I took my photographs (which I scanned and threw out the hard copies), packed up paperwork that I might need some day, gave my art work to friends for safe keeping and their enjoyment, and literally walked away from everything else. Literally.

I started from scratch and found I needed or missed almost nothing. When the house sold, I told my kids and some friends to got take whatever they wanted and to call salvation army to come get the rest.

From time to time, I get a small pang of "I wish I had held on to _____", but it passes quickly.

Our place right now is small - I'd like maybe another room, one more bathroom (we only have one) and a dining alcove - just a small space for a dining table so we're not always eating in the living room.

And I'd like to have a studio -- so while I don't want much stuff at all, I do want a little bit of space to work.

I'm glad you're happy, it must be incredibly satisfying to have streamlined so much.

So, by adding more space, it is likely that you will accumulate more stuff.

One thing you learn on a boat is how to use all of your space and to use it in multiple ways. I have no desire for more space (but I do miss having a garden).

I would put the studio in a different category, however. We have a good friend who is an artist and lives on a boat. She really needs a place to work for multiple reasons and is actively looking for one.

It is really nice to streamline. We have a general, but not always enforced, rule. If we bring something on the boat, something else needs to be removed.

My husband is much more of a stuff person than I am. He thinks lots of things are neat, worth taking apart, experimenting with, etc. A true "ham", there are bits and pieces of radios and electronics everywhere. I feel successful if I manage to get them corralled into one room. As a young boy, he never learned to put his toys away.

But, he's getting better.

I, on the other hand, love open, almost-empty spaces, though books, magazines, plants and cats do lend to the clutter.

I definitely want a studio with doors, so I can closed my beloved felines out.

Your rule sounds good - for everything in, something must go out. Unless it's a replacement of a necessary item.

My husband is pretty good at putting things away, but he tends to put them in a different place everytime, leading to mad hunts with much disruption of the space.

I put them on his desk (which he hates) and then he will put them back where they belong.

But don't get me started about the *tangly wires* - remnants of every piece of electronic equipment he has ever owned. Try as I may to put them in one space, I find them everywhere.

I put things where they belong, or at least where my addled brain thinks they belong. I call it organized chaos.

My closet was so full of clothes that I can't or won't wear anymore, and it finally hit that last nerve. So I have started to systematically go through the closets, drawers, nooks, and crannies getting rid of things. Since I have so much crap that I never use and never even remember that I have, it is easy going so far.

So the easy things are all these things that have no use in my life. After this is done, I am not sure what would be easy. But it is the "what would be very hard" part that often makes no sense to me. I am not usually sentimental about possessions, but there are some things that I just cannot get rid of yet for no good reason. Most of these things are family photos or other keepsakes. Things like the horrid collection of tea cups that were my mother's, and her mother's before that. They are still prominently displayed in the cabinet that my father built for them, even though they are so not my style or suited to the rest of the decor.

That always helps, because you wonder why you're lugging junk around.

But there are things I can never give up - my grandmother used to make these pretty, beaded bells for Christmas and I think I only have two, but I'd die defending those bells. I touch them and swear I can feel my grandma. But they're small, two can fit in the palm of my hand. She had made hundreds of them, but I chose two. Could you do that with the collection of tea cups? Keep one or two to represent the connection to your mother and grandmother, and let the rest go?

Some bigger items, pieces of furniture I don't really like, etc., I've let go, even though they have memories.

We're definitely at a stage where things are harder just because we've already culled so much. But another round of ruthless reduction is coming, I can feel it.

of ruthless reduction? I guess that is where I am right now. I have made more room (and I am still in the process so will have more room free), and I have the space for what is here now. Unless I found out that I had to move to a small place, or that I was dying and didn't want to leave a mess for someone to deal with, I don't see a reason to push myself to cull more. Luckily, I am not big on shopping or collecting things, so it really doesn't get worse for me.

read again, that sort of thing.

Some of it is just that we don't have efficient storage ... things have been financially really tight for a while, and while that means I don't spend much, it also means I don't get rid of things quickly, and I don't have the freedom to simply buy a decent filing cabinet...

I don't have the collecting 'gene' either. Or the thrift store gene - I'll go to Goodwill if I've got something specific in mind, but I don't go there just to check out the wares.

Clothes you never wear, books you will never read! Easy peasy. Have fun with the books and just leave them in strange places. I leave books that I will not want to re-read in places like laundry mats, hospital waiting rooms, etc. And always the library for book sales. It makes getting rid of anything easier if you know that they will continue to be of use to someone.

magazines, even dvd's, and leave them. Then they take what they want.

Wish we could do that with other things.

While visiting other areas of the country where there was no trash pickup, I saw similar setups for all sorts of thing. In the dump, there would often be an area where you could put things someone else might want. Would be nice to have that everywhere.

to have trash-to-treasure places for all those things that just should not go into the trash. There are websites to list things you want to get rid of, no charge...but that means you still have to keep it at your house when you are ready for it to be gone. People here put things out by their trash hoping that people will take them, but that isn't a sure thing and the trash collector may get there first. I suppose that charities that have resale shops and yard sales are the closest we have.

