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A Farm of My Own:  What's in your clutter?  |
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mdotterer
True Blue Farmgirl
78 Posts
Marlene
Pleasant Hill
CA
USA
78 Posts |
 Posted - Oct 19 2005 : 2:00:55 PM
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I know, Diane. I really do know how to get my husband to clear up the clutter, but I don't have the heart. He always looks so sad when I suggest it. So, that means I live with it. I'm serious about the moving part - he will HAVE to throw things away, then! I did solve one problem: six different health newsletters, every month since 1996. The publishers thoughtfully send you an index every year, along with a binder to keep the things in. Okay, that's nice, but you can imagine how many binders we have...
So, I put our scanner to use. I'm not done yet, but I've been scanning those puppies into my computer, then copying to CDs. Then, I get to THROW THEM AWAY! (Well, recycle them). You have no idea how exciting that is. When the new ones come, I just scan them on in and out they go!
Pam, I so agree with you. Keep the stuff you really like and use them in your everyday life. Life needs to be enjoyed, right? Not tucked away in an attic, someplace. And, those fabulous laundry baskets! I never knew such things existed! Can someone post a picture?
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HiDez Gal
True Blue Farmgirl
122 Posts
Roberta
Joshua Tree,
CA
USA
122 Posts |
Posted - Apr 28 2006 : 08:29:52 AM
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I notice at least one who has responded here is a Fly Baby from the Fly Lady group. I joined before we started a remodel last year and am so grateful that I did so because it helped me a lot. I had to pack up half of my house - kitchen - pantry - bath - dining area - sun porch - laundry area before the contractor gutted those areas. I used Fly Lady methods to declutter and to think about my relationship with stuff. I don't like to spend my time cleaning or needing to clean all of the time - I am getting older and although my energy level is high I have my fingers in lots of pies and still work so I can become spread pretty thin at times. I like a clean house but would rather it practically take care of itself so Fly Lady really gave me some great ideas for revamping my home. I have been able to pretty much reduce a lot of clutter and have mainly kept things that I really use and things that I love. The rest went to the local thrift shop - filled the back of my pickup numerous times.
When we put in our kitchen cupboards we had glass doors put on some of the upper kitchen cabinets and all of the upper cabinets in the buffet. Now I can view all my lovely old family items and my collection of old canning jars, pottery, etc. but they aren't out catching dust. I live in a very dusty area (desert) and this is helping me so much. I still am decluttering mainly in my home office but as Fly Lady says it didn't get cluttered in a day so it all doesn't have to be done in a day - 15 minutes at a time really helps.
Anyone else using this program?
Roberta
From my favorite coffee cup:
"A gal's gotta do what a gal's gotta do." Minnie Cody, 1901 |
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Amie C.
True Blue Farmgirl
2099 Posts
Finger Lakes Region
NY
2099 Posts |
Posted - Apr 28 2006 : 08:55:15 AM
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My daily life clutter would be junk mail, dirty dishes, and books. The junk mail accumulates around the front door and on the kitchen table. The books stack up in small piles all around the house, wherever there is a place where either of us could sit and read. I don't collect books, in the sense that I would buy them for value or appearance rather than to read, but I do have trouble parting with any book that I've read whether I liked it or not. I keep thinking I might need to refer to it someday. The dirty dishes tend to grow where the books are. I try to pick them all up and wash them at least once a week.
And there's a lot of project clutter too. We can't clear them up until they're finished, but it seems like they're never really finished!
I would really love to have a minimalistic house with lots of open space, but as long as we keep doing all the things we are doing I don't see that happening.
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HiDez Gal
True Blue Farmgirl
122 Posts
Roberta
Joshua Tree,
CA
USA
122 Posts |
Posted - Apr 28 2006 : 09:59:55 AM
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Amie,
I think if you are happy with things the way they are then it is just as it should be. It is hard to be a minimalist and a book lover! Now that I have the internet for researching things I have less of an inclination to save books just in case I need the information but I do have some that I feel just that way about and then there are the books I adore just because they are a joy to flip through and peruse.
We have the junk mail thing and books laying around as well although I am quickly training myself to eliminate the junk mail the minute my husband brings it in from the mail box. The books are another story because we order books from the library every couple of weeks and I don't like to put them out of sight or I might forget to return them. Dishes aren't a problem because if they aren't taken care of immediately there will be ants gathering to clean them - a peril of life in the Southwest LOL. We pick them up right away because if not, it is possible to sit in a favorite chair and not notice until it is too late that the ants are present! Talk about reinforcement for reforming a dirty dish habit!
