2023 Organizing & Decluttering Annual Thread!!!

my shelves need weeding also - I'm doing it much slower for the most part and passing along books as I read them - either to DD23/DS32 or donations. I need to focus on reading physical books this coming year and make a dent in the TBR that way. This year I read more on Kindle and Libby -140 digital vs 71 print BUT the vast majority of those 71 have left my house. But that still leaves over 800 physical books on my TBR...

When we were decorating DH decided he didn’t want to keep his sports’ themed tree for his workout room anymore, and at first I was thrilled because be gone lots of things from my house! But, no. We decided we wanted solid colored balls to fill out our sentimental tree so those are just being switched over. Boo. He is keeping his very favorite sports ornament to put on our sentimental tree, so the rest can go. But it’s not many.

I was pretty ruthless going through the bathroom cabinets. Not tons left, but I know everything in there now is loved, used, and current. Proud of myself because I didn’t want to start it because my shoulder isn’t up for cleaning the spaces as I go; but I talked myself into getting it done now, perfecting it later. That can be pretty hard for me sometimes with my anal retentive perfectionist tendencies, so much so that it paralyzes me. And it killed me to just remove a few items and reorganize the space without cleaning it but I did it!

Went through three boxes and condensed them down to one box tonite. ds took a couple of trade show bags. I will find a place to donate a trade show backpack and find somewhere to donate other things. Earlier today we donated three crocheted lap blankets that were new and made by my Mother years ago. Also dropped donations off to a couple of other places.

We all have one, don’t we? Mine is, without a doubt, paperwork. What about everyone else?

Do you think taking a photo and documenting the memory of some of these items would enable you to get rid of them? That way, you’d still have the memory to reference, you could even include a photo of who owned the item originally, maybe make a nice coffee table book. 

Peter Walsh wrote something that really stuck with me, and it was basically asking if we were giving the item a place of honor. If it’s so important, he asked, why was it packed in a box sitting in the closet? We’re not that sentimental anymore, but this really made us reevaluate not only what we kept, but how we kept it. For example, his Grandma’s hard hat is sitting front and center in our entertainment center. We put our yearbooks there as well so that they’re able to be easily accessed and enjoyed. A lot of our smaller items are kept in his Granma’s secretary in our master bedroom. We each get our own drawer, and then up top is anything goes, and is where we keep playbills and tickets sorted in separate boxes by type, from the Container Store, naturally   I have letters from my childhood, from my BFF since the second grade, that I tied with a pretty ribbon and put in my drawer.  I’m still culling through other letters and cards and will do the same with them. We really enjoy looking at these items occasionally, and I love that they’re kept in such an important piece of ours. 

For a lot of DH’s stuff we got a really nice shelf to put in his workout room and placed them on there. I pointed out how if you have an huge collection of something you notice it as a whole, whereas displaying less items with plenty of breathing room helps to bring attention to individual items. Another Peter Walsh tidbit I believe. That really sort of spoke to him and he went through TONS of paraphernalia and kept only his very favorites, he has no regrets, and everything in his room is very intentional. 

I have a hard time culling kid books too. I have a bunch that I collected when I was attending art school because I loved the illustrations or because they’re pop up books which fascinate me. There are many more now since I had a kid. She recently went through all of her books and it was interesting to me the books she kept and those she purged. Of course I went through her purge pile and retrieved a few more thinking, “Does she REALLY want to get rid of that one? Doubt it!” I mean, why keep The One and Only Ivan but ditch The One and Only Bob?

There were also a few books that she put in my box of saved books from college that didn’t come out of that box, she just didn’t want to admit that she wanted to keep them. “Potty” I’m looking at you, LOL. She LOVED that book and wouldn’t let me donate it for the longest time, and even now it wasn’t in the donate box, she put it in my save box. 🤣

Oh, photos and negatives is a good one!

