Extreme Decluttering
I hate stuff. I’m getting rid of everything, due to thing I’m going to announce once everyone has been told in the proper order. I’ve been getting rid of stuff like a madwoman for two years, but we are down to the END. And we still have a TON of stuff.
I’ve noticed lots of people are wanting free of clutter. There’s the 100 Thing Challenge many around the internet have taken, to see if they can get their belongings down to 100 things! That is SO cool!
It is so freeing to get rid of stuff. I’m so excited.
We’re going from five rooms + basement of stuff, down to ten boxes, five chests, three cabinets, and that’s pretty much it. Maybe two big duffel bags or something. Including clothes: clothes take up so much space!
Last week, I wrote down everything I used one day. Everything I touched, I wrote down. Gosh, I think the list was under twenty:
- Kindle
- Laptop
- Palm Pilot
- Cell Phone
- Headphones
- Toiletries
- Towel
- Bath Brush
- Bedding
- Pans
- Food
- Bowls
- Spoons
- Forks
- Cup
- Cat Food Bowls
- Pencil
- Calendar
- Clothes
I’m having trouble parting with some stuff. Like the board games no one ever plays with me but that I LOVE. I could make room for a few. Maybe I’ll hook up with someone who will play them. And I still want a bamboo plant, which is silly, because my cats eat it. Then there are these little candles I adore…
And BOOKS! I keep purging books, and yet I still have a too many!
I have room for two shelves of sentimentality. Should I really bring my 7 Harry Potter books that take up a whole shelf? Why, oh why couldn’t she allow them to be released in ebook form?
But really? I need so little stuff. It’s wonderful. It’s exhilarating to get rid of baggage, and I feel like it’s buying my freedom.
So what about you? Have you ever done an extreme decluttering? An extreme purge? Ever fantasized about it? How small do you think you could go? How many things do you touch in a day? Why do we put up so much stuff around us? Why do we collect so much stuff in our society?
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I shudder to think of getting my stuff down to so little. A friend is traveling around the US with her two Irish Wolfhounds in a small RV. I bought my English setter a 20-pound bag of dog food last week, and had to put it in the basement until she finishes the one she has upstairs. It made me wonder where my friend is putting her dog food.
I think that is the coolest, Edie! I have a tupperware sort of thing, except it’s huge.
I think of it like this: the RV holds the essentials, and the “living room” and “living area” is actually outside. The RV is just a sleep spot and cook spot, not really a living spot. 
I go through spurts. Cleaning things out feels so good, especially if I donate. But yet at other times, it seems I bring more and more stuff home.
LOL, Janna! I’m doing a garage sale, just so much stuff and I can use the money, but will donate the rest. My mother loves to bring stuff home when she donates, though, LOL!
I’ve done it three times in my life due to choices I’ve made: joining the military, getting divorced, moving across country. I refuse to get rid of my books ever again! I love my books, and I love being able to just hang onto stuff. Of course, having ditched a ton of stuff so many times, I can purge when the purge urge hits; and I do. I just prefer to keep things now.
I’m looking forward to hearing what your big news is. Are you two going to join a ship’s crew together or something?
Wow! That must have hurt, getting rid of your books! It has taken me a long time to get rid of mine, but now that I love my Kindle so much, I hardly ever pick up a book.
No, but that would be fun! I have cats.
Probably will post about it Wednesday or so!
In 2006 my husband and I bought one way tickets to Hawaii and moved with just two suitcases each. And that’s the way we have lived for the past three years. True, 95% of our stuff is still in storage in CA so we didn’t exactly declutter, but it has been wonderful living here with so few things. It’s amazing what you don’t miss.
Nadine, that totally rocks! So… why did you move? Are you planning on staying there? Wow. That is the coolest story I’ve heard in a long time! That just totally rocks!
I love getting rid of stuff, but Glenn is like a clutter magnet. You’d think stuff was a security blanket, LOL!
We moved because we were just married and wanted an adventure. One of those times in your life where you leap and don’t look back.
Our goal was to come for one year and have as many Hawaii adventures as we could in that time, but instead we’ve been here for three years. The husband would love to stay forever, but I want to return to CA someday. And I would love to finally open our wedding presents, lol.