I've noticed I become edgy and cranky when there is too much stuff around me. Sometimes if I go into a grocery or department store where there is tons of stuff jutting out into the isles and too much clamoring for attention I feel almost faint. Guess my senses become overwhelmed. I've come to realize that for my well being I need to clear the hot spots but I certainly want my home to be comfortable and welcoming at the same time. Guess balance is the key thing. Which reminds me need to get this desk I am sitting at cleared this morning LOL. I have a big report due for work and need to make space to work on it.
Roberta
From my favorite coffee cup:
"A gal's gotta do what a gal's gotta do." Minnie Cody, 1901 |
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JennyWren
True Blue Farmgirl
201 Posts
USA
201 Posts |
Posted - Apr 28 2006 : 10:58:56 AM
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I collect antique dishes of every kind, have sets for every season and holiday. I decorate my kitchen with blue and white english dishes, also red and white dishes. My husband thinks I am nuts. "you have so many dishes, you have to put them on the walls!".. haha. I collect antique children's toys, especially little lead animals, I have them on the tops of my doors. My house is Art Deco, I replaced all of the light fixtures that were modernized, back to Art Deco style light fixtures. I love eBay! I did Fly Lady nearly gave myself a nervous breakdown because I got rid of too much stuff.. Vowed I'd never do that again! I collect embroidered antique and vintage linens. I collect old buttons, fabric and sewing machines. Good grief I have 5. Everything in my house is old, including me!
Carla...
If you treat an individual as what he is, he will stay that way, but if you
treat him as if he were what he could be, he will become what he could be.
-- Goethe
www.jennywrensurbanhomestead.blogspot.com/ |
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Amie C.
True Blue Farmgirl
2099 Posts
Finger Lakes Region
NY
2099 Posts |
Posted - Apr 28 2006 : 12:07:12 PM
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| Hey, Carla! I just picked up an old sewing machine at a rummage sale last night. Now that you mention it, that makes 5 that I have in my house as well. And not one of them works! (Well, I haven't tried out the newest one yet). I can't bear to get rid of them, they're so old and have such beautiful old decoration on them - peacocks and flowers and gold borders. I'm actively working on one of them, hopefully it will be in working order soon and I can learn to sew. At what point do these things become a collection? |
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JennyWren
True Blue Farmgirl
201 Posts
USA
201 Posts |
Posted - Apr 28 2006 : 1:55:36 PM
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You gave me a good chuckle.. You have 5 sewing machines and don't sew yet! MY KIND OF PERSON!
I'm the same way..I have super old tools, most of which I have no clue what they were used for (they came over from Germany with an uncle of mine)but they are so cool looking, I'd never get rid of them.. I figure some day I'll have a barn.. and hang them on the walls, so at least they'll look like I know what to do with them! haha
For me.. If I have two of something.. that starts a collection!
No one likes to play Rummy with me... because I collect all the cards! Goofy habit.. I've always been this way...
Carla...
If you treat an individual as what he is, he will stay that way, but if you
treat him as if he were what he could be, he will become what he could be.
-- Goethe
www.jennywrensurbanhomestead.blogspot.com/ |
Edited by - JennyWren on Apr 28 2006 3:35:23 PM |
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sonflowergurl
True Blue Farmgirl
349 Posts
Katee
Tampa 'Burbs
FL
USA
349 Posts |
Posted - Apr 28 2006 : 6:16:36 PM
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My collections include milk glass, Longaberger baskets (just a few, but I love them---and I have a large pitcher and mixing bowl that are signed!!!), Cape Cod dishes, and several items that were my grandma's. We have an old kitchen table (a bluey-green with white and wood showing through the paint) that was my hubby's great-grandma's, an old trunk with tattered old quilts inside that were my grandma's, an old round table cloth with the most lovely crocheted (or tatted, maybe?) lace, and an OLD doll that was my grandma's and I used to play with all of the time as a kid. I like to mix old with new, country with modern. Our "style" is pretty eclectic. (My hubby said our style, at least for our kitchen would be "industrial country"...our dream kitchen would have cream colored country cabinets with black granite tops and stainless steel knobs/appliances.) I'm in to what I have coined as "Junque Chic"...one woman's trash is another woman's treasure, you know? I literally will pick up furniture from the side of the road (or alley behind the PO), bring it home and re-furnish it. I find myself looking at everything (literally, even tin cans) and wondering what I can do with it to make it useful and wanted. One of these days, I'd love to do this and sell it. Once I got a wooden rocking horse from the side of the road, ended up giving it away when my daughter outgrew it, and now kick myself for not keeping it!!! Fly Lady would drive me insane, though some of her ideas are good. I come from an alternating line of packrats/neatnicks, and I have about a 50/50 dose of both in me! LOL I find that keeping some stuff is more because of sentimental reasons (who they came from, not necessarily the memory of that particular item).
