Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Stuff and Nonsense

I'm having one of those weeks where I'm feeling absolutely overwhelmed by stuff.  Physical stuff.  Not just clothing (which I still have too much of), but unread books piled up on my nightstand, half empty tubes of lotion scattered about, piles of papers that need to be gone through and either tossed or filed, expired coupons, Netflix movies to be watched or returned...in short, the usual detritus of modern life. I'm not a hoarder, but rather a procrastinator. Despite my best intentions I end up setting things in piles to deal with later, the days and weeks pass, and the next thing I know I'm up to my eyeballs in stuff.  When the chaos ultimately pushes me over the brink of sanity, I've been known to grab a large garbage bag and just toss in everything that crosses my path, not skipping a beat on my way to the trash bin, only to regret it later.  I'd rather refrain from going all Shiva the Destroyer this time if I can help it.  

So I need to set aside an evening or three to deal with my stuff.   I'll be back in a few days with some fresh bloggy goodness, once I can see more than a few square inches of cleared horizontal surface in my house.

Do you keep your stuff organized or does it sometimes get the better of you?  Do you have those days where you just want to pile it in the driveway and set a match?  Or have you developed a more constructive method to deal with stuff?



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Posted by at 5:00 AM
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31 comments:

  1. I'm the same. There's a lot of mad-rampant throwing out that happens at Chez McGraw.
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  2. When I get to that state, and it happens far to often, I become a mad woman willing to discard anything in my way.
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  3. My stuff always has the better of me!
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  4. Oh this sounds so familiar!! The books on the nightstand, or on the other half of the bed ;), piles of papers, some important (bills), some just notes to myself, knitting patterns etc. clothing that needs to be ironed or defurred before it's put away, etc. etc.

    Thank goodness I live alone, I have only myself to blame. I need to invite someone over so I have a deadline to deal with it, otherwise it's procrastination city!
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  5. I have, as someone might already know, no stuff around me anymore. I have swept with the big mop. I have thrown away stuff, sold them, left them for sale and donated the rest for charity. And I am relieved. I do the weeding of my closet all the time, so I never have piles of clothes. Only the essentials. This summer I have also gone through the stuff in our barn house, and cleared it. No stuff there either. My golden rule is, that when something comes in, something goes out!
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  6. funny you should post this. Just yesterday I was threatening to bag up all my stuff and throw it away, build a new house, a zen house with no stuff. I cannot seem to manage it. I think I have read every organizatinal book out there and still am overrun by stuff.
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  7. The perfect person would handle it each day. Most of wait until we can't stand it any more. My best de-cluttering tip is to sell your husband's stuff on ebay. He'll never miss it.
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  8. Same at my place. And we've had company for over a week, and are heading out on a road trip in a few days, which means we'll be coming back, all disorganized, to disorganization and clutter . . . something's gotta give!
    Good luck sorting yours out -- it will feel so great when it's done!
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  9. You've hit the nail on the head!

    I've been purging a lot of things since I'm not working right now. The shredder and recycle bins are my friends. I need to work on not letting things get backlogged so I don't have to do big cleanouts.
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  10. I have stuff that accumulates and drives me mad...that's when I action a cleaning frenzy...loud music and exercise gear...and it looks like a tornado hit the bungalow before order is restored...then I sit and have a well deserved cup of tea.
    Hope that you have fun!
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  11. The "Hoarder" episodes that have been running the last couple of seasons are salutary... watch a couple of those back to back and you either feel "well, I'm not as bad as that" or "dear lord, that reminds me of me!" I start cleaning and organizing immediately. Of course three days later the Big Creep begins and I'm back where I began. I salute Metscan for her consistency and would like to arrive there someday.
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  12. Miss Janey's "stuff" is her undoing. Even after getting rid of so much stuff when she moved in March, she still has way too much.
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  13. I have a friend with enormous physical energy. When she still lived in the US, I would set up dates with her to declutter. Her forward momentum would prevent me from dithering about what goes/what stays and other attempts at logic.
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  14. Bit of both. Sometimes organised and then all of a sudden too much stuff. How does it happen!
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  15. I move fairly often, so I tend to do a big clear regularly. And since I intend to move again at the end of the year, it's going to be yardsale time at Casa Rubi.

    Over the last two years, I've been camped out at my folks', in their spare bedroom -- so my stuff strewing opportunities are few and far between. I've got a basked on the bookshelf where some things go to moulder, but I try to apply the same principal to physical stuff that I do to my email: there are three categories -- read and trash, read and respond, or read and archive. It works well with the real things, too.
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  16. Stuff appears by itself. I don't entirely understand why. The 'Big Creep' is very apt. My mother thinks I'm odd when I have a mad decluttering episode, but I can't not. And I never get to the end. I just maintain it. Metscan's comment is so inspiring and makes me think it is possible.

