Tag Archives: clutter

Feeling The Need To Clean (or Working On Quality Over Quantity)

Posted on March 13, 2018 | 1 comment

I’ve written about doing big cleaning spurts before, but recently I’ve experienced one of the weirdest needs to clean I’ve ever had. This started a few weeks ago after a friend of mine went to Mardi Gras and was telling me about a moment of clarity when they realized how wasteful everything seemed. She couldn’t believe how many people were taking beads when they would be throwing them out later. And the streets were cluttered with trash and she just couldn’t believe that she was in the middle of that.

It didn’t hit me right away after my friend shared that story, but after reflecting back on it for a little bit I had the same moment of clarity in a way. I was looking around my house and just had a feeling of panic over how cluttered and messy it was looking. I know that it wasn’t that bad and none of my friends felt it was messy, but to me I just couldn’t take it. And then I had the feeling over being overwhelmed by having just too much stuff.

I’m not a hoarder in any sense, but I do have a tendency to over-shop. A lot of this is with clothing because when I find something that fits me I usually will get multiples of it. I’m really trying to get out of that habit, but it’s hard when I find something that I really like. I’ve been working on cleaning out my closet and drawers and have had bags of things to donate. I also had the opportunity to reorganize as well since I finally had more space.

Another place I seem to have an unintentional collection is with water bottles. I get a ton of them as a part of swag bags and then there are some that I have bought as well. But I usually use one of only a few water bottles. And I finally bought one that I had been wanting for a long time (it’s sold by a company that only does bulk orders but I was able to order a single bottle from them). And when I got that perfect water bottle and I was trying to put it away, I realized how ridiculous my collection had become.

And after taking that photo I realized there were more bottles that I forgot about! I sorted them out and put the ones I use and the ones I have sentimental value with on one side and all the rest on another. I had 10 or 12 bottles that I don’t care about and I didn’t want to keep in my house. Another friend of mine mentioned how their kids are always losing water bottles so I gave her all the ones I didn’t need. It was a win-win because I got them out of my house and she got something she needed for her kids.

And I spent part of yesterday working on getting as much of the other stuff in my house organized. The box I had been using for holiday decorations wasn’t big enough so I got a big plastic tub to store them in. I got organizers and baskets for my bathroom and threw out products I don’t use. My house still could use more decluttering, but I’ve made a huge step in the right direction and I don’t feel as overwhelmed anymore.

Every time I have a big cleaning like this, I tell myself that I won’t get that way again. But it always happens. And that’s because of my over-shopping tendency. But I’m much more aware that I have that issue and I’m hoping that knowing it will help me not be as bad about it. I really don’t need to own a ton of the same thing if I could just get one nice version of it instead. For my water bottles, I didn’t need 10 bottles that were ok when I could have just bought the 1 that I really wanted. It’s tough because the better thing is usually more expensive, but in the long run it ends up being cheaper than buying multiples of the less expensive thing.

I have a dream that my house will be one of those minimalistic dream homes, but I know that it would be tough to make that happen because I do have so much in my house that I love and want to keep. But I can work on storing things properly and out of the way so it doesn’t feel as full as it really it. And I have a feeling that for the next few weeks I’m probably going to keep working on what I’ve started and I may have something much closer to that dream than I ever had before.

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Default ThumbnailSpring Cleaning (or Needing To Declutter Again) Default ThumbnailTime For Some Refocusing (or I Need To Do Some Follow Through) Default ThumbnailMaking My House Look Fancy (or Doing Some Upgrades For The New Year) Default ThumbnailOrganization Time (or Seeing A Bit Of A Mess) Default ThumbnailSpring Cleaning (or Feeling Pampered) Default ThumbnailWorking On Cleaning (or Time To Declutter)

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Cutting Back (or Unsubscribing Both Virtual And Actual Things)

Posted on October 1, 2014 | 4 comments

I’ve been working on cutting back again. That’s what you have to do when money isn’t coming in the way it used to.

I can’t really drop much more of my cable without getting rid of almost all the channels, so cutting back there isn’t an option. I’ve seriously cut back on delivery food and ordering books for my Kindle. The most recent thing I’ve been cutting back on are subscriptions.

First to go were online subscriptions. There are so many emails I get in a day. Many of them I need to get (casting notices, work information), but there are at least 15 emails a day that are unnecessary. I know there are online services you can use to unsubscribe to them, but what I’ve been doing is unsubscribe to them as they come in.

I probably spend 5 minutes each day getting rid of more and more email lists. The ones that were easiest to let go of were shopping related one. I don’t need to see what sales are going on or what Groupon or Living Social has to offer. I can’t buy any of those things right now.

Next on the unsubscribe list for emails were email newsletters from friends who put me on their email subscription list. I do have a small problem with people subscribing me to their emails without me opting in. But I’ve always stayed on the list because I didn’t want to offend anyone. But really, if we are friends on Facebook, I don’t need your email newsletters. I see what is going on. So I’ve unsubscribed to dozens of those (5 alone yesterday).

