So I just finished reading Kate her bedtime story, The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Stuff (not to be confused with The Messy Room), and it occurred to me that we are having the very same problem as Mama, Papa, Brother and Sister Bear. We have too much crap.
Wayyyy too much.
We have too much in our closets, too much in our garage, too much in our basement and too much in our storage areas. There is stuff everywhere! (ok no need to call Dr. Phil, I am not a freaky hoarder or anything – this is just a run-of-the-mill too much crap problem.)
And unlike the ever-resourceful Mama Bear, I can’t seem to take care of it in 12 pages one afternoon. In fact, I spent all last week trying to clean out the garage, and except for about 45 minutes when Sam napped on Monday, I couldn’t find the time to do it. And if I can’t find the time to do things like that while I’m on maternity leave, when will it ever get done?
I need to figure out a way to make this happen. I need to get rid of a bunch of stuff! But I don’t know how. So once again I turn to both all of you readers for help.
How do you deal with having too much stuff? How do you make time to go through and sort everything? What do you do to get rid of what you don’t want? Goodwill, garage sales, Ebay, or something different? And, once you’ve dealt with the problem, how do you keep from accumulating stuff all over again?
I eagerly await your ideas, because I am striking out!
And yes, Jenny, I know what can be done with all of our girl clothes… you’re not going to need to shop for Sophie for a long, long time. You can pay me in toothpaste and pizza rolls.
Well, for starters, we give all our girl clothes to you. I have a bag waiting in the basement!
🙂
I’ve sold on eBay in the past. Very time-consuming from start to finish. Worth it if you have high-value items, particularly brand-name baby stuff.
I haven’t sold on eBay for almost a year now; it’s just a function of time for me.
I donate most of our “extras”. I participated in a community garage sale once but wouldn’t again. I stacked up my hours worked vs. profit made and laughed. I’d rather donate and know someone in need is getting the items, then take the tax deduction.
Whatever you do, you just have to purge. But it’s hard when to get rid of the baby stuff – it’s a very real reminder that you’re moving past the babymaking stage of your life. It brought up a lot of emotions for me when I finally parted with the newborn clothes, etc.
See you soon…and you’re taking the girl clothes!!
It really really helps me calling one of our local charities that does pickups (I think in Dayton AmVets does it? Down here we have K.A.R.M. and the Habitat stores do pickups as well…) we usually try and purge quarterly and make the phone call once everything is in boxes and bags…they take furniture too.
But my advice to you right now is DON’T SWEAT IT! Relaxxxxxx. You just had a Baaaaaaaaby.
Emily…set time limits on it – example – 1 hour a day…then stop. another thing I do is set the goal of purging one “space” a week (or month :)) DO not try to do it all at once or you will go bonkers – belive me I am speaking from experience. AND you know you have the baby excues for up to a year.. take advantage of it!!!!!
hmm…I’m low on pizza rolls…can I pay you in chocolate Honey Bunches of Oats cereal?
I definately do the “one year rule”…if I haven’t worn it or used it in a year …byebye it goes. I obviously did not miss it…I utilize Good Will unless I know of someone that would definately use it or love to have it. When I am doing laundry and I know that the last time one of the kids, including hubby wore something too small, or maybe I just sooo do not like it, I put it in a bag that sits by my laundry room table ready to go to Goodwill…as far as rooms and garages…I do them either once a year or whenever I get the itch to pitch…and I do a section at a time so I don’t overwhelm myself…rooms are monstrous at times…well this works for me…hope you get some helpful hints…but enjoy that baby!! Believe me it will be there when you are ready to conquer and divide!!
I have a 3 month old (well, on the 22nd I will!) and a 5 year old. My biggest frustration is not having the time to clean out stuff!. I am a night owl, so I have decided to stay OFF the computer and work on my basement.
We are having a huge family yard sale on Memorial Day (we do it every year). I have been going through each room and if we don’t use it, need it or think its beautiful (learned that from another blog) I put it in the yard sale pile.