    I admit, I have actually sold some of my husband's stuff on eBay. It doesn't sound so cool when I say he let me, so let's pretend he didn't know.

    George Carlin's clip is hilarious and so true.
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  17. Sounds sadly familiar. I have 2 teenagers, accumulators both, and have threatened to go "Shiva the Destroyer" on them several times. Mixed results on that technique. The only thing that works for me is to have less. I've gone on a fierce "use it up" program with hair and skin products. Can't buy anything new until I've used something up.
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  18. for a minute there...i thought you had snuck into my home and were describing the experience...i guess now you know what my "stuff" is like...sheesh...glad i'm not the only one...
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  19. I really struggled with the 'stuff' problem when we moved house in December, although I've always been a regular purger/filer/organise - I really resented moving so many damn boxes. I got rid of absolutely everything non-essential. The only place that I allow stuff to accumulate is my desk, where things can pile up for about a week before I file/bin/deal with. I can't handle clutter anywhere else, it sets my teeth on edge and makes me super-cranky (as my family will attest) :)
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  20. OMG, I've met my twin !! We must all do this, with the best of intentions, of course. "We might need it." Agree with Metscan. And, I remember every single word of George's bit on "My Stuff." Very funny, very poignant.
    Marsha
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  21. Hi again! I´ll just have to tell you about the flea market experience last Sunday. My husband was my chauffeur. As he is having some stage of the ADHD, he can´t stay long in one place, so he went walking, and came back shortly and asked me for 2 euros. He had spotted a pruning saw of some sort. Naturally I said NO. I had to tell him many times in a row, that we are not here to buy anything, we are here to sell everything ;)!
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  22. Boy, do I identify! Sometimess I feel as though my stuff owns me instead of the other way around. I'm too frugal to throw much out, though I have been culling my clothes and books of late. I've just stopped shopping for anything until I run out and the feeling of 'accomplishment' after using up a bottle of lotion or shampoo is just ridiculous. But it's still there. I know that if I put something somewhere that isn't 'away', I soon become used to look at it there, on the counter, the night stand, etc. and don't see it any more until I trip over it. It's not a problem I can solve over night, but my first step is not acquiring more until I have a good place for everything I already have.
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  23. Stuff! The bane of my existence!! I don't know where it all comes from, but "the big creep" describes it so well.
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  24. ha, ha.

    I've been going through my basement and happened up two fur coats.

    My mother-in-law, who departed from this earth in 2007 had them in her apartment and it's only now that I've unearthed them. I'm amazed they're still around.

    But seriously. I'm married to a man who is not a hoarder. Stuff will pile up and next thing I know he's on a whirlwind - Goodwill, bulk trash, church rummage sale - and it all goes away.

    I'm sure his dear mother would be spinning if he knew that he gave her copper pots, purchased on several trips to France, that I wanted but hadn't unpacked yet to the church rummage sale in a fit of "get it out of here!"

    It irritates me sometimes but I will say that he solves things for me.
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  25. I wish I could just light a match or toss my stuff in the trash, my problem is I feel like I have to find my stuff a good home: library, consignment, school, donation. This slows down the exit of stuff from my life tremendously. BTW, that is my favorite G.C. clip. Thanks.
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  26. SewingLibrarianJul 28, 2010 06:06 PM
    I did ok until the kids arrived. With a nine and a five year old and all their toys, books, clothes, and junk, I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle. And I hear it's no better when they reach their teens. I think I"m going to start throwing out more of their stuff and not buying as much. Seriously, we don't buy that often for them, but with friends and relatives, it all adds up! And don't get me started on all the paperwork the school sends home....
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  27. Don't get me on the topic of stuff. I have just bought the book and workbook, "It's all Too Much" and I'm going at it hard and fast. I am predicting it will take six months to declutter (and that's just my desk...Haha!) Good luck mon amie.
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  28. Darling Pseu, now I finally understand why my mother would clean out a single drawer, or the teapot, and feel so marvelous. I feel your pain/irritation!
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  29. Do you know that somehow my family has THREE copies of The Story of Stuff, which was being given away at Nantucket bookstores. Ah, the irony!
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  30. Miss Cavendish, that's flippin' hilarious....
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  31. I, too, am of the feast-or-famine school of organization. I let it pile up until something snaps in me, and I go a bit mad, stalking around the house and muttering to myself. I'm also married to a pack-rat who, for sentimental or practical reasons, won't let me throw things away. We might need that sewing machine some day (neither of us sew), or the chocolate fountain (for all those Gatsby-esque parties we throw?) or the drum set (that no one plays). He would say I have too many shoes, but at least I wear them all!

    We collect stuff for the life we wish we had, not the life we actually live, and I'm tired of it.
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