After tackling email subscriptions, it was time to move on to my magazines. I love magazines. And there are plenty that I am going to keep, but I need to get rid of a bunch of them.

And I needed to get rid of them not just because of the extra cost, but these magazines were making me feel less. I’m talking mainly about the beauty/fashion and fitness magazines. While I do enjoy the beauty/fashion ones and the advice that they have, I can see that online. And it just makes me depressed that none of the clothing that they recommend comes in my size.

And the fitness magazines are just the same pieces of advice over and over again. I know how to lose weight. I’ve done it.

If you find me a magazine all about maintaining a weight loss, that I would consider subscribing to.

The magazines that I plan on keeping are People (which I think everyone pretty much gets), Los Angeles magazine, The Hollywood Reporter (which somehow I get for free), the SAG-AFTRA magazine (free with my union membership), and Cooking Light (I actually do enjoy seeing what recipes they have each month).

While that still is a few magazines, only 3 of them are ones I pay for. And I think that the ones that I’ve selected to keep all are positives in my life (maybe not People but everyone needs a fun magazine to bring to the beach or airport).

This has been an interesting decluttering experiment so far. I haven’t missed anything that I’ve gotten rid of. And once I’m used to this, I might consider cutting back some more.

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Default ThumbnailHaving A Lot Of Repeat Days (or More Organizing and More Virtual Hangouts) Default ThumbnailAnother Virtual Doctor Appointment (or Planning Some Next Steps) Default ThumbnailMore Virtual Union Meetings (or It’s Funny I Wrote About This Not Long Ago) Default ThumbnailCutting Out My Favorite Drink (or Goodbye Diet Coke, Diet 7-Up, Fancy Water) Default ThumbnailAn Easy Therapist Check-In (or Virtual Appointments Make Things Easier) Default ThumbnailLots Of Virtual Meetings (or Virtual Union Meetings)

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Building Momentum (or Remembering High School Science)

Posted on November 14, 2013 | Comments Off on Building Momentum (or Remembering High School Science)

Think back to high school science for a minute. Do you remember Newton’s first law of motion? In case you don’t, here’s basically what it is. An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion.

First of all, Mom and Dad, aren’t you proud that I remember something from high school science? Secondly, I’ve been trying to use this principle in my life a lot lately.

I’m not just talking about the obvious movement of my body with the workouts I’ve been doing lately. But yes, I am having an easier time working out the more I do it and I’m able to push myself a lot more than I used to.

But I’m also noticing that some things that have been very tough for me to deal with in the past are getting easier (and fun) once I start doing them. I don’t know if it’s because of my panic disorder or my touch of OCD, but I have an issue with change. I’ve mentioned this before when I couldn’t bring myself to buy a new alarm clock (I still haven’t been able to do that). But recently, my e-reader died and I had to get a new one. I used to have one by Sony, but I switched to the Kindle because there are more books available on Amazon than Sony. But the change was tough. I did have some minor panic attacks about the new e-reader, but now that I’ve had it for almost a week, I really love my new Kindle.

I’ve also talked about my issues with getting rid of clothes. But I’ve made some serious steps there as well. I’ve got one bag of old clothes in my closet that I will be taking over to Goodwill soon and I’m going to work today on getting rid of more clothes.

And I’ve even been able to get rid of other things in my life I don’t really use anymore. I had a Nintendo Wii and Wii Fit that I used to love to use (now that I’m more into spinning and my 5Ks I haven’t used it in a while). Well, did you know that Amazon allows you to sell them your old electronics? You just submit the items online that you want to sell, they give you an estimated price and free shipping label, and after everything is reviewed, they credit your Amazon account so you can use that money on a future purchase. I sold Amazon my Wii, Wii Fit, and some old DVDs and got enough to pay for half of my Kindle! And just yesterday I sent Amazon another 25 DVDs that I don’t watch anymore!

While I’m decluttering, I’m also trying to be careful and not too over zealous. At some point while I was living at my last apartment, I accidentally got rid of a box that had all the pictures I took in high school and college (I didn’t own a digital camera until my senior semester of college). I don’t know how I got rid of it, but I’m thinking it might have been misplaced when I moved to my house.

I don’t want to get rid of memories like that again. So while I am staying in motion right now, I’m also trying to stop and make sure that I’m not doing something I’ll regret later.

But I do have to say that I’m really loving having extra room in my closet and dresser and it’s nice to also not have as many DVDs on display in my living room.

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Too Much Stuff (or Some Things Are Easier To Get Rid Of Than Others)

Posted on October 15, 2013 | Comments Off on Too Much Stuff (or Some Things Are Easier To Get Rid Of Than Others)

I’ve mentioned in the past my issues with giving away old clothes. I still have 2 giant bags of clothes in smaller sizes under my bed. I did give away 2 pieces recently to a friend, but I have almost all of it still there. It is so much easier giving away clothing to a friend than to Goodwill.

