January 28, 2014

Decluttering 2014


I packed away Mason's clothes a few days ago. It was a chore on my list since he turned 6 months. I had shoved all his "cannot fit into anymore" stuff into a drawer since he outgrew his newborn clothes and then the drawer stopped being able to close..

I put his newer, bigger clothes to wash, put him to sleep and sorted through all of it. There was a pile I would keep, for future children as well as my future nieces/nephews etc. There was a pile for donation, and a third pile that included items with stains that wouldn't wash away (READ: Poo).

I tried to be cut throat, donating as much as I could. But everytime I picked up something I would be reminded of when he wore it and I found myself saying things like "Oh but that's his first ever jumper.. I can't give that away!"

Soon the Keeping pile was large, the Donation pile miserable and the Throwing Out pile non existent. This was not going as planned. So I sat there feeling defeated and literally Googled "I can't throw away my baby's clothing". I was directed to a bunch of links and laughed to myself. Just as I was about to put my phone down and go back to what I was doing, the 2nd link caught my eye. It talked about simplifying a home.

I realised that while I could point to anything in this house and have a memory of it that I hold dearly in my heart, it is not the item that makes me smile. But the people. I could keep all of Mason's clothing and still, the best parts of him would not be the ones tucked away in a drawer, but the real life moments that he shares with me everyday. They do not live in his very first jumper, or the socks he wore on his first airplane ride.. They live within him and within my heart and within these walls that I am so grateful for everyday.

2014 is the year of cleansing and decluttering! I plan to declutter each room of the house by the end of the year and rethink the way we purchase things. How do you keep clutter from taking over in your home?

12 comments:

  1. How true it is to want to hold onto all those precious 'things' but in reality it isn't really the 'things' that matter the most at all. Loved this, you are a wise woman. x

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    1. Thank you! Ha, not wise! It was still hard and I think it'll be harder the older he gets..

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  2. Oh dear, I've been exactly the same with Samuel's clothes he's outgrown! I've given bags away, but I still have SO MUCH that I've kept. Time to de-clutter over here methinks!

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    1. It's not easy, huh! I have to try not to attach the feelings to the item..

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  3. I gave away all of Mr 4's baby clothes and I am really sad that I did. The person I gave them to wasn't grateful for them and I later found out that most of them were thrown away. It made me sad that I did this out of the goodness of my heart and I couldn't have given them to someone else who needed them more.
    Good luck with decluttering, I have no tips unfortunately!

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    1. What a shame, Tegan. At least you know you did it out of best intentions.. We cannot control what people do with them after..!

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  4. I've had to sort through the baby clothes twice now with my second daughter. It's extra hard when I come across clothes that my first daughter wore as well! And we're not sure if we are having another so we are keeping most for the time being. But I did manage to declutter most of the clothes and keep all of the really special ones.
    Well done! And good luck with your decluttering journey.

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    1. Thank you! I will need as much luck as possible..!

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  5. Simplifying your home is one of the hardest yet best things to do. Baby clothes are hard. I just sorted through a huge pile of baby clothes that had been accumulating more rapidly than I realised. I have now moved the pile from one room to another. It is no longer in a messy pile but folded and sorted. But it's still sitting there ...

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    1. It's one of those things isn't it.. We can only try our best! :) x

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  6. In the beginning I found it difficult letting go of certain things, for sentimental reasons. I found taking photos of them or having photos of these things made it easier. I'd always have the photo and the memory. Every few months my husband and I make a list of things we want to get for our home, and we stick to the list. If we're 'replacing' we have to donate or throw out the items before the new ones come home. It's worked for us for a while now :)

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  7. Two years ago I opted not to buy myself or the home anything new. Along with it came a de-cluttering process. Now I allocate one month to each section of the house. Eg. January was for the bathrooms. Feb for our bedroom, March for Jarvis's bedroom, and so on. I bought either second hand or made most of Jarvis's clothes. Instead of trying to hang on to the clothes for memories, I like to thin of another baby wearing them and another Mummum making memories from the clothes.

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