Life Altering Event

[Scout]

My wife and I went through a life altering event two weeks ago, we rented a 30 yard dumpster (that’s the big one 20+ft long - 8ft high), within a week and a half it was full. You name it we through it out. We had become inundated with stuff and we have become slaves to cleaning sorting and trying to maintain stuff we did not need or use. As we are trying to get our business ideas going we found we did not have time due to the state of our house.
This was a very difficult task for me, being a product of parents who were antique dealer we never throughout anything (Never). I struggled with:
“I could get 2 bucks for this at a yard saleâ€
â€well maybe I would wear that again†even though I had not worn it in three years
or my favorite
“I can still fix this chair†even though it was uncomfortable and needed to be fixed two years ago and we have no place in the house for it.
I would strongly recommend this to anyone who feels like they have to much stuff. We found clothes from high-school, that had managed to find a home in the back of our closet for the last 15 years.
Has anyone else done this or am I the only one who has/had a house full of crap.
The sad part we are going to need to get another dumpster we only peeled off the first layer.

 

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[andviv]

congrats.

Are you donating anything? You could put the stuff at the door steps and call Salvation Army or others like that and let them take care of it.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Congratulations! You are doing a "material detox". I've been going through a little bit of the same thing. I've been donating stuff, selling stuff on Craigslist, and decluttering. It feels detoxifying. Even my Lambo is gone too (at the dealer for service) and as all this stuff disappears, it has sort of a cleansing effect. I had a subwoofer in my garage that has followed me for 15 YEARS and finally I said "Enough! I'm tired of looking at that!!" I sold it on Craigslist for $50.

 

[Russ H]

AHA!

This is exactly the point where the PLAN thread stalled-- folks who were doing the exercises stopped at the "inventory" and didn't go further.

It seems that you have to really be in the right frame of mind to "shed".

Perhaps you would be interested in sharing your "aha's" with the others by posting to that thread?

Please?

-Russ H.

 

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[yveskleinsky]

I'm a firm believer that out "outside" world (home, car, office/desk, etc.) is a reflection of our inside world (what's going on with us emotionally/mentally.) Getting rid of clutter will help you in ways I'm sure you never thought possible. My guess is that you'll find you are more relaxed and can think clearly.

...What sparked you to action? What was your "I've had it--not another day like this!" moment?

 

[TaxGuy]

Rep+

We have been in this process as well, those three questions are so true and in fact I struggled with all three when we had our garage sale a few weeks back, first being "will I wear this again?", then after the garage sale for a lot of the items that did not sell "but I could get $2 on ebay for this!" or "I could probably fix this old car part/household item and use it". Needless to say a lot of this stuff went to Goodwill, although I did make enough money off of a couple of bike parts on eBay to pay for my new clutch and have a few other items that might be listed, it's still no excuse to have clutter get in the way of progress.


In fact as MJ's post shows, even the finer things in life can still be a burden that get in the way of what you really want in life, in fact I am almost feeling this with my most "coveted" possessions(my motorcycle, my macbook and my iphone), if I can learn to let-go or live without these it will lead to a greater piece of mind and clarity needed to put focus towards fastlane ideas and action :coolgleamA:

 

[Scout]

...What sparked you to action? What was your "I've had it--not another day like this!" moment?

We reached a level were we spent an hour each night cleaning up the same stuff that the kids (4yr, 2yr and 7m) pulled out from who knows were. Further nothing seemed to have a place to live because so much crap was shoved every were we could never find what we wanted. We need that hour to be productive or do hobbies not be de-cluttering. What first gave us a clue was when we would go up to our rental property, our minds would clear and we were focused (Because we rent out the condo it is stripped down to basics). There was no stuff to pick up. We had time to think.

The tipping point was we are closing on family property we have been trying to sell for 2 years and a portion of "stuff" (all the crap that no one wants but needs to be removed from the house at the last minute) is slated to come our way because we are the closest family member (The second dumpster will be timed with that closing date). We already received two of these same types of loads and have never gone through that stuff.

We donated what we could (only 6 full garbage bags of clothes ), otherwise it went in the dumpster. We opted against the yard sale, we give ourselves a free time rate of $50 an hour, so together that’s $100 hour, so if a project costs under that rate then we outsource it. If it cost more than we will take it on ourselves if we can do it.