My "clutter" is composed of laundry, piles of paper, and unpacked boxes (of currently unused stuff for my hubby and my own "career" purposes...I used to teach in private schools, but am not currently certified for public, so I have my "teacher stuff" boxed up. My hubby is a youth pastor and currently has no office, so it's boxed up and taking up space too). I'd have the laundry and paper under control if I had the "luxury" (to me it would be a luxury, because I'd LOVE it) of being a SAHM and wasn't working full-time. Maybe I'll get on top of that all this summer (19 days left of school...yay!), then my "clutter" would be organized and my collections wouldn't look so "clutter-y". LOL
Katee
The end will justify the pain it took to get us here.
"Looking Toward the Son"---- http://sonflowergirl731.blogspot.com
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owwlady
True Blue Farmgirl
899 Posts
Jan
Tomahawk
WI
USA
899 Posts |
Posted - May 03 2006 : 08:01:38 AM
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| Lori, clutter-free is unnatural! I'm extremely natural. I like to see my stuff. |
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sonflowergurl
True Blue Farmgirl
349 Posts
Katee
Tampa 'Burbs
FL
USA
349 Posts |
Posted - May 03 2006 : 2:30:46 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by bayoubunch
I even take some clutter with me when we are away from home...lorij
It's funny that you said that, my mom brings clutter with her when she visits too (it drives my husband crazy). LOL I don't think she can function/think when she's in a clean, empty room. (Total opposite of her mother....thus my 50/50-ness of it all.)
Katee
The end will justify the pain it took to get us here.
"Looking Toward the Son"---- http://sonflowergirl731.blogspot.com
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countrykatgirly
True Blue Farmgirl
186 Posts
Hallie
Jordan
NY
USA
186 Posts |
Posted - Jun 07 2009 : 06:11:15 AM
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ROFL, I saw the title of this and had to post. 
Mine is mostly:
Books, pen pal supplies, clothes, craft supplies, CD's and movies, papers, knickknacks and stuff that's not unpacked yet.
I have begun packing up more boxes of stuff to give away. We've already given away so much stuff and thrown out a lot of junk. I am a struggling FLYbaby who wants to get her place in order but it's hard! 
“It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.”
--Laura Ingalls Wilder |
Edited by - countrykatgirly on Jun 07 2009 06:12:28 AM |
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prariehawk
True Blue Farmgirl
2914 Posts
Cindy
2914 Posts |
Posted - Jun 07 2009 : 9:10:52 PM
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I love reading about all your collections. I have a small collection of wood animal carvings, one is a bird that came from Italy. I have other bird stuff, a poster of Audubon's painting of Carolina parakeets (now sadly extinct) and a metal cockatoo that is also a candle holder. I guess animals is the predominant theme in my house--I have some wolf posters and want to get a wolf flag to fly outside. I also have lots of natural items--pods, feathers, rocks, that I display and change according to the seasons.
Cindy |
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Bear5
True Blue Farmgirl
13055 Posts
Louisiana/Texas
USA
13055 Posts |
Posted - Jun 08 2009 : 12:31:40 PM
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What a fun topic. Fun and true. Clutter bug here! We were hit with two floods. That took care of most of my clutter. But no.....I'm cluttering again. Some days I stand at the closet or closets, thinking, okay I never use that- out it goes. The next day I put it back. I have a hard time actually putting the clutter in the trash, or give it away, or burning it, or etc... Marly
"It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth- and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up- that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had." Elisabeth Kurler-Ross |
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Room To Grow
True Blue Farmgirl
974 Posts
Deborah
Kingston
Georgia
USA
974 Posts |
Posted - Jun 08 2009 : 5:51:20 PM
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I too collect teapots. When I worked in the Salon my clients use to give them to me for my b'day and Christmas. I also have a nice collection of a nice Christmas Village. We moved in a smaller house and I cant display my Village. I think I will give it to my daughter...And we had to downsize ALOT...so most of my clutter has been eliminated.
