I need to have a clearout in my room. How to go about it (Please read details)?
Question:I know I need to take out the rubbish and get rid of old magazines. but what about clothes, books, CDs etc?
I'm a terrible hoarder and I want to know what criteria an item should fulfil for it to be 'junk' and therefore got rid of.
I'm planning on either sending it to a charity shop or putting it on Ebay.
Answers:
have you used the item(s) in question in the past 2 years ?
if not ebay it, or to charity or lastly throw away
with the exception of sentimental things like letters, meaningful gifts etc
I'm terrible with holding on to "junk" too, I think its because I'm nostalgic or something.
Short term, ask yourself when in the next year you'd like to see each item. Be specific, and write down your reason. If you're having a hard time coming up with a legit reason, toss it out.
Long term, try to toss things out before you become too attached.
You go through everything you have one by one. start with the garbage and get rid of it. then purge like crazy. if you haven't used it in 1-2 yrs, toss it. it's not worth it. anything immature or offensive (unless you like that sort of thing). Then toss, donate and keep. the stuff you keep find the perfect spot for and by storage units if need be or organize. Organization is key to getting your room in tip top shape.
clothes you don't wear or fit anymore, hopefully in good condition, should go to charity.
books you read and did not like/don't want to read ever again/don't want to keep for any reason can go to charity, e-bay, amazon.com, etc.
CDs can be traded with others, sold on e-bay, amazon.com, etc. before ridding them, you might want to see if there are any songs you want to burn so you can keep those songs and not the entire CD. you may have 10 Cds and only listen to 2 or 3 songs on each. you can save space by burning what you want and getting rid of the excess CDs.
Hey, I used to be a hoarder too. But, guess what...due to my parents being jerks I actually was forced to abandon over half my things (most of which had sentimental value) because the things are all in my old bedroom at their house. When I lived there, before I came to college and moved in with my husband in an apartment (which would have been very cramped had I had all that stuff with me) I was a terrible terrible hoarder. My problem was that everything was sentimental to me, even though it shouldn't have been. I mean, I had a PROBLEM. I wouldn't get rid of a certain article of clothing because I wore it one day on my third or so date with one of my EX boyfriends, or I wouldn't get rid of a certain thing because of some other ridiculous reason like, "I was wearing these jeans when I opened the door and saw my mom bringing home my new dog" I was so bad I wouldn't even get rid of ex boyfriends things, even though I hated them and we were long over and no longer speaking. Being the type of hoarder I was is a red flag that you can't let go of the past AT ALL even when there are times that it needs to be let go, which is most of the time. Its okay to keep some things for sentimental value if there is a legitimate reason for it, like the shirt you wore on your first kiss or whatever, but not everything is sentimental. That was my problem. Everything WAS for me. So when I moved in with my husband, we both came up with some very simple rules for me to get rid of half my clothes I brought with me to college (It took two cars for me to bring all my stuff to college) and some certain items I didn't need anymore.
First off, clothes. Rules for the clothes:
>If you haven't worn it for four months, or if you found it in the back of your closet, get rid of it. Obviously it doesn't mean that much to you if you haven't worn it that long or if you simply forgot about it. If you've worn all your clothes in the last four months, pick your least favorite of the clothes that you wear the fewest times and give it up. Start from the bottom from there. You found your least favorite shirt, now find your second least favorite shirt, your third least favorite, etc. until you get to the shirts you think you need to keep.
>Go through and count how many 1.) Shirts you own, 2.) Pants you own, etc. and pick a number of them that you wish to keep. I got rid of half the shirts I owned and kept the better half. I did the same thing with the pants, socks etc. Some of the shirts I got rid of I really liked and I was sad when I got rid of them, but it was worth it. There were other shirts I liked more than it.
>Give what you don't want away. Don't sell your clothes on Ebay or anything. places like Goodwill would be happy to have them, or just give them to charity. i guarantee someone else out there who doesn't have clothes or affordable clothes would be very glad you gave up some of yours.
