On track

I'm not a good blogger. Period. I think I have too many things going on at one time and it's difficult to do it all without letting things slip. Maybe I need a very detailed schedule of things I must do every day in order to keep track of it all.

Anyhow, I got a little behind in getting rid of items when I started Amazon. It seems like I got busier with the new business venture.

In the last two weeks or so my goals have resurfaced for a couple of reasons.

1. De-cluttering was my New Year's Resolution and I'm still determined to succeed.

2. I want to move out and get a place of my own. The last thing I want to do is

lug my clutter to a new place.

Therefore, I've made some trips to donate items and get back on track. Also, I've listed more items on eBay that have been sitting around for...ever!

Now, back to my super, ultra busy life!

Been so busy!

Being busy really isn't an excuse for not posting, I guess I just haven't made it a priority.

What have I been doing to declutter? Well, I have been posting things on eBay and also found another avenue...amazon.com. Ok, it's not like I didn't know it existed, I just hadn't tapped into it. I have now items listed on there and can't wait to see how it goes for me!

They have this program called FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) where you list your items, send them to their warehouse where they store and ship them for you. Of course there is a fee for all of it, but I'm willing to find out if it is worth it for all the inventory I have cluttering up my living space! I've even taken items off of eBay to post on Amazon.

Fingers crossed!

Words of Wisdom?

Oh, the delay in posting. I've been really busy and was going to go out of town tomorrow so was trying to get things caught up, but all plans had to be cancelled due to a death in the family.

A few days ago while I was at work (which is in a house), the lady of the house was cleaning things out. She is a person who likes to de-clutter on a regular basis. Her house is so nice to be in, it's large and not cluttered. There is actually room to walk around without bumping into anything! Honestly, I probably know where things are in her house, better than I do in the house I live.

One day maybe I'll post some pics of what her pantry, fridge, cupboards, etc. look like.

The reason for this post is because she said something that stuck with me. I'm sure I've heard her say this before, but she said, "There's no sense on keeping this stuff if nobody is using it." She threw out a perfectly good dry erase board calendar.

Let me tell you, I was soooo tempted to say, "I'll take it!" when she asked if I knew who could use it, but the better part of me took over and I didn't say that! How many calendars does a person need? I have a pocket one I've been carrying in my purse to keep me on track, the one on my laptop, another in my Blackberry, and a larger one that I thought I would use...and don't.

Out with the old, in with the new?

Last night I went out and bought new ski clothes. What I had was ill fitting...and outdated, I'm told. The pants I was using were about 2-3 sizes too big for me and the jacket, big, puffy and outdated. I didn't think I looked that bad, but I did know that there was more comfortable gear out there.

After about $200 (clearance prices), I have a cute new outfit...and things to get rid of. Well, sort of. I don't want to get rid of the puffy coat because it's cute. The black pants, yeah, they can go...at least I thought so! My guy said, "I like your thinking! BUT, maybe you should keep them for sledding." He said this so I wouldn't ruin my new white pants. Good thinking.

What to do?

For now, I'll wash and store the old stuff. By next season, I'll definitely want to get rid of my "dated" fur hood, JLo lookin' coat!

Accidents happen

Do you know what happens when you have too much stuff and no room for what you do have?

Accidents.....

The good thing is that since I've been de-cluttering, there really wasn't anything on the floor where this glass fell so it was fairly easy to clean up. I only had to move two garbage bags in order to vacuum. If I had less clutter in my room, I could fit a proper side table where this glass could be set down.

In the past, searching through bags and moving lots of things around just to clean up the mess would have been necessary, only to find that I had missed some pieces...months down the road!

On the bright side, now there is one less glass in the house!

It's been over 10 years

Sometimes I wonder why I feel the need to hold on to things. In the case of this cell phone, I think I kept it so that "one day" I could go through and get any information/phone numbers I had saved on it to transfer to another phone, or make a phone book. Well, nobody told me that "one day" never comes and if I really wanted something or the information was so important, I would have done it right away.

This old Nokia has not been used for over 10 years! I doubt I even have the charger for it anymore (wait, I probably do!)...and if I did, what could I possibly need from this phone?! Out it went...one small hunk of clutter gone from my life, never to bother me again. Whew!