We even found crap that the previous house owners hid on us behind, what they said was extra firewood
:smx4:

 

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[imcmillionaire]

My wife and I went through a life altering event two weeks ago, we rented a 30 yard dumpster (that’s the big one 20+ft long - 8ft high), within a week and a half it was full. You name it we through it out. We had become inundated with stuff and we have become slaves to cleaning sorting and trying to maintain stuff we did not need or use. As we are trying to get our business ideas going we found we did not have time due to the state of our house.
This was a very difficult task for me, being a product of parents who were antique dealer we never throughout anything (Never). I struggled with:
“I could get 2 bucks for this at a yard saleâ€
â€well maybe I would wear that again†even though I had not worn it in three years
or my favorite
“I can still fix this chair†even though it was uncomfortable and needed to be fixed two years ago and we have no place in the house for it.
I would strongly recommend this to anyone who feels like they have to much stuff. We found clothes from high-school, that had managed to find a home in the back of our closet for the last 15 years.
Has anyone else done this or am I the only one who has/had a house full of crap.
The sad part we are going to need to get another dumpster we only peeled off the first layer.

Do you regret throwing anything away?

 

[Scout]

Surprisingly no, I went back in the dumpster twice to retrieve the wrong car seat I threw out and an another thing for a baby gate we still need. I only regret one thing, of all things it was the sliding glass door off a shower unit left over from a re-model. This is going to sound really redneck (and could be posted: redneck jokes) but I could have used it for the skylight in the chicken coop I am building.
Side note: our latest family venture is raising chickens for fresh eggs. I’ll post a picture of the completed coop if anyone is interested.
But other than that nothing! In fact if you asked me to list out 50 things that I threw out I don’t think I could do it, I’ve already forgot.

 

[Bilgefisher]

Scout,

I haven't really followed any of your posts to this point. (I miss a lot of posts and posters on here nowadays) I will be looking forward to your future discussions on this forum. I am very glad you are doing what it takes to simplify and enjoy life.

 

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[Scout]

Scout,

I haven't really followed any of your posts to this point. (I miss a lot of posts and posters on here nowadays) I will be looking forward to your future discussions on this forum. I am very glad you are doing what it takes to simplify and enjoy life.

Thanks Bilgefisher, I have been enjoyin the forum, I still owe lightning about 999,993 more "Thank-You"s for setting introducing me to the forum.

 

[lightning]

Ralph,
Cool story bud. It is too funny you brought this up because this story strikes home with me in more ways than you could imagine! I was JUST talking about this with my friends a few weeks ago. I am 27, never been married, and i have a 3/4 bedrooms house with a detached 2 1/2 car garage that is filled to the BRIM. To say it is getting cluttered is an understatement. My friends routinely joke when they come over that if they didnt know better, they would swear my house belonged to a family of 5 (yes, its THAT bad now). Closets are full, the attic in the garage is full, the attic in the hosue is full, dressar drawers are full, my walk in closet is packed, my spare rooms are packed, my basement is packed, my garage is FULL of car stuff for rides I dont even HAVE anymore, etc. I too grew up in a family of shall we say (ahem) "packrats", as we were very poor so my parents never threw ANYTHING away. About 2 weeks ago, my best friends MOM came to my house to drop something off, and jokingly said while she was over that I was due for a yard sale. I too said, "yeah, i gotta get on craigslist and start listing this stuff", because I hate throwing money (or potential money) away. The truth is though, this de-toxing of all the clutter in my house MIGHT help my thought process and relaxation as you and MJ said, because I ALWAYS feel better after cleaning up my bed or living room. It is like a sense of freedom comes over you when you see the empty space and know it is that much easier to maintain or take off if need be. (part of me almost feels like I am tied down by my house, because I would never want to go through the hassle of moving all this stuff. That is NOT good at this age!!).

Anyways, very cool thread and as I said, i know EXACTLY what you are talking about!

Also, no problem on the last 900,000 thank you's! LOL. If this forum helps both of us retire early (which im sure it will), it is my pleasure!

 

[rocksolid]

We have been cleaning out our attic. We donate the usable things and take a picture of the things that we don't want to throw away but know we need to. It might sound odd, but having a digital picture of the item makes us feel better about getting rid of the item since it still feels like we have it?

 

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[Scout]

It is difficult to get in the throw-it-out mood, I would highly recomend the following:
I challenge everyone to take out a garbage bag tonight and just walk through your house/apartment and try to fill it with anything you have not touched in the last year or two and do not need. Come back tomorow an let every one know how full you got the bag. You can then put the bag up on the Barter Thread

I'll repost the above from the plan thread,

This is a good exercise:

Take out a garbage bag tonight when you get home.

Walk through your house/apartment and try to fill it with anything you have not touched in the last year or two.

Come post and tell everyone how you did.

One rule: Try NOT touch the object before you make your decision. This may sound hokey but as soon as you touch it you are re-bonding with object and your memmories or sentiment will win.

other pointers:
Don't linger, if you are struggling just move on.

Look for multiple objects, ditch your least favorite (ex: coffee mugs, t-shirts...)

If you attach value to things figure out your throw-it-out-rate.