But it was a FABULOUS way to spend the first few years of marriage.
Everyone says I should do a memoir about it, but I am missing platform. So perhaps after my first fiction book gets published.
Like I said on Facebook, that is just the absolute coolest. You are so brave! I’m headed into my own adventure, but I’m screaming and kicking and freaking out all the way. I have to SHOVE myself out the door!
That sounds like a total blast! Do you surf? How far are you away from the beach? Gosh, why don’t you blog about all your adventures?
Where is your blog, anyhow? Whatcha writing? Look at me, all nosy. I just know you as the cool friend of Melanie’s who lives in Hawaii and is really fun and nice.
Didn’t you have a food blog up for awhile? Or am I mixing you up with someone?
LOL – That’s me!
I’ll e-mail you 
I don’t have much of anything except books. I’ve got less than 15 DVDS and wouldn’t mind parting with those. I’ve got a chess set I’ll keep, and scrabble we’ll keep. Other than that it’s mostly books.
I don’t have much but a few books, CDs, and what fits in my laptop bag and purse. But then there’s furniture, toiletries, Glenn’s endless print-outs of everything he’s found interesting in the last eight years (*sigh*), and the studio stuff. He’s got fishing stuff, too. And my Gosh, his clothes are endless! He’s a collector, for sure.
Wait, this is confusing. If “pans” and “toiletries” count as one “thing” each, then would “books” and “magazines” and “computer games” and “CDs” and DVDs” also count as one thing each? I mean, right there, that’s most of our clutter, LOL! I could probably manage a hundred things if it were actually a hundred categories of thing. A hundred objects? No way in hell. [wry smile]
Angie
Funny, Angie!
The official rules are strange, and definitely open to grouping some thing, and not others. 
Otherwise, I’d be screwed after my socks and my underwear, LOL! I’m going with a few categories, but mostly trying to stick to 100 things. We’ll see! 
Hmm… I’m mighty curious to see what you “announce” on Wednesday! Hope whatever it is that it is the jumping point to a whole new life!
Elizabeth, I can’t wait! And yes, I think it is!
Okay, Wednesday has passed and now we’re on “or so”. How long are you keeping us hanging, you tease?
Have I ever had an extreme decluttering? Ahahahahaha!!! Of course. I’ve been DIVORCED!!!
And I have stayed decluttered for almost 20 years since. My ex was a pack rat and extreme consumer and I soon realized I did not need or miss most of the stuff that went with her. All those boxes that went out to the moving van. What was in them? Darned if I knew. Most had never been opened since the last move.
I think Americans sometimes get brainwashed into recreational consumerism.
But I admit, a few things I did miss, like my collecton of board games. Honest. For some reason, for a few years, all the thrift stores in Rochester were filled with old board games for 50 cents each. And I had all these games, that I had no one to play with but that were fascinating to contemplate, like an old Boom and Bust which was Monopoly except sometimes, by an unlucky spin, you would have to change part of the board, which swiveled and changed property values to depression levels. So I might go easy on those games!
LOL, Eric! That would certainly do it! My husband is attached to stuff like a security blanket. It’s pitiful. It’s really annoying. I know it seems like such an odd little thing, but it is actually a huge value difference.
No one wants to play them with me, either! But I think I might take a few. I’m hoping to meet lots of people, so who knows?
Boom and Bust sounds cool!
Natasha, please keep at least one or two board games. I moved here with as much stuff as I could fit in our Honda Accord and it’s nice to have a little bit of home with you. I still can’t come to grips with you getting rid of your books — those are my babies!
And now you know why Nadine and I have so much to talk about, lol. Like her, I have a ton of crap in storage in Michigan, so I didn’t exactly purge it. BUT, I know I can get rid of a ton of it when I’m reunited with my belongings. There are certain things I’ve missed, but a lot I don’t even know I have.
Aw, Melanie! Well, the books were easy. I prepared myself years ago, by promising myself a Kindle. And the minute I got a Kindle and realized I could have 500 books in my purse? I haven’t looked back. At all. Seriously. And I was one of those who waxed poetic on the smell and feel and this and that.