That reminds me...I think I have a broken iPod...somewhere.

Donated and Trashed

The car is lightly loaded and ready to be donated. I will take it today. I was able to get rid of:

• A comforter that was never used along with matching shams and pillowcases (I think)
• A good pair of Sketchers I haven't used in 3 years!
• Leg warmers (not sure why I even had these), a shirt and a pair of pants.
• Nice and soft Wamsutta Pima Sateen bed sheets. After buying some Wamsutta Dream Zone sheets, I felt ok letting these go. I'll just have to buy another backup set of what I have now. ;)
• A brand new under the bed rolling shoe storage rack (my bed sits on the floor as I don't have a frame)
• One book
• Almost forgot...the mosquito net curtain thing. :)

I also threw away:

• One pair of DKNY shoes which I LOVED when they were intact!
• Two mismatched shoes - I'll probably find their mates in my de-cluttering process.
• An old tank top that I also used to love, but it was so worn out that I would never wear it again. It was in with my pajamas (which I have too many of!).

Below are pictures of my garbage can with the trashed items, and donations ready to go:

Dreaded Hand-Washing

Yesterday I didn't go home, so couldn't get anything done. There wasn't anything pending for eBay, and I wanted to spend time with my guy after housesitting/caretaking duties were done. Honestly, I didn't even think about my clutter!

I guess the only thing I did to help my clutter situation was to wash two sweaters and one blouse that have been in my "to be hand-washed" pile. Of course I wouldn't actually wash them by hand, I threw them in the washer on a very delicate cycle at the house where I am staying!

The reason I chose to do wash away from home, is because of the lack of space at home, and the abundance at this house. I was able to lay out these three items to dry without wandering aimlessly trying to figure out where I was going to lay them out.

Later today I will bring more items from the "to be hand-washed" pile and get them done! Then, maybe I can keep it under control at home and not have so many to do at once. There are clothes in the pile that I haven't worn for months!

Small step

Yesterday I wasn't able to do much, but I did try to consolidate my Christmas decorations, unsuccessfully.

Part of my Christmas stuff is in the basement, and I'm not going to touch the items stored there until I'm done upstairs. Therefore, it's basically off limits for now and I couldn't continue. However, I do have Christmas items in two boxes in my bedroom, so if I can fit them into one, that will be good.

On the other hand, I did secretly throw something out. It is mine, but I felt like if my mom saw it, we'd be keeping it for the next yard sale. This gadget was some sort of CD labeling device. Like anyone uses this stuff anymore!

Was also happy to sell some older stock eBay items I've had sitting around unlisted and taking up space.

Secretly getting rid of things?

Coming from a home where my mom liked to save everything has really made it difficult for me. It seems like in my early childhood things weren't this way. The house was always clean and for the most part, tidy. However, things started to change over the years and the clutter started to pile up. It's embarrassing to have anyone over for a visit which has been the case for just over 2/3 of my life.

Yesterday I was looking for something, yes, I was only 90% sure of where I put something I sold on eBay which wasn't in my room. Anyhow, I had to pull things out of a spare room which is basically a storage for a multitude of items which are not being used...mostly my mom's and very little is mine. While doing this, I threw out a curtain / mosquito net type thing I purchased at IKEA a few years ago. I don't have a use for this thing and frankly, I don't like it anymore. My mom saw this in the hallway and said in almost a panicky tone, "You're not throwing that mosquito net away, are you?" All I said was, "Relax," in a *sigh* "What on earth do you want to keep this for when you already have one?" tone.

For now it is back in the room, but when I do get rid of it, because I do plan on it, I will have to be discreet. Just like I was with my old plastic shower curtain with a cute black, silver and white dotted pattern! I'm not sure if she will ever notice that it is gone. She may have been keeping it to sell at a yard sale...but it was mine and I didn't like it anymore. The white cloth one in my shower now is much nicer! The best part, I only paid about $2.00 at a yard sale for my new cloth curtain!

I know my mom and I are going to face more of these, "I can give it to so and so," or "Wouldn't you rather sell that and make some money?" issues. - Boundaries. I need to have them in order to not give in. The items are mine, and I can do with them as I please. Period.

That being said, I have a lot to learn and struggle with to change some old ways in order to meet my goal of being clutter free!

