Jff-decluttering!

Yup - I absolutely did. We had a 2800 sq foot house with garage and barn. No attic or basement. I took a weekend and went through EVERYTHING. I created one bin for each family member's sentimental stuff (baby clothes, awards, etc.) and three bins for holiday decorations. Everything else had to be in use or so pretty we loved looking at it - or else it was given away or sold. I got rid of almost 1,000 pounds of books, 20+ bags of clothes, and boxes and boxes of stuff that we didn't need... two boxes of kitchen utensils alone, plus three boxes of extra sheets and towels.

Best two days I've ever spent. I have empty shelves now, and cleaning the house takes about half the time. My life feels lighter and easier. Seriously, I recommend it.

Well I did that once, close to it.
My Husband and daughter were on a trip.
Only my son home with me, and he was just a Toddler. Didn't care what I was trashing or not.
And while they were gone, in about 2 days... I had about 18 trash bags full of stuff, to throw away!

And no, none if it was missed.

My current home of more than 30 years is the only place I've ever lived for more than 4 years, and when we recently had to repipe the house AND replace half the windows, it required weeks of sorting, cleaning, and sending stuff to thrift shops. I'm still at it, "decompressing" my tiny home. I've sent away 5 huge pickup truck loads of boxes, much of it art materials and fabrics, or stuff I dearly love and wanted to keep, or use, or wear again after a small repair or alteration.

It has been a dreadful experience for me, filled with grief. I think it might be my age and health; at 66, I realize I just don't have enough future left to get to every project, but I'm not emotionally ready to give up that imaginary piece of my future.

The good part is that I'm beginning to feel lighter as I unload. I really think I have the hoarding gene, but I'm also a very talented stacker/storer, so I didn't even realize how much stuff I've accumulated. A dusty closet was like an archaeological dig.

So now I only have one room left to sort out, my studio. Saving the hardest for last. As we used to say in the 60's, keep on truckin'…

I'm not sure I could de-clutter my bedside table in 48 hours!

:/

Sure, I could. If:
-I had no work for that 48 hours
-I had nowhere to be for 48 hours
-If my kids were not around for 48 hours
-If I was ONLY decluttering and there was no actual cleaning involved (impossible for me to do- decluttering to me includes sanitizing, like if I am cleaning out a cupboard, the entire cupboard is going to get wiped out and scrubbed before filling it back up)
If those criteria were met, I could do it. Including the cars and garage. But that is because I don't keep much stuff. I am a reverse-hoarder.

We had all our wood floors refinished, with 2 days notice. We had to deal with 35 years of accumulation. It forced my husband and me to clean out every closet, shelf, nook and cranny in 4 bedrooms, 2 halls and the living room. Boxed some things, donated others, and tossed the stuff that got packed in the back of the closets decades ago. The speed we had to use forced us to be brutal in our decisions and we were rewarded with lots of new space in the end. Now if only I had hardwoods to refinished in the attic and basement! They are taking forever to declutter.

I'll let you know how I do on my garage this weekend.

It's my husbands domain and it is getting completely out of control. I told him he and I are going to go in there together this weekend and take a crack at clearing a bunch of stuff out. There is a pretty cool man-cave hidden in there, with couches, work-out area, work bench, and big screen TV. But it is completely cluttered around right now with extra furniture, tables, junk, camping equipment no one put away from the summer, and straight up trash.

I'll be pleased if we can just make a dent in 48 hours.

Declutter and your work on the house goes DOWN. It's a great organizational tool. Tip. No bins or storage containers. If you need to store it, you don't need it (with few exceptions, like our baby gear we kept for all the babies).

20 years later.......:(

Funny you post this...I have been trying. My MIL is coming.

So far:
A bar stool has been cleared of mail
The wall hangings have been hung in my daughters room
The hair ties have all been picked up and bagged
The ironing has all been hung
The socks just can't all be paired

I am out of time, 48 hours past a few days ago. But, I still have one more weekend!

