But also half the mess in my living room right now hasn't been put away because it has no place. So I've got:

Board games in a bag from a game night at friends' house two months ago and also strewn about the room. The board games used to go on the TV cart with the videos, but I got a new Scrabble game and bought some videos to tape things off television, and now it doesn't all fit and I haven't invented a new place for the games.

Rolls of wrapping paper that I have recently acquired, had out to use for Christmas, shoved in the corner.

Handbags. I've gotten three new ones, much-needed, as gifts in the past year. Haven't found a place for them, so they just all float around.

Craft supplies I bought while buying stuff to make marble magnets for Christmas and have no place for. The bag just sits on the floor.

Empty photo frames. They will have a place when I fill them with photos, but it's been months and that takes time.

A box of beautiful Japanese ceramic rice bowls that I got for my birthday in September. I'd rather keep the bowls in the box, but it doesn't fit in my kitchen cabinets -- so the whole box just sits there in the hopes that insight will strike and I'll figure it out.

Receipts, mail, random articles of clothing, because once it's partly messy you don't notice a few more things.

Dust, because there's too much clutter to dust properly.

So I think that it's not just a matter of regular sweeps of things that aren't put away; it's finding places to put them. My apartment is pretty small, but there is some leeway; for instance, I have a shelf in the closet that I had been keeping files on, in boxes, but then I got a real file cabinet. That shelf could be maybe used more effectively. I know some people love thinking about this kind of stuff, but I tend to get distracted, and I'm hoping that listing it here will motivate me to make an effort, or that someone will offer helpful insights --- ????

This has also made me realize that when I acquire a new possession, I don't automatically figure out how to store it. Hmm.

quote:

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Originally posted by noraneither:

Dust, because there's too much clutter to dust properly.

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See, I flat out refuse to dust. Perhaps it's the defiant slob coming out in me - but honestly, doesn't dusting really just relocate said dust to the air for it to settle back on some unsuspecting item??
I'll dust the front of the tv if we're having people (more than two) over or if someone (or the cats tail) has swiped across it - thereby pointing out the dust.

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Originally posted by noraneither:
it's finding places to put them.

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Don't I know it!! I have so much stuff that doesn't have a home! But I'm starting to think, if it doesn't have a home, do I need it? Sure - there are somethings (like those silly French onion soup bowls from Grandma that I have never used in the four years since she died) that I will keep for sentimental reasons. But do I need FOUR sets of nesting mixing bowls? - including the set that has never left the coffee table since the day we got it (wedding gift - and why are they living on the coffee table?? Hubby likes to put spare change in the smallest one.. yeah - an effective use of FOUR bowls...)

I've been keeping a mental list of what will be sold in a garage sale this summer...

This thread today kind of inspired me to clean out my kitchen cupboards. No small task - but I think what I learned might be helpful to others.
I am used to looking through the cookbooks and deciding what to make. I then look thru the cupboard to see what I need to buy to make that item. Seems easy enough right?
Well - apparently not.
Because if I could see everything in my cupboard today - I would have known not to buy those extra two cans of tomato sauce - because my grand total is SIX.
I have about 5 cans of kidney beans, 3 of white kidney beans, 5 of black beans etc.

SO I did a purge of the cupboards. I threw a LOT of stuff out and also did some combining (why have three jars of chicken granules when all of it fits in one??)
And as I went along, I made a list of everything.
I typed up the list & taped it to the inside of my cupboard door. Anal - I know- but it did help a lot a year ago with the spice cabinet.

Since the person who built my cupboards has apparently never used one- I have a lot of space in the corner that is hard to get too. So I put all the stuff I don't use often back there - some of the beans etc. And then I labeled everything. I cut up index cards, wrote down categories like "Beans & tomatoes", drew an arrow (because they were tucked back in the cave) and taped it to the side of the shelf. I also labelled the other areas - although I think that might have been overkill - clearly the "Oatmeal" label wasn't needed when there are the oatmeal boxes (yep - 4 of them) right there in front of you... (ditto for the FIVE cartons of cocoa mix!)

I'm laughing every time I read this thread because y'all sound JUST LIKE ME!!! Especially the six cans of tomato sauce, or the empty photo frames (i'm a photographer, it's not like i don't HAVE any photos to put in them, i just haven't gotten to it!)