Deborah
we have moved to our farm...and love it |
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dutchy
True Blue Farmgirl
4427 Posts
4427 Posts |
Posted - Jun 09 2009 : 12:05:10 AM
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What is in my clutter??MY HOUSE....somewhere
OH you are talking about collections
Angels, cookbooks, other books, magazines, craft material, patterns, fabric, tiny cups and saucers, roses, buttons, lace and ribbon, cards, aprons, jewelry  , dust bunnies , and way more than i can think about, lol
Hugs from Marian/Dutchy, a farmgirl from the Netherlands :)
My personal blog:
http://just-me-a-dutch-girl.blogspot.com/
Almost daily updates on me and mine :)
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Edited by - dutchy on Jun 09 2009 12:08:35 AM |
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electricdunce
True Blue Farmgirl
2544 Posts
Karin
Belmont
ME
USA
2544 Posts |
Posted - Jun 09 2009 : 07:17:42 AM
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Growing up, we al;ways had big old houses, with a barn and a basement. I have not only my collections, but some of my family's as well. I collect old tablecloths and I use them till they crumble, old globes, they are on the platter shelf in my kitchen, which also has lots of pitchers on it. Books I beolieve are the biggest bunch of stuff, I have one room, the library, with bookshelves on two walls, crammed full and overflowing, shelves for paperbacks down one hallway, bookshelves in every bedroom and a wall of them in my sewing studio. I have a dictionary in every room (my mother's idea) and a whole reference library that I have been adding to forever. My tiny mother used to take me to used bookstores when I was young, she got me lots of wonderful leather covered reference books, classical dictionaries, etc. Books are pretty irresistable!
Then i love old quilts, old bits and pieces of cloth and doilies and most especially old potholders.. I think I want to start a goofy potholder museum. I love all the old loony homemade ones, cloth, crochet, whatever. I hang them on the wall in my pantry, they are so cheerful. I love souvenir dishes, I have some state plates on the wall in my kitchen that I backed with a laminated US map. I started trying to hang a small state plate on each state, but things just didn't fit. So Kansas got blown out to sea, it is now just off the western coast (tornado did it).
Everyone in my family was an artist so I have literally, hundreds of paintings, also lots of goofy old Victorian framed prints, my favorite from my paternal grandparents' home. It reads in olf flowery script :Order Is Heaven's First Law. I can'r even get it to hang straight, but it is over my kitchen door.
Oh the list just goes on and on, old dishes, green pottery, I'm developing an affinity for wooden yardsticks, I have a great plan in mind, but I'm sure it will never come together, and old aprons, ooh I love them too. Right, I have to go make myself a cup of joe and get moving!
What fun it is to read about everyone's collections, and I do sort out a few things every now and again and pass them along...
Karin
Farmgirl Sister #153
"Give me shelter from the storm" - Bob Dylan
http://moodranch.blogspot.com
http://domesticnonsense.etsy.com |
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palmettogirl
True Blue Farmgirl
571 Posts
sue
camden
south carolina
USA
571 Posts |
Posted - Jun 11 2009 : 05:29:05 AM
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| way too much stuff!! we're moving and i swear that my clutter is making babies! everytime i pack something and think that i'm making progress, i turn around and there's MORE.....ugh! anyway, i still keep packing because now i'm afraid that i'll make a hastey, wrong decision about what to get rid of.......but let me tell you girls...when i finally start to unpack at the next house, i'm gonna get back on line with all you girls and have a GIANT give-away!! have a great day, everyone!! sue |
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happydaze
True Blue Farmgirl
136 Posts
lorraine
atlanta
ni
USA
136 Posts |
Posted - Jun 12 2009 : 06:54:06 AM
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| Our home is mostly cluttered with living creatures and thier toys. 5 dogs, 5 cats, have the run of things. We have all things "farmy" lots of dolls, and my fabric and embroidery projects are in every room. Hubby keeps his stuff nice and neat, I prefer to think of my stuff as more accessable! |
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peachy
True Blue Farmgirl
593 Posts
Melissa
Fennville
MI
USA
593 Posts |
Posted - Jun 22 2009 : 9:45:31 PM
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I just went back and read everyones posts! What great clutter stories! I have to say my biggest clutter is my dh farm equipment all around the yard and his piles upon piles of wood! Oh my, visit my blog (I'm by far not caught up on there b/c of the flu but you'll see the most wonderful barn built fully out of this mans "cluttered, free wood pile!" Going back, I too sold and love Longaberger baskets. I have a big collection of Boyd bears that every year my kids would get me for Christmas! Other things are mixing bowls...can't get enough of them, who knows why? Can only mix one thing at a time or maybe two! Cookbooks, quilts, crocks and recently since I started sewing...what a clutter of material but I can never have enough - LOL!!!
Melissa
Farmgirl Sister #360
http://oldethymecountrybarn.blogspot.com/
Life isn't about waiting for the storms to pass...it's about learning to dance in the rain! |
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StarMeadow
True Blue Farmgirl
940 Posts
T
MI
940 Posts |
Posted - Jun 23 2009 : 09:14:25 AM
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| I think around here, it's safer and easier to note what is NOT in the clutter!!!! If I can't see it, I don't own it. Therefore, things I think I "don't" have...I do...and then I replace, cause I don't know I have it!!! I'm hopeless. |
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A Farm of My Own: What's in your clutter? |
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What's in your clutter?
