Deleting old emails and organizing!

I always do a big purge as soon as school ends for the summer. I usually end up with around 30 huge bags of stuff to get rid of. I'm getting to the point in the year now where "stuff" is driving me crazy. I'm ready for it to go! But, I just don't have the time to deal with it until I'm not working.
As for emails...I really need to do that. I am good at getting rid of junk a few times a week, but I have stuff I've saved for really no reason for years.

 

I saved an article that I saw last week, about doing the Marie Kondo clean up on digital stuff, but I didn't started yet...I don't want to deal with my gmail, I've been using it for years!! there are tons of old messages too, i don't know if it will be easier to jjust hit del buttom!

and I'm reading her book, and trying to clean up my house...I already started with clothes, but I'm certainly not going to follow her rules of putting all the things at one place to get rid of what don't spark joy! I'll follow my own rhythm...

 

Colonial Williamsburg had a fun take on the Marie Kondo thing on their facebook page. It was a young Thomas Jefferson going through his books. The only one he got rid of was a bio on Alexander Hamilton. It was pretty funny!

I've been slowly going through things in the past year. Not the Marie Kondo style, but just asking myself if I use the item, and if no, if it has family meaning. If I answer no to both then it's gone. I've stuff from my parents and also stuff from the two houses my in-laws downsized a couple years ago. There are things, furniture an the like, that we're saving for the kids when they eventually move out (although DD has told us she wants NOTHING from the house. Sigh). I don't want my kids to have to deal with the stuff if something happens to us, so that's why I'm starting now.

Having to help empty my parent's house, then help with my in-law's moves, has cured me from buying more things. I try to bring one or two loads to the consignment store every week, which helps me to get rid of things. I put the cash towards future travel expenses! It's not much, but it's something.

I'm also trying to get our financial papers in order, which is a bigger thing right now. But going through my digital things is also something I'm slowly working through - like all those thousands of photos I'll never ever use!

 

We "marie kondo" about twice a year with kids' clothes & toys. I need to be better about my clothes & stuff! We'll be participating in a neighborhood garage sale this spring, so I need to make sure I get that done in time!

As far as digitally- I use unroll.me for my emails. It sends me ONE email a day with all my newsletters, etc. I can open them if I want, but it's nice to do a quick browse & delete ONE email instead of a gazillion! I'm not the type of person who can have that little red notification on the app with all my unread emails... too ocd!! Unroll.me has been a lifesaver for that reason alone!

 

What I'm having a hard time going through are all the professional skating photos that I purchased at just about every competition my DD skated in. We'd get around 200 photos per event, and if she skated 4 events times 6 or more competitions ... well, you can do the math. For the team events I keep everything of her, but I need to figure out what to keep of the rest of the team and the program. That's hard!

One of their performances last year was 6 minutes long, and they had two photographers on the event. I believe we had well over 600 photos just for that program alone. I think I saved 100 of them, but that's still a lot of photos. EEk!

 

I randomly delete them when I accidentally find a bunch. Like a search word brings it up. Some of them I have no idea why I have anymore! Like confirmation emails from 10 years ago!

 

I definitely need to work on deleting emails. With so many coming in everyday, they just pile up

 

My email is pretty good. I make use of the labels in gmail so it is pretty organized. My house...well that is another story. We are having a yard sale in July and I have been going through everything making a big mess. I'm at a point now where I want to get rid of some decorations that we have had since we got married in 2004. I think it is time for them to go. They are not sparking much joy right now.

 

I have to do that as well and I keep putting it off.. I too have things since we sold my parents house after they passed and while i have gotten rid of things (I replaced alot of my kitchen things with my Dad's stuff as he had bought professional pots/pans etc) but I still have things to get rid of and it hurts me emotionally like I am throwing out them... does that make sense? I really need to get over that.. I have no kids and I am sure my nephew will do the chuck everything or sell everything as it will not mean anything to him, but I have things from childhood too.. ugh, Hubby is not like that... he gets rid of things all the time.. it is me. UGH I really need to bite the bullet and really get rid of things this year.

 

I do love a good email purge! I can't stand unread emails in my inbox. My two best friends make me insane with their inboxes. They will have THOUSANDS of unread emails. And they don't even seem to know how to get rid of them or how to stop it from happening. Seriously makes me twitchy. Lol.