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Originally posted by chitowngal:
we just took down our Christmas tree...we are very very proud of ourselves (I am talking about myself and Super T, not referring to myself as royalty....although that would be appropriate as one of the slob queens)

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I finally got fed up with those six hour massive cleanups when anyone was coming over, not to mention the talking at the door to unexpected guests when I really would have liked to invite them in but my house was a wreck. Now I am a Flylady convert. It takes me about an hour to make the whole house really nice for company. And it actually does feel good to come home tired and get into a bed that is made. Who knew? Not me.

My favourite tidying/cleaning tip is to use the commercials to clean up. I like to watch several hour long shows through the week and jump up at the commercials and do something useful (with the sound turned up of course because my deal with myself is to get right back to the show as soon as it comes back on).

Happy de-cluttering and cleaning up people!

I feel better now that I'm not this person...could someone make my link pretty?? I forgot how to do it...

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Originally posted by chitowngal:
link

I feel better now that I'm not this person...could someone make my link pretty?? I forgot how to do it...

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Holy. Crap.

I feel SO much better about my clutter now. I'd like to print out those pics to look at every time I have to clean my house, so I can think "Just do it! At least it's not THAT bad!!!"

Yeah, I think I'm gonna.

Did y'all hear about a guy a few weeks ago in NYC who was trapped underneath his pile of crap until someone saved him a few days later? They were comparing him to a pair of brothers found dead in similar circumstances back in the 40's. It HAPPENS.

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Originally posted by Susie Liz:
What a great thread! My problem is with stashing large stacks of paper, clothes, whatever. "Out of sight, out of mind" was never more true. One of my mom's favourite family stories is the day that my brother's friend ask if there had been an explosion in my room because it looked like a bomb had gone off.

I finally got fed up with those six hour massive cleanups when anyone was coming over, not to mention the talking at the door to unexpected guests when I really would have liked to invite them in but my house was a wreck.

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Oh my god--that's me. Now that I have a roommate, I'm better. But my bedroom is still a wreck. I've even gone to bed beneath a pile of laundry (clean) on my bed. My boyfriend calls it my camel hump.

However, is she really a slob? All (ok, well, most of) her stuff is neatly stacked and organized, she just has TOO MUCH STUFF.

Poor thing. Imagine when she dies, her kids having to get rid of all that crap.

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Originally posted by meowka:
Poor thing. Imagine when she dies, her kids having to get rid of all that crap.

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World's largest garage sale. Either that or they'll make a fortune selling it all back on Ebay.

Somebody needs to call the county health department and get that poor lady some help.

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Originally posted by meggo:
That woman has to have some kind of disorder you know? That can't be normal "haven't gotten around to throwing it out yet" behavior.

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Ok, well my boy's mom is somewhat like this. tho, not this extreme. (she does have an entire room-formal dining room-that you cannot get into) So, my question/concern is this, How do you try to help them? Cuz meggo is right, this obviously is not normal. for my boy's mom there has to be a reason she's holding onto all of it, right? her daughter came and cleaned out her fridge and not more than 2 weeks later it was completely full again. So, do you have any suggestions for how to help? (she's made many comments, even to me, like, "I can't wait to get this house all clean...When I went back to school I just got so busy." etc. it's bothersome...for my boy and his mom and the entire fam). I'm not spotless, by any means, but I can't even imagine having to step over piles of clutter just to get into a room.

sorry for the long post.

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Originally posted by crowjoy:
the "I might need it someday" variety of pack rat

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Oy, that's me. "I might need it someday" or "I might lose 40 lbs and fit into it someday" or "I don't know what the hell I'll ever do with that but it's so weird I could incorporate it into a craft project so I'll put it back in this box in the closet where I'll never remember it until the next time I go 'what the hell is in that box??'"

quote:

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Originally posted by meggo:
See, I flat out refuse to dust. Perhaps it's the defiant slob coming out in me - but honestly, doesn't dusting really just relocate said dust to the air for it to settle back on some unsuspecting item??
I'll dust the front of the tv if we're having people (more than two) over or if someone (or the cats tail) has swiped across it - thereby pointing out the dust.

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