While I haven’t been able to give away clothes successfully, I was able to get rid of some things that I don’t use in my house recently. First of all, I have a crazy DVD collection. I love my movies and TV shows and love having the DVDs there so I can watch them (and also enjoy the bonus features) anytime I want to. But there are some DVDs that I’ve either outgrown, don’t watch, or never watched (I somehow “inherited” DVDs from old roommates). You can see how many I’ve accumulated in this photo I took a few months ago.

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My collection had actually gotten a bit bigger since I took that photo and I realized that I was running out of storage room (and I don’t think I can fit a bigger DVD tower in my little house!).

So I looked into a couple of buyback options. First I searched on Amazon and BestBuy. Neither of them were offering me that much on my DVDs. I ended up going to Amoeba. Of the 37 DVDs I was trying to sell to them, they took 33. I chose store credit over cash because you get a lot more in credit and I used that to buy the latest season of “How I Met Your Mother” on DVD (something I really like).

I brought my other DVDs back home with me and realized that I had more than DVDs that I could get rid of. I had a Wii and a Wii Fit that I haven’t used in a while (I stopped using it around the time I discovered SoulCycle). I looked back on Amazon for their buyback program and realized that I could get quite a bit for my gaming system. So I decided to sell them that plus the DVDs that Amoeba didn’t want. Between all of it, I’m going to be getting about $70 in Amazon credit. I know that I probably could have sold them for more if I went on eBay or craigslist, but I didn’t want the hassle. Amazon sent me a shipping label and I shipped everything off yesterday.

It’s nice to have a cleaner house with fewer things in it. While I will never be a minimalist, I do like to limit clutter and excess. I’m starting to go through my clothing again to see what I can give up, and while I know it won’t be all of it, I would like to try to donate at least a few pieces soon.

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Trying To Cut Back On Clutter (or Why Won’t My Computer Do What I Want It To Do?!?)

Posted on August 27, 2013 | 3 comments

I’ve been working on getting rid of the excess things in my life. I have some luggage that I don’t use anymore so I’m selling it (sold 3 pieces so far and only have 1 left). I’m working on donating book to the library (there’s no need for me to keep a “real” book and e-book unless it’s something really special). I’ve done a bunch with cleaning out my closet as well.

And then the other day, I got an alert on my computer that my startup disk is full and I need to trash some items to make room (I don’t have enough room on my computer to do an update). So I’m trying to move some things I don’t use too often to my external hard drive. But this has not been going so well.

To make room for movies and videos on my external hard drive, I have to delete some of the old backups of my computer. There’s no need for me to have 27 different backup versions. 2 or 3 should be good enough. So you’d think that you could move the extra backups to the trash and then delete it, right?

Wrong.

For some reason, my computer does not want to delete any files. This is extremely frustrating. After consulting Google, I’ve tried a few force empty ideas. I’ve downloaded a couple of apps that are supposed to empty your trash when your computer won’t do it. Well, all of those apps crashed on me.

I’m getting ready to admit defeat and make an appointment at the Apple Store for them to help me.

If any of you out there have any ideas, I’d appreciate them. I won’t have time to go to the Apple Store until Monday, so there’s plenty of time for me to try new options.

I’m excited that once this is done, not only will I have more room on my computer to store photos but my computer should run a bit faster.

I’m really feeling better about things as I de-clutter. It’s nice to have room to grow in my house (before it was starting to feel a bit crowded).

I just wish my computer would be as enthusiastic about getting rid of clutter as I am!

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Is It Too Early To Be Spring Cleaning? (or Out With The Unused)

Posted on January 30, 2013 | Comments Off on Is It Too Early To Be Spring Cleaning? (or Out With The Unused)

I’m been on a bit of a cleaning spree lately. I don’t keep a messy house, but when you live in a place that is about 400 square feet, it always seems like I have a lot of stuff.

I’m always jealous when I go visit my friends with big apartments and the amount of open space that they have. Everything looks so much cleaner that way. No matter how much I clean, my house always seems a bit crowded just due to the lack of space.

So I’ve been working on going through my things and trying to make some more space in my house (and no Mom, I’m not just cleaning because you are coming to visit soon).

I still can’t seem to get rid of my old clothes, but since those live under my bed I’ve decided that they can stay for now. And most of the clothes in my closet are things that I wear. If I haven’t worn them in a year, they go, but I don’t have anything like that right now.

I’m slowly going through my purses and shoes. I know that there are plenty of things I can get rid of. I donated 3 bags of things, which included some shoes and purses, but I know there is more that can go.

The one thing that I’ve been struggling with getting rid of are my books. I have an e-reader that I use 99% of the time and I hardly ever read an actual book. There are some books that are signed or are very special to me that I will keep no matter what, but I can’t seem to get rid of the others yet. I think that I just have to take the plunge and empty my bookcase out (and then I can use it for other things).

I think part of the reason I’m cleaning like crazy is the less cluttered my mind feels the less cluttered I want my house to be. I’m finally having some clarity in my life and I want that to reflect in my house too.

And yes, maybe I do want my mom to be extra impressed when she sees my house in 2 weeks.

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