advice

Hold a "givaway" party in your yard. Or look in the Yellow pages for "clean out removal services" they usually will pick up your extra stuff without charge. There are charity services that will pick up your stuff, too- and you can get a tax deduction.

try do reduce duplicated items e.eg. manicure sets, make-up if you haven't used if for a year, sent it to the charity shop Is it unused - give it to school for a raffle Stop buying things you don't really need get some decent storage you can put in the attic or walk in cupboard buy lots of tissues - de-cluttering can be hard!

Hi candace. I too am a pack rat. When we lived on the mountain, we had pack rats until we got cats. They were terible things. They would steal our screwdrivers and other tools. I had found footprints in the soap. At first I thought they were squirrel prints. They turned out to be pack rat footprints. Having said that, I think that if everything is in labeled boxes on shelves, you can keep just about anything. You never know when you may need something you already have; even that short piece of ribbon or string.

See what you have and make a list with three catagories. 1. Items still in use 2. Items never used. And 3. Item that are of no use. Meaning torn up ao otherwise no good. If you don't use them toss them. There are charities like the red cross that will pick them up and give them to needy families or donate them to a church that have programs for families in need. The items that are no longer any good just through them in the trash after you dispose of the items you dont need or don't use then you can organize the things you do use.

Hi candace. To declutter you have to start sorting thing into different catagories, Start with something small like paper thing. and just go from there pick and area and tell your self that you are going to keep just half or aomething like that and keep going. Good luck

I am a packrat also. If its stuff you absolutely can't part with, is there any place you can put it, like in an attic or basement. I've been thinking about having a yard sale but its just so hard to get rid of some stuff.

Sorry, I can't help you there. I have a hard time getting rid of things too. I went upstairs yesterday to gather up a bunch of stuff to get rid of and I ended up with one small box of things. I keep thinking I can use this sometime and end up moving it instead of getting rid of it.

I am the same way. I half so much stuff, the house is too small I want to get a bigger house.

As one packrat to another, it ain't easy, sister! It helps to think about moving to a new home. What would you not want to have to carry? What wouldn't be worth the effort? That might not be a good thing to keep. When was the last time you used something? Is there an item you keep because "what if we need it"? That might not be the best use of space. Thinking about the cost of land, renting/paying a mortgage, remember your space is valuable, as you clean out your house. Also think about selling those antique whatevers or collections of do-hickeys that only take up space and you never even see.

keep what you really need ,not what you want to keep, and get the reward of given away things people want- that you dont need and when you start this process youll feel better about yourself too and start too see your floors again /it took me 4 years to get rid of a lifetime of stuff that i never used and it was hard since i was brought up up not to waste or throw away anything useful i still have the temptation to collect but icurb the urge like an addiction /this is a common sign of depression and childhood problems of not havin anything and it carries into adult im a prime example /go ahead ask me anything i want to help [from someone who has suffered paule4129@jesusanswers.com]

Just keep what is needed and give up the rest

I have the same theory as another one of the respondants here. If I don't use it for a years, it is gone. We recently moved house and could only take 20 packing crates of things with us, so that was a forced clean out. We threw a lot of things - 5 trailer loads to the dump and sent about that many to a charity place. Then we had a couple of garage sales and I was very proud of the 20 boxes I had left!!!

If I haven't used something for more than 1 year I am usually eager to get rid of it. I keep things with sentimental value, but overall, I like to de-clutter. I do donate to a charity that supports battered women. I also take tax deductions on what I donate to charity. You can find how to evaluate the value of the items you donate on a program that is sold with Turbo Tax. Or you can buy that computer program seperately if you don't do your own taxes. The price of the program is worth it when you learn what you can deduct from your taxes!

If I understand your delimia correctly it isn't that you don't know how to get rid of stuff, it is you don't know what stuff to get rid of! Here are a few tips I have picked up over the years. If it doesn't fit, get rid of it. If you haven't used it in the last six months, it probably isn't worth keeping. (exclude grills and such if you live in northern climes) It is fits but is out of style dump it. I know styles come back around but do you really think you're going to want to wear it in 20 years? Place a value on each item put items of like value in each group, then decide if the value is great enough to keep or dispose of. Values are usually given from 1-10 or higher if you like. It's up to you which is the more valued, 1 or 10. Generally anything less than a 5 can go bye bye. Hope these help.

I totally understand the pack rat thing going on. I have 4 children 1 is out on her own now and the other planning to move out next year. I have collected so many things thinking some day I will need this. It hasn't happened for me but I am giving things to my girls that have moved on. I try to store things of use in out of the way spaces. If it is papers and things like that I try to file the important things and throw out the rest. I have copied things my kids making them smaller so I can save them for later. Pictures is a big thing for me as well. I am in the process of making photo albums for my kids and putting the pictures on disk to get rid of some of the clutter. I also use the tactic, if I haven't used it in a year then it's time to think about getting rid of it. I hope this helps you some. It reminds me of things I need to do. I hope to be better organized soon.

what i do is when i clean if it doesnt have a home i toss it in a box and put it in my shed. every six months i go through my shed and keep whatever i want as long as it fits into one of 4 boxes i allow myself to keep. this way i get rid of ALOT but i still keep enough to make me happy. at least until next time lol

Start by pulling stuff out of closets, boxes, etc. so you can get an idea of what all is there. Once you do that you may find you have duplicates of catalogs, outdated magazines, products you don't use anymore, etc. You can toss that stuff. Then you can categorize what's left, as others have suggested, and decide what you need. That's a start, at least.

I would join ebay n make some money n keep what downet sell

Go through all of your stuff, and if you haven't worn it or used it in the past 6 months, then either toss it away, or even better, donate it to Goodwill, or someone who could really put your old stuff to good use. You could also get some storage bins, to help you store stuff that you just can't part with, and you can put it away.

My mom is like that too. Before she moved this last time I helpd her go through boxes and boxes of stuff. I had to ask her why she was holding on to everything. Antiques and collectibles I understand. But little junky collectibles that have been boxed up for the last 5 years have to go. When she didn't want to get rid of something I asked her where she was going to put it in her new house. After about 2 hours of this she realized what I was saying and got my point. All of the items that were still in good shape we gave to the good will and salvation army. Everything else we threw out. The nest time you go through a box of stuff you have been keeping ask yourself what you are really going to do with it someday, or if you are going to leave it in a box forever.