March 17, 2014
How to Sort Through Items You’ve Been Hanging On To
This week and next, our organizing focus for Start Here. is on storage. Depending on your situation, this can mean sorting through a bin or a box that you’ve been putting off going through for awhile. It could mean sorting through all the boxes in your basement. I’m guessing it’s something in between. For me, I have a few (okay a lot of )boxes remaining from when we moved in to our home 5 years ago. And they’re staring at me from the basement. Sure they aren’t hurting anyone or anything, but they’re taking up space and it’s something that just plain bugs me. Seeing as how I haven’t ventured to get anything from these boxes I am guessing that there are quite a few things that can be donated at this point. Maybe it’s just me? Anyone else have stuff in storage or stashed away that you could go through in the next couple weeks? Please tell me I’m not the only one avoiding the bins in the basement….
Here are 4 simple steps to getting through anything that you have in storage (storage can be in a closet, drawer, a box, a bin, a crawlspace, the attic, the basement):
- Open storage box/shelf/bin and empty completely.
- Sort quickly into 4 piles – relocate (bring out of storage), keep (keep in storage), toss, donate.
- Put everything in its place – relocate, keep, toss, or donate.
- If something is good enough to go back in storage, label it. Use a label maker, masking tape, or an envelope with an index card taped to the outside to write down the items inside the box or bin.
Challenge yourself to go through a box or bin or closet this week. We’ll be concentrating on this next week too, so you can stretch out your time or maximize it and try to go through everything that’s been in storage for too long. Next week I’ll show you the boxes and boxes that I’ve gone through – oh-so exciting!
Tell me what you’re going to sort through this week – I’d love to hear!
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Marianne Says
Oh dear, I have one 10 by 10 storage unit and a 10 by 20 both are packed solid and have been for 4 yrs this coming October! My problem is my mom, she is 86 and most of the “stuff” belongs to her. She has me go over from time to time to find this or that, so I really don’t know what I could dispose of. I have whittled through my totes down to 4 or 5, my roommate (BFF) has a few items in there also. The smaller unit was rented for my son’s belongings, he has finally found a fantastic place to live, his best friend purchased a house and my son and another best bud are sharing the home expenses splitting them 3 ways in this economy is great! So hopefully his items will be moving away soon. I will say this, when first moved here, combining 3 women’s households into one 1700 ft home has not been easy, my mother alone had 36 boxes or totes of just Christmas decorations. That is now down to 10!!
We have a tote in the garage that is for donations, once a week my roommate and I go through the house searching for items that we can live without or one of those “who bought this and why do we have it” items so those go in the bin, Friday afternoon the bin is taken to one of our thrift stores, all support different charities in our small town, so rotate our drop offs weekly.
MarieRoxanne Says
That is a lot of boxes! But I can see how you would want to hang on to them because of your mom.asking for things stashed therein.
Hope you can speak with her and try to sort out the boxes together on a weekend, then she will have control and a say of what goes and what stays in the storage unit, and if it works out, you can possibly whittle it down to one storage not two, thus saving money by not having two to pay for!
Karin Says
I’ll be going through my youngest daughters’ stuff. We are rearanging her bedroom.
etie Says
it is so hard to part with things sometimes.you say this i will use for recycle crafts, this is has some emottional tie. and the boxes are just rearranged and rarely someting is removed
Jamie Says
I came to the opinion a few years ago that I don’t want to store anything that isn’t a holiday decoration. If something is important to me (something my kids made me, the love letters from my husband and I) then I should use it and live with it everyday not store it away in a box. If it wasn’t important it should go. I had our love letters made into a hardcover book and gave it to my husband for Christmas one year and my children’s works of art are displayed or recycled. Things that weren’t important were sold or donated.
Sara Says
Jamie – love your idea of making a hardcover book of romantic letters/keepsakes from your dating and married years. I’m going to do that for my upcoming anniversary gift to my husband.
I’ve put a selection of my kids’ art works from each year and put them into a 3 ring binder, and they sit on their bookshelves. My kids love to look back on their art. I keep a deep drawer for putting their art into it throughout the year and then at end of the school year we set aside the keepers and toss the rest.
Lila Says
I’ve been thinking about making a book out of family letters, too! What service did you use?
Jeanette Says
I love this idea. I’m going to go through some files of paperwork and get rid of everything we don’t need to keep anymore and also figure out a way to keep on top of paperwork that comes into the house so I can keep my countertops clean.