I can honestly say it would not take me 48 hours to do decluttering because I am constantly decluttering so it's really not that cluttered.
I don't hang onto stuff because of "what ifs" and "maybe some days."
I organize what we need and use and I pitch or donate what we don't.
Especially clothes. The more clothes everyone has, the less you do laundry and then it's a huge task.

Every time I declutter and make a bag of donations...There is always one thing in the bag I wished I had kept !!!

If I had the money Oprah has...I would give my house away (With all the clutter) to a family who needs a home and move to a farm and grow organic foods !

If I decluttered my house in 48 hrs...There would be absolutely not a drop of sleep in that 48 hrs !

On a silly note, my house looks absolutely de-cluttered. Caution: Do not open ANY of the closets. And I am not even a shopper. Go figure. It is easier to keep the stuff behind closed drs. It's not even expensive stuff...Just stuff !

Yes I can do it! But I spent MONTHS last year throwing out 30% of what we own! including furniture. My house is already decluttered, and I'm trying hard to keep it that way. I have one problem area, needing about 2 hours of work....

One thing I have been doing is throwing out whenever I need to organize something...so every time I have to clean -up my kids closet, I pull out clothes, shoes, etc that aren't being used. I'm finding it much easier to keep things neat by always finding something to remove. So I've taking to decluttering as my new organizational strategy. I love it!

I have to have new carpet put down in my bedroom and two closets.
I get sick just thinking of what kind of decluttering that will take!

I have all my parents pictures and all my H's parents pictures. I am overwhelmed!

I have a hard time letting go of sentimental stuff.

I need an intervention by SH!

Wow - the first person to answer got rid of 18 trash bags of stuff! That's a LOT. I had to respond bc I am in such a decluttering mood lately. I feel like getting rid of everything. But then with certain things I think...well, maybe I'll use it again...or maybe I'll keep it for sentimental reasons. I have no tips...just pick a closet or drawer or cabinet and go. Focus on one thing at a time.

Nope. It took my husband and myself about 3 hours just to go through the photo boxes last week to find photos for a funeral photo collage. We sat down and went through the multiple boxes of photos stacked them by kids, family, friends and then bagged them in giant Ziplocs. Threw away a massive amount of crappy old photos that were out of focus, photos of people we don't know, places we didn't remember. It was great we went from 4 huge boxes of photos to 1. Yayyy for space on my shelf

I could do it only with the team of professionals that basically forces you to get rid of things. My husband is a huge believer in keeping things for the future. We have probably 3 really old box TV's just sitting around...he won't let go of them! We are going to declutter our bedroom in the very near future, he just doesn't know it yet :).

What is the definition of "declutter"? Mine or someone else's? ;)

I was fine while hubby was in the military and we had a weight limit. Anything over that amount we had to pay for it.

After our last move and getting out of the service (22 years ago) we have been in the same house. There are many things that have stayed that should now be gone. This spring will be the 6 weeks of everything out that is not needed and has not been used in x amount of time.

I have a business and now the house has become my workshop. So it is time to make a move to a real workshop or go through everything and scale it back to a room or two out of the main area.

Decluttered house will feel like a show house in a new home development a bit empty.

the other S.

PS If I could just get rid of the David Winter cottages and such that would lighten the load.

Uh, no. We moved over the summer into a 6 bd large house and the 3 car garage is FULL. It's just now starting to cool off in AZ so I promised hubby I would downsize, clean out and organize the garage before the end of March (when it starts to get hot again). Everything is in the garage because I didn't want it in the house and the house is looking pretty good. So no, I could not imagine a "typical" house being "decluttered" by a "normal" person in 48 hours. I mean, you would have to have a pretty good plan, tons of storage items to organize and time to do it all. So no. Now bring in a team and yeah, you could do it. Wish me luck...I have all winter and I wonder if I will be able to do it! lolololol

I host a yard sale tri-annually. If a pal is hosting a sale, I always go and find something to get rid of. The pals just really want company, but if I'm going to sit outside for 4 hours, there is something that I find to get rid of--too small clothes, things I bought but haven't used, unwanted gifts...

So, no I do not need 48 hours. I keep my clutter down.