Clutter – Where Did It All Come From?

I am currently decluttering a house we’ve lived in for the past 30 years. Why, you might ask?

Because it’s official:

We are moving to North Carolina!

Courtesy of http://www.freeworldmaps.com

Our sons and I have lived our whole lives in Pennsylvania, but now is the right time for us to pull up stakes and move south. The state of Pennsylvania is a beautiful place with so many things to see and do but for those of us who live here permanently, the summer is too short and the winter too long 🙂 My husband and I have wanted to move south for some years now, but our jobs and our sons still in school put that desire on hold. Now, one son being finished with college and the other in his second year of college, along with a recent loss of a good-paying job makes it the perfect time to move.

This decision was not easy to make, but I feel it is the right one for us.

If you have a big decision to make, read Big Decisions Can Be Scary!

My office/library has become the donation pile, packing pile and haven’t-decided-yet pile room.

So now we come to the subject of this post: clutter – where does it all come from?

Before putting the house on the market, we need to downsize from 30 years of accumulating stuff. I’ve been decluttering for about a month and have sent 5 trips to the local thrift store. But there’s still more! How could 4 people accumulate so much stuff?

I never realized that all these closets, drawers and cabinets can hold a lot of clutter. Now, I’m not talking about hoarding old junk mail, used take-out food containers and plastic silverware. The clutter I am going through is 16 sweaters when 4 would do, doubles of photographs from the boys’ childhood, old brides’ maid dresses and that plastic, Tupperware melon-baller that I won during a 1990 party that I never used.

And why do we hang onto these ‘extra but still useful’ items?

• Sentimental value
• “I may wear/use it someday
• Being a pack rat
• The old boy scouts motto, always be prepared

What’s the solution? Recycle, reuse!

Bag up clean, useful items and drop them off at your local thrift store or drop off location. You will be freeing up your house of too many possessions and at the same time providing help to those who could really use the item.

Here are some sites that can help you declutter and organize:

• 10 Creative Ways to Declutter Your Home
• 9 Decluttering Secrets From Professional Organizers
• Declutter 101: How To Cut Clutter at Home

How about you? Do you have clutter? What ways do you use to eliminate clutter?