a heartbeat, clean up your house, and tackle that office of yours. Then I'd peek behind your curtains to see if the kissing cousins were out and about.

I ABSOLUTELY love getting rid of stuff. I enjoy it. I'd do it as a job if I could, except I wouldn't do it on that Clean Sweep show. (Those people are a little too happy for me).

I used to go over my best friend's house and make her clean her room. I'm not fibbing. I'd say, "Carol. This place is gross. Let's clean it." I'm convinced the only reason it was ever clean was because I insisted she do it. And considering all the time that I spent there, I guess I owed it to her to offer to do it.

But I hear ya. I see people like my fiance, who couldn't clean to save his life, and I wonder how life it like on that side of the coin, as you do the reverse.

Congratulations on the de-cluttering! As an added incentive, the Goodwill gives receipts for the items you donate and you can later apply those receipts to your taxes. So not only will you feel great knowing that your junk may become someone else's treasure but you'll be rewarded by Uncle Sam at the end of the year.

Ya know, were it not for two kids who started back to school today, I would take you up on that. I actually (here is a geek alert) enjoy cleaning and other people's clutter fascinates me. My own clutter just annoys me. But I love seeing what people collect and what they hold onto. I, personally, just parted with my 1980s cassette tape collection! Haven't listened to any of them in years, but letting go was way hard! What's really sad is that I gave them to the church yard sale and only a few of them were purchased!

the reason flylady WANTS you to wear shoes is because it helps your back and is safer and makes sense and if you are so against even trying it, what are you worried about? the shoes may explode?

anyway, flylady.net is a life saver. and she doesn't think that decluttering is fulfilling in and of itself--she believes (rightly) that when you are not living in a house full of dust-collecting crap, you won't feel like a failure or a bad person or just bleechy in general. and you won't be staring at your clutter thinking, damn, i should clean. you will be looking your calendar saying, what fun thing am i going to do today because i DON'T have to clean!

When you walk to work naked it is time to stop de-cluttering...I'm just sayin is all.

I have a little path I walk through in my living room and kitchen. You learn not to see the bins and boxes and stacks of stuff. That said, I would like to also say the 1. I am going to put myself in the hands of a higher authority & check out www.napo.net (nat'l assoc of professional organizers) since the purging that I've been buying books about isn't happening by itself. So nice to know I'm not the only one who dissipates their urge to declutter by reading or watching a TV show about it! and 2. Decide on how you actually want or need to use your rooms; this will help you decide what sort of storage/furniture you need. For example, your dining room doesn't have to be THE DINING ROOM if you always eat in the kitchen; use it for some other function that will let you actually utilize it more fully. And it is so true that someone else's stuff is much easier to sort through.

If you find someone to take you up on your offer, can you send them my way when they finish? Thanks. The cats thank you as well. They're such critics. I wonder if I can teach them to clean...

While y'all talk to your cats about not doing the laundry I am informing my dying plants that they know where the sink is - use it!

When I am purging my home of crap I ask myself these two questions:

1. Do I use it?
2. Do I love it?

If you answer "yes" to either question, keep the item. But if you answer no - off it goes!

And just how does one dust an ice cube anyway???

And just how does one dust an ice cube anyway???

Flyady endorsement and Gnome affirmation:
YAY flylady rocks! Really, take a look. If it works for me and my sister (who were raised by the ultimate mess-monster.) it can work for ANYONE!!!
As for Gnomes: I, too, Believe!
One night in college, a rather small-of-stature friend of mine stayed over at my place since it had been a late night, my house was campus-adjacent, and she had an early morning appointment at said campus the next morning. To which I promised to drive her.
I am a slow-to-reboot girl in the morning. As in, I frequently take the first few minutes of conciousness (if you can call it that) actually doing a "Where am I? Who am I? What AM I?" fact check. I am SO not the brightest early-bird in the flock.
Well, early the next morning, my bedroom door swings open at half-past-ungodly-early, and I open my eyes to see a small form in a white dress standing in the doorway softy calling out "Good morning!!"
My first sleep-drugged thought?: "GNOMES!!! WE HAVE GNOMES IN OUR HOUSE!!!"
Rather alarmed by what must have been a look of utter confusion and alarm on my face, my friend gently said, "Susan?"
My next thought? "OHMYGOD- We not only have gnomes..BUT THEY. KNOW. MY. NAME."
Needless to say, my friend was getting a wee tad impatient with my densness (and utter confusion) and repeated my name, her name, and the fact that she had an important appointment to get to--at which point I was finally awake enough to really realize (to my slight disappointment) that instead of a Gnome infestation, what I really had was a temporary case of mildly annoyed violist wanting to get to her audition.
Ah well....but I still cherish that feeting moment of actualy belief.

you're hilarious! i used to have that clutter issue - it's totally a girl thing, i'm convinced. but i moved from a three-bedroom house to renting a room from a friend, and that cut down on the clutter drastically. it's kind of like moving to tokyo from montana. good luck with your halving. if grapefruits can do it, so can you.

Maybe if you got yourself four a those Cat Wheels you could use them to power your vacuum. Heh.

Link didn't work, try here to see the cat wheel.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=f5Fg6KFcOsU

I haven't really looked into flylady, but she wants you to wear shoes in the house? All the time? Does she have cats? I don't step *on* my cats too often, but I step *into* them all the time, as they tend to accompany me by walking in front of my feet. Much less dramatic meowing if I don't have shoes on at the time!

