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Cleaning Up:  Where Does It All Come From?  |
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
 Posted - Nov 16 2009 : 11:22:19 AM
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I can literally haul off truckloads of trash and junk from my house about once a month. Where does it all come from anyway? I could do this every week and have a truck load. I don't remember having so much junk when my kids were growing up. But now that I have grandkids and they come every other weekend (and are usually HERE the whole time) this house is a MESS. Some of this stuff I can't remember ever seeing before, too. I think it's coming out of the walls. And any available cleaned off surface, like a countertop or table, can be filled up again in 5 minutes. It's driving me crazy! I just want all the junk out of here.
I started in the dining room last week. Cleaned off the buffet then went in the 2 side shelves. Got 2 trash cans full of old papers and junk. I am just sick and tired of it all. I would love to have someone come and just clean me out. Really. I already have a good sized box almost full of stuff I'll take to the thrift store soon.
And I can walk all around my house through all the rooms in a circle. I do this all day long. Around and around. And usually I am looking for something I have lost. So there I go. Around and around. It's crazy.
So does anyone need stuff? It's free. Ya just have to come get it. I'm sure there's a use for all of it. I just don't want it. It's stressful and weighing me down. I can't even think half the time about where to start. I need help!
Ok. I'm done now. I just don't understand how I have so much stuff.
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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Bear5
True Blue Farmgirl
13055 Posts
Louisiana/Texas
USA
13055 Posts |
Posted - Nov 16 2009 : 12:15:20 PM
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Kris:
My goodness, I could have wrote that four years ago. This is funny, but not funny. I think you'll understand. In 2005, when Hurricane Rita flooded our house (almost 5 feet of water), we lost everything from the floor up to 5 feet. Think about that, most things are on the floor and up. Any who-- probably 6 months after the flood, when we were still cleaning up, I was having such a bad day. Just exhausted, when I bowed my head and prayed to my God to bring us some kind of peace. Well, about an hour later, I started laughing. God does have a sense of humor. If not for that flood, I would have had to some day clean out all of that junk. It would have taken me months. Is till laugh at that. Then, in 2008, Hurricane Ike, cleaned out the rest of my junk. I am howling just expressing this!!!! ROFL, the thing is now I have to clean out the attic that is just as full as junk as the bottome of the house was.
My advise would be pick one day out of the week, clean out one room. Don't think about what you are getting rid of. Give it to someone who wants it.
Good luck.
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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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - Nov 16 2009 : 12:45:14 PM
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Marly, that's an awful way to get rid of stuff. That had to be so sad and very hard on you. And to do that 2 times. Wow. I really admire you for having such a great sense of humor. I suppose that's the only way to get through something like that.
I do hope to really scale back on stuff. I am not into dusting anymore. Or cleaning. Or picking up after people. It really gets old. So for me to get rid of stuff is my only answer. I have given truckloads of stuff to our church youth yard sales several times. But like spaghetti, it just seems to grow! One day, I will be where I need to be. It is just taking so long to get there.
Hugs, Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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Lessie Louise
True Blue Farmgirl
1406 Posts
Carol
PECULIAR
MO
USA
1406 Posts |
Posted - Nov 16 2009 : 1:28:05 PM
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I've been collecting blankets and jackets for a shelter, and cannot beleive the stuff I've found just to donate to the thrift store on top of the coats. I had 7 extra blankets, when I thought I had 2 or 3. And I thought I had been good abot giving stuff away. So, my goal this winter is to really clean ot the closets, and not ask any family members for help. They will save everything!! I am sorry that you lost so much in such a short time Marly, and I admire your sense of humor and attitude.
Forget buns of steel, I'd rather have buns of cinnamon!
Farmgirl #680! |
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ridgebird
True Blue Farmgirl
52 Posts
willow
MO
USA
52 Posts |
Posted - Nov 16 2009 : 2:23:15 PM
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I just spent the last 4 days getting rid of stuff. So many things I thought I would do something with, and never did. I know what you mean about having the grandkids around, again so much stuff. Anyway I had a whole truck load to go to a neighborhood thrift store that uses the funds to upkeep an old cemetery. I took another load of clothes and outgrown grandkids' stuff to a womens shelter, and I gave several bags of fabric and craft supplies to a church that sends fabric to Haiti for girls to learn to sew, and craft things to a nursing home for their craft time. I hated the wasting of getting stuff and letting it collect dust, but it felt so good to let those things go.
So tonight I am going thru kitchen and bath cabinets. Less is more. Peace to all. |
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Merry
True Blue Farmgirl
765 Posts
Merry
Ankeny
Iowa
USA
765 Posts |
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southerncrossgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
631 Posts
Gena
Harmony
NC
USA
631 Posts |
Posted - Nov 16 2009 : 5:21:10 PM
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Kris, you are going to feel so much better after all the "stuff" is gone. I am one of those people who throw too much away. I hate clutter. My husband used to say that,I would throw it away one week and buy it again the next month!!
