Clutter

So, I've posted a lot lately about "clutter" and "dejunking". We have reached a point where we are starting to actually do something about it. Reading Don Aslett's books, as well as other books, has really helped me.

A few notes:

1. Papa Bear has recognized this problem for years (and years and years)
2. I am a keeper. I could write a 200+ dissertation on this one and why it is so.
   
3. Please note, I've recognized the problem for a long time too but have been very overwhelmed and completely at a loss as to how to go about dealing with it.
4. I have gotten derailed often. Patience's diagnosis w/diabetes two years ago was not the least of the more recent derailments. Frankly it takes time. There are treasures - known ones, not imaginary - buried in the boxes and such I need to go through.
   
5. I have been reluctant to trust Papa Bear to help me. He has promised not to toss things w/o consulting me first, but I still feel judged about the littlest things - even disapproved of. That is slowly changing as I learn to trust him. It is still a challenge but one which we are honestly working on, with actions, not just in words.
6. I have reached a point in the past few months where, thanks to much reading and God working in my heart, I have been able to begin to deal with some of the root issues. The problem isn't so much clutter as it is the reasons for that clutter and dealing with those will help not only reduce clutter, but keep it off.
   

Here is one idea/process that has worked for us with our kids and which with some help will be of use with/for me as we begin to tackle some of my worst areas. It's especially good for books and toy cars, or so we've found.

• Spread them all out on the living room floor
• Sort them (there are no rights and wrongs - just ideas, and it breaks it up) . For example, large cars, "cars movie" cars, cars with faces, emergency vehicles, farm vehicles, etc. Have each of the kids who care pick out their 10 favorites and put them back in the drawer.
  
• Meanwhile, I sort out ones I think should be gotten rid of and put them in a toss pile. This might include broken ones, noisy ones which annoy me or which are always in the way (the ones I don't like for some reason), the obvious stuff. This is my opportunity to have a say and starts the process of disposal. If it's books, it's the ones I think don't have much "merit" (poor content, or not much content, ones which I don't think anyone reads and there's no real reason to, ones that are falling apart and are not beloved....)
  
• The kids then examine each grouping and find 5-10 total (2 each, that sort of idea) which they can live without and put them in the toss pile.
  
• Then they pick another 5 each to keep and so on until we have a decent toss pile (minimum a grocery bag full given our collection).
• If they need more "encouragement" to toss, I make them line up the cars in lines of approximately 20 (completely arbitrary) and they HAVE to find 3 from each line to get rid of. It helps them choose not just ones they don't like, but ones which they won't miss.
  
• We do make sure we save "at least one fire truck" etc - or put it on a wish list (Mom, all our fire trucks are broken - can we get another?) that sort of thing.
  
• To finish, they each get to "rescue" 1-2 from the toss pile. I am flexible here to a degree esp if they are willing to get rid of a lot. It prevents arguing etc. and allows them to say what someone else picked as a "toss" is really one of their "treasures".
  
• We do this about 2-3 times a year. We have found it keeps the cars down, allows us to continue obtaining more w/o fear of overflow, and gives them room for favorites and the like. We all get a say.

With books, it's a less thorough process (that is we don't go through every book we own, but just what's currently on the shelves). We do that probably about 2-3 times per year. Then once or twice a year we also "rotate" books with the ones stored away. It refreshes the collection. We will usually take this opportunity to "sort" the ones we've removed from the shelves, before we put those in boxes.

We did go through every single child's book in the house last fall (we had a lot of duplicates!). That took a while but was well worth it as we were able to cull out four boxes of books. It would probably be good to do that roughly every two years as the kids outgrow many of the "younger" books. Also, the more often we do it, the easier it in fact is!