My 2018 Resolution - YouLookFab Forum

I usually do not make New Year resolutions, but I just finished reading Marie Kondo's book (yes, late to the game). I think that I am much like the author herself and it was interesting that I figured out on my own how to declutter and organize much like she did.

Since it snowed this morning, I decided to stay in and declutter a bit more. I saved the best (or hardest) for last. I finally decided to tackle the sentimental clutter. I started by tossing out my "baby shoes". I have been storing these for over 30 years since my mom handed them over to me - just shoved into a drawer. I have to say it felt good to toss it. I had no attachment to them. Next I had been keeping a "feelings" journal since 2010 and decided today was a good day to shred the pages. This was definitely not something I wanted family members to ever read. There were times in the past when I had to get my emotions out and put everything down on paper. I have not written in it for almost a year and did not want to reread what I had written. Got my emotions out and moved on. Shredding the pages felt great.

I do agree with what she says about not telling anyone what you are tossing. My DH would hold on to every piece of paper if he could. I found things I received as gifts over 20 years ago that I have never opened or used - put it in my donate pile.

My goal in 2018 is to go through photos. A few years back I scanned all old photos into the computer and made about 15 Shutterfly books. The books take up a great deal less space than the photos stored in albums and/or boxes. Plus the books I made tell a story. I no longer need the physical photos, but have to convince DH to let go. He has 2 huge boxes of photos from his parents and not one photo has any info written on the back. I don't feel right tossing these are these are part of his life and yet he does not want to look at them. I am sure that when we are ready to downsize in a few years these will all be tossed away.

6 years ago

Anonymous

Nice Danusia. I am awed that you were able to get rid of baby shoes, but I think it is a good thing if you felt good about it.

Yes, great that you shred the journal! You have already moved on and rehashing serves no purpose.

With respect to your husbands pictures, could you get them up on shutterfly too? Maybe hire a neighbourhood kid to scan them? I ought to get all my pictures up too. I often have technocological glitches and am slightly (possibly unreasonably) worried about getting rid of hard copies altogether.

I’m like the author too, except for her view that objects themselves have feelings, and her over-love of things. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t love your things, but sometimes it is a bit much and actually seems a little materialistic. But I might be misunderstanding her.

Joy

Veteran

Yay!

Runcarla

Well done, danusia. This can be heavy psychological stuff.

My parent's and in-laws generation lived through 2 wars and the depression and both sides came from poor families who achieved very high standards of living after pursuing higher education and career tracks. I believe there were some psychological issues around deprivation that resulted in large collections of 'stuff'. Helping my husband and his siblings deal with his parent's estate when they died was very hard. They had never downsized. My mother has been downsizing a home and a cottage for 10 years, and still has a lot of stuff. She thinks her children want this stuff and keeps passing it on to us, but nothing fits with our lifestyles, or even fits our bodies! Antique furnishings don't fit a family of 6ft + people and no one has the time or energy (or servants) to polish silver!

Keep up the good work, and 'yes' burn the journals!

Barbara Diane

Great! I'm fairly sentimental so this is an ongoing process.

Mary Beth (formerly LBD)

(website)

I really really love KonMari, and I thought her order of sorting was so useful - starting with clothes, going through all of your other categories, so that you have had a lot of practice before you get to the really difficult, sentimental stuff.

She wrote a sequel, a follow-up that provides a more advanced, in-detail look at specific decluttering techniques. The section of photos is very good - I'm planning to tack that later this spring.

Also, I cannot recommend Joshua Becker's Becoming Minimalist/12-week Uncluttered program enough. This got me further along, after a couple of KonMari sessions - when I felt joy at everything, but felt like I still had too much stuff. He's doing registration now, the next twelve-week course starts January 9th. Once you've taken the course, you have lifetime access to every session, 4x/year.

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