 

ohhh Christa, I really understand what you are saying! my mom passed away 5 years ago, we lived together and I stayed in our house. So, I have donated clothes and other things from her, but there are tons of stuff here that I have emotional connection and it's hard to get rid of...but I'm starting to think about this lately and trying to clean up. ..

 

yup.. Dad passed in 2012 so yup I agree.. Big hugs.. we can support each other Ferdy!

 

@cfile big hugs your way, my dear!!

 

I am a crazed Marie Kondo fan! A few years back, I discovered her books. Changed my life.
We cleared many TRUCKloads of stuff (of which I miss not one item). Over 25 bags of clothes and donations to our local thrift store.
My kids watched in awe, and started to clear things without me telling them.
My husband cleared out shelves and boxes of stuff he had for over 30 years!
I collect plants now.
Anything else that comes into the house, goes thru
DO I really love this? REally, Does it bring me joy?

I have found I get way more joy getting rid of things.

 

Warning, this will be long!

For those of you dealing with getting rid of things from your parents, I understand completely. The house I live in was built by my parents in the mid-60's and my mother (bless her heart) was a pack rat. They turned the house over to me due to her ill health in the early 90's. She passed in 1996 and Dad passed in 2016 although he moved to North Carolina in 2000.

I inherited the pack rat gene and when I didn't know what to do with stuff, it went into the basement. Back in 2015 an elderly lady in the neighborhood passed away and it hit me... what is going to happen if something happens to me. I am single, no children, no siblings. This lady was in her 80's, never married and no children (no siblings either). I saw a dumpster in the driveway 3 different times and later learned that her cousins had cleaned out her house. That spurred me to get started on my house. Little by little I was cleaning out closets and donating or pitching. But I got rid of nothing that belonged to my parents as I knew Dad would notice and to him this was still "their house". Once he passed, any guilt that I might have had was gone.

In 2017 I did a kitchen remodel and just the stuff in the cupboards from my mom was overwhelming. Over 150 glasses! 4 sets of dishes, not including the ones I bought. I got rid of so much stuff that I now have cupboards that are not overstuffed! And, just this past fall, I've decided to get rid of even more.

I have moved on to the basement and had a dumpster in my driveway in August. I went through everything before getting the dumpster. I found some treasures... turns out Mom kept projects that she did in junior high. One was in the form of a booklet and it was falling apart. A suitcase that has been on a top shelf for over 50 years held love letters from my mom to my dad during her last family vacation with her parents before their wedding. It also had Navy memorabilia he probably didn't remember he had. I found stuff from my childhood as well.

When it came down to it, a lot of things were falling apart or not in good condition. I took pictures and made notes so I can scrap my memories of it. I scanned some other things as well then recycled them. A lot got pitched.

Even though I thought I was done with cleaning out, I have realized that will never happen. More things will also be found that can be let go. I got rid of my desk last March and have not yet replaced it... been using a double card table. My office ended up on the bed in the guest bedroom (new flooring was installed and the room needed to be empty). That stuff is still on the bed but I have found that there is stuff I haven't used in 11 months so I am going through it and asking myself if I really need it.

I will say that I am much happier with where I am in the cleaning out process... about 95% and I can live with that. I learned to let go of the guilt of getting rid of things that were sentimental to my mother. A few things have been kept because they are sentimental to me but it isn't a basement (1400 sq ft) full of stuff!

I am encouraging all of you to start with little steps. Break it down into small areas so you don't overwhelm yourself with it. I used Peter Walsh as my inspiration.

 

This past month, I cleared SO MUCH from my house- a mini van filled to the brim plus our car filled to the brim. We volunteer twice a year at the largest kids consignment sale in our area (I think in the country, too) and I finally got ALL the old books, toys, clothes and stuff priced to sell there.

I found a local non-profit who helps local families to donate my old clothes to. My niece’s school is doing a big drive to recycle old grocery bags, so we sent off a ton of those. I mailed my friend a huge box of books that my daughter had outgrown and her kids will enjoy.

There’s more but that’s some of what we have gotten rid of. We moved into this house almost 6 years ago from a house about half this size. We didn’t have stuff to fill this house then but we do now! Part of me really would like a smaller house again and the smaller amount of stuff that goes along with it.