Questions to Clean Out With

I am taking a short clean out break today, just today don’t worry, to tell you about the frame work I am using in my own brain for the clean out. It is all well and good to tell myself, and you, that I need to clean out. But it shouldn’t be a willy nilly process where you are pitching stuff left and right in a great orgy of “cleaning outness”. I can tell you from experience that when you do it that way you will throw out some things that you will regret. The clean out must be steadily and thoughtfully done, emphasis on steadily. Bite off a bit at a time and don’t get discouraged, throw up your hands and quit.

I have a framework in my head that I use as I go through things. I have a few “clean out questions” that I ask myself, 10 to be exact about it and I was going to tell you about them…..

And then Miss Minimalist beat me to it. Curses! She has 20 questions to my ten (the over achiever!). And to top it all off her questions are better than mine ever could be. Sigh. Go over and take a look at her exhaustive list. But NOT until you are all done here thankyouverymuch.

I am no expert on cleaning out. You will never see me on Hoarders or Hoarding: Buried Alive saying,

My name is Debbie Q and I am a specialist in the field of……

No, I am just someone who, many years ago (that makes me sound ancient), came to realize that in order to have a life that was in any way productive I needed to have things organized. That is where I started, with being organized. You can have a lot of stuff, a lot of duplication of things, and still be organized. I certainly was. I was organized, oh yes I was. But I was unhappy, boy howdy was I! And I filled those unhappy spaces with the acquisition of “things”. Never big things mind you. Oh no, The Dollar Store was my friend. I wasn’t cleaning out Dillards and hiding the clothes in the trunk to sneak in the house. But I was steadily purchasing.

And I had collections of things. And if you have a collection of something of course you need to continue to add to it. You couldn’t possible say,

You know, I think I have enough of this particular item. I am going to stop adding to the collection and just enjoy what I have.

So, I was organized. But I was weighed down with stuff. I ran on the thought that I had to “save that” item because I was going to use it/read it/wear it/craft with it again some day. I was absolutely sure of it.

That is such a lie.

If you haven’t worn that piece of clothing in the last 12 months then you are NEVER going to wear it. Your hand has passed over it in the morning, looking for something to wear, and you have chosen not to wear it. Why keep it?

With the exception of a few core craft supplies you can pitch the things that you bought specifically to make that project from 1997.

We all know that I am a lover of books and reading. Books have always brought me knowledge and solace. And yes, there are books that I re-read on a regular basis. But I know that most books that I have read I will not re-read. And if I need to then I am pretty much guaranteed that I can find it at the library. That doesn’t apply to all books but it does to many of them. So why keep them. Now, I am slowly acquiring books in electronic form but those take up no space, other than what The Nook, inhabits. And I am being careful of what I purchase. I really hate buying a book that in the end I wouldn’t have wanted to keep.

I think I digressed. Yup, pretty sure that I did. But then this is sort of a stream of thought thing so we will just have to go with it.

I could go on and on and on and you would eventually run screaming into the night. So, let me just tell you the questions that I ask myself when I am cleaning out.

1. Have I used it in the last 12 months? This applies to clothes, to shoes, to cooking utensils, to just about anything. 12 months is a good time frame because it covers all the seasons and holidays. If the answer to this question is no, then it needs to go.

2. If I cull this thing from the herd can I replace it if I need to? The answer to that is almost always yes.

3. Has this outlived it’s usefulness? If it has then release it back into the wild. If it isn’t useful to you anymore it won’t ever be useful to you again.

4. Do I have something else that I like better than this and has a similar function? If so then you don’t need two of whatever it is.

5. If I donated this item would it hurt someone’s feelings? This is a sticky one. And one that you have to answer on your own as to what to do. But it is something that I ask myself.

6. Does this item have monetary value that I can extract? Craigs List and ebay are beautiful things. As is Amazon where I have been known to sell a book or two. Take some time to find out if the item has some worth. But be prudent!! If that book you are dying to sell can be purchased at Amazon for .01 then you are going to lose money if you try to sell yours. Donate that item. Or set up an account at Paperback Book Swap.

7. If you are unaware that you even owned it then you don’t need to keep it. It has no hold over you. Let it go.

8. Is it broken? If it is and I do not know how to fix it and it has been broken for a while….let it go to someone who can nurse it back to health if that is possible.

9. Do I really need ALL these Christmas decorations? Oh believe me, this will be the question that I am asking myself after Thanksgiving. And the companion to that question is: How much Christmas decorating is too much. A whole blog topic in itself.

10. Does this item bring me joy. If the answer is no then you know what to do.

This post turned out a lot longer than I had expected but then I am not known for my brevity. Ask HHBL and he will tell you. Sometimes I just have to use a bunch of words when fewer would do.

The 100 Days Cleanout is taking the week of Thanksgiving off so that I can play with Cartoon Girl, TMO, TSiL, Shoe Queen, Pilot Man, The Chef, The Parental Units, various and sundry family who haven’t ever been blognamed and of course HHBL. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and I will see you in a week.