It was about this time last year when I asked my husband to buy The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up for Christmas. I read through the whole book, then went back and began working through it. But I got sidelined somewhere around komono (miscellaneous items).
I was hoping this year that I’d figure out how I work best when it comes to keeping house. My approach has always been quite haphazard, which is something I don’t like about myself, and want to improve. Then I invest a lot of time into trying to find better, more efficient ways of doing things. But ultimately nothing really sticks, nothing big anyway. I’ve made some small inroads, and have gotten rid of a lot of stuff, but it still feels like there’s so much to still get rid of.
Since the year ends soon and my project not long after, I’ve been reflecting a little on what I’ve done this year and want to do next year. I took the book off the shelf because I’m thinking about re-reading it in its entirety, or maybe just going back to where I left off with purging. 
When I review the photos I’ve taken of the boxes and bags of donations, I feel pleased but then I wonder why I don’t see more uncluttered space in the house. There are a few spaces which I’ve reorganized for good but I’m still having trouble with upkeep. Those ‘hotspots’ still attract random bunches of stuff. It doesn’t help that the Christmas presents I’ve bought for everyone but Emma are all over the place- I can’t put anything under the tree because I think Pixie will shred everything.
So I’m trying to figure out how to make the most out of the next couple months. I don’t know if I should lay out some specifics or if I should just wing it. Finishing the garage is definitely still on the table, especially since it’s been freakishly warm in NY and Bob is between semesters and willing to help. But I don’t really know what else I want to accomplish.
I did acquire, sort of, another bookshelf.
I say ‘sort of’ because I’ve had this shelf for a while. It was a kitchen cabinet I managed to take off the wall in one piece during demo. It worked well in the attic, but a few months ago Emma decided she needed more doll beds, so I let her have it. She got a large inflatable chair as an early Christmas gift so she returned the shelf, which is good because I need it. I loaned my mom and my mother in law lots of books which recently made their ways back to me, so I needed a place to put them! At some point I’ll make some cosmetic improvements to it. Lately my mind wanders to decorating related projects even though I’ve decided to save those as a reward after I’m done getting rid of more stuff.
maybe with the returned books you could quickly evaluate their need to be kept; possibly some could go straight to the donate box? I’ve enjoyed reading your articles these past months, because you are showing us reality – this is a tough, ongoing dilemma.
I read that book as well! While on the phone with an acquaintance of mine, I was telling her that I am still getting rid of stuff, and she said, Gosh, it seems to be taking you a lot of time to declutter. You have been at it for a while now. I told her, that is because I am not the only person living in this house. I have to work around two other people who both are a bit of hoarders. She tells me about the book, and says that the way I am doing it is all wrong. I need to go into one room, and stay at it until the entire room is finished. She said, Oh, you should read this book I am reading. She does everything right, and if you follow her way, you are guaranteed to succeed. So great, I borrowed the book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, read it from start to finish, looked at the rest of the stuff with brutal honesty, and decided to get rid of any of the half finished projects that I could not guarantee I could finish within a month or two. Did that, and freed up some more stuff. And since, have gotten rid of even more stuff, lol! Other than the Christmas decorations (and I got rid of at least 1/3 of them last year), our house is almost entirely clutter free now (next up, is going through all my husband’s power cords at our desk in our family room during Christmas). The ironic thing is my acquaintance never finished reading the book, and she is no further ahead than she was before she started reading it! So, to make a long story short (oops, too late!), one suggestion of mine to you would be to get rid of some of your hobbies. I know! Sounds brutal! However, I have come to realize that the more hobbies a person has, the more clutter will be in their house. There is simply no way around it. As for the books, we have been aggressively going through our books, and when each one is read, it goes in a pile by the front door, and the next time I go out the door, I put the pile in the car, and it gets donated. I am no longer keeping books once I have read them once (have been able to donate 3/4 of our books this way). Except for a very few childhood books, that have sentimental value to them, and I mean a VERY few. Girl, I have become brutally honest with myself and what is truly important in life, and stuff just aint it!
So very true Sue regarding hobbies…I was sick of feeling guilty about half finished projects or not-even-started-yet projects so anything I wasn’t “totally excited” to finish got donated. How freeing – free of the expectations, the guilt, the “should”, and especially free of the associated clutter. Now I have time to do what really excites me – long walks, reading, slow dinners…
You’ve got that right, Kelly! I love to knit, however, I had accumulated several bags of scrap yarn, and it was just weighing me down. So a thrift store we have here in Canada (I live in New Brunswick, Canada), Salvation Army, has been able to make someone very happy with my donation, lol! Actually, in total, up to this point at least, I must have donated to them the equivalent of 6 or 7 huge wardrobe sized boxes. Don’t ask me what what in them all, because, honestly, neither myself or my husband remembers any of it! Oh, with the exception of a set of decorator pillows I had made for our bed. It’s a heck of a lot easier now to make our bed without them;)!
Thanks Marli! I went in and started checking it out a bit!
It’s so true that decluttering is one thing, but keeping clutter from creeping in, or just simply keeping rooms neat, is something else. In case you haven’t come across it, this blog deals precisely with the second problem: how to keep areas clutter-free when we’re not neat freaks. Great suggestions there! http://Www.aslobcomesclean.com