He would scavenge the sidewalk trash on the upper eastside and upper westside of Manhattan. It was so profitable, he used cabs for transportation back home to Brooklyn, where he sorted his treasures for resale.

There are some Freecycle groups on Yahoo and others at Freecycle.org. You can give stuff away or request things you need. When I moved from a house with gas to one that was all electric, I gave away ab old but working gas dryer. I got lucky and omeone gave me and old but working electric dryer.

There is also a "free" category on Craigslist. If you just want to put your stuff out and be done with it, you can post it as a "curb alert".

I signed up for membership in my area's group, and I feel as if I got into one of the circles of hell. But I have to wait for my membership to be approved before I can see what is happening in my little part of the world. So.....I don't even know if I will like this.

Hopefully, my concerns will be unfounded. I already have some contacts of people who will take anything of metal, and my branches that are always falling from the trees, but I have much more that should go.

I downsized over a period of 3 years after moving from my own apartment to living with roommates. I also lost a lot of weight and got rid of my fat clothes.

which surprises me. But......I have already got 12 emails from them with rules and where are you and what is your zip code and send us this password and........ agh. And I still have no idea what there is at the site yet.

But getting rid of a lot of things here is important, and it is spring cleaning time!

They have cutsie names, like the Goodie Bag, the Swap Shop, the Treasure Chest, etc. You drop off your old stuff, you "shop" for what you want--all free.

Some places, particularly in summer, people will just throw stuff out on the curb with a big sign that says FREE. I got rid of a couple of huge old armchairs (too big for the room, really) that way. Put 'em out in the morning, they were gone before the late news!

My husband had a monstrous 2-car garage and a separate basement full of ham radio stuff when we first met. Along with satellite stuff. I probably have 1/4 of the amount of total stuff, he has (or had) 3/4.

We have a humane society thrift store here that gets a lot of our books; they may get a treasure trove of DVDs one of these days when I convince my husband to toss them.

I leave coupons in the laundromat My mother is an avid coupon-clipper and I get thick envelopes of many coupons I won't ever use... so I choose what I want, and leave the rest at the laundromat.

to get rid of, and that's a good thing, imo. You may pass on those things and they will acquire even more meaning.

So, I would disagree with you, Curmudgeoness. You do have good reason to hang on to some things. They keep you tied to things or people that you love. Nothing wrong with that.


But the clothes? Dump them. My rule, when I had a lot of clothes, was that if I hadn't worn it in a year, it had to go. Salvation Army was quite thankful. My rule now is when a piece becomes unusable (or my husband is a bit embarrassed for me to wear it in public), it gets replaced.

It was more a matter of being too lazy to clean out the closets than a hoarding thing. I give the clothes to the women's shelter, since many of these women have left with little more than the clothes on their backs. But I also give to Salvation Army and Goodwill...it all depends on which is more convenient at the time or which direction I will be going to do chores.

Too bad that I don't have a husband to let me know when my clothes are getting embarrassing!

You never know.

I doubt that any of them are worth much to anyone but me. My family was poor, so none of the things they ever bought were high quality (meaning expensive). And that is usually the standard for things that hold value.

Think of all those things that used to be cheap, or even free, like baseball cards, used stamps, depression era glass etc..
Lots of folk have stumbled into small and not so small fortunes by re-examining their junk. Remember, the older it is, the rarer it is likely to be. Just sayin'

i quit reading the main forums completely, focusing on my home and cooking ect.

there was some threads about feng shi posted here at DU (links in my journal if you're interested) http://journals.democraticunderground.com/AZDemDist6/11

that helped a lot on how to figure out what to purge from my house.

i have very little clutter now

Appreciate it!

but I am a purger. I get tired of working around things, cleaning things, and storing things that I'll never use. Twice a year (spring and fall) we do our DEEP cleaning -- cupboards, shelves, closets, drawers and all 4 sides of the yard. We're doing it now as a matter of fact and not only is it a great opportunity to rediscover what you'd forgotten you have, it's the BEST time to purge. The vast majority of which is donated or recycled.

do it again.

And I don't have too much of a problem relying on technology to reduce my possessions, other than the plastic and slave labor involved. (I'm always looking out for naturally constructed stuff and every time I buy a medium or high priced Chinese made product, I make a point of donating a percentage of whatever I paid to a Chinese labor defense group.) I have a kindle so all my reading material will go on that and whatever is on the web.

While I had some trepidations about doing this, I am glad that I did.

Good for you on you decision to donate when you buy. Excellent idea.

for months.

there were a couple threads on Feng Shui (http://journals.democraticunderground.com/AZDemDist6/11 for the links) and i went through the house asking about everything 'do i love it? do i use it?' and if the answer was 'no' to either, out it went

now we have the same rule that cbayer has. if something comes in, something goes out.

and i throw out anything i haven't worn twice a year when i switch from summer wardrobe to winter and vice versa. if i made it through the season and didn't wear it, i pass it on to someone who can/will

it's great.