BTW, I also wanted to say thanks for your blog and all of your cleaning info (and questions answered). My house is cleaner than it’s ever stayed and I’ve only be working on this for a short while. I find your methods working for me much better than other “systems” I’ve tried that were just too overwhelming. 🙂
Sally Says
Love the idea of the envelope with an index card on the outside of the box! I’ve just been putting strips of masking tape or a piece of paper taped to the box, this is so much more user friendly as I can add or delete, especially for Xmas decorations. I have 5 huge tubs and sometimes I just want one thing out of it and don’t want to dig! I have several boxes of papers to go through and am going to go through one for sure this week, thanks Clean Mama!
Leah Says
We have been purging and spring cleaning the past few weeks now that my husband has recovered from over 3 years of surgeries/recovery from a scary ladder fall. We had just bought our home and started projects and everything stopped and we had to focus on him and homeschool. It is so great to find the things we have been looking for! At the same time, several things have ruined from the boxes getting wet in the garage from different things. It has made me realize if it is important, I better hurry up and get things done but also to quit being a pack-rat! Thank you for all the info and encouragement you give, it has helped our family so much!!
Allison Says
I am sitting in my “office” which, since we moved here 4 years ago, holds a crib for our toddler (yes, he sleeps in here) and a desk and computer. The other half of the room is piled with boxes and papers and “stuff” – somehow this became the dumping ground for everything in our home we didn’t know what to do with. For four years. It’s like my own private storage room. I am ashamed.
I need accountability big time, so I’m posting here to say that I am going to do at least one box a day this week and see how far I can get using your system of “relocate, keep, toss, donate” — I so need a system to do this. I have to have people tell me I CAN do it, or I just get overwhelmed and shut the door! I have plans for this room, but haven’t been able to get going. Maybe this is the inspiration I need!
Becky Says
Post authorYou can TOTALLY do it Allison! Take a quick before picture so you can see how much progress you’re making!
xo, Becky
Frank -carpet cleaning macomb mi Says
We like to tell our customers to store all their memories in plastic bins. We see a lot of lost memories from flood damage. So we always make lite of a bad moment and recommend that they go and buy plastic bins, so when we are cleaning up the mess that they can store what they saved in the bins. Of course doing this before a flood is more ideal, but not alway at the top of things to do. So when purging your home, buy plastic bins.
Nikki Says
I like your idea and this is easy for me to apply in most situations, but how can I apply this when going through the old trunks and chests that are stored in my basement that contain antiques that belonged to my grandmother? It is hard for me to get rid of personal scrapbooks that my grandmother made when my uncle was killed in WWIi, but there is no one in the family that wants these old things passed down to them. Should I hold onto them in case one of my daughters or nieces gets interested in family tree things when they get older, or should I contact an antique dealer now. I am only 63, so I have some time, but I would also like things cleaned out a bit more so I could make better use of the space.
Paulette Says
Sometimes a museum might want those items. And yes, people do change over years and begin to cherish old items from their families. I have a terrible time getting rid of family ‘memories’, things I wasn’t interested in years ago but came to feel the value. Same issue, what to do with my great grandmother’s platform rocker from late 1800’s. For now, I have a bedroom it fits in but worry my kids won’t value it as much. And I think there is someone out there that would be interested in some collections but hard to find them. What to do…..
Crissy Says
Don’t start with the most difficult decisions! Do the easy stuff first. Once the storage area is cleared out it might not be such a big deal to have a box of those old scrapbooks.
Linda Says
I retired one year ago and had two spaces to clean out from my business. We painted the one space and laid new carpet. The space has now become my office/craft & sewing room and I love it! I also gained half a long closet which I store pictures of art I rotate and use paper shopping bags and store my wreaths. The wreathes hang from the closet dowel that was used previously for clothing. I mark the sack for the season and staple the two ends at the top to keep the dust off of the wreathes. I protect the picture frames by laying a plywood board on the carpet cut to the size of the closet space and use rubber shelf sheets to protect the frames from the next picture in front or back of it. I had scraps left from a previous shelving project.
