Hellobee Boards

@Mrs. Pink: I just read this book! I thought her method was a bit extreme so I probably won't be doing what she suggested but I have been taking her advice of only keeping what brings you joy. I've been doing a gradual purge of old stuff. I know she says the gradual way doesn't work, but I've been trying to sell old things in addition to donating and throwing away and I don't think her method makes sense if you need to take the time to list stuff on ebay.

@Mrs. Pink: thanks for reminding me I wanted to look into this book! Would you recommend it to own or do you think library would be good too? And is it one you kind of need hard copy or is e reader version ok?

I read it after another bee recommended it. A big "ah-ha" moment for me was letting go of things that have served their purpose and realizing that just because something is still working/useful doesn't mean it has to stay in your house.
DH has been slower to get on board and like to keep things around "just in case".
There is a neighborhood garage sale in a month or so, so we are doing a big push to try to sort through everything.

@MoreCoffee: DH and I sometimes debate about all this stuff. I'm very pro throw it out/recycle. He likes to keep things "just in case".

Sometimes what works for us is to keep things around for a while and if they don't get used, then DH realizes they can be tossed. You could also scan all your paperwork in and keep digital copies.

I've done it!! It was huge. I have empty spaces that were never there before and didn't miss a thing. I did it in a week because she says to go for it in one fell swoop. I am going to wait a few more months and do it again. I totally see things differently now though and can organize and use space more efficiently and prettily now. Well not all the time but at least I appreciate the benefits of it. Wish I started living like this earlier in life!

@Mrs. Pink: The Marie Kondo tv show is on Netflix!!!! Ahhhhh!!! My family just finished reading the manga (comic) book and went to town. But the tv show is with Marie Kondo herself and it is sooooooo good!!!
Everyone needs to watch this!
It is like Supernanny but with cleaning/tidying, Funniest line from first one: Mommy, I want boobies. Sweetest: I want to go to her.

I grew up in poverty, so the impulse to keep things “just in case” is a strong one, though I’ve improved a lot in recent years.

I started to make some calculations that helped me break this tendency to keep things just in case. First, I tried to roughly quantify how many things I am storing “just in case” and what proportion I actually end up using again. I figured it was way less than 10%, so 90% of it is just wasting space and making it harder for me to find the things that are important to me.

Then I took my yearly rent amount and divided it by the square footage. For every square foot of stuff I store “just in case”, it costs me X amount to store it. Once I attached a cost to keeping this stuff, it was a lot easier to tell myself I can let it go and buy again in the unlikely event I want that kind of item in the future.

I hope that makes sense the way I explained it.