However, I’m heartbroken that my copy of The Diary of a Blues Goddess by Erica has just been flooded and ruined.
I can see why, Melanie! I think you’re both amazing.
Ugh, my husband does the same thing with the print-outs…it is maddening!
I am always on a quest for a clutter-free home and though we don’t have much excess in our house I have ramped up my efforts lately–got rid of a couch, a bike trailer, a ton of kids toys, clothes, etc.
In college I could move myself from apartment to apartment and back home in my Toyota hatchback and I never felt I was lacking for a thing so I know I could go really minimal. Books aside I could walk away from my house with a backpack, per person, and of course my kids and hubby, and not miss much.
I actually brought up something to my hubby last night that I think would be really cool to do, road-schooling, which would require a very minimalist existence but I think it would be an awesome experience for my kids.
I’m curious to hear your news!!
Road-schooling rocks! If I have kids, knock on wood, I hope to be road-schooling them, for sure.
There is a site for Families on the Road, with a list of a bunch of families who are blogging about the lifestyle.
Jenna, I feel the same way: if I have my backpack with my laptop and purse and just a couple other things, I feel good.
Here I thought you might be clearning to help your place with feng shui, but I suspect you’re moving somewhere. Most people should live with the bare necessities, and not worry about keeping up with the neighbours next door with gadgets galore. I’ll always have a few hardcover books to take with me wherever I go, especially where there’s no electricity.
Barbara, you’re right, living with only the necessities just feels better. I gotta have my gadgets, but I don’t need anything else. If I just had my backpack with my laptop and my Kindle (loaded with lots of books!), I’d be okay with not having anything else.
I just noticed your tweet above–you’re getting a tattoo?? Holy crap! Sweet!
I think I might, Elizabeth! I just have to find a place and see if I can afford it.
I’m one of those people who will throw something away and then need it a few months later. I’ve been doing some de-cluttering of the home for a couple of months. It’s amazing how much stuff you can have that you don’t really use. Last year I spent 6 months in Tucson (for a seasonal job) and only took 2 suitcases. Didn’t really miss anything while I was gone.
Can’t wait for your news! And yes, what kind of tattoo are you getting?
Liz, I FEAR that! It’s very true, though, that you don’t really use much of what you have. I realized I basically live out of my laptop backpack, and that’s about it, LOL.
I don’t know what kind of tattoo. Just something to mark this change in my life.
It’s a constant battle in our house, I’m afraid. We are continuously chucking stuff out, and the clutter continuously returns in ever growing heaps of stuff. Where does it all come from?
Thank you for following my blog. I hope you also take a look at my regular Thursday post on http://www.thecurzongroup.com
Stuff sure has a tendency to accumulate, Leigh! Btw, looks like a neat blog!
Two questions -
1. I notice you don’t mention toilet paper in your list of 19 things – or do you include that in toiletries?
2. Why do I have a grumpy blue face here?
LOL! Yeah, part of toiletries.
If you want something other than a generic pic, then just go to gravatar.com. It’ll work on all WordPress blogs! 
I fantasize about it all the time. I have a LONG way to go compared to you, of course!
But packing to move is freeing me to part with stuff I don’t want to waste a box on. lol.
Oh Heather, I still have a long way to go. I don’t know how I’m going to get it done!
The real question is- how many pairs of shoes will you be taking?!
LOL! Rick, I am so not a proper girl. I’ve got a pair of Columbia sandals. This year, I got a new pair in black, and I even sneak them into dress-up occasions. It’s not like I don’t have other shoes; it’s just that these are the most comfortable. But I might bring a pair of tennis shoes, too.
Glenn wants to bring 4. *sigh* It’s difficult to pack with him.
I wish I could get rid of stuff. But I love stuff. Stuff is my middle name. Robin Stuff Altman. It’s alarming, I tell you.
Robin Stuff Altman.
That’s funny! Glenn is the same way. It’s a good thing he’s not here to pack! 
I moved from a 3 bedroom, basement, full garage to an efficiency apartment with my hubby. Give me more space. I crochet a lot and have not yet moved all my crochet stuff from IL. house to Wash. DC apartment.