I joined the Army 4 years ago and endured the hardest thing I thought I couldn’t do: not boot camp, but live without my stuff for 3 years.

After I returned home to California, I went through all of my old boxes that had been stored in the guest room at my mother’s house. I thought for sure I was going to find all of the goodies I had to packup before. Instead, I had 3 garbage bags of trash, 4 bags of clothes that no longer fit, pictures that were bent and torn on the corners, barbies that I odviously didn’t use, shot glasses that were more oakie than anything else, and so much more.

The only thing of value that I ended up keeping was a bottle of Parducci wine that came from my Uncle’s winery. I only kept it to drink to the celebration of the “freeness” I felt by liberating myself of all of the stuff. It’s amazing how much you really only need; shoes, clothes, food, and shelter.

Now, married with a husband and a one year old daughter, I find it hard to keep the clutter down; not because of me, but because the Army did not do the same for my husband, whose dirty camo pants always end up on the floor, but I make a way of getting every room the way I wanted it, and I’ve limited myself to one junk drawer in the kitchen and one in the bedroom for all of my husband’s stuff that he “has to keep.”

I will never be cluttered as long as it is up to me! Thank you Drill Sergeants!

1. Emotional–hard to get rid of childhood books. But if I enjoyed a book but probably won’t read it again anytime soon, I try to pass it on to someone else who might enjoy it. That way I get the happiness buzz of passing it on instead of the buzz of seeing it on the shelf and remembering that was a good year.

2. Specialization–I tend to keep the books that are in my areas, especially if they are “harder to find.” So in my case I have more poetry than the Barnes & Noble had when I was a teenager, more undergrad/graduate math than any public library I’ve seen, a number of HCI books I can’t even get through ILL, and more calligraphy books than I’ve seen at some university libraries. But “classic novels” and other books that most every library has? I’ve been handing them down to my baby sister for reading logs and other school assignments, now that she’s started middle school.

3. Reduce duplication–If you have several books on the same topic, fundraiser cookbooks, etc., choose the most important.

4. Write it down, review it, Library Thing it, etc. If the book isn’t worth doing that for, then it’s not worth keeping. If you already log your reading, then you will have a record of books you enjoyed even if you don’t keep the book. Write down what you got rid of if you are worried you’ll want to remember it.

5. Sell back most lower-level textbooks. By the time you want to refer to them again, they will be $5 used online.

6. Ask a friend to help–either by moral support or by carting away the books you get rid of.

7. Do it again in a few months. I consider it a form of CBT; you are changing your mindset slowly and things you weren’t ready to expunge last time will be jumping into the removal pile the next time.

8. Books are a form of self-expression/-extension for almost everyone in my social group. It helps me to think of getting rid of books as creating a well-edited library rather than as losing a piece of myself.

Lots of family stuff left over from a late parent’s house – yes, I can use in our next, larger house,

so, store it or just live with it cluttering our current house?

One problem my wife and I have is the emotional attachment to things. For example, our college notebooks/folders. All that work we put into those classes, etc., hard to just throw it out. Yet, there the boxes sit.

Any other good ‘rules of thumb’ people use on whether to toss or keep something?

Then I would set new bookmarks/favorites for ONLY the ones I still really really like or need.

I can attest to the fact once he and his wife set a goal, they make it happen. For example, Trent has been writing furiously because he’s had the goal of being a published author for as long as I’ve known him. Now he’s a well-known blogger.

How else is Trent not a fraud? Shopping was our main social activity in college. I’m still paying off the credit card debt today. Trent is to be commended for truly learning from mistakes he’s made in the past.

About 6 months into the new house we realised that we were drowning in junk. Sometimes when you move house you don’t end up decluttered, somehow it all just comes with you and ends up in your garage.

On moving day my friends and family stacked all our boxes in our huge double garage. It was 6-8 months before we had that space clear again. Next thing I’m going to do is go through the stuff that we HAD to keep and chuck it all out. I haven’t touched it. I don’t even know what’s up on those top shelves anymore.

(It’s ok, Trent, none of us think you’re a fraud. I think that miss whatsername must watch a lot more telly than you do. People who watch 3-4 hours telly a day don’t realise that there’s an extra 80 hours in every month that they could be using.)

Trent, I’ve been doing this sort of decluttering for awhile. I do it in spurts. (you’ll probably find that if you redo this exercise in 6 months some of your treasured keepers today will be definate goners later).

I am getting to the point now where I have very small little piles of stuff each time I do it (and also my place is much easier to keep tidy). Someday I’ll be 100% clutter free, but it’s still a work in progress. It’s kind of a fun hobby.

DB