I use $50 an hour (~my overtime rate at work) and compute that to an objects value. I figure in an hour I can sell 5-6 items on e-bay or creigs list (1/2hr to list them, 1/2 hr to pack and ship). So that sets an objects value at $8-$10. if I don't think I can get that for it, it represents a negitive cash flow.

Good luck!!!

 

[Russ H]

A new book by one of my favorite "organizers":

[ame="[URL="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0743250907/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20"]SHED Your Stuff, Change Your Life: A Four-Step Guide to Getting Unstuck: Julie Morgenstern: 9780743250900: Amazon.com: Books[/URL]: SHED Your Stuff, Change Your Life: A Four-Step Guide to Getting Unstuck (9780743250900): Julie Morgenstern: Books"]SHED.[/ame]


Julie Morgenstern just "clicks" w/me-- I almost always can relate to her ideas.

Example: Lots of people, when they want to get organized, go out and buy storage bins.

Why do that? You'll just wind up keeping more stuff-- and putting it in bins.

Instead, sort through your stuff, and get rid of things.

When you've pared things down to only what you really use,
figure out the best way to store it so you can get to it easily.

THEN go out and get the storage solution that best fits.

(this is from her first book, Organizing from the Inside Out, Second Edition: The Foolproof System For Organizing Your Home, Your Office and Your Life: Julie Morgenstern: 9780805075892: Amazon.com: Books"]"Organizing from the Inside Out which deals with recognizing what's going on *inside you* that got you to the mess in the first place!)

(simple, brilliant advice)

Reading SHED now.

-Russ H.

.

 

[NoMoneyDown]

Russ/Scout - This sounds a lot like David Allen's (Getting Things Done) approach to organizing your life. Come across something and make a decision RIGHT THERE. Don't skip over it and don't put it in the "I'll handle this later" bin, but make a decision on it NOW.

 

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[yveskleinsky]

(this is from her first book, "Organizing from the Inside Out", which deals with recognizing what's going on *inside you* that got you to the mess in the first place!)

(simple, brilliant advice)

I loved this book--changed my organizational life. The biggest tips for me:

1. Everything should have a place and be in it.
2. Keep things simple. Organize your space like a kindergarden room--have areas that are clearly designated and labeled.
3. Sort first, then organize.
4. Organize for how you live, not how you think you should live. So for example, if your office is on the other end of the house and you think it's logical for all your mail/bills/papers to go there, but you end up throwing them all in the kitchen or laundry room as you walk in the door--then don't fight it. Just get a box for where you put things and then periodically walk them back to the area that they belong. --This tip alone really helped me!

 

[Jill]

I loved this book--changed my organizational life. The biggest tips for me:

1. Everything should have a place and be in it.
2. Keep things simple. Organize your space like a kindergarden room--have areas that are clearly designated and labeled.
3. Sort first, then organize.
4. Organize for how you live, not how you think you should live. So for example, if your office is on the other end of the house and you think it's logical for all your mail/bills/papers to go there, but you end up throwing them all in the kitchen or laundry room as you walk in the door--then don't fight it. Just get a box for where you put things and then periodically walk them back to the area that they belong. --This tip alone really helped me!

So when are you coming to visit?!

 

[yveskleinsky]

So when are you coming to visit?!

Ya know, my mother-in-law said the same thing, and then when I got there and she asked my advice on where to begin with her office (which has so much clutter it will make your head spin), and I told her, "I dunno. Light a match?" she didn't take kindly too my approach.

Seriously, I know it's hard to get rid of stuff, but when everything is important it really means that none of it is important. That's my take on it.

And Jill, I'd love to come and visit and help you guys sort stuff out--I really would. Organizing is as relaxing to me as a massage. If you're serious, then maybe I'll come out 3-4 days before the cruise and we can see how far we can get--then we can just fly out of Dallas (assuming your schedule permits.) Sound like a plan?

 

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[AroundTheWorld]

1. Everything should have a place and be in it.
2. Keep things simple. Organize your space like a kindergarden room--have areas that are clearly designated and labeled.
3. Sort first, then organize.
4. Organize for how you live, not how you think you should live. So for example, if your office is on the other end of the house and you think it's logical for all your mail/bills/papers to go there, but you end up throwing them all in the kitchen or laundry room as you walk in the door--then don't fight it. Just get a box for where you put things and then periodically walk them back to the area that they belong. --This tip alone really helped me!

Thanks for the tips! In the middle of reorganizing an office space. I'll use some of these

In the process of sketching out the office space, I was so surprised to see how directly the space relates to the workflow.

By the simple act of organizing space, I was actually defining work flow and job descriptions for everyone in the office! Now all we need to do is "organize the time." and the office proceedures are set!