And, Danielle from above, I love the idea of a clean-along! Sign me up: no more excuses! Pack rats of the Internets, unite! We have nothing to lose but our crap.

Although I don't want to make excuses, actually, there is this: my digital camera is in the shop to have the zoom fixed, so I can't blog about the mess yet. Maybe by the time we figure out the rules and get started, it will be ready; it's only supposed to be a week or 2.

Instead of lurking here almost every day I might as well comment.
if you ever want to get some change in your life you could always to clean my house. 160 m2 of total mess with 4 kids and hubby running around and doing absolutely nothing to help me out.

yeah.. I'd be so happy cleaning your tiny house instead of mine. Blaah..

Getting rid of stuff can be so great; it always make me feel like I've lost weight. I really think it's possible for items to suck energy out of me just by being there.

You asked what's happened to you... it made me think of a conversation I had with my grandmother earlier this week about a relative's new house, which is very very large, and she referred to it as a Woman Killer. Who was it, too, who said that Housekeeping, if it's done right, can kill you? Lily Tomlin, maybe. I'd say, you're coming to your senses a bit. People always say do a little bit at a time and it won't feel like work, but I ask you, how many things can you squeeze into a day without feeling like the day has squeezed you out?

It's all about the streamlining. A one-in, one-out rule for books can be really helpful, and the library is GREAT. Do you really need dinner service for 18 people? Hint: If you do, buy a hutch and put it in the dining room. Also, sometimes trying to make money on the things you need to toss can take a lot of energy out of you - yet giving these things to charity can be really restorative and fulfilling, but you have to stop to think about the good you're doing for it to work. Finally, I offer you advice given me by a brilliant Virgo friend of mine: to sort out old mail and paperwork, grab your adult beverage of choice, lug the piles to the nearest (contained) fire source, and make it a ritual burning of the junk. I did this, and it was amazing.

I hope you catch the liberating buzz of getting rid of stuff. Good luck!

Laurie, between you and your old decluttering links and Mason-Dixon yesterday (holy camoly did you SEE all those trash bags?!), I got inspired started decluttering again. So thanks! I think it was the garage sale stories that did it. Virgo is coming right up, maybe that will help. Good luck!

Although my own house speaks to the contrary, I am very good at helping others unload and lighten up the clutter. If I'm ever in LA, I'll look you up for a bit of vino and vanishing the clutter.

Norton's? NO NO NO NO You are not allowed to throw that out. It contains the best bits of our language.
Just joyfully enjoy your stuff. Isn't that enough?
Mia

Blar. You've been streamlining for a while now, and you've already had a ritual burning. I can read, I promise. Plus, you're a Cancer, and as such, I know better than to give you advice. . .

. . .but I've just understood why I love reading your blog so much (well, one OTHER reason): your thoughts always make me feel like I know something. These days, that's terribly reassuring, you know?

you have inspired me to get rid of some books - i was thinking of building more shelves, but you're right - i don't need 2 norton anthologies, an american anthology and about a million political science books that i think will one day grant me wisdom about politics and great writers to impress all my friends.... but i would have to re-read them (some for the first time hehe) and that ain't gonna happen :)

I'll bring the Dogfish Head Brew and pledge! Just say the word!

Check out www.flylady.net Keep reading it, and read it every day. It is made for people with this problem, and it works. Speaking from a big house and an office. You will develop your own system, working or not.Really do check it out. My neighbor showed it to me two years ago. Best. BER

Check out www.flylady.net Keep reading it, and read it every day. It is made for people with this problem, and it works. Speaking from a big house and an office. You will develop your own system, working or not.Really do check it out. My neighbor showed it to me two years ago. Best. BER

stuff is stuff.

I now don't feel alone. I have pared down 139 boxes to 20. Amazing at much "stuff" you think you need and then find you really don't. I do, however, refuse to part with one skein of yarn or a book!

Uh-oh, I still have Norton's too.

Hey... any of you cleaning freaks out there who want the hard stuff instead of CAP's wine... I got VODKA ::laughing:: and a whole lotta dust.

But will I clean this weekend? Nope. I have a little project in mind.. involving wood, sandpaper and more mess.....

LOL! I just rented a dumpster and put 2 TONS! of stuff in to be carted away. The sad thing is my basement is practically empty but the rest of the house looks exactly the same.

Having driven home from LA this afternoon (to San Jose) and driving around LA and Orange County for the last four days, I have such respect for all you commuters down there. I can't see how you get anything done but commute! We truly don't have "traffic" up here. The killer was the 45 minutes it took me to go the last three miles to my hotel, when my bladder had been screaming at me for the last hour already!

Really enjoy your humor and insignts.

Ya know, I actually like the idea of a cleaning "party." Wine and swiffer, the best therapy. I may be odd though because I actually think cleaning someone else's house or at least cleaning with someone else is a lot more fun the cleaning your own house.

I am a now in my forties, not so recently divorced after twenty plus years of marriage, and somehow have nine cats. My children, who have all moved away, suckered me into buying a pregnant Ragdoll cat so they can have three kittens ( four were born in my BED).
I knit a little and sew a lot. Despite comments to the contrary, fabric acquisition is an important pastime not a sickness.
I moved from a ten room house to a five room house and share my space with a roommate besides the cats. And why didn't anyone ever teach me to clean and organize?
So boy, oh boy, can I relate! Rock on Purl!