Now the barn is a different matter. I can't seem to get ahead on that.
Gena
"A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes"==Cinderella |
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - Nov 16 2009 : 7:12:21 PM
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Carol and Willow, that's great what ya'll are doing. Shelters need all the help they can get. My mom works at a battered women's shelter and they get alot of good donations. The women get to move into apartments after so many months and they everything.
Merry, I have the dog hair trolls, too. My lab has taken over the couch. It's horrible. We can't even sit on it anymore. I used to put him in a crate at night, but it's so big I took it out. Now he's a free range dog inside. Not a good thing. I am going furniture shopping next week and I might have to get another dog crate.
Gena, I have to stop going shopping. I go to thrift stores and get alot of the same things I get rid of. What is up with that?
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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Bear5
True Blue Farmgirl
13055 Posts
Louisiana/Texas
USA
13055 Posts |
Posted - Nov 16 2009 : 7:22:29 PM
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Kris and Carol:
Please, don't feel sorry for me. I didn't write that for sympathy. There was absolutely nothing I could do once it had happened. God is good. He gave us the strength to roll up our sleeves and do what we had to do. And, I didn't have to go through all the junk myself. He did it for me. LOL
I think I became a collector of junk because when I grew up my Mother would throw away everything. I'd buy a paperback book, read it, and it was gone. LOL So, I learned to hang on to material junk! LOL
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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jenimurph
Farmgirl in Training
21 Posts
Jennifer
Pepperell
MA
USA
21 Posts |
Posted - Jan 15 2010 : 3:03:33 PM
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i just posted a similar thing a few minutes ago! i've been going through my basement-it exploded after we moved and started looking for things. so many half unpacked boxes and things i can't use in the new house. the kids toys are the worst! anyway, i keep plugging along and have a carload of stuff to give away. i think my balance is more stuff in my give away box than my keep box, so i'm doing ok, i guess. marly, i really admire the way you handled those 2 losses! sometimes i wish for something to take the choices out of my hands, but please, God, just give me what i need to get rid of stuff!
merry, i'm from des moines. i grew up on the east side-what part of ankeny do you live in?
my parents and sister still live there, so i'm back about once a year.
happy decluttering, all!
jen |
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mellaisbella
True Blue Farmgirl
1862 Posts
melanie
living on Anne of Green
Gables land
Canada
1862 Posts |
Posted - Jan 15 2010 : 3:17:13 PM
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have y'all heard of "flylady" check her out....very helpful at helpping to de-clutter
"we must be the change we wish to see in the world"
farmgal #150 |
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Merry
True Blue Farmgirl
765 Posts
Merry
Ankeny
Iowa
USA
765 Posts |
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jenimurph
Farmgirl in Training
21 Posts
Jennifer
Pepperell
MA
USA
21 Posts |
Posted - Jan 15 2010 : 8:58:28 PM
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hey merry!
my husband is a firefighter also!!
my parents go to grace church right off of the interstate (35, i think, or 235-i left iowa in 1995 so stuff slips my mind!) that would be totally funny if you knew them!
my grandmother lives in southern iowa, bloomfield and had a farm outside of keosauqua until i was 6. they had chickens, sheep, maybe a cow or 2. i LOVED that farm and have so many great memories from staying with them. i want to start a project with my grandma, sending her postcards with a question on each about how she did things-gardening, cooking, thrifting, etc. and stamping each so she can just answer and send them back to me. i know she is a treasure trove of knowledge that will be lost when she leaves this world. i guess that's where my farmgirl interest comes from.
great to find you!!
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Bevb
True Blue Farmgirl
81 Posts
Bev
Moscow
ID
USA
81 Posts |
Posted - Jan 18 2010 : 7:22:31 PM
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Hi girls - We have a bad case of the "stuffs" here, too. My girlfriend and I have a saying -- "there's nothing in life certain but death, taxes and..... STUFF!"
But if you think about it, every time you walk into your home after being somewhere, you usually haul SOMETHING in, and when you leave, your hands are usually empty. So I've tried to focus on taking SOMETHING out every time I go, whether it's recycling, or donations to the thrift store or shelter.
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22937 Posts
Alee
Worland
Wy
USA
22937 Posts |
Posted - Jan 18 2010 : 9:07:52 PM
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Bev- that's a good way to think about it. My house isn't as bad as it once was but somedays I still feel like we are drowning in clutter. Someday soon I will be clutter free though! It's one of my resolutions to find a "home" for everything and pack away that which doesn't need to be out/ donate / recycle / dispose of those things that have not helped out in the house. I have also put a moritorium on buying new craft items until my current craft pile is used up a bit!
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
www.allergyjourneys.blogspot.com
Put your pin on the farmgirl map! www.farmgirlmap.blogspot.com |
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Cleaning Up: Where Does It All Come From? |
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Where Does It All Come From?