I'm pretty good with paperwork but that's definitely an area DH struggles




I'm really working on displaying the important things - we've hung up one of my mum's paintings and framing the other 4 is on the to-do list - the wall space is already allocated. One of our guest-room/libraries is the family history room - we've hung/displayed a photo of each direct ancestor and are setting up displays of memorabilia from my mum and dad (we don't have much from my ILs). I have two framed needlework projects of my granny's that are both hung up. I have an idea for a shadow box for my mum's baby clothes, baby photo etc.. - that's on next year's to do list. So while I do have some memorabilia/memories still boxed, I'm actively working on displaying those i want to keep and moving along those I don't need to.

As the family historian/archivist for both my family and DH's family - I do have a ton of photos and papers and stuff - and I'm actively organising and labelling that - and some is leaving as I work my way though. But that is a long-term project just due to the sheer volume of stuff involved.



I'm a fast reader - that's probably the biggest factor. I'm a SAHM and I made a point of reading everyday for at least 20 minutes (but usually longer). I read (on my phone/kindle - I can't do paper books in the car) as a passenger in the car or while I'm waiting ...at appointments, for someone to be ready etc... I don't watch TV - in all of 2023 I watched The Mandalorian and Ahsoka and part of the Thanksgiving Parade.

Not linda , but like her I read a ton of books, am going to pass my already extended goal of 275. I don’t work either, we don’t have children, and I barely watch any TV if it’s not baseball season. Oh, and a lot of what I read is romance crap so those are quick reads!

eta: I just checked my Kindle app and there have only been 5 days this year I haven’t read, which I think has to be at least 15 minutes on Kindle. 4 of those we were camping with DH’s family. 

 I’m sorry about your back, that can definitely make it harder to go through things so I like the silver lining of less desire to shop!

Take it easy and I hope your back feels better soon


I tossed the Fall scarecrow decoration - after several falls outside, it was time. The leaning boards need to leave also but DH wants to copy the designs and make his own so...they're in the garage for now. The rest of the fall decor is finally packed up, the pumpkins have been moved to the side yard - the deer or squirrels will end up enjoying them.

Wore a long-sleeved shirt the other day and it was SO big on me - it's been washed and put in the donation bin.

I'm starting to decorate for Advent and will be looking for items that can be donated as I go.

Took fifteen minutes this morning and went through a couple of bins. Magazines are now going into the blue re-cycling bin, a couple of binders will be repurposed in the house and four pair of mil’s old eyewear glasses have been donated. We were going for a walk in a mall and dropped them off in a bin in an eyewear store. Listed one other item as a giveaway online and someone is interested in it.

Go you! 

We set up our tree but that was as far as I got. I haven’t put on any ornaments at all and this week I might be too busy to deal with it, so I haven’t looked for the stuff I want to offload. But on another note, I was clearing all the snacks and junk off the kitchen counter to bake cookies and decided I was sick of not being able to get all the mugs into the cabinet. I purged a whole bunch of the small coffee cups that no one used a while ago and the ones that are left are the bigger ones that we do use, so something else needs to go.

Looked up at the top shelf and saw a bunch of insulated mugs and travel coffee cups that likely haven’t been used in at least eight years. 😳 I have a Tervis tumbler that I like so much more, so So I grabbed a box, basically emptied off the shelf of anything that hasn’t been used for something in a while and filled the box. When DH got home, I told him to look through and pull out anything that he still wanted and the rest are going in the donate box. I think he retrieved 3-4 of them to maybe take to the lake cabin, and all the rest will be out of here the next time I take a load to Salvation Army.

Oh, almost forgot! My brother stopped by to borrow something and I cleared off a high pull out shelf in my pantry AND finally got rid of the food processor he said he would take six months ago that was under the table. And he took my old blender too! Then I threw out about four open boxes of different kinds of stale ice cream cones and some nasty cereal no one liked. Now there was space for the snacks I moved off of the counter!   For being a pretty busy week, I’m happy to still be making a little headway.