THE YEAR OF UNHOARDING

Do you ever ask yourself, “Where did I get all this stuff?” I do – all the time. I made up my mind that 2023 was going to be the year of unhoarding. (I made that word up.) Experts would say decluttering, but the amount of stuff we have accumulated over the 20 plus years we’ve lived in our house goes way, way beyond clutter. My house is fairly clean (even though I hate housework), but there are hoards of stuff in every cabinet, drawer, box, bin, closet, junk room and storage unit.

So this year, I am getting rid of it. No more excuses. I’ve watched the show, “Hoarders,” many times, and I know the excuses they use for keeping their stuff. The biggest one is, “I might use it later.” I’ve said that to myself when I’ve tried to “declutter,” but this year as I unhoard, there will be no excuses.

My rules are – it if has been in a drawer, bin, box, closet, junk room or storage unit for more than 1 year, AND it adds no value to my life or doesn’t bring me happiness, then out it goes! Unlike the people on that show, my house is not full of filth and disgusting trash, but we do have way too much stuff.

As I pull the contents out of a box, I will evaluate the length of time it’s been in there and whether or not it will provide value or happiness to my life. The other criteria will be if it is something that is useful and will remain useful. A hammer would be an example of that type of item. I may not use a hammer all the time, but it has value, and is useful and will be useful for a long time.

An example of something that I will get rid of – a remote missing its batteries and the little door that holds the batteries on the off chance that I might one day find what it actually goes to, and also find the little door to the back. I have several of those in drawers in my house, but after I unhoard, there will be none. I can even hear myself from last year saying, “oh, this remote might power something I need, and I’ll find it eventually, and then once I match them up, it will be awesome.” Just no. This is the year of no.

The other thing I am not going to do is save things for a yard sale that never happens. I have stuff tucked away just knowing that I could get a dollar or two for it at a yard sale. If I ever have a yard sale, that is.

Yard sales take a lot of planning and are hard work. And if everything doesn’t sell, then what do you do? You just pack it away for the next yard sale, or you give it away. So, NO! I’m convincing myself to go ahead and unhoard all of the miscellaneous yard sale items. They are never going to sell!

For some stuff that is a step above a yard sale item, and is too good to just give away, I am going to use some of those online selling sites like “Offer Up” or “Facebook Marketplace.” Once I see how well these sites work, I’ll write a post about them.

Now that I’ve made the decision to unhoard, I feel so much better. I have given myself permission to get rid of unwanted, unused stuff. I am giving a lot of this stuff to a charitable organization for them to pass on to someone who may want it. Someone somewhere may want an electric camping lantern, or a mug rack.

I started unhoarding about mid-January. I have tried to make it easy on myself. I set up a work table for sorting in the corner of one room. I started with my kitchen. I take a storage bin and fill it with things out of my cabinets or drawers. I put the bin on the work table and sort through what is in the bin. I have a trash bag and a donation box handy. I put aside items that I am going to keep, and get rid of the rest.

The keep items go back in the cabinet or drawer in an organized fashion. It is amazing how much space is now available in my cabinets and drawers.

One other thing that I have found as I clean out my kitchen – there is an awful lot of stuff that belonged elsewhere! How it migrated to the kitchen and took up residence there, I don’t know, but I moved it to its rightful place where it should be.

I plan to use this method for my whole house. I am going to unhoard. No more waiting for yards sales that never come! No more stuffing it in the back of the closet. No more! I am liberating myself and my house!

AND IT FEELS SO GOOD…….