I too, have many old family pictures. Rather than put them in albums, I chose to buy a picture boxes to archive the pictures. They are archival safe and the family can easily go through them if they need to. Some boxes are the size of shoeboxes and include index cards to make family notes. I also found a 13″ square black archival box that will hold large family pictures from Hobby Lobby that is approx. 3″ tall that will work great for large odd size photos. I bought two to keep photos from each side of the family. It’s fun to scan a picture(s) and use them on greeting cards for special birthdays, anniversaries, and special events from on-line photo printing services. Museums.are great ideas for heirlooms no longer wanted by family members. Antique dealers will buy some items as well and watch classifieds for buyers of quilts, lace, jewelry, furniture, etc. Tag Sales are becoming popular in our area of the Midwest and will consign your items along with other estate and household items from others. This would include vintage, household items in good condition. Tag sales are a great service if you don’t have the time to sell them on your own. The tag sale people have a good following to sell your items if you have a quantity of items. What’s left over goes to a charity and not back home. I have gone through all my closets and boxes this past year. It felt good to do this and gained some good space. I saved my kid’s toys and books from their childhood for forty+ years. If I had to do it over again, I wouldn’t do it again other than keep a few special items. Times change and the space it takes in your home, it isn’t worth it! I still have lots of items, I am not ready to part with, but had enough to part with as well.
Leslie Says
I just want to say home much I love your blog. It inspires me to keep my home clean and organized. Although I am not there yet, I hope to be soon! Thanks for the inspiration.
carol Says
My house is pretty clean, it’s my closet, i always make excuses why i can’t get rid of stuff, i’ll say i have emotional ties to it or i’m going to use, i just never get around using it.
Cindy Says
When my 19 year old son stayed with me he “helped” me organize a room, labeling it the “peace” room. OK it looked great, but what I didn’t realize was that he had stuck anything and everything that needed to be elsewhere in boxes and stuck them in the garage… boxes that had not been emptied the year before, from my move, we’re then put on my back porch. Unfortunately they were out of sight, therefore out of mind. That was 9 years ago and I am just now getting to those. (6 months ago I emptied the aforementioned peace room cast offs and found important paperwork, even jewelry), so for that reason I cannot just trash these dusty, spider homes. I can hear my Mother now: “See what happens when you don’t put important items where they belong!” sigh…
LouAnn Says
We have a ton of stuff in the basement and just all through our house. Some boxes from when we moved here 12 years ago, others of “stuff” I was sure I’d need some day…. But now we are relocating to TX so I have GOT to go through this stuff and reduce before our house goes on the market! Nothing like pressure….
Thanks for your simple method, that is exactly what I’m doing!
Melody Says
I’m so glad to find your site. Hopefully it helps me declutter in short order. There’s so much that has piled up this summer with all our traveling and different projects between family members. Thanks for sharing your system!
melissa Says
Im working on emptying my storage unit i havent been in for a few months now. It pretty much has all of my and my kids belongings in it and i have to get rid of it all bc cant afford the unit anymore. Its sooo hard going through it al and deciding what to keep and what to toss when i want to keep it all. Working progress i managed to condense quite a bit today. I have an abundance of kids stuff that is a little overwhelming. Makes me wonder where i kept all of this stuff….
Sherrie Says
You’re not the only one. I’m moving in 4 weeks and haven’t touched much of what I thought I had to keep when I relocated over two years ago. I’m thrilled at the timing of your post. Very timely for me. I’m freecycling quite a lot!
Marsha Burkes Says
I have been cleaning out and sorting through all of my scrapbook supplies. I f I have stickers,paper, etc. that I haven’t used in 3-4 years I am donating it.
Katrina Says
My family of 6 are getting ready to move from a 2500 sqft place to a 1500 Sq ft.cabin lol going through everything!!!!! I made it through 10 boxes of stuff this past week did really well knocked it down to 2 boxes that will make the journey. Next week kids on spring break so gonna tackle the 16 year old girls room as well as 11 year old boy. Then have a 5 year old and 2 year old, both boys, with lots of toys to manage. Then the kitchen :-0 that room is gonna be fun I love to cook and bake got a lot of stuff in there. I have until June 1st to get whole house sorted out been here 10 years items have really piled up.
Christy Says
I’m having a hard time letting go of clothing. We moved recently to an old home, which has more space, but not more closets. And the environment is different. I live in a laid back beach town. For example, I have 3 times the number of winter coats than I need. Any advice on how to let some of this go?
Becky Says
Post authorSet a goal to find a bag of clothing that you can let go of – put the items that you haven’t worn in 6 months to a year in the bag and take it straight to a donation center.