Addiction

I admit it, I have an addiction...to office supplies. My collection of pens could supply at least a couple hundred people with one new pen each. This isn't all I have, there are Post-Its, notebooks galore, photo paper, clips and Sharpies! It's bad.

The sad thing, is I'm not willing to part with it, at least not yet. Some I may try to sell on eBay, others I will likely donate. The remainder will be put together in one spot so they can be found easily when I need something.

Currently the said supplies are on my bed which I have grouped. These all came from about 6-7 different locations...and like I said, there are more!

Keeping them may not be a good idea, but the time will come.

So far, this is what the collection looks like:

Old Planners

I've been housesitting for the last 10 days, that means not much time at home to get rid of things. Last night was my first being home for longer than it takes me to pack up my eBay stuff for shipment, which is all I've had time to do, and I decided to throw some paper clutter away.

In one of my cabinets were two daily planners (2008 & 2009). Being the person that I am, I couldn't just toss them because the years are over, each page was looked at to determine if I needed any of the information written down such as birthdays, anniversaries, etc.

All in all, I kept about 20 pages which I need to write down in a current calendar.

Some other paper clutter went out with the pages from the planners. Not much space was made from decluttering these, but it had to be done, and any amount of progress is good!

The beginning...

Before anything, I will admit that I started this journey about 10-15 days before the new year. After this is when I decided to make a change, but believe me, it's been brewing in my head for a LONG TIME!

Besides having too much stuff, I haven't had a "real" bedroom set since I was a child. One of the dressers from this set has made its way to my current bedroom, and about 33% is used for my personal stuff, the remainder is storage for eBay!

My bedroom is crowded with furniture and I don't even have a "real" closet as my mom decided many years ago to remove them. Yes, I live with my mom. We are helping each other out, I pay rent and she doesn't charge an arm and a leg, so that one day I can get my own home and not go into incredible debt doing so.

I do plan to one day have less stuff, and a nice room which I can enjoy and find peace in. Once I have less stuff, I will look at the possibility of getting a nice bedroom set.

Below are some pictures of my current living quarters.

This is my bathroom counter:

Some storage space in my bathroom:

South side of bedroom. Yes, a large metal storage rack in front of what used to be a closet! Notice what I use to store my clothes? The large metal storage rack.

West side of bedroom, with dresser from my childhood.

East side of bedroom...much more eBay stuff is found on this large black rack. I recently put my printer and supplies needed for eBay over here to make them more accessible. My bed is used for a table when prepping items for shipment. My guy made a comment on how impressed he was that I could have a successful eBay business in these conditions.

Lastly, my bed on the north wall. One habit I have kept is making my bed right when I wake up. Even though the room is so cluttered, it makes everything look better. This is something I learned from FlyLady and some friends. You can see in the picture that I do have stuff on the bed, this is a common problem which I do need to work on. Unfortunately there is never a clear space to put anything down on and I end up using the bed.

Part of my clutter problem is that I find great deals and think, "I can make money off of this!" Then, I DON'T LIST THE STUFF AND IT TAKES OVER MY SPACE! Besides my bedroom, I have things throughout the house. A hall closet is all mine, plus I would say up to about 20 large storage containers are in the basement full of things I haven't touched in years, things I never listed for sale and maybe two of off season items that I will use again.

It's funny how things tend to go unnoticed if you are living in it...until you take pictures! Then it ALL shows up!

Clutter is frustrating, and purging will be a challenge, but I'm ready and up for it!

...and there it is...for everyone to see!

New Year, New Goal: First Post

Here we are, 2011. My last huge goal was to rid myself of debt, because I was so tired of being broke all the time. This wasn't the way I wanted to live for the rest of my life. Therefore, I did something about it.

Long story short - it took 16 months to pay off $24,187...and it feels GREAT!

Part of the reason I had so much debt, is because I was out spending money on things I didn't need, hence an abundance of STUFF! Not only do I have things I've accumulated over the period of my entire life...I also sell on eBay and have a huge inventory located in my bedroom and just about everywhere else.

This year so far I have already taken so much to my local donation drop off as well as thrown away and given away quite a bit.

Stuff has held me back and weighed me down. I'm done. Clutter, pack your bags!