 

[yveskleinsky]

You guys are just rockin' and rollin' Sonya! :urock2:And to think that you are doing this all on a broken leg, with three kids, on a farm, with the motel and the property management and all the other plates you have spinning. ...You guys just never cease to amaze me.

 

[AroundTheWorld]

well, I did split one of my incisions a little bit today. opps. gotta remember not to push it too much. Is it bad that there was some yellow stuff oozing out of it?

Oh. Sorry. too graphic and WAY too off topic. </crazy talk>


A few years back, we sold everything we owned. Everything. All we kept were the following:

We each had a packpack, and were allowed to fill it with clothes. If they didn't fit in the backpace, we were not allowed to keep it.

Pictures and Books (couldn't bring myself to part with those.)
A travel trailer and car to tow it with.

Fun times. We vowed to never let the possession creep back into our lives. Looking around as I type this, I can see we failed miserably in that department. Perhaps it is time to purge again.... (and to evaluate why and how we let it creep back in...)

 

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[yveskleinsky]

well, I did split one of my incisions a little bit today. opps. gotta remember not to push it too much. Is it bad that there was some yellow stuff oozing out of it?

...We vowed to never let the possession creep back into our lives. Looking around as I type this, I can see we failed miserably in that department. Perhaps it is time to purge again.... (and to evaluate why and how we let it creep back in...)

uke:Thanks for the update Sonya.

The goal was to never have possessions again or was it to never be held down and "controlled" by those possessions?

 

[AroundTheWorld]

uke:Thanks for the update Sonya.

When I go back to the doc, I'm going to ask him for a copy of an x-ray of my new bionic leg. Now THAT will be an update worth sharing.

The goal was to never have possessions again or was it to never be held down and "controlled" by those possessions?

The goal at the time was to travel and to be free of the "weight" of possessions.

Now, we have lots of possessions that require lots of attention. hmmm.
Get's back to that "live your life in chapters" idea.
I guess this is the chapter of the farm.

 

[Scout]

In the process of sketching out the office space,

Aroundtheworld, this may be of use. Back when I was doing my thesis I came across a case study related to work productivity and cleanliness. The case analyzed a small company (widget assembly…) Analyzed the productivity and then made one simple change. The designated the last 10min of the day to “cleaning your work spaceâ€. Basically you had the last 10 min to clean up for the next day. As a added benefit if you completed cleaning up under the 10min you could leave your shift early.
What they initially found was an initial productivity increase, I don’t remember the % but it was significant (10%-15%) this result was expected. What was surprising was after a short time they realized an additional % improvement. What they found was the employees wised up to the idea of getting out 10min early each day and kept their work place organized and clean all day. So when the 10min bell rang they could just leave. The employer then added laying out the work for the following day in the 10min, to recoup the lost time. They found further increase in productivity because the employee was mentally prepared for the next day. It gave their subconscious the time to process the next days work. It removed the ramp-up time in the morning.

Basic takeaways:
Clean/ organized is more productive
Figure out what motivates your employees: (not working)
Empower/give ownership (work area, tools)
Communication (give the employee clear direction/actions for the following day, no surprises)

On that last bullet it ties into the concept of creating your daily actions the day before. It will allow your mind/subconscious the opportunity to solve/workout/plan the next days task and thus improve your productivity.

 

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[AroundTheWorld]

Thank you Scout! Rep ++

I will implement these ideas for sure!

 

[AroundTheWorld]

Yves...

3. Sort first, then organize.

Care to elaborate on this?

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Re: Yves...

Care to elaborate on this?

I just sorted a years worth of receipts that were lumped into a disorganized pile.

I sorted first -- went through the pile and made 6 different piles, each representing a different subcategory based on taxability.

Then I organized and put each pile into a respective folder which then was tossed into a box marked with the year.

 

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[Scout]

..Bump..

We have seen such a positive impact (clear thinking, more time, more focused, not feeling as overwhelmed, happier kids...) from the first dumpster the second 30yard dumpster is being delivered on the 21st.

"If in doubt throw it out"

 

[Bobo]

Ya know, my mother-in-law said the same thing, and then when I got there and she asked my advice on where to begin with her office (which has so much clutter it will make your head spin), and I told her, "I dunno. Light a match?" she didn't take kindly too my approach.

Seriously, I know it's hard to get rid of stuff, but when everything is important it really means that none of it is important. That's my take on it.

And Jill, I'd love to come and visit and help you guys sort stuff out--I really would. Organizing is as relaxing to me as a massage. If you're serious, then maybe I'll come out 3-4 days before the cruise and we can see how far we can get--then we can just fly out of Dallas (assuming your schedule permits.) Sound like a plan?

We can all relax, you two organize and I will get the equally relaxing massage