CDs, books, board games, etc. My husband's rules:
>I gave up all my cds except mixes and collectors. I don't know if I should suggest the same to you, because I'm not sure what kind of computer system you have or anything, but I burned the cds on my computer and have them saved in a file so they can't ever be lost. Then I emailed the files to myself so if the computer ever got broken or something, I'd have the songs in my email still and could recall them whenever. If you don't have that, get rid of the CDs you listened to the least and then do the second least, third least, etc, just like you did with the shirts and pants.
>Sell non-clothes on Ebay, mostly sell electronics though. If its hard for you to do, make a motive. think of all the money you will make selling these things, and then think of what you could do with the money you make.
>Have a garage sale or something, or a personal sale. Someone will want what you don't need, and then your junk will be their problem (and they'll ask in FindHomeAnswers,"how do I get rid of this junk?" and I'll give them the same advice lol). If you have anything left after your sales, then give it to goodwill or some thrift store.
Sentimental value items (for a legitimate reason) can be kept. Again, not everything is sentimental. And if you have millions of things that is sentimental, keep in mind something my husband told me when I tried to give him that excuse,"You won't be buried with your junk, and you can't keep everything until you're eighty, because some of it won't last that long. For the stuff that does, you'll just have to sell it when your older in order to pay for your funeral (lol). Basically, find what you most likely will have down the road...WAY down the road, and keep it; something you see your grandkids cherishing someday. if its not something that they'd care for, want, need, or if its something they'd just sell in the future, or if its something that just won't last that long, get rid of IT and keep the memories. (Thats what I have to do now. I have it easy cuz my parents will just get rid of my junk for me, and I don't need to know. I'll just know its gone. I have only the memories of my sentimental stuff now. I don't have many sentimental stuff here with me). Memories are memories. Stuff is just stuff. Sure its a reminder of the memories, but which will last longer?
the most important thing when youre getting rid of stuff is ask yourself
"DO I NEED THIS? What would I do with it if I kept it? What would become of this if I had it in the future? How much could I make for selling this? Do I want to keep this? Why do I want to keep this? Could someone use this more than I could? Does someone need this item more than me? Could I find a better one?"
Those questions you ask yourself should help you get rid of junk. It helped me and I was the biggest hoarder in the universe. I actually cried every time I cleaned my room at home and was told to get rid of stuff, but know what? When I got rid of things with my husband, it was actually fun, and I didn't cry, because he helped me and he told me everything I've just told you. So, this hopefully will work for you.
I hope this helped you. good luck.
1. Take everything out of the room.
2. Determine how much you can store that would satisfy your neatness criteria.
3. Identify the items in priority that you want to bring back.
4. Locate them where you have space in the room.
5. Throw away the rest or store neatly in labeled boxes in another part of your home.
Start by getting a garbage bag and getting out all the trash, and by trash, I mean if you pick it up and first thought it trash, THROW it, don't think twice. Then after that, get three boxes (bags, basket, whatever) and label one trash, keep, donate. Throw them in there as you think. Once you have that done, go through your keep and make sure. Then get some organization type things, containers and whatnot, and organize your keep. Donate the rest or sale it. Toss what's trash :)
this is exactly what i'm doing right now to my house. i have been watching clean sweep on saturdays on TLC the guy that helps them go through the stuff has totally motivated me.
this is what i have been doing.
i tend to hang on to clothes because weight ups and downs,if i haven't wore it in the past year, i give it to goodwill.
i have gone through my cd's and done the same.
sorted through pics.kept the really good ones and trashed the ones that really dont mean anything anymore.
i have kept only a few books, but set yourself a goal of how many you can keep and then decide which ones mean the most to you. Clean Sweep really helps motivate, see if you can catch it on! hope this helps you!! my house is already looking much better!! ps dont forget about the shoe collection, that one is tough! lol
More Related Questions & Answers...