A few years ago for a brief time I blogged about uncluttering my house. I tried a few techniques (40 bags in 40 days, Fly Lady, Discardia...)and then kind of lost momentum. I'm not a hoarder...more of a 'saver', but since I've acquired a husband and two kids since I first moved into this house alone, it has become cluttered. I just can't clean it up because there is a lot of stuff that doesn't have a place. My mom passed away a few years ago and now my dad has moved out of their home of 50 years and I'm left to find homes for all their accumulated stuff. Too much of it is finding it's way into my house!
I'm hoping to find some support, advice, empathy and camaraderie here on Steemit for this project!
Is there a way to find my people here? Groups? Tribes? People with first world problems?
Lots of yard sales? I used to have a tendency toward hoarding, but then one day I snapped and just started getting rid of everything. Now I probably throw away things that I should keep. I just get more of a dopamine hit from throwing things away than collecting them now. For the few things that I am not apt to trash right away, I have a hard rule of "if I haven't used it for a year it's gone." (I'm looking at you bottles of nail polish sitting on the shelf across my room.) Now I need to go throw some things away ;)
If I think it is something other people might want, it goes to goodwill or salvation army.
A yard sale isn't possible where I live (seriously, my closest neighbor is a half a mile away and downtown is 23 miles...no one would come) and get this...this town is so over-loaded with "stuff" that the Salvation Army and St. Vincent De Paul don't take donations most days! It's crazy. But I've discovered www.givebackbox.com and it's the best thing ever. You pack up a box full of good stuff to donate (not fragile)and print out a free mailing label and put in a package pick-up request with USPS or UPS (whichever your label is for), stick that sucker out on the porch and the next day it's gone. It's awesome. Except you have to DO it....that's the part I'm falling down on.
I forgot to mention...that picture of the stairs? They go down to my dad's old house. EVERYTHING in that house has to get carried up those stairs.
At the bottom of the picture there's a path and then some more stairs. And more stairs inside the house.
I can't even imagine! I think I'd just rent the house out "full furnished and complete with family knick knacks."
Which would be an excellent idea...but the house is literally falling down. It's uninhabitable. So the other question is, how do you tear it down? And lug the pieces up those stairs? It's pretty much unsurmountable. I'm really curious what's going to happen in the end. It's crazy.
Might be worth finding someone will to buy the land and deal with clearing the house themselves? I don't know, that is a tough one. If the house wasn't falling down I'd tell you that we'll be right up! ;)