Do You Have Clutter or Do You Declutter?

Do You Have Clutter or Do You Declutter?

We live in a small home according to me. It is a ranch type modular home with 3 bedrooms. The bedrooms have tiny closets which don't really hold a lot of things, just the necessities to me. When we moved here about 22 years ago from the house we were renting, our daughter was 6 and the twins were 4.

We had been renting a house for about 5 years and bought some land to put the house on. My husband must have looked all over the modular home places he could think of, but finally we had one picked out that we could afford. He didn't want a basement because he didn't think we could afford it and I was kind of bummed out because of that. He did build an attached garage so we have stored lots of things in the loft of it that we didn't want to get rid of but didn't have any other storage place.

I thought it would have been nice to have a basement when the kids were little and a place to go for them to play. But now I'm glad we didn't get one. We live in a high water level area and it would have been flooded more than once. We even have a sump pump in the crawl space under our house for when it rains alot to pump the water out through a tube.

Well, the years went by and now our daughter moved away after she found a job after college. The house always seemed too small for all of us but now I'm glad it isn't any bigger. We have a garage sale every summer and keep everything in my mom's garage because we live at a dead end street and there is no place for people to park or turn around , especially if you have a lot of people coming all at once.

I love to declutter and get rid of stuff that I'm no longer using or just don't want any more. I've noticed that a lot of other people are the same and don't want many knick knacks and the like as they would have purchased years ago. They mostly want things that they can use, such as kitchen items or other useful items.

My husband and I also help my sister and her huband who prepare estate sales for people. We go through the house and throw out trash, set up tables, clean or wash items such as glassware, etc., and arrange whatever can go on tables. When this is all done we then do the pricing. It is a lot of work but my sister is a great organizer and knows how to make everything look appealing for the sale. We usually have the sale on Thursday, Friday and a half day on Saturday.

Some houses are dirtier and some are very clean so you see a lot of varieties of stuff that people keep. A couple of years ago we had a sale and the house had mice. It was the worst house I had ever seen before. There were mice droppings in drawers. Also when somebody purchased a bed when they went to take the bed there was a giant mouse nest under it. It was something I had never seen and was giant! I wish I had taken a picture of it. It was also very dusty and not good for my allergies. It was in December and it was warmer than usual; and I ended up with a sinus infection.

Clutter is one thing but being dirty is another. Of course if you have so much clutter it does make it harder to keep clean, in my opinion.

Getting Rid of Clutter

Getting Rid of Clutter

I'm starting to think of Spring these cold winter days. I have been looking around my house think it's not too soon to start on decluttering.

But where to start? That's a great question! I'm not really a neat freak but do like a clean house. I can't stand to look at clutter in every corner.  With a small house and five in the family it's hard to keep things in order and not looking overcrowded.

We don't have a basement or any storage space at all in our house. We do have a garage that I have tons of stuff stored that we really want to keep. Lots of the items are my kids' treasures that they want to keep. Other things are items that I want to keep.

That being said, I've been listing things I don't need or want on eBay since October. I figured people would want to buy Christmas gifts so I started early listing items. Since October I've sold 74 things on eBay. I kept a list in a notebook so I could keep record of everything.

Next on my list is going to be looking through my closet and drawers. I do wear most of my clothes but there are some sweaters that I don't especially like anymore. Also I have a couple of coats and jackets that have had their share of wear. My plan is to take everything out of my closet and dresser drawers and get a plastic tub and put the clothes I don't want in it. 

I'm going to have a yearly garage sale so I will put the tub in the garage till it gets warmer out. I rarely throw anything out unless it's very worn or ripped. It's fun to have a garage sale and I always make a few hundred dollars.

After my garage sale(s) I put what I don't want to keep until the next year in a box and donate it to a thrift shop. I can't wait till it gets warmer. I've got a lot of stuff ready for a garage sale again!

What do you do with your clutter?