I needed to see this. I have so many cables in my nightstand that I have no idea what they connect to.
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We threw out the box of Mystery Cables when we moved, and have already started a new oneā¦
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Thank you!
Sorry I hadnāt said that. Grr. Old lady manners sometimes leave a bit to be desired.
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I threw out my husbandās basement cable box (not to be confused with the main floor cable box). Shhh, donāt tell him.
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Iām sure heāll never know.
I looked in the back of my clothes drawers and found clothes Iāll never wear again and arenāt useful as rags. They have been discarded!
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Help Iām overwhelmed and enraged by how many random things we have and correspondingly how hard it is to find something like scotch tape.
But all the things I want to get rid of are Mr Darlings. Some of this is because heās more of a pack rat than me and some is cognitive dissonance. I have a lot of ārandom crapā that I like and theoretically want to save and store properly but I donāt know how to sort it, decide what to get rid of, and store it.
Who has brilliant hacks for me? Please? Someone have the answers?
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I told the shadowy one, āIām not asking you to get rid of anything, but are any of these things something that can be put away and not be out right now?ā And I did likewise. And as we put away stuff into boxes for medium term storage we each found a few things that we didnāt need to keep.
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We grab a rubbish bag. dump everything into a box, putting rubbish in the bag as we go. Separate box into āpaperā, ānot papersā and put stuff away that obviously has a home.
Uh, thatās as far as I normally get.
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I have an old china cabinet Iāve filled with ādecorative stuff Iād like to keep but has no home, now.ā
That has worked for the past 6 months or so. We need to move the cabinet to the attic where it is supposed to go, soon. Soā¦ the decorative stuff will likely go into 1ā cube boxes labeled ādecorative stuffā¦ā and the date. Since DH is probably retiring 7/1 all boxes of asst. stuff need to be dealt with before that.
1ā cube boxes are handy, we get them from Staples. Itās nearly impossible to look at a stack of 3 x 5 of them say and not really know that whatever is in them is 15 cubic feet oā stuff. I find it much easier to ignore space given over to storing āstuffā in other boxes and I canāt get away with that with these.
Also 1ā cube boxes can usually be easily picked up by oldsters. Itās hard to put so much into them that itās too heavy. Thatās a consideration here.
This morning I found a place to use a random scrap of plywood and made a home for a footstool I wanted to use/keep but was in the way. Hurrah!
The corner of the kitchen storage along the wall is looking good. I still have a stack of boxes there that need to be dealt with. DH looked at the window trim when we were drinking coffee and asked me if the trim still had nails in it? Yes! He said heād do something about that today too. (The trim got removed when we replaced the window a few years back.)
Definite progress hereā¦
Because of this post, I just packed 2 cubic foot boxes of decorative metal stuff from the china cabinet. 
Then, just 'coz, I condensed the remaining boxes, moved some things, trashed a few others, etc. and made a pathway along a second edge of the storage corner. 
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I donāt have answers to you, BUT your post gave me an idea. I gave husband permission to tell me about anything of mine he notices that heās not sure why we keep. Heās a sort who normally would never mention that sort of thing, and Iām overwhelmed enough with toddler life that Iām becoming blind to stuff thatās just around. Hoping this helps some!
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Are you familiar with Dana White? She has a lot of organizing advice about exactly these issues. I like her podcast, A Slob Comes Clean, and she has a few books out.
Disclaimer that she is someone who openly admits she was tipping into hoarder territory, hence the blog name. Sheās helpful to me because her issues are much bigger than mine, so if she can do it I can do it, and I am in no way implying youāre as extreme as her either. She is religious but is low key about it - like she might talk about cleaning up for bible study - but as a big heathen, I havenāt felt uncomfortable about any of her stuff.
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Also with your husband: do you guys have space that you can designate as his area for stuff? My wife can put whatever she wants on the couch in her office and in her office closet, and I just pretend I donāt see it. Is it total chaos? I canāt tell you because I donāt perceive it.
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Agree on all takes here. I liked her book I read, and like the container concept and knowing about āslob visionā helps so much. And also a dirty heathen, and Iāve never been off put by her content. Which is saying something- I canāt watch SO many minimalists etc because of the religion stuff get under my skin.
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Yes I agree Dana White is awesome! When I was married my last husband was a pack rat and he had his office that I didnāt clean or enter. He could keep his junk there. Unfortunately he also took over the garage, shed and partial dirt basement. I would throw crap away when he was out of town because he wouldnāt from the last 3 places.
Basically once you get your house to a good place as items come in something should go out to stay in balance. I am pretty good at knowing if I really need a item or not. If you have a house you need more stuff obviously for maintenance then if you live in a condo or apartment. After I had my last child I gave away clothes, toys, etc as they outgrew it.
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I have an entire drawer full of legwear (tights, leggings, heavy warm thigh-high socks, this does not include my normal sock drawer) that, to be honestā¦ I donāt even know what all is in there. I am going to, over the winter months, wear or at least try on everything in there and toss anything that is holey or worn or saggy or doesnāt fit right.
I already have tossed what I think were originally purple fleece tights, that I cut the holey feet off of and used as leggings. They are too short on me and they pull weirdly at one thigh. GONE!
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To the dump today: a tack hammer thing and piece of pneumatic hose from DH, a book, 2 mason jars, and a moth eaten throw from me.
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His stuff is mostly contained in boxes that fit in storage spaces. Itās more of an issue when it comes to actually finding things because I dig through 10 boxes of random stuff without finding the thing Iām actually looking for.
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Ohhh that is a painā¦ hope you guys find an easy way to manage it.
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Gone today: one of the FIVE Christkindlmarket gluhwein boot mugs that I own (whyyyy, there is only 1 gluhwein drinker in this household and we never entertain!)
Also a very nice pair of thigh high black and white heavy knit stripey socks that I finally conceded do not fit my legs and likely will never fit my legs. I tried them on this morning and this made me sad but sad is not a reason to keep shit I wonāt fit into unless my calf muscles atrophy!
I need to start working on unloading the wall art we agreed we are not moving. This feels daunting.
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