We’re moving to Australia in July, so I’m a lot more in a hurry to clean out the junk that you. Just remember you will always have junk, you won’t always have a little one!
We suffer with the same problem. In fact, right now my garage is FULL of stuff we’ve purged from the house. And yet the house doesn’t look any better.
This summer I’m having my nieces/nephews come down. They are newly married and just starting to have kids. It will be a “free” garage sale. If you want it, TAKE IT. If you *think* you might want it in a year, TAKE IT.
Then, once they are done, I’m having my neighbors come over and will redo the free garage sale thing. Hopefully most will be gone by then.
I just don’t have the time/energy/etc to be messing with ebay and/or a real garage sale where I have to organize and price everything.
Ahhhh I used to love that book! 8)
Divide and conquer!!! LOL Pick one room and go through that all week. Set a timer (a la flylady) and you will be surprised how much you can get done. Grab whatever you have that is large, a box or a laundry basket, something and make that your yard sale. Another one can be donate and of course trash is always a good old garbage bag.
Good luck! I would love to see some before and after pics. Oh that reminds me I redid my kitchen a couple of months ago and it is up on my blog.
I always set a date for a yard sale and then let people know about it. This summer I am hosting a yard sale where I invite co-workers to participate for a small fee to help cover the advertising costs and since I know others are going to be participating it give me the encouragement I need to get my ‘treasures’ out and get them ready. With a date set, advertising in place, and also knowing that it will provide extra income I’m more compelled to give up something fun for the dreaded task of clearing out just one more box or bag of ‘treasures’ for a yard sale.
As for a place to give you stuff to…call Vietnam Vets or AmVets (they both have websites, too) and they’ll set up a time to pick it up from your door. I love it because I don’t have to lug all that stuff, plus my child off to Goodwill and empty it out of my car. Plus, once you’ve donated once, they’ll continue to call and see if you’ll donate more, which just gives me incentive to go find another garbage bag worth of junk to put out on the doorstep. They’ll take anything….and you can donate as little as one bag!
I try to follow the flylady system so occasionally when I get sick of the junk, I grab a box a box or 2 which there’s always one or 2 of in the basement, round up everything I haven’t used in a year or more and fling away! Some goes in a trash box, the rest goes in a goodwill box which I immediately store in the back of the car and take to Goodwill next chance I’m in town.
you can do what Lucy was doing earlier this week: purposefully ruining toys she didn’t play with anymore so she could throw them away. Needless to say, we had to have a discussion with her about how to take care of our things, and if we don’t need it anymore we can give it to someone who does. I recommend checking with your church to see if they need anything, such as old toys or even clothes. We have a GREAT clothing ministry at our church which gladly takes donations. Also, I know that the preschool department has taken some toys off our hands. Likewise, a small library may take book donations off your hands. Remember to keep your receipts because all donations to the nonprofit organization can be written off at the end of the year.
Oh, I forgot this GREAT idea I had one time… my husband didn’t agree on how great it was, though. He hadn’t gotten around to cleaning out his side of the closeet so I decided to help him out and do it. I bagged up stuff I knew he didn’t wear anymore or could no longer fit into and said, “If you can tell me what is in this bag you can have it back. If not, it’s gone.” It was not a good moment in our marriage, but a lovely moment in regaining some much needed closet space.
We have the same book, and I wonder the same thing every time I read it to the girls. 🙂
We generally pile stuff in the garage or basement until garage sale time (a couple of weeks ago). I take a big load of whatever doesn’t sell to Goodwill and keep only things that I think will sell next time. Then we start piling stuff up all over again.
I think this year we may have enough stuff left to have a second garage sale later this summer – hopefully we can whittle down the piles quite a bit that way. I’ve tried selling stuff on Craigslist or EBay but just don’t have the time to put into it on a regular basis.
I use craigslist.org for big stuff that I want to get rid of. Watch out though, because it can be addicting looking for things as well! As far as finding time, I still have a painting project that I’ve been trying to get finished for 2 years, and thought I would have all the time in the world on my 12-week maternity leave. Needless to say, it’s still waiting 🙂