2024 Organizing & Decluttering Thread

She asked that I just let her do it and the impact is huge. She got rid of 3 big kitchen garbage bags of stuff. The freezer looks like a show house. I love it so empty!

Went through a fabric cube in my craft room - there were three digital photo frames in there. I've added photos to two and set them up in the library/guestrooms. I don't know where the power cable is for the third so I'll ask DH and if we have it - I'll add photos and set it up, if not, it can leave. Fabric cube is empty and folded up.

I did find a bag of cables and adapters. I'll be handing to DH to decide if they are needed or not. Also found a camera card - I need to see if I can find a card reader.

Daily declutter task from My Simpler Life Declutter Calendar:

Go through your plastic bag/foil area.

From yesterday: We have 4 knives, 8” chef’s for him, 6” chef’s for me (or maybe it’s a santuko now that I think of it), a pairing knife and some huge knife (not a cleaver) in another brand that he doesn’t want to get rid of because he says he uses but can’t remember for what . We need a bread knife for very rare occasions, but that’s one of those things that a substitute doesn’t work nearly as well. There is one in the same set as our main knives, but I have a hard time thinking of spending almost $300 on something we’ll only use a handful of times a year just because it’ll match and I find the handle super comfortable. Oh, and 4 steak knives from the Chicago Cutlery set we got when we were married in 1995. Yeah, it’s past time to replace those.

What knives do you have? Any you wish you had? Any you should probably get rid of…or did yesterday?

Small update for today. Most of the things I posted yesterday on Buy Nothing are already gone, and one more thing is heading down the road today! Yeah! 

I still have a few more things to post but with the weather supposed to get cold again for the next few days I think I’m going to flip my schedule and go to the chiropractor and Costco today so I can fill up my gas tank when it’s 40° outside instead of 20° tomorrow.  It will warm up again later this week so it might make more sense to post the rest then when people will be more likely to want to jump in the car to come grab it. I know for myself I’m more inclined to venture out for something I don’t absolutely need if it’s not miserably cold.

Wait, you have 2 full knife blocks?  Does he at least help cook or prep a lot? I hate to stereotype but that is a guy thing if I ever heard of one! I feel your pain and will count myself as fortunate that ours are in a block in a drawer. 

That is so funny. That somehow just owning the knives is important, I think it’s what’s referred to as self-identify clutter. I shouldn’t laugh, I have plenty of that myself. For me, it’s the hardest thing to let go of, much more than sentimental clutter.

I had never heard of a fruit knife, or tomato knife for that matter, so I looked them up. Is this what you’re referring to when you say fruit knife? That’s really the only one I could find like that. I’m wondering if it has another name. When you Google they all refer to a paring knife.

DH is the chef in our kitchen, so in the rare times I try and dictate what’s in there all he has to do is give me a “really?” look, you know the one, and I remember it’s his domain and (mostly) stop arguing my point. I did try with the huge knife because I don’t remember seeing him use it unless the other knives were dirty 

dewryce - THANK YOU for that website because I think I might have found one

www.knifecountryusa.com/store/product/189953.189982/case-07313-tomato-slicer.html

I LOVE that commercial **GypsyGirl** , saving it to show DH. Thanks for that because I see so few commercials these days I would have missed it for sure!

We have all glass leftover containers because I like to be able to go from the freezer to the oven and I try and avoid food in plastic for health reasons in general: it’s the only reason we don’t own a sous vide machine. And I just remember using our old food containers growing up (Country Crock Chef’s Spread ftw) and my food literally tasting like plastic when we used it to microwave, you could see where the line of the food and the greatest damage was. Oh, we do have plastic containers that we use for camping only but it’s stored separately so I always forget about it. 

linda So glad you found one, I didn’t see that when I did a search for tomato knives! We only eat tomatoes as spaghetti and ketchup so I’ve never looked into them. Otherwise I’d totally use that as an excuse to buy the bread knife **GypsyGirl** ! But I can get my Granma’s old bread knife, it’s good quality and the handle is okay.

We looked at those brands you listed and Shun, Miyabi and one other forged one I don’t remember. At Sur la Table you can test them out on a chopping block with vegetables so we both took our time with all of the chef and santuko knives and both loved the handle and feel of the Miyabi Artisan knives. Our other huge one that he doesn’t want to give up is a Zwilling or Henkles I believe, I’m one of those people who gets them confused! It was a hand me down to replace our Chicago Cutlery. Granma’s bread knife looked and felt like a Cutco knife I tested, I like their quality as well. And now that I’ve looked I really, really want the steak knives to go with my set, but our “steak knives” we purchased that match our regular utensil collection (they’re not, liars) work well for almost everything. Again, can’t justify the price for half-a-dozen uses a year. And no, I do not apply that logic to my crafting supplies! 

I remember helping my parents clean out my great aunt's house after she passed. She had hundreds of plastic containers all over the house. She didn't cook during MY lifetime afaik (she died on my 12th birthday at 88) and had been in and out of nursing homes in between spells at home with caretakers for at least a decade. 

I don't remember Granny or mum saving/using them but my MIL and SILs certainly did and it took a bit of effort to break dh of the habit of saving every single container in case it might be useful.

I LOVE those commercials. They are so often my parents. Especially saving everything, like manuals for stuff they don't own. I got rid of bags and bags of paper when we were emptying their home.

Legacy Girl I am glad it went so well! About what percentage would you guess you got rid of? I think you made a good decision getting rid of the books, because I bet that led to you getting rid of more other items by not second guessing yourself, ya know? And you can always check out those books or buy used. How does it feel? How did they work? Just come in and start helping you go through items, or did they talk to you about your goals? Did they say “we need to get rid of (this much)?” I am curious as to the procedures, I like helping my friends and family and am always looking for feedback, what worked and what didn’t. Did they take the donations with them?

I have never heard of them using 2 organizers, I think that’s a great idea so the homeowner can really see the progress in a short amount of time. Otherwise I think a lot of people would be understandably discouraged and not continue. You could always try on all the clothes and then have them help you with your room and closet. Please keep us posted as they come!