Comments on: Review: Throw Out Fifty Things

By: Lisa

Lisa — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:32:59 +0000

Hi! I have it on interlibrary loan request.Thanks for the review.

By: tentaculistic

tentaculistic — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 05:34:04 +0000

Check out FlyLady.net! That’s exactly what she endorses, among other “house-blessing” tips. Very cathartic. I love all the personal testimonials that share how much it’s helped.

By: katy

katy — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:12:21 +0000

Right after readingyour post, I took what amounted to four garbage bags full of paperback and hc books. Much neater. I won’t reread them and my neighbors will enjoy them. (it’s our building ‘home shopping network’). I won’t buy envelopes to sell them online/shlep them to the PO today.

A good beginning…thanks for the nudge.

By: Stephanie PH

Stephanie PH — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:05:08 +0000

George – if no one in your family has the space or inclination to keep family history “stuff” consider a college or state archives or a local library. Your info can be “loaned” or gifted and others can appreciate your family history too.

By: Jack

Jack — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:01:00 +0000

Digitizing everything sounds fine in theory, but in practice, there is nothing like having the paper original (or copy).

When you digitize something, you are forever having to “update” the item, so that it remains readable over time. Just think: if you would have digizited an old document and put it on a 5″ floppy a decade or so ago, could you still access, much less read, the document now?

Personally, having a few boxes of old documents isn’t that great of a burden. And knowing that I will always be able to read/access/use them, without being subject to the whims of technology, is priceless.

By: Bill in NC

Bill in NC — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:50:20 +0000

We used the recent resettlement of refugees in our area as impetus to declutter.

I felt better donating the new, but bright pink towels from my late mother’s house to families I know will use them.

By: George

George — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:30:40 +0000

Foxie – the obvious way to get rid of the sentimental stuff is to pass it to another family member. Yeah, I’m stuck with some, too :-)

My mother-in-law is going through her purge now… fortunately we’ve been able to turn away or give away most of it. My wife can be quite ruthless when it comes to sentimentality!

I do pretty well at turning away such gifts up until “family history” rears its head. Thus we have a small collection of papers and books and photos from the early 1800s, when my ancestors kept moving westward from Europe, up through the 1940s, when they’d completed their westward migration because the Pacific Ocean stopped them.

By: Corporate Barbarian

Corporate Barbarian — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:19:34 +0000

I’ve started digitizing all of my paperwork at home. I’ve done this at work for quite a while, ever since we installed scanners. At work, I don’t even have a calendar on my desk, and everything that can be scanned gets filed on my computer. I have my eye on a Fujitsu Snap Scan for my home.

By: Amphritrite

Amphritrite — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:57:54 +0000

I actually picked this up like three weeks ago, and I concur… it’s a pretty decent book, even for us pared-down packrats.

By: Torv

Torv — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:32:35 +0000

Anna, it’s not the fact that she won’t do it, it is the fact that she will think I am off on a tangent doing something goofy again… :) . If i say anything about … i read it in a book, I saw it online… she usually assumes that I am nuts. So, i bring it up here and there as more of a ” I would like to clean up the clutter ” and she goes along with me… so it’s all good.

I did get rid of a bunch of stuff yesterday, i have 4 full garbage bags to put out this week on the curb. ;)

By: Meg

Meg — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:32:14 +0000

My apartment complex is going to have a community-wide yard sale in a couple weeks. Thats what motivated me to start cleaning out closets.
My mother would probably benefit from this book. she is a major packrat and keeps tons of stuff for sentimental reasons. The stuff sits in the garage in boxes unused.

By: clc

clc — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:13:28 +0000

the concept is great – but this book is unnecessary. flylady.net uses this same idea, and so many more!

By: tammy

tammy — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:17:34 +0000

As the daughter of a hoarder, I am super aware of how things that pollute quality of life.
I keep a bag in my closet. 27 things a month are given away. I blog about it at my Frugal Musican site. I don’t know how I arrived at the number 27, but it totally helps me be ON TRACK about decluttering
Great post Trent! I want to read this book!

By: Jo

Jo — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:58:18 +0000

I already have the book, have glimpsed through it enough to realize that this is a workable solution. With an impending move in the very near future, it’s to the detriment of this that the book will come in handily.

Fifty things to pitch, give away or sell in a garage sale is realistic.

By: Anna

Anna — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:49:21 +0000

Tory #10: Why the secrecy? Why not share your insights with your wife? She might become enthusiastic about decluttering, too. You could make this a joint project, or even have a friendly contest to see who can throw out more things.

By: TPol

TPol — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 08:59:29 +0000

Lately the clutter at home was weighing me down. My problem is lacking the energy to go through closets and cabinets. Whenever mom comes to visit, she somehow energizes me. Last week she and I did a thorough cleaning of closets and I donated several bags of clothes. Documents and books are still waiting to be sorted out. One of these days…

By: Torv

Torv — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:46:06 +0000

Reading the title alone is getting me motivated to throw out 50 things today… the wife might not care for that.

I am going to get rid of 1 thing a day for the next 2 months. I will see if she notices.

By: Christine

Christine — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:33:13 +0000

I just read this book and really like it. She motivated me like no other clutter reducing book has. She actually motivated me the most with rules 3 & 4

Three. Don’t make the decision – whether to toss it or keep it – a hard one. If you have to weigh the pros and cons for too long or agonize about the right thing to do, throw it out.

Four. Don’t be afraid. This is your life we’re talking about. The only one you’ve got for sure. You don’t have the time, energy, or room for physical or psychic waste.

#3 convinced me to end a relationship that I have only been keeping out of guilt! What a load off!

By: Foxie

Foxie — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:25:13 +0000

I have SUCH a hard time getting rid of the items with sentimentality attached to them. I have a lot of things from older generations in my family that I really don’t need or have a use for, but I would feel WAY guilty of getting rid of the stuff… Anyone have any advice for that??

Otherwise, I try to limit myself to the cedar chest that I have for the stuff with memories and that serve no other purpose. It has limited space, and then I can hang on to stuff I’m not ready to give up yet.

As for new stuff, I make sure it’s something that makes me smile whenever I look at it. My biggest indulgences are hot wheels cars and fox things. The cars are fairly cheap and let me indulge my car hobby for very little. I have foxes from various places, and each item in that collection has its own memories attached to it. Lucky for me, neither collection has run out of room yet, I have plenty of unused wall space. :)

By: BJ

BJ — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 01:26:59 +0000

Thanks for the great review! It sounds like a book well worth reading, for folks like me who seem to have greater than average difficulty letting go of objects that are no longer important or useful. (like that wide-carriage dot-matrix printer that I paid $650 for eons ago, but just couldn’t part with for half of that a year or so later. Of course, it then became close to worthless – lesson learned?) I enjoyed your post so much, I think I’ll print it out, frame